Deuteronomy Chapter 16
In this chapter, we read about 3 of the feasts that the people of Israel were commanded to keep. The Passover, followed by the Feast of the Weeks, and then finally the Feast of the Tabernacles.
We may have heard many sermons speaking about the significance of each of these Feasts and I would not pretend to be able to explain it better… and so I won’t 🙂
But as I was reading this chapter, a few words sprang up.
Rejoice
“Rejoice”.
We read this in verses 11 and 14.
You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide.
~ verse 11
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
~ verse 14
In verse 11, it says to rejoice before the Lord your God and to remember that you were once slaves n Egypt. And in verse 14, we are to rejoice, again before the Lord your God, after gathering from the threshing floor and winepress.
We are to be thankful and rejoice whatever our circumstances are. When things are not going great, we learn to be thankful and rejoice. When things are going well, we do likewise.
As we have been told time and time again, it is very easy to be thankful and rejoice when everything is smooth sailing around us. But we tend to forget to do that when things get difficult.
The Feasts were occasions to remind the Israelites to remember all the things that God has done for us and once we recall them, we can indeed rejoice and be joyful… for God has blessed us.
You Shall Not Plant ….
21 “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. 22 You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
~ Deut 16:21-22
The chapter ends with these words to remind the people of Israel what they should not do.
It may seem very obvious but many a time, we do not even realise we have set up wooden images or sacred pillars in our lives, even when we are coming to church for many services each week.
Who we spend the most time with can often influence us a lot more than we think. Peer pressure can be more powerful than we think.
In Aesop’s fables, there is this story that illustrates this very well.
A man wished to purchase an Ass, and agreed with its owner that he should try out the animal before he bought him. He took the Ass home and put him in the straw-yard with his other Asses, upon which the new animal left all the others and at once joined the one that was most idle and the greatest eater of them all. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. On being asked how, in so short a time, he could have made a trial of him, he answered, “I do not need a trial; I know that he will be just the same as the one he chose for his companion.”
Even though the people of Israel kept the festivals of the Lord religiously… if on other days, they continued to allow idols and sacred pillars to be around them, they will naturally be influenced and this would be something that God hates.
Consider…. are there sacred pillars and wooden images we are building in our lives today? Let’s get rid of them quickly as we continue our whole-hearted worship of God.
