Thursday 14th August
Read Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17
“Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. 21 If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. 23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
16 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. 3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste – so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. 4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.
5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.
9 Count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing corn. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.
13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.” (NIVUK)
Now Moses moves to instructions for ‘setting aside’ the ‘first born’ for sacrifice as a reminder of the salvation from Egypt, a remembering that is available to all. Is it also looking forward to a perfect firstborn Son? The place of sacrifice is chosen by God, the blood not to be eaten but poured out, a symbol of a life given. We then move to instructions about the festivals that focus memory, Passover, weeks (harvest) and tabernacles. The Passover (festival of unleavened bread) is to remember the symbols of haste, the unleavened bread and rapid consumption of the lamb, all in the place of God’s choosing are described along with a 7th day of ‘rest’. Then comes the harvest celebration and the freewill offering of rejoicing which is for all, including those mentioned earlier who have little or no entitlement. The reason, to remember you where slaves but now have freedom and plenty. The third festival (tabernacles or booths) is again a celebration, 7 days of joyful festivity for all remembering God’s provision in the 40 years of wandering, wanting to bless them so that, your joy will be complete. God is found with them in the tabernacle as they travel. The place of God’s presence is repeated a number of times, is it a reminder that celebration is focused on God alone. A summary follows with the no one should come empty-handed, the inference I think is, make sure you recognise how God has blessed you and give in proportion, recognising and celebrating God’s gracious provision for you. I have so much to remember and celebrate of God’s goodness, grace, mercy and love; Jesus’ costly sacrifice, being set free from the slavery of sin and death, and in my journey now God’s provision and presence guiding me to my ‘rest’.
Geoff Hinch
