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<2025.02> The Seven Feasts Ⅱ - The Three Feasts in Exodus

The Seven Feasts Ⅱ
The Three Feasts in Exodus
Exodus 23:14-17
Exodus 34:18-24
Exodus chapters 23 and 34 contain words that God spoke when he gave the law at Mount Sinai, and Deuteronomy chapter 16 contains the words that Moses spoke to the Israelites on the east side of the River Jordan as they came to the end of their life of wandering in the wilderness. The above passages are closely related to the produce the Israelites would harvest once they had settled in the land of Canaan.
First, let’s consider the commandment they received at Mount Sinai.
Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOd.  Exodus 23:14-17
Here, there is no mention of the Passover; it says they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib to commemorate their departure from Egypt. This is the same as what it says in Exodus chapter 12 when the Israelites were told they were to celebrate the Passover for one week, beginning right after the evening of the event of the Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is inseparable from the Passover. There is also a significance to the fact that it was “for seven days,” but I will refer to that later. At this time, the Lord told them not to come before him empty-handed.
Then God commanded the observance of the Feast of Harvest. This was when the firstfruits had been harvested, and so it was called the Feast of Harvest. God said, “You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.” 
Let’s first consider the meaning of “labor” here. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and realized they were naked, they clothed themselves in loincloths that they had made with their own hands. Then, their son Cain offered a sacrifice of the fruits of the land which he had worked hard to produce. But God did not accept Cain’s offering. That is not to say that it is a sin to work hard. They were told to offer up the firstfruits of their labor at the time of the Feast of Harvest, but there is a limit to the significance of this. 
Since man is not able to do any more than make coverings of fig leaves and offer to God the produce from the ground, Jesus humbled himself and came to this earth in a form that we are about to recognize and understand, in human form. In other words, he appeared in the image of grain. The sacrifices and offerings at the time of a feast signify a humble person such as this returning to God; they cannot signify offering up the fruits of a person’s sin. The labor and the firstfruits signify Jesus’ suffering and glory.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Isaiah 53:11
The way in which the Feast of Harvest is referred to in Exodus chapter 23 is a little different from that in chapter 34. At the beginning of the new year in the land of Canaan, the first harvest was that of the barley. The barley that had been sown during late autumn of the previous year would be ripe for harvest about the time of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was around the beginning of April according to the solar calendar. Exodus chapter 34 verse 22 refers to “the first fruits of wheat harvest.” This was when the wheat was ready for harvest. Chapter 23 only says, “the Feast of Harvest” so it is difficult to say precisely which crop this refers to. All we can say is that, compared to the Passover, this feast is related more to crops, and that at the time of the Feast of Harvest, there is an emphasis on the firstfruits “of your labor.”
When it comes to the next feast, the Feast of Ingathering, the latter part of Exodus chapter 23 verse 16 says, “You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.” God commanded them to gather in and store up “the fruit of your labor” at harvest time at the end of the year. In Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 13, this is referred to as the Feast of Booths. This feast begins on the 15th day of the seventh month, which is in early October according to the solar calendar.* The harvest that was gathered in at this time were not grains, but fruits from trees such as olives, figs, and grapes which would have been gathered from summer onwards.
From this first references to the “three feasts” that were to be held in the course of the year, we can see clearly that there is something God was intending to say as he fitted these feasts in so precisely with the farming schedule. Then, as the Bible refers to these feasts repeatedly, their significance gradually becomes clearer. First of all, we need to bear in mind here that these feasts (the Feast of Harvest and the Feast of Ingathering) are very closely related to agriculture, in other words, to working the land. 
As we have seen, the content of the feasts of which God first spoke on Mount Sinai, rather than emphasizing some hidden meaning, focuses more on the superficial significance of the physical action of agricultural activity that involves actual working of the land. It is reminiscent of the image of the Israelites as they went through their long history accompanied by the law. 
In this way, the men were to present the results of their work to the Lord God three times a year. 
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