Deuteronomy 16

This chapter belongs to the collection of laws in Deuteronomy 12–26. Following Deuteronomy 15, which deals with the year of release and the firstborn of the flock and herd, it sets out the feasts to be observed each year and then turns to regulations concerning the administration of justice and worship.

Outline

• Verses 1–8: Passover is to be kept in the month of Abib. The sacrifice is to be offered not in each town but at the place the LORD chooses. For seven days the people eat unleavened bread, "the bread of affliction," and on the seventh day they gather for a solemn assembly and do no work.
• Verses 9–12: Seven weeks are counted from the day the sickle is first put to the standing grain, and then the Feast of Weeks is kept. The people bring a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing they have received and rejoice together with their sons and daughters, their servants, the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows.
• Verses 13–15: After gathering in the produce of the threshing floor and the winepress, the people keep the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days and rejoice together.
• Verses 16–17: Three times a year every male is to appear before the LORD at the place He chooses. No one is to come empty-handed; each is to give as he is able, according to the blessing he has received.
• Verses 18–20: Judges and officers are to be appointed in every town. They are commanded not to pervert judgment, not to show partiality, and not to take bribes, but to follow justice alone.
• Verses 21–22: The people are commanded not to set up an Asherah pole or a sacred pillar beside the altar.

Key Verses

• Deuteronomy 16:3: "unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction" — shows that the feast serves as a means of remembering the Exodus all the days of one's life.
• Deuteronomy 16:16: "they shall not appear before the LORD empty" — frequently cited as a verse linking worship with giving.
• Deuteronomy 16:20: "That which is altogether just shalt thou follow" — places the call for just judgment immediately after the regulations for the feasts.

People and Places

• Egypt: The land where Israel had been enslaved and from which the people came out.
• The place the LORD chooses: The place of worship the LORD chooses to place His name. The text does not name the location; later interpreters commonly understand it as Jerusalem.
• The Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows: Mentioned repeatedly as neighbors who are to share in the rejoicing of the feasts.

Points for Reflection

• In Exodus 12 Passover is observed in the home, whereas this chapter directs that it be kept at the one place the LORD chooses. Scholars and traditions differ on how to explain this difference.
• The chapter has many connections with the New Testament. Passover is linked to the Last Supper, and Paul calls Christ "our passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Feast of Weeks is the day on which the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7).

In the Korean Church

The passages on the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles are frequently read in sermons for Wheat Harvest Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving. Verses 16–17 are often used as a text encouraging thanksgiving offerings.