Exodus 23:16

16a. The secondpilgrimage, the Feast of Harvest, celebrating the completion of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22), in June, and marked by the offering of firstfruits from the ripened grain (in Exodus 34:22 -the firstfruits of wheat harvest" takes the place of -the firstfruits of thy labours" here). The term -Feast of Harvest" is found only here: in Exodus 34:22 and in Dt. (Deuteronomy 16:10; Deuteronomy 16:16) it is called the Feast of Weeks, on account of its being kept seven weeks after the sickle was first put to the corn, Deuteronomy 16:9, or (in H) after the first sheaf of the year's harvest had been presented to Jehovah as a wave-offering, Leviticus 23:15 (see v.10); and in Numbers 28:26 (P) the Day of firstfruits. For the regulations in the other codes, see Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Leviticus 23:15-21 (H and P: in H loaf of fine flour, baked with leaven, is to be -waved" as firstfruits to Jehovah; in a gloss (based on Num Exodus 28:27-30) the required sacrifices are prescribed); Numbers 28:26-31 (P).

labours work, as v.12 (G.-K. § 93ss); cf. 1 Samuel 25:2 Heb. The following words explain what is meant: (even) of that which thou sowestwould be clearer.

(even) of the firstfruits&c. Heb. bikkurim(cognate with bekôr, -firstborn," -firstling"), denoting properly firstripe fruit(including cereals) in general (as Nahum 3:12 lit. -figtrees with bikkurim"), but used specially of those portions of the -firstripe fruit" which were presented to Jehovah. Bikkurimoccurs besides v.19 (and the " " Exodus 34:22; Exodus 34:26), Leviticus 2:14; Leviticus 23:17; Leviticus 23:20; Numbers 13:20; Numbers 18:13; Numbers 23:26; 2 Kings 4:42 (-bread of firstfruits" brought to Elisha), Nehemiah 10:35; Nehemiah 13:31; Ezekiel 44:30 †. Cf. p. 246.

No historical significance is in the OT. attached to this festival; but by the later Jews it was regarded as commemorating the giving of the law -in the third month" of the Exodus (Exodus 19:1), which was supposed to have taken place 50 days after the 15th of the first month (Leviticus 23:6; the morning after the Passover on the 14th, Exodus 12:18).

16b. The thirdpilgrimage, the Feast of Ingathering, held at the end of the year, in September, when the threshing was finished, the vintage over, and the juice pressed out from the grapes and olives (Deuteronomy 16:13 -when thou gatherest in from thy threshing-floor and from thy wine-vat"). It is called the -Feast of Ingathering" also in Exodus 34:22 †: in Dt. (Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 16:16; Deuteronomy 31:10) and P (Leviticus 23:34), as also in later writers generally (Ezra 3:4; 2 Chronicles 8:13; Zechariah 14:16; Zechariah 14:18-19 †), it is called, from the custom of dwelling at the time in booths made of the branches of trees (Leviticus 23:40; Leviticus 23:42 [H]; Nehemiah 8:14-17), the Feast of Booths. This feast, according to Dt. (Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 16:15), H and P (Leviticus 23:34; Leviticus 23:39; Numbers 29:12), lasted for 7 days (cf. Nehemiah 8:18). It was an occasion of hilarity (cf. Deuteronomy 16:15 end, Leviticus 23:40 b): in Judges 9:27 a festival is mentioned, which seems to have been its Canaanite counterpart. Cf. also Judges 21:19; Judges 21:21. Comp., in the other codes, Deuteronomy 16:13-15; Leviticus 23:39-43 (mostly H); Leviticus 23:33-36; Numbers 29:12-38 (both P). In Leviticus 23:43 (H) the custom of dwelling in booths is explained as commemorating the fact that the Israelites dwelt in -booths" after their departure from Egypt. -Booths," or huts, are not however the same as tents: and the actual origin of the custom is more probably to be found in the fact that those employed in gathering the fruit-harvest would sleep at the time in huts in the vineyards and olive-gardens (cf. Isaiah 1:8). Afterwards, however, the ancient practice had a commemorative meaning attached to it (cf. on vv.14 17); and it was treated as a reminder of important events.

at the going out of the year The old Hebrew year ended, with the agricultural operations for the year, in autumn: cf. on Exodus 12:2.

labours lit. workhere of the product of the year's work in agriculture.