Chapter Sixteen

Repetition of the laws on the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. — The organization of the courts. — Prohibition of planting groves and setting up cylindrical pillars beside the altar of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 16:1. Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Deuteronomy 16:2. And sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and from the herd at the place that the Lord will choose to make his name dwell there. Deuteronomy 16:3. Do not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste — so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt all the days of your life; Deuteronomy 16:4. no leaven shall be found with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening on the first day shall remain until morning. Deuteronomy 16:5. You may not sacrifice the Passover in any of the settlements that the Lord your God will give you; Deuteronomy 16:6. but only at the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell — there you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt; Deuteronomy 16:7. and you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose, and in the morning you may turn back and go to your tents. Deuteronomy 16:8. For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; do not do any work. Cf. Exod 12:1-27; Lev 23:4-8; Num 9:1-14.

Deuteronomy 16:9. Count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count seven weeks from the time the sickle is put to the standing grain; Deuteronomy 16:10. then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the freewill offering of your hand, as much as you give, proportional to how the Lord your God has blessed you; Deuteronomy 16:11. and rejoice before the Lord your God — you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is in your settlements, and the sojourner, and the orphan, and the widow who are among you — at the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there; Deuteronomy 16:12. and remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and observe and carry out these statutes. Cf. Exod 23:16; Lev 23:15-21; Num 28:26-31. See note on Num 28:26-31.

Deuteronomy 16:13. Keep the feast of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press; Deuteronomy 16:14. and rejoice in your feast — you and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the orphan, and the widow who are in your settlements; Deuteronomy 16:15. for seven days keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be invoked there; for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy. Cf. Exod 23:16; Lev 23:33-36; Num 29:12-38.

Deuteronomy 16:16. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths; and no one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed, The three obligatory annual assemblies of the Hebrews at the tabernacle strengthened in the people the awareness and feeling of their religious and national unity.

Deuteronomy 16:18. In all your settlements that the Lord your God will give you, appoint judges and officers for your tribes, so that they may judge the people with righteous judgment; From the book Exod 18:13-26 it is clear that even at Rephidim Moses appointed commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and scribes, who were to settle ordinary cases and disputes among the Hebrews. But the division of Israel into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens was convenient during the wandering in the wilderness, when they lived as a military-disciplined mass, and was not convenient later, when the people were scattered throughout Canaan and the Transjordan. Therefore, in view of the imminent settlement of the Hebrews in the promised land, such an organization of the courts is indicated as would better correspond to the new conditions of the people’s life. The appointment of judges and scribes was to be applied to the resettlement of Israel. According to Jewish tradition, every significant village chose seven judges for itself, to whom two Levites were added.

Deuteronomy 16:21. Do not plant for yourself a grove of any kind of trees beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself, Deuteronomy 16:22. and do not set up for yourself a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. The planting of trees and the erection of cylindrical wooden pillars beside altars was a custom among the pagans.