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Okay, you can turn to Exodus 
chapter 23. Exodus chapter 23, specifically 
verses 10 to 19, the Sabbaths and annual feasts that Israel 
was to keep. I suspect this may be a shorter 
lesson than normal. It's tough to get a whole lot 
out if you're me, at least in this particular section, but 
hopefully we can get some understanding of what's happening in this part 
of the Book of the Covenant. So beginning in chapter 23 at 
verse 10, six years you shall sow your land and gather in its 
produce. But the seventh year you shall 
let it rest and life follow, that the poor of your people 
may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. 
In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive 
grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh 
day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, 
and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. 
And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make 
no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from 
your mouth. Three times you shall keep a 
feast to me in the year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened 
bread. You shall eat unleavened bread 
seven days, as I commanded you at the time appointed in the 
month of Abib. For in it you came out of Egypt, 
none shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the 
first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field, and 
the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you have 
gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field, three 
times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord 
God. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened 
bread, nor shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning. 
The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring 
into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young 
goat in its mother's milk. Amen. So as we've been considering 
this particular section, chapters 21 to 24 are commonly referred 
to as the book of the covenant. That comes from chapter 24, verse 
7. Then he took the book of the 
covenant and read in the hearing of the people. Most likely it's 
the rest of the book of Exodus included, but this section specifically. So the Ten Commandments are given 
in chapter 20, the moral law. And then chapters 21 to 23 give 
us a detailed explanation of the application of that law in 
concrete situations affecting the body politic. And we've noted 
that this is called the judicial law of Moses. And our confession 
speaks concerning this judicial law to them, Old Covenant Israel. Also, he gave sundry judicial 
laws. which expired together with the 
state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution, 
their general equity only being of moral use." So that gives 
us a principle in terms of the covenantal distinction between 
the old and the new, but as well it shows us some continuity. 
If there's a general equity principle in the law before us, then we 
certainly apply it in our new covenant setting. Now obviously 
the seventh day Sabbath is perpetual, but the seven year Sabbath is 
no longer binding upon us, neither are the three feasts specified 
in verses 14 to 16. So when we look at this particular 
section we see ceremonial laws, certainly they were legislated 
as well, there were instructions given, it was in fact moral on 
the part of the people there to keep those particular feasts, 
to keep those particular laws alongside of the rest of the 
code that they were given. So we'll look first at the law 
of Sabbaths in verses 10 to 13, and then secondly, the annual 
feasts in verses 14 to 19. And I'm going to draw from Deuteronomy 
16 as well, because Deuteronomy 16 covers the same material, 
but it's a bit more expansive. It gives us a bit more information. 
concerning these three annual feasts. But notice in the first 
place, with reference to the Sabbaths, there's a distinction 
where there's two different Sabbaths going on. There's the seventh 
year in verses 10 and 11, and then there's the seventh day 
in verses 12 and 13. So the seventh year principle 
was something commanded to the nation of Israel that we find 
in this passage of scripture. It's also found in Leviticus 
chapter 25 at verses 1 to 7. So in Leviticus chapter 25 verses 
1 to 7, you have this Sabbath law of the seventh year, but 
then in chapter 25 continuing from verse 8 to 55, you have 
the law of Jubilee. So there was the seventh-day 
Sabbath, you had a seven-year Sabbath, and then you had this 
50-year sort of obligation placed upon the children of Israel. 
Law of Jubilee is not contained in this particular section, only 
the seventh year and the seventh day. So if you look at the seventh 
year in verses 10 and 11, it reads similarly to what you find 
in the second part concerning the seventh day. There is to 
be this diligence in terms of labor and then a cessation from 
activity. So in chapter 23 at verse 10, 
you have a positive command in verse 10. Six years you shall 
sow your land and gather in its produce, just like the Sabbath 
command. It's not only a command to rest, 
but implied as a command to labor, a command to labor diligently. 
And the same was to happen in terms of the body politic or 
in the civil community. Six years you shall sow your 
land and gather in its produce. And then you're commanded to 
let the land lie follow, so that there would be this rest. Notice 
in verse 11. The seventh year you shall let 
it rest and lie follow, that the poor of your people may eat, 
and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. In like 
manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. 
Now, the reality is that if there was a cessation from all labor 
on any fields, then there wouldn't have been anything for the people 
or the poor. And I think Stuart is right when 
he compares this particular section with the Law of Jubilee. The 
Law of Jubilee does seem to indicate an absolute cessation from everything. But these particular seven-year 
ones, he suggests that it was rotated. You had a field that 
you would rotate. So it wasn't the cessation of 
all of your fields all the entire year, but a rotation of your 
crops. So he says, the law on the Jubilee 
year, which was to be celebrated every 50 years in Israel, clearly 
demanded full nationwide compliance at the same time by all persons 
throughout Israel. In Leviticus 25, 8 to 55, the 
statement of the Jubilee Law follows with specificity as to 
uniform same-time compliance directly after the law of the 
land Sabbath. Leviticus 25, 1 to 7, a command 
that provides no specificity with regard to when a farmer 
would rest his crops as long as each field, grove, or vineyard 
was rested every seventh year. This suggests that farmers were 
given freedom to decide how to rotate or stagger the resting 
of their crops among their various fields, groves, and vineyards. 
In that way, farmers were still actively farming each year, and 
roughly the same food volume would be produced every year 
throughout Israel. Makes sense to me in terms of 
the presentation of the data. Six years you shall sow your 
land and gather in its produce, but the seventh you shall let 
it lie fallow, or let it rest. But notice again, that the poor 
of your people may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the 
field may eat, in like manner you shall do with your vineyard 
and your olive grove. It also shows a priority that 
man is first, and then beast, and then vegetation. God is more 
concerned about the image bearer than he is the beast, but he's 
more concerned about the beast than he is the vegetation. So 
there is this pecking order built into creation by God Almighty. Now in terms of the specific 
rationale, it's found in the second part of verse 11. From what I understand, and you 
guys are all far more familiar with farming and the agrarian 
life, having grown up in Chilliwack, I guess it's a good thing to 
let your fields take a rest. It's a good thing, I think, to 
increase nitrogen and it does help and benefit the field itself. But that's not the specific reason 
given. It's not ecological and it's 
not environmental, but it's sabbatarian. It's about rest and it's about 
refreshment. The benefit to the soil during 
the rest period is not the argument here. It is rather the benefit 
to the poor and the beasts. They're the ones that prosper, 
they're the ones that profit, they're the ones that are blessed 
by this particular provision. And as well, with reference to 
this statement, notice in verse 11 that the poor of your people 
may eat. The implication is, is that the 
poor of the people, or the poor of your people are going to go 
out and they're going to glean. You don't typically find instances 
where people are just given stuff by government or by private parties 
in the scripture. It's never a good thing for a 
person to just be handed things. It's always a better thing for 
them to be involved in work, to have some sort of dignity 
and the virtue associated with the hard days of hard day labor. So when it comes to these poor 
people in the Sabbath year, they go out and they glean. There's 
gleaning laws all throughout the Old Testament, specifically 
in the Pentateuch. But the idea is that they didn't 
just show up and get their free cheese or get their handouts 
or get their welfare and then go continue to do whatever it 
is that they want to do. No, they had to work insofar 
as they were able to glean and to collect those items so that 
they could sustain life. So the benefit was to the poor 
and to the beasts. And I think Matthew Poole summarizes 
well. He has five statements concerning 
this Sabbath year, or the seventh year. He says, first, that the 
heart and strength of the land might not be eaten out by continual 
tillage. You're going to destroy and ultimately 
wreck it. Two, that he might both try and 
exercise and also secure the obedience of the Israelites. 
When we look at this particular section of the code, they're 
commanded to rest. They're commanded to enjoy themselves. They're commanded to do things 
by God that nevertheless requires obedience. If they're going to 
stumble and falter and have a difficult time obeying the command to rest 
and obeying the command to celebrate at the various feasts, well, 
they're certainly not going to have any, you know, a heart of 
vigor and joy to obey the other commands of God. He says, three, 
that he might keep them in dependence upon himself and give to them 
and all their neighbors a manifest proof of his singular and gracious 
providence over his people. Four, that by this kind of quit 
rent they might be admonished that God alone was the Lord and 
proprietary of the land. and that they were only tenants 
at his will. And five, that being freed from 
their great labors about the land, they might have the more 
leisure to meditate upon God's works and to attend upon the 
law, which was to be solemnly read at this time." Deuteronomy 
31.10. Again, good observations in a 
Puritan framework concerning the blessing of this seven-year 
Sabbath. But then notice the seventh day 
Sabbath in verses 12 and 13. This shouldn't be a surprise 
as we've come out of a consideration of the Decalogue. Remember in 
chapter 20 at verse 8, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do 
no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male 
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger 
who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made 
the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, 
and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the 
Sabbath day and hallowed it." We've seen that there is in fact 
in the fourth command a moral principle. One day out of seven 
is to be set apart for rest and refreshment, blessing and sanctification, 
and for, obviously, public worship of the living and true God. The 
giving of the Sabbath predates Sinai. It's codified and summarized 
in the Sinai Covenant for sure, But we see in the very beginning 
of the creation account, Genesis chapter 2, God Most High sets 
forth a pattern of Sabbath rest in chapter 2 verses 1 to 3. We see in Genesis chapter 4, 
Cain and Abel come to make their presentation before God at the 
end of the days of the week. The New King James renders it 
in the process of time, but the margin is better. At the end 
of days, at the end of the days of the week, they brought their 
sacrifice to God. And then in Exodus chapter 16, 
prior to chapter 20, You see the people of God being told 
to go out and collect the manna and collect a double portion 
on the sixth day so they wouldn't have to go out and violate the 
seventh day, day of rest. So in the codification of the 
law in Exodus chapter 20, you see the moral principle. Now 
as we move through redemptive history, we see a shift in terms 
of the positive aspect of that law. It has changed from the 
seventh day to the first day in the New Covenant. But the 
moral principle binds. The moral principle is perpetual. 
It is abiding upon us. So back to chapter 23, specifically 
at verse 12. Notice we have this command to 
labor six days and then to rest on the seventh day. Six days 
you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, 
that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your 
female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. Now, when we 
looked at, just now in Exodus chapter 20, the argument for 
Sabbath keeping was grounded in creation. So in the presentation 
of the fourth commandment in the book of Exodus, the rationale 
is for in six days the Lord your God created the heavens and the 
earth, and then he rested on the Sabbath. And then in Deuteronomy 
chapter 5, the rationale for keeping the Sabbath is redemption. So you've got those twin concepts, 
which I think are at play in Hebrews 4, when the apostle there 
is arguing in terms of the day change. There remains, therefore, 
a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 4.9, 4.10 identifies 
the day upon which that Sabbath rest is to obtain. So creation 
and redemption is the underlying, undergirding rationale for Sabbath 
keeping. That doesn't change in verse 
12, but notice where the emphasis lies. Verse 12, six days you 
shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest. Rest 
and refreshment. That's what Sabbath is all about. And then notice the extensiveness 
or the comprehensiveness of the benefit of this Sabbath provision. that your ox and your donkey 
may rest. It is an extensive, blessed provision 
on the part of a gracious God, so that the oxen and the donkeys 
themselves may rest. If you continue to abuse that 
beast, you work it seven days without any rest or any refreshment, 
you're gonna end up killing it. But then notice how it goes on 
and says, the son of your female servant, Probably one of the 
more insignificant persons in a body politic would be the son 
of a female servant. I mean, not the kind of person 
that would be at the top echelon of society. But then even beyond 
that, notice, and the stranger may be refreshed. So the Sabbath 
provision given by God is, in fact, a gift. In fact, turn to 
Mark chapter 2. It's always good for us to remind 
ourselves that the Sabbath is not a burden, it's not a grief, 
it's not something that God has given so that He can ruin our 
lives, but rather the Sabbath is a gift given by God for the 
benefit of man. And in Mark 2 at verse 23, it 
happened that he went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. 
And as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 
And the Pharisees said to him, look, why do they do what is 
not lawful on the Sabbath? But he said to them, have you 
never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he 
and those with him? How he went into the house of 
God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the 
showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, 
and also gave some to those who were with him. And he said to 
them, the Sabbath was made for man. Now man there is generic 
man. It's not Israelite man. May actually 
be a reference to Adam. The Sabbath was made for Adam 
and not man for the Sabbath. It's not that God made man in 
order that he may obey the Sabbath. He made man in his image and 
then gave the Sabbath to him as a gift, wherein he may rest, 
wherein he may be refreshed, and wherein he may specifically 
commune with his blessed God. So the Sabbath was made for man 
and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is 
also Lord of the Sabbath. So it is a good gift given by 
God, and in the civil polity in Old Covenant Israel, everybody 
benefited from it. It was a provision that not only 
extended to the Israelite, to the citizen, but it extended 
to their animals, their beasts of burden, it extended to the 
sons of their female servants, and it extended to the strangers. 
The strangers that were already mentioned in chapter 23 at verse 
9. The judges were not supposed 
to oppress the stranger back in chapter 22. Verse 21, you 
shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were 
strangers in the land of Egypt. So not only were they not to 
be mistreated, not only were they not to be oppressed, but 
the strangers also got to benefit from the Sabbath provision being 
an Old Covenant Israel. It is a gift given by God Almighty. And then notice what you find 
in verse 13, an emphasis on prohibition against idolatry. And in all 
that I have said to you, be circumspect, be wise, be prudent. The Apostle 
Paul uses the same language in Ephesians 5. Be circumspect and 
make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard 
from your mouth. And it's interesting because 
that's right in the center structurally of the Sabbath and then the annual 
feast. I think one of the purposes involved 
in the Sabbath and involved in the annual feast was a conscious 
recognition of the living and true God. And so it's a good 
time to remind them to be circumspect and make no mention of the name 
of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth. We've 
already seen that in chapter 22 at verse 20. He who sacrifices 
to any god except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Verse 13 in chapter 23, make 
no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from 
your mouth. The idea, most likely, is that 
if you get too comfortable with, in conversation, those other 
gods, it may not be long before you start to engage in a vile 
reneging upon your faithfulness to the Lord God Almighty. Is 
there something on that window? There's a what? Which verse it 
was up there. Oh, OK. I'm looking at you. I'm thinking 
there's a spider or something that's coming after me. All right. 
So the emphasis here is on God. And then that brings us to these 
three annual feasts. So you've got the mention of 
them in verses 14 to 17. And then you have directions 
for sacrifice in verses 18 and 19. So notice in the first place 
you've got the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This also encompasses 
Passover. In Deuteronomy 16, 1 to 8, you 
see these two sort of put together. The feast was celebrated in the 
month of Abib, which is called Nisan, after the exile. This would be March or April 
on our calendar. And so this first feast is Passover, 
and then the last one we'll see is the Feast of Tabernacles. 
We've seen this, we're familiar with this in our studies in John's 
Gospel. So in John chapter 6, Jesus is 
teaching in the at the time of the Passover in a synagogue in 
Capernaum. And then in John chapter 7, he's 
at the Feast of Tabernacles, and as I've indicated, it's about 
a six-month period that is between those times. So this is the Feast 
of Unleavened Bread. So the feast was, as I said, 
March or April of our particular calendar. Parallel legislation, 
we've already seen it in Exodus chapter 12. It is rehearsed in 
Leviticus 23, Numbers 28 and 29. And then there's an instance 
of obedience when they come into the promised land in Joshua chapter 
5. As well, the specific purpose 
for this feast, if you notice in verse 15, it says, you shall 
keep the feast of unleavened bread, you shall eat unleavened 
bread seven days, as I commanded you at the time appointed in 
the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. So it 
is a reflection upon and a remembrance of God's redemption of the nation 
of Israel, from the land of Egypt. It was to commemorate that. It 
was a time to reflect upon that powerful act of God when he vindicated 
his people from Egyptian bondage. And then notice at the end of 
chapter, I'm sorry, verse 15, none shall appear before me empty. That probably means empty handed. 
In other words, when you come before the Lord God in worship, 
you come with sacrifice. Now that's not because God has 
any need. It's not because God is lacking. 
It's not because God is wanting. It's not that God needs to be 
supplemented or be fed by his people. No, the idea is there 
is a reciprocity. God is the Lord of all, He owns 
all, and in His goodness He provides for His people. And by way of 
reciprocation, His people bring sacrifice to Him. It honors Him, 
it glorifies Him, and it reflects the reality that we're dependent 
upon Him and thankful for the good gifts that He has given 
to us. And that emphasis again in Deuteronomy 16 is on a remembrance 
of or commemoration of that freedom from Egypt. The second feast 
is in verse 16a. Here it's called the Feast of 
Harvest. It's also referred to as the 
Feast of Weeks in Deuteronomy 16. the Feast of First Fruits 
in Numbers 28-26, and more commonly, at least in our mindset, the 
Feast of Pentecost. And that's in the Greek translation 
of the Hebrew scriptures in Leviticus chapter 23, 15 to 16. So this particular feast was 
celebrated in the month Sivan, which is May, June on our calendar. 
So most likely, or most typically, these feasts were coordinated 
with times of harvest. There would be bounty, there 
would be a celebration, and there would be provision for the people 
of Israel to give sacrifice to God. This feast, as well, was 
a time to remember God's blessing and provision, Deuteronomy 16.10, 
which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. So at this 
time, in this feast, you're returning as the Lord your God blesses 
you, and as well, according to Deuteronomy 16.12, it was a time, 
as well, to reflect upon redemption by God out of the land of Egypt. And then the third feast is in 
16b, and that's referred to as the Feast of Ingathering. We 
also call it the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. That's the feast that we're looking 
at or we're just after in John 8. So John 7 is the Feast of 
Tabernacles where Jesus is in Jerusalem. John 6 is around the 
time of Passover. Jesus is teaching in a synagogue 
in Capernaum. So about a six-month period between 
Passover and Tabernacles, and in between there is this Feast 
of Pentecost. So the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles 
was celebrated in the month of Tishri, which is about September 
or October on our calendar. So the John 8 is in that time 
frame, September, October-ish. in the first century. As well, 
the feast was a time of celebration at the later harvest and the 
feast was also a time when they would live in booths, they would 
live in tabernacles, they would live in little dwelling places 
according to Leviticus 23, 42, and 43. Meredith Klein says, 
the name tabernacles reflects the custom of dwelling in booths 
during the festival which served as a memorial of life in the 
wilderness. So again, all of this has, as 
its focus, the glory of God in the redemption of Israel out 
of the land of bondage, and all the things that were unique to 
that. Verse 17 is the command for the 
men to attend. I don't think it prohibits women, 
but there is a mandate that the men will appear before the Lord 
on those three annual feasts. And then in terms of the sacrifice, 
the specification for sacrifice in verses 18 and 19. This is 
going to get a lot more detailed instruction in the book of Leviticus. 
So what you find somewhat introduced in the book of Exodus, you'll 
see later amplified as you move through the Pentateuch. So some 
of this is tentative. Again, I'm not living at that 
time. I'm not part of the old covenant 
system. I don't know all the significances. 
I kind of rely on the commentators for some help here. But with 
reference to the prohibition in verse 18a, you shall not offer 
the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Now, the best 
The best I could see was Stewart's suggestion that this idea of 
not offering blood with leavened bread possibly meant the yeast 
aspect or the bread agent was combined with the blood, that 
it would have been a temptation on the part of Israelites, especially 
as they were surrounded by heathen and pagan that had various and 
sundry customs and rituals and things that were more magical. And I don't mean, you know, pick 
a card, any card type of magic, but the kind of magic that seeks 
to manipulate either natural or supernatural forces to try 
to get what we want. Well, blood has always loomed 
large in paganism. You ingest blood for certain 
benefits. You ingest blood for certain 
life-giving properties. Well, the children of Israel 
were strictly prohibited from ingesting blood. Leviticus 17 
is very, very clear on that prohibition in terms of ingesting blood. 
So the prohibition here might be something like a blood pudding. 
In England, they eat blood, they mix it with oats or they mix 
it with some other stabilizer, and it's essentially coagulated 
blood that they're ingesting. So I think Stewart's probably 
on the right track when he says most likely or perhaps that's 
what's being prohibited. If you mix or offer blood with 
leavened bread, the tendency might be to combine the two because 
not many people, I'm sure there maybe are many people, but to 
simply drink blood would probably be a difficult haul. but to make 
a blood pudding or a black pudding or something like that might 
be a little bit easier and a little bit more tempting. And so God 
cuts him off at the pass and says, do not offer the blood 
of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The second thing concerns 
the fat. Again, the detailed instructions 
will ultimately come in Leviticus chapters 1 to 9 when you get 
that legislation. Here the prohibition is simple. 
Nor shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning. The next 
one deals with the firstfruits of your land you shall bring 
into the house of the Lord. So again, this idea of reciprocity, 
God's blessed you richly, therefore bring the firstfruits into the 
house of the Lord by way of sacrifice. And this would be a necessary 
command because of the temptation. You couldn't bring half a living 
animal. You could actually hold back 
fruits and vegetables and the produce of your ground. So, you 
know, this sort of legislation, it is on the one hand a command 
to obey, but it's also on the other hand preventative maintenance. 
You know, cheap out, don't think you can hide this from your neighbors 
or hide this from God. There is this mandate for you 
to bring the first fruits of your land into the house of the 
Lord your God. And then this final prohibition 
concerning the young goat. It's an interesting passage to 
be sure. You shall not boil a young goat 
in its mother's milk. It's here, it's in Exodus chapter 
34, and then it's again in Deuteronomy chapter 14. There's two predominant 
interpretations of the passage. The first is that it prohibits 
cheeseburgers. And that's probably one of the 
more common ones. The idea was you couldn't mingle 
meat and dairy. You couldn't ingest meat and 
dairy. You're looking quizzical at me. It's the cheeseburger 
mixes meat and dairy, right? I'm not suggesting in Old Covenant 
Israel they had cheeseburgers. But the prohibition usually runs 
along the line that it was part of their food laws that prohibited 
them from having dairy along with their meat as they went 
to eat. I think the second explanation, 
and again, Gill speaks to it, not in as much detail, but Stewart 
deals with it as well. And he makes this observation, 
he said, Canaanite fertility religion imitated the fertility 
practices generally found throughout the ancient world. These included 
marrying seeds when planting a field, on the theory that such 
a ritual would magically stimulate the powers of nature to procreate, 
producing more fertile crops. Now remember, this is not, you 
know, sort of out there in terms of the biblical narrative. The god Baal was a fertility 
god, so was Asherah. And the idea was that when they 
got together, there would be good things that would benefit 
the people on the ground. He goes on to say, since mother's 
milk, the milk of the goat doe, was what made the goat kids grow 
big and strong, the folk theory developed that doe's milk employed 
in the process of a sacrifice, in this case by boiling rather 
than by roasting on an altar, would somehow impart strength 
to the goat flock, making the whole flock more fertile. Such 
nonsense, if believed, could have led the Israelites to conclude 
that the power to shape their destiny and to live the abundant 
life was to be found in magical practices and fertility religion 
rather than in the only true and living God. Even if all other 
people groups known to them practiced these sorts of rituals, The Israelites 
could not. As Yahweh's people, they were 
to be above such things, attributing all life to the single source 
thereof." I think that makes good sense, as far as I'm concerned. Whether they should eat cheeseburgers 
or not, that's up to them, but I think that the emphasis here 
is probably on the pagan rituals that were going on around the 
nation of Israel at that particular time. Well, in conclusion, the 
principle of the Sabbath, rest and refreshment. Rest and refreshment. We get that rest and refreshment 
in our blessed God in the means of grace that he has provided 
for the church. Now, in terms of the purpose 
of the feasts, why these feasts? Why this emphasis on calendar 
in Old Covenant Israel? Well, there's several things 
that we ought to consider. First, to remind the covenant 
community of their history. That's one of the sad things 
that we are facing in the decline of Western civilization. The 
tearing down of monuments, the destruction of statues, the uprooting 
of historical things because we're too sanctimonious to approve 
of anything that happened, you know, a couple of hundred years 
ago. A destruction of culture is ultimately a destruction of 
history. And when you destroy a people's 
history, you untether them from those ultimate standard or that 
ultimate standard that governs history. So these, the covenant 
community would be reminded of the living and true God and of 
his acts in history. Why do we take the Lord's Supper? 
Do this in remembrance of me. It's not only a corporate means 
of grace, which it is, it is an individual blessing for the 
people of God, but it's a historical reminder. As often as you eat 
this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim what? You proclaim 
the Lord's death. You proclaim history when you 
do this. So this would remind the covenant 
community of their history, especially redemption from Egypt through 
the power of God. Secondly, it would promote joy 
in the covenant community. This is where the stress falls 
in Deuteronomy 16, verses 11, 14, and 15. These were times 
of celebration, times of rejoicing, times for happiness. This wasn't 
a drudgery, this wasn't, oh man, we have to you know, eat good 
food and drink good wine for a week. Oh, this is miserable 
and horrible. This would be a blessed time 
in the nation of Israel. God is not anti-celebration. God is not anti-joy. God is not 
against us reaping the benefit of the blessings that he provides 
to us. Thirdly, it would encourage community 
participation in the covenant community. Again, you see that 
sort of comprehensiveness in Deuteronomy 16. All sectors of 
society are participating together as the covenant people of God. 
Fourth, it would promote reciprocity among the covenant community. 
They would return a portion to the God who had given them good 
things. Remember, they were to bring 
no empty hands, according to verse 15. Fifth, it would protect the covenant 
community from idolatry. I don't think verse 13 is haphazard. I don't think he just needed 
filler. I don't think he just wanted to sort of throw something 
else in there. What's the point in Sabbath? 
It is to rest in Yahweh. What's the point in the end of 
individual annual feasts? It is to remember Yahweh. So 
right smack dab in the middle of that is this prohibition against 
even mentioning the name of other gods. Craigie, a commentator 
on Deuteronomy, says, thus the Passover was a celebration of 
freedom, but at the same time it was a reminder that freedom 
from Egypt and worldly dominion had been exchanged almost immediately 
for a new commitment. The new commitment was made evident 
in that the celebration was made by the Israelites as the covenant 
people of God. So it wasn't freedom from bondage 
without any sort of commitment or allegiance on the other end. 
No, there was commitment, there was allegiance to the God who 
had delivered them. And then as well it would promote 
obedience in the covenant people. Freedom from slavery meant joyful 
obedience to the God who had liberated them or the God who 
had saved them. Well let us pray and then if 
there's any questions we can take those. Our Father in heaven, 
we thank you for your word. We thank you for this emphasis 
on Sabbath rest and this emphasis on feasts that are calculated 
to rehearse and recall the glorious acts of our God. We thank you 
for baptism. We thank you for the supper in 
this new covenant setting. We thank you, God, that we have 
all of the scriptures that remind us of your power demonstrated 
in history. We have the promise of the coming 
of our blessed Savior in the future. and all of these things 
calculated to cause us to walk in obedience to you and to express 
allegiance to you, our great and living God. We thank you 
for your grace. We thank you for the gospel of 
our salvation. We thank you for the entirety 
of your word, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Any questions 
or comments? When it says don't mix bread 
with leavened bread, does it mean only leavened bread or any 
kind of bread? Probably the idea is that you would use, good question, 
that you would use leaven as an agent to probably do other 
things with it. So yeah, I would suggest that 
if you had unleavened bread, you shouldn't put blood on that 
and eat that either. So it's a prohibition, but probably 
a prohibition that would be most likely to happen. That would 
be the most potential. You typically don't have to criminalize 
suicide. So you typically don't have to 
criminalize suicide. So normally, I would just take 
exactly that. If something gets banned, there 
has to be a reason for the ban. There's a propensity there. that this leaven is almost like 
this symbol or illustration of impurity we're mixing. So it seems to me, too, that 
there's that, too. And if we're talking about general 
equity or principles, this could be seen as a metaphor for RBW. Like, we don't want to. We don't 
want to. Yeah. We don't want blood rituals 
being mixed. That's true. We do not want blood 
rituals mixed. We're not Freemasons or anything 
like that. No, we're not Freemasons. Yes, sir? I was going to say, 
the explanation of the crop rotation, that there's still active farming 
every year, just some fields are. That's right. I think that's 
fine. Yeah. But again, there's certainly 
a good case we made. If this year seven, all of the 
fields that Right, yeah, I wouldn't die on 
either interpretation, for sure. Well, when you think about it, 
I was thinking about when you were quoting that commentator, 
and I kind of thought that made sense. I never really thought, 
because when you look at it, it says, you know, it talks about 
the poor eating it on that seventh year. Well, they can't go seven 
years without food. It would have to be a, you'd 
think it would mean that vocational thing, so. Well, there's greening 
laws built in elsewhere, too, so. Oh yeah, God's provision, 
and you really see it. I mean, I think we really see 
it too, we just don't see it the way we should. You know, 
it's easier to see it in the pages of scripture than to see 
it in our own refrigerators. I mean, but it's the same. God's 
providing for us in the same way, right? I mean, thankfully 
we've been blessed very richly, Should those things change in 
the future? Maybe we will look back and say, 
wow, he really provided that. So yeah, it is a good display 
of God's kindness and goodness. I was really struck by this this 
afternoon in verse 12. I mean, everybody benefits from 
the Sabbath. you know, this drudgery, it's 
not a punishment inflicted upon the people. The son of your female 
servant is refreshed and the stranger may be refreshed. I've 
read stories where people in paganism or, you know, outside 
of Christianity heard that your God gives you a day off. You 
know, that's shocking. You know, your Lord gives you 
that? It's built in. You know, we're 
commanded to rest. We're commanded to be joyful. 
Those are, you know, really flies against this notion of God's 
law being this sort of imposition and restriction that's only, 
you know, intended to ruin our lives. It's not that at all. 
Did you have your hands up? So I'll make