Deuteronomy 16:1-22
1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrificea the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.
9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tributeb of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy cornc and thy wine:
14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the wordsd of the righteous.
20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image;e which the LORD thy God hateth.
As the section dealing with the statutes commenced with the place of worship, it closed with the restatement of the importance of the great feasts which by their annual recurrence set the whole year in relation to worship.
The year commenced with the Passover. Thus at the beginning the Hebrews were reminded of how their true national existence resulted from their deliverance by God out of Egypt's bondage. The Passover feast must be maintained in the land and observed at the proper center of worship in order that the day of the exodus might be remembered perpetually. Thus their fundamental relationship to God was to be brought to mind at the beginning of every year.
The next event of importance in the consecration of the year was the feast of Pentecost, in which the first fruits of the harvest were to be presented to the Lord, thus reminding them that not only their existence as a nation, but their perpetual sustenance was dependent on the selfsame fact of relationship to Him.
Finally, in this particular application came the feast of Tabernacles. This was to be a time of rejoicing in which master and servant, people and priests, fathers and children, the prosperous and the bereft were all to be included.
On these three occasions all the males were called upon to appear before God and to bring with them gifts. Thus the value and importance of stated and united worship were solemnly enforced on the people as they stood on the threshold of their land.
In this chapter, verse eighteen, we have commenced the section dealing with the subject of judgments. Here Moses commanded the appointment of judges and officers and declared the principles on which they were to act. These were to be those of strict righteousness without any wresting of judgment. There must be no respect of persons and no reception of bribes. There must be no false worship.