The Seven Feasts  ⅦThe Three Feasts in the Book of DeuteronomyDeuteronomy chapter 16In the book of Deuteronomy Moses, in the plains of Moab, looks back over the past forty years spent wandering in the wilderness and tells us once more about the path the Israelites have taken and the law God had given through Moses. Moses was not permitted to enter the land of Canaan. It was his task to lead the Israelites as far as the east side of the River Jordan. In the plains of Moab, Moses handed his task over to Joshua, and as he was about to meet his death, he spoke these words recorded in the book of Deuteronomy to the people of Israel. The Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened BreadObserve the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.  Deuteronomy 16:1-8The words God spoke twice at Mount Sinai regarding the “three feasts” and his explanation of the “seven feasts” that he gave later do not include detailed instructions for the Feast of the Passover. In Exodus chapters 23 and 34, God spoke about the Feast of Unleavened Bread rather than the Passover, and in Leviticus chapter 23, only the name and date of the Passover are mentioned as God spoke about the convocation and period of rest that were to be observed at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.When God spoke in Numbers chapter 28 about the sacrifices—words that were spoken east of the Jordan in the same place as the passage quoted above from Deuteronomy—once more he only made brief mention of the Passover, saying, “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover” (verse 16).When the Israelites went through the Passover in Egypt, God told them precisely what they were to do (see Exodus chapter 12). But after that, rather than giving a detailed explanation of this feast, God reminded them in various ways of how he had led the Israelites out of Egypt. Furthermore, God was enraged every time the people longed for Egypt and were intent on going back there. Now that the promised land was right in front of them, Moses presented the law to the people once more, and this time he explained the meaning of the Passover step by step.Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.  Deuteronomy 16:1First, he said it was in the month of Abib, the first month, “by night” that God led the Israelites out of Egypt.And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.  Deuteronomy 16:2Through the entire book of Deuteronomy, Moses explained the nature of the land of Canaan which the Israelites were about to enter, and he told the Israelites about the sins of the seven tribes of Canaan. Yet from chapter 12 of Deuteronomy, God frequently spoke of one particular place he would choose in this land. From history, we can know that place is Jerusalem, and it was there that the temple would later be built. At that time, however, it would not have been easy for the Israelites to understand these words. They had spent 430 years in Egypt, and the land of Canaan was unfamiliar territory to them.At this time, Moses commanded that the sacrifice for the Passover was to be offered “at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.” Before the time of David, the tabernacle was not in Jerusalem but in Shiloh, so this would have been where they observed the Passover. Yet it is only right that the place implied here should be Jerusalem since this is directly related to the fact that it was in Jerusalem that Jesus was crucified. The sacrifice of the Passover in Egypt signifies redemption from the world of sin, and it is a shadow of the true sacrifice that would be carried out in Jerusalem at the time of a Passover about 1,400 years later. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.  Deuteronomy 16:3The unleavened bread is expressed as “the bread of affliction” here. This is to explain the precious body of Jesus who himself was without sin, but took upon himself the sin of all mankind, allowing all the suffering and shame to be inflicted upon his one body. Previously, we studied Exodus chapter 12 verses 33-34, where it says that the Israelites came out of Egypt “in haste.”At this point, Moses said, “That all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt,” but actually, the large majority of the people who heard Moses speaking at this time did not know much about Egypt. All of the first generation who came out of Egypt died during the forty years in the wilderness, and the Israelites now consisted of the descendants who were born to those who had been children at the time of the Exodus. Such facts reflect precisely how, when Jesus comes to the land of Israel the second time, the descendants of the Israelites who did not recognize

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