The Fourth Commandment: Statutes and Precepts (10)
Exodus 23.14-17
14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 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); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits 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. 17 “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.”
Each feast had a particular focus. Unleavened Bread remembered the redemption of Israel from Egypt, as Easter does for Christians today. Harvest and Ingathering celebrated the blessings of God’s provision, which were according to the promise of His covenant. These two are roughly equal to Pentecost and America’s Thanksgiving, with the former infinitely more important than the latter.
Christians do not celebrate Pentecost as exuberantly as they do Thanksgiving. I wonder why that is? Could it be that we have too low regard for the greater gifts of God and His Spirit, and too high regard for the more temporal and transient ones?
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
