Exodus 23:16-19

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:1-33

1 . That he will send an angel before them to be their guide, director, and helper ( Exodus 23:20 - 23). 2 . That he will be the enemy of their enemies ( Exodus 23:22 ), striking terror into them miraculously ( Exodus 23:27 ), and subjecting them to other scourges also ( Exodus 23:28 ). 3 . That he will drive out their enemies "by little and little" ( Exodus 23:30 ), not ceasing until he has destroyed them ( Exodus 23:23 ). 4 . That he will give them the entire... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:10-20

Sabbaths and feasts. I. SABBATHS . 1 . The Sabbatic year ( Exodus 23:10 , Exodus 23:11 ). Every seventh year the land was to lie fallow, and what it spontaneously produced was to be a provision for the poor, and for the beasts of the field. There was connected with the ordinance a special promise of unusual fertility in the sixth year—of such plenty as would make the nation independent of a harvest in the seventh (Le Exodus 25:21 , Exodus 25:22 ). The Sabbatic year was ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:14-17

Law of Festivals . "The sanctification of days and times," says Richard Hooker, "is a token of that thankfulness and a part of that public honour which we owe to God for admirable benefits, whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret calendar, taking thereby our private occasions as we list ourselves to think how much God hath done for all men; but the days which are chosen out to serve as public memorials of such his mercies ought to be clothed with those outward robes of holiness... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:14-17

Festival times. I. FESTIVALS ARE COMMEMORATIONS . The joyful occurrences of our own lives we by a natural instinct commemorate yearly, as the day comes round when they happened to us. Our birth-day, our wedding-day, are thus made domestic festivals. Similarly, a nation commemorates the Day of its Independence, or the three glorious days of its Revolution, or the day on which its armies gained a great and crowning victory. It is reasonable that the practice thus established should... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:14-17

A threefold cord is not quickly broken. To forget is far easier than to remember. Festivals are like posts to which we can fasten the cords of memory, so that, securely fastened, we may not drift down the stream of Lethe. To forget facts is to ignore the duties to which facts prompt us. We must leave undone what we ought to do, unless we take measures to keep us in remembrance. The great fact which the Israelites needed to remember was the relation of dependence in which they stood to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:16

The feast of harvest . Fifty days were to be numbered from the day of offering the barley sheaf, and on the fiftieth the feast of harvest, thence called "Pentecost," was to be celebrated. Different Jewish sects make different calculations; but the majority celebrate Pentecost on the sixth of Sivan. The main ceremony was the offering to God of two leavened loaves of the finest flour made out of the wheat just gathered in, and called the first-fruits of the harvest. The festival lasted only... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:17

Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God . This seems to moderns a very burthensome enactment. But we must remember that Palestine is not bigger than Wales, and that great gatherings had great attractions for many in the ancient world, when they were the only means by which information was spread, and almost the only occasions on which friends and relations who lived far apart could expect to see each other. The European Greeks had, in their Olympian and other... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:18

Law of the Paschal sacrifice . That the Paschal lamb is here intended by "my sacrifice," seems to be certain, since the two injunctions to put away leavened bread, and to allow none of the victim's flesh to remain till the morning (see Exodus 12:10 ), are combined in the Paschal sacrifice only. Of all the offerings commanded in the law the Paschal lamb was the most important, since it typified Christ. It may therefore well be termed, in an especial way, "God's sacrifice.'' By the fat of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 23:19

Law of first-fruits . The first of the first-fruits may mean either "the best of the first-fruits" (see Numbers 18:12 ), or "the very first of each kind that is ripe" ( ib, Exodus 23:13 ). On the tendency to delay, and not bring the very first, see the comment on Exodus 22:29 . The house of the Lord . Generally, in the Pentateuch we have the periphrasis'' the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to put his name there" ( Deuteronomy 12:5 , Deuteronomy 12:11 , Deuteronomy... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 23:14-17

This is the first mention of the three great Yearly Festivals. The feast of Unleavened bread, in its connection with the Paschal Lamb, is spoken of in Exodus 12:0; Exodus 13:0: but the two others are here first named. The whole three are spoken of as if they were familiarly known to the people. The points that are especially enjoined are that every male Israelite should attend them at the sanctuary (compare Exodus 34:23), and that he should take with him an offering for Yahweh, presenting... read more

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