Deuteronomy 16
Big idea: Three feasts a year, and the same guest list at each one. Passover in Abib, kept at the chosen place because in that month Yahweh brought you out by night; Weeks, seven weeks after the sickle first goes to the standing grain; and Booths, after the threshing floor and wine press are gathered in. And at each, the command is not merely to attend but to rejoice — you, your son, your daughter, your servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow within your gates. The chapter closes with a judicial charge that has outlived its context: you shall make judges in all your gates; you shall not pervert justice, show partiality or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise. You shall follow that which is altogether just.
Chapter 16 appoints judges in every town. Chapter 17 tells them what to do with a case too hard for them — and adds a king who must read the law daily.
16:1–8 — The bread of affliction
Passover reframed for a settled nation. The lamb that was once eaten in each doorway must now be sacrificed at the chosen place — the festival is centralised like everything else — and the unleavened bread is given a name that keeps it from becoming merely ceremonial: the BREAD OF AFFLICTION, eaten because there was no time to let dough rise.
1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you; 6 but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work.
16:9–17 — Rejoice — you, and everyone in your gates
Two more feasts, and what they have in common is a guest list. Both times the same seven are named — son, daughter, male servant, female servant, Levite, foreigner, fatherless, widow — so rejoicing is defined by who is present, not by what is felt. Verse 15's instruction is the boldest: you shall be ALTOGETHER JOYFUL, which is a command about a mood.
9 You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how Yahweh your God blesses you. 11 You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes. 13 You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. 15 You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh chooses, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to Yahweh your God’s blessing which he has given you.
16:18–22 — Follow that which is altogether just
Five verses that begin the constitutional section of the book — judges appointed in every town, by tribe — and the standard set for them is unusually pointed. A bribe is said to BLIND THE EYES OF THE WISE, so the danger named is not to the stupid but to the competent. And the charge is doubled for emphasis: justice, justice you shall pursue.
18 You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves. 22 Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).