Deuteronomy 16:9-12 -

The Feast of Weeks, or of Harvest.

This Feast of Weeks was not commemorative in the same sense as that of the Passover; it was connected, not with a great national epoch, but with the seasons of the year and the times of harvest. The method in which it was to be observed is stated in Leviticus 23:10 , et seq . We find there, and in the various Scripture references to this festival, the following principles indicated.

1. That the Hebrews were to regard the produce of the soil as given to them by the bounty of God.

2. That they were to honor Jehovah by a public thanksgiving for his goodness.

3. That they were to yield the firstfruits to him.

4. That they were to rejoice and be glad before him, for what he was and for what he gave.

5. That they were to recognize the equality before God of master and servant. National festivals were holidays for the laborer, and times when good will and kindliness towards the "stranger, the fatherless, and widow" were to be specially manifested.

6. They were thus to recognize their national unity by showing their joint thankfulness for a common mercy. These festivals would strengthen Israel's feeling of kinship, and these united gatherings before the Lord their God would proclaim, as often as they were held, their separation unto him.

7. Though this was a harvest festival, and as such chiefly expressive of thankfulness for the bounty of God as seen in nature, yet it was not to be observed without the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the meat offering (cf. Le Leviticus 23:18-20 ). Other offerings were to be presented along with the offering for sin. Natural blessings are given to sinful men only under a dispensation of mercy which comes through a bleeding sacrifice.

Now all these forms have passed away. But the principles which underlay them are of eternal obligation. We trust we can see, by means of these signs, the everlasting truths signified by them. In each of the particulars named above some permanent principle is enclosed.

I. THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH ARE TO BE RECEIVED BY US AS GRANTED TO US BY THE BOUNTY OF A GRACIOUS GOD . So commonplace, or rather so well-known, a truth is this, that it is not easy for us to picture to ourselves a time when a nation needed to have it engraved on its heart and conscience by such means as these divinely appointed festivals. Still, we cannot be unconscious of forces around us being at work which, if we succumbed to them, would lead us to think of the ordinary products of the harvest-field as coming simply in due course of law, and to regard the Supreme Being as so remotely concerned in earth's fruitfulness, that it would be but a slight step to take to think of him as not concerned therein at all! But in no part of the sacred records is any such thinking warranted. Reason itself would lead us to suppose that, if one order of creation is higher than another, the lower was made to serve it; and consequently, that if man be the highest of all, that the rest is ordered to serve him. The Psalmist expressed this when he sang, "Thou hast put all things under his feet." Our Lord Jesus Christ points us to the most common blessings, even to the sun and the rain, in proof of the good will of a heavenly Father. And this is at once the philosophy and the faith of a Christian. It is the conclusion of sober sense; it is the dictum of devoutness, piety, and love. "Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."

II. THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH SHOULD THEREFORE BE RECEIVED WITH THANKSGIVING . The doctrine that God is the benevolent Author of all our mercies is not to be a barren and unfruitful dogma. It is meant to call forth thankfulness. It is said of the heathen, "neither were they thankful." They did not know enough of God to understand what true thankfulness meant. But we do. He is revealed in Scripture as having such watchful concern for our good, that we may well feel an exuberance of thankful delight that our daily joys come to us from a fountain of love. And it behooves us to pay our God the homage of grateful hearts.

III. THIS THANKFULNESS SHOULD BE EXPRESSED PRACTICALLY . The truly loyal heart will need no reminder of this. Cela va sans dire . Jacob needed no precept to lead him to say, "Of all that thou givest me, I wilt surely give the tenth unto thee." Nor, if our hearts are as sensitive as they should be to our own unworthiness and to God's loving-kindness, shall we fail to "honor the Lord with our substance, and with the firstfruits of all our increase."

IV. OUR GRATITUDE TO GOD SHOULD TAKE THE FORM OF UNITED WORSHIP AND SONG . We may set apart special seasons for harvest festivals, or no, as circumstances dictate; but certainly the Divine provision for the temporal wants of man should find gladsome acknowledgment in the social worship of a thankful people.

V. A UNITED ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD 'S KINDNESS TO US ALL SHOULD HAVE THE EFFECT OF PROMOTING KINDLINESS AMONG EACH OTHER . If God makes us glad with his loving goodness, we should make others glad with our radiant kindness ( 1 John 3:17 ; 1 John 4:11 ). The love streaming from heaven is revealed for the purpose of creating benevolence upon earth. The blessings that come to us, unworthy as we are, from the pure benevolence of God, should make us eager, as much as in us is, to emulate the goodness of heaven!

VI. For, lastly, NOT EVEN IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR COMMON MERCIES MAY WE FORGET THEIR RELATION TO THAT DIVINE REDEMPTIVE PLAN WROUGHT OUT BY THE GREAT SON OF GOD . Israel's rejoicing was to be sanctified by a sin offering; by which we see