Deuteronomy 16 Devotional

Feasts That Remember

“For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.”Deuteronomy 16:15 (BSB)

Israel's year was shaped by three journeys to the place God would choose. Passover recalled the night the LORD brought them out of Egypt, eaten with unleavened bread so they would never forget their hurried escape (16:1-3). The Feast of Weeks came at the grain harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles after the threshing floor and winepress (16:10, 13). Each feast looked back to rescue or to God's provision, and each one was meant to be joyful (16:11, 14-15).

Notice who sits at the table. Sons and daughters, servants, Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows rejoice together (16:14). No one is left outside the celebration. Then the chapter turns to judges, who must never take a bribe or show partiality (16:19). The same God who throws the feast insists that the weak be treated justly. Paul calls Christ our Passover lamb, sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). Our joy, like Israel's, starts with a rescue we did not achieve. Celebrating it well means making room at the table for those who have no one else.

To think about: Who could you make room for at your table, or in your celebrations, because of what God has done for you?