Chapters 20-23 of Exodus form a section called in 24:7 the Book of the Covenant. In 21:1-22:15, Yahweh gave Israel laws relating to how they were to treat their slaves and how they were to make restitution for physical harm done to others or the damage of someone else’s property. 22:16-23:9 then provided a number of eclectic laws that each gave Israel a vision for how they were to distinguish themselves from the nations around them. Preceding those large sets of laws were the brief instructions regarding altars and worship in 20:22-26. Those regulations are now paralleled in the text before us, which also focuses upon Israel’s worship of Yahweh. Yet while the laws of the altar largely concerned the place of Israel’s worship, the commands before us will center predominately upon Israel’s time of worship.

SABBATH YEARS & DAYS

Our text begins with God’s commands regarding Sabbath years and days:

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

Did this mean that no one in Israel was allowed to farm on the seventh year? Some, like Douglas Stuart, say no. He argues that this command was for allowing particular fields to lie fallow every seventh year, but other fields could still be cultivated because they would be on a different seven-year cycle. This would mean that the poor would always have fallow fields in Israel to eat from.

Other, like Tremper Longman III, believe that all of Israel was called to cease from farming on the seventh year. He writes of Leviticus’ more detailed description:

Leviticus 25 describes a system whereby every seventh year was a Sabbath, when no field was to be planted, pruned, or harvested. Indeed, the Israelite farmer was not even permitted to store any crop that was produced naturally. Everyone could eat this food, but it could not be stored. Israel’s observance of this regulation was totally a matter of trusting God. The agriculture of the area was tenuous enough normally. To actually give up a year of work and expect to eat the following year was to believe that God could and would take care of his people.

Immanuel in Our Place, 171.

Which is correct? We do not know for certain, but we do know that this was for Israel’s good. Stuart writes:

Here Israel learned that their farming practices must include a regular pattern of noncultivation. The purpose of such a practice every seventh year of letting the land lie fallow centered on the way such a routine helped the poor and wildlife. From an agri-science point of view, it also would allow the land some time for additional nitrogen fixing as natural grassing-over would occur on most of the surface of the uncultivated land, and this would be good for the land in the long run. The focus of the command, however, is ecological-humanitarian and not on improving productivity.

Exodus, 530.

We would do well to take that principle to heart. More and more studies continue to find positive benefits that come from the spiritual disciplines that God commands. Meditation greatly improves focus and mental health. Prayer relieves stress and anxiety. Songs sink further into the heart than mere pieces of information ever could. Gathering regularly with and belonging to a community is a great buffer against the epidemic of loneliness and gives plenty of opportunities to do good to others, which naturally makes us feel better. However, all of these positive benefits are not the point themselves; rather, they simply prove what Christ said: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The long-term health of Israel’s soil was a benevolent by-product of trusting in Yahweh’s provisional hand.

Verse 12 then describes the Sabbath day:

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Notice that, as with Sabbath year, this particular command to observe the Sabbath day does not mention the worship of Yahweh; instead, it focuses upon the rest of the Israelites and the rest that they ought to provide to their servants and animals. As Ryken notes:

The Sabbath was not just something the people owed to God, but also something they owed to one another. When they were slaves in Egypt, the Israelites never had a chance to rest. However, God did not want that sin to be repeated in Israel. Workers, including household servants, needed to be refreshed by celebrating a weekly Sabbath.

Exodus, 711.

Indeed, that is the main difference in the Ten Commandments as listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Exodus 20 commands the Sabbath to be remembered because of the pattern that God established in creation, but Deuteronomy 5 commands it because He liberated Israel out of slavery and they were to also give rest to their servants.

Regardless of how we believe a Sabbath should or should not be observed by Christians today, it is difficult to deny the inherent goodness behind this command. There is certainly plenty of legalism that can be conjured up, as there was in Jesus’ own day, but keeping to Jesus’ principle always in mind is the safeguard against such legalism: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Of course, as with everything that Jesus said, this was not a new teaching; He was simply making the principle behind the Old Testament commands.

To revolt against rest is childish. As any parent knows, fully half of all parenting takes place while trying to get a child to nap or sleep. And we prove ourselves to be no less childish whenever we rebel against God’s good design for us to rest. Of course, we could go even further, for a steadfast refusal to rest is an idolatrous refusal to trust in the Lord. It is easy to say that we trust in God’s provision, but it is another thing entirely to actually place our trust in God’s provision by resting in Him and not taking everything into our own hands. And as these commands particularly show, refusal to rest also does harm to those around us. Stuart rightly gives particular application, saying:

Thus the family that expects a wife/mother to prepare twenty-one meals per week without respite and serve the needs of the family equally on all days violates the command, as would the dairy farmer who never takes a break from the twice-daily milking, or the policeman who does special-duty shifts on days off from regular shifts, or the pastor who never sets for himself or herself a day off or its equivalent. People who do not observe the Sabbath, either in one day or its distributed equivalent, deny themselves or others the sort of life God intended.

Exodus, 533.

Indeed, we should take care to rest in the Lord because if we fail to do so, like the loving Father that He is, He will often force us to rest or give rest to those who we have kept from rest. Consider how He did so with Israel, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:17-21:

Therefore [Yahweh] brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

More importantly, however, we should have a desire to happily rest in our Lord. Hear Christ’s call to you today: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). We certainly go to Christ for our spiritual rest from attempting to earn our own salvation, yet we also go to Him for wholistic rest of heart, soul, and body. We have terrible judgment of what kind of rest is best for us. We often turn to entertainment to “unwind,” yet rest is hardly ever the result. Should we not instead take Christ at His word and go to Him for rest? And where can we find Christ? In His Word and with His Body.

PAY ATTENTION // VERSE 13

Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

Since the Israelites cried out for God to speak to them through Moses after the giving of the Ten Commandments, we might think that they would have no need to be told to pay attention to God’s words. However, as most people who have lived through potentially life-threatening circumstances can attest, there is frequently a strong resolve to live a better life, followed by almost immediately returning to old habits. Although the Israelites were likely still trembling from hearing God’s audible voice, the human heart is remarkably forgetful. Matthew Henry wisely notes that “A man may ruin himself through mere carelessness, but he cannot save himself without great care and circumspection” (375).

So it is with the things of God. Many make shipwreck of their faith simply because they failed to pay attention to God’s Word. Especially within the Internet Age, attention is perhaps the most valuable commodity on the market. Facebook, Netflix, and all the others have a highly financial interest in keeping your attention upon their platform as long as possible. But here we are summoned to give our primary and supreme attention to what God is still saying to us through these words. Stuart notes:

This general law is not merely a conclusion or merely an introduction but a summation of what precedes and follows. It is even possible at ‘amarti (NIV and most versions, “I have said”) could in this context bear the sense “I am saying” since the Hebrew perfect tense can refer to actions ongoing that began in the past, nor merely actions completed in the past.

Exodus, 533.

Connected to paying attention to what Yahweh has and is still saying to us is not giving our attention to false gods. Here Israel is told to avoid even mentioning the names of the so-called other gods. The Sabbath day and Sabbath were instituted as rhythmic reminders for Israel remember and pay attention to Yahweh their God. But God also instituted three feasts as well, as we will see in the verse 14-19.

PILGRIM FEASTS // VERSES 14-19

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, for 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.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was already instituted back in chapter 13 since it is fundamentally connected to the Passover. It was a celebration of their redemption and freedom from Egypt. The eating of unleavened bread was visible picture of their breaking away from Egypt, for bread was typically made each day using a bit of the dough saved from the day before. Thus, to eat unleavened bread was display of breaking away from that long line of leaven.

The Feast of Harvest, which will also be called the Feast of Weeks, took place, as the name suggests, at the time of harvest. It was a feast in celebration of God’s provision.

The Feast of Ingathering, also called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, was the biggest of all, for it came at the full ingathering of Israel’s crops. The Israelites would also later be commanded to dwell in tents over the course of the feast as a reminder of their time in the wilderness.

At the end of verse 15, God states that None shall appear before me empty-handed. Verses 18-19 then explain what kind of offerings God expected the Israelites to bring to His feasts:

You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

As for the fat remaining until the morning, Stuart suggests that since the fat portions were always to be given to the LORD, “someone who tried to keep them for any other purpose—perhaps something as “minor” as keeping them overnight for use along with the morning offering, but perhaps for actual eating—was failing to sacrifice properly. At minimum keeping the fat until morning would be ‘making God wait for his portion of the sacrifice,’ and could not be tolerated” (538). This should cause us to again note that God reserves the exclusive right to dictate how He is to be worshiped.

Verse 19 commands them to bring the very best of their firstfruits to God. Deuteronomy 26 records the liturgy the Israelites were instructed to follow as they presented their firstfruits, and it is worth reading in its entirety:

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.

And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

Notice a few things. First, although the worshiper was giving his offering to the priest, the priest was the representative of Yahweh; thus, the Israelite was coming “before the LORD your God.” Second, he recounted in brief the history of Israel from God’s promise to Abraham through their deliverance from Egypt and then to their settling in the Promise Land. With that history of salvation recounted, the worshiper then presented his offering, saying: “And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.” Third, notice that then the worshiper was called to rejoice in all the good that Yahweh had done. Fourth, offering then went to feed the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. Finally, the liturgy ends with the worshiper praying for God’s blessing upon all of Israel, and God responds by promising to bless all of Israel, if they indeed take care to obey God’s commands.

Like all liturgies, that act of offering the best of their firstfruits, the thrice yearly journey to the house of God (which would eventually be in the city of Jerusalem), and Sabbath days and years were meant to shape the hearts of the Israelites toward God. They were to function like signs throughout the Israelite’s life for reminding them to pay attention the commands of Yahweh.

We would do well to consider our own habits and rhythms as well. Many find the liturgical calendar (i.e. Advent, Lent, etc.) to be helpful, and if so, they can be gladly practiced with joy. Yet since they are extrabiblical practices, no one should ever be guilted into observing them. All Christians, however, would do well to observe the Lord’s Day. Even here, there is no direct command to gather together on Sunday. Yet we are commanded to gather regularly, and even within the New Testament, the church did so on Sunday. This too should be a physical rehearsal of the gospel to us.

In Christ, we honor the Lord’s Day as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ together and proclaim that He will one day come again, and as we do so, we begin the week by resting before we work. This is a tangible picture how we are saved to do good works and faith without works is dead, but these works come after our justification once for all in Christ. Just as we begin the week with rest and then work, so do all of our good works flow from our already being forgiven in Christ.

Ryken notes of these three feasts:

There seems to be a progression. The worship year began with unleavened bread and ended with lavish feasting. This says something about God and his grace. Salvation is always getting better and better as God piles one blessing on top of another.

Exodus, 716.

Indeed, these feasts were acts of celebration, and they were to be received by the Israelites with joy, for they were being summoned to “appear before the Lord GOD.” They were being called into the presence of the King of kings to eat feast with Him and eat at His table. How could they not rejoice at such a command!

And if Israel had reason to rejoice, how much more do we! Colossians 2:16-17 reads:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Jesus Himself is our Sabbath rest, our soul’s festive delight, and the Living Water and Bread of Life. The Sabbaths, the feasts, and offerings were all meant to fix the Israelites’ wandering minds upon Yahweh their God and for them to rejoice in their communion with Him. But as the Hebrews labored to make known to us, we should all the more fix our minds upon Christ because He has given us a far greater communion with God than even Moses experienced.

Indeed, just as the Lord’s Day testifies to our redemption, so does the Lord’s Supper. Although this piece of bread and sip of the cup is no physical feast, it points us toward the spiritual feast that we have in Christ through His broken body and shed blood. Indeed, this weekly invitation to come to the Table is a reminder that we now have unhindered access to God as both our King and our Father. Unlike the Israelites, we need no priestly mediation on earth because Christ Himself is our High Priest and commands us to draw boldly to the throne through Him. Let us, therefore, taste and see the goodness of our God in this visual sermon before us, and let us offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the One who gave Himself as a sacrifice for us.