Exodus 23:14–19

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions is for every day you and I we get together We have a little bit of coffee we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2023 Lord willing we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus Glad to be with you this morning. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll jump into God's Word Let's pray Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the singing birds. We thank you that you provide for us and you protect us. You give us our daily bread and you woke us up this day. We pray now that you would please Bless us with your spirit that you would teach us, instruct us, correct us, rebuke us, train us in righteousness, that we may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We pray this in Jesus's name. Amen.
All right. So we are at Exodus chapter 23. beginning at verse 14 three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread you shall eat unleavened bread seven days as i commanded you at the time appointed in the month of abib For in it you came out of Egypt, none shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God. you shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread nor shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning the first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the lord your god you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk well we need to ask ourselves a what's this about b what's the best verse to summarize this and c What are we called to do? Right. So what's this about? Well, God here is giving three different feasts that he's commanding them. They're going to keep every year and all the men have to go to it.
Why not women? Well, sometimes women can't leave their childbearing. It's difficult to travel, et cetera, et cetera. Rabbis would eventually say any time bound laws didn't apply to women. But they were allowed to go. It's clear they're allowed to go. I think that that's one of the things that when Mary and Joseph go to the temple, it shows that they're allowed to go. But it's not a requirement for them.
But anyways, what are these three different feasts or festivals that annually all the men had to show up to the tabernacle? to celebrate. Well, first is the Passover. This is connected with that 10th plague in Egypt. We've talked a lot about that already. And then the second one here in verse 16 is the Feast of Harvest. This is the Pentecost. 50 days after the Sabbath of the Passover, they were to celebrate God bringing them a harvest. And the last one here is a feast of ingathering, or the Feast of First Fruits.
This is later referred to in other places of being the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, where people would be, it would be tied not only to the harvest and the first fruits, but it would be tied to this idea that they were Sojourners and strangers in the land and God gave them God gave them the land of Canaan So there's three different feasts and festivals that are all tied around the agricultural calendar meant to bring people to the Lord to realize it was not going to be some of the pagan gods all throughout the Canaanite culture that were bringing them the rain and the fertility and the harvest and safety and security. These were all coming from the Lord God himself. And then a few stipulations for those is verses 18 through 19, right? We have different stipulations.
You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, right? For the Passover, there is no leaven allowed to be in the houses, right? Give it all the leaven, then you do the sacrifice. So that's where this is tying into. Nor shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning, right? When they were to make this Passover sacrifice, It was to be done. Burn it all one day. Don't leave it around.
The first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. So this is tying back into that feast of ingathering. Sorry, the feast of harvest. So when the first fruits of that harvest came, You're to bring it, right? You're to bring it to the house of the Lord. You're to bring it to the tabernacle.
And the last one, which has still many Jewish people adhering to today, you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. This is one of the key regulations for the kosher laws that many Jewish people still hold today, meaning And that rabbi's saying this and they think that you're not allowed to have dairy and meat in the same dish. Now, I'm not sure that that's actually what this is getting at. It's most likely that there's a pagan ritual of the Canaanite area that would do this.
And the Lord is saying you're not to be like them in there. And they're thinking that somehow when you partake in these, that there's going to be a fruitful harvest or sustenance for your life. But this is, biblical scholars argue about this all the time, what exactly does this verse mean? It's actually mentioned here and two other places in the Pentateuch, so the Lord takes it that seriously.
Some scholars think that it's just, well, if there's a nursing calf, then the milk could have blood in it, and so that would make it unclean. And that's what I'm saying, it goes all over the place, what exactly this is getting at. What's the point of all of this though, right? What's the general equity of this?
It's the Lord, their God, who redeemed them up out of Egypt. Who is keeping his promise to Abraham, giving the people the promised land. He's going to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. And when they come into the land, they are to remember that he's the one who redeemed them. When they take the Passover, they're to remember that he's the one who's the Lord of the harvest. when they bring in their first fruit. And they are to remember every year as they sleep in tents or booths or tabernacles, as they go for the big camp out every year, to remember it was the Lord who gave them their homes. It was God who provided for them. God who provides for us today.
Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father cares for them. Look at the grass of the field. Look at the lilies. Look how beautiful they are arrayed. I tell you that even Solomon in all of his splendor was not clothed as one of these. And yet it's here today and gone tomorrow, thrown into the fire. Are you not more valuable than the birds?
He provides for you. He loves you, Christian, and you're going to work hard. You're going to till the field of your life. You're going to have to work your job. You're going to have to do all these things, but it's the Lord who's going to provide for you. It's the Lord who's going to care for you. It's the Lord who blesses us with our daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Don't be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow's got enough things to worry about of its own.
But what are we called to do? To let our requests be made known to Him with thanksgiving. And then to have the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding. Guard our hearts and our minds as we meditate upon those things that are good and just and pure and lovely, praiseworthy and of good report.
This is how we're to follow Him. We don't have these feasts and festivals anymore. They have been subsumed, they have been completed, they have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He's our Passover lamb. He's the one who has fulfilled these things for us. But the general equity of it still stands. We get to celebrate now His goodness and His love for us. We get to love Him and to praise Him for how wonderful He is to us.
Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you that you know that we need food and we need clothing. We pray that we know it would not be like the pagans chasing after these things, but that we would trust in you. That you provide for us, that you love us, that our life is more valuable than food and clothing. And that you are the God of promise. who always watches over your people, giving us our daily portion. So Lord, we pray that we would be those who would trust in you, those who would love you, those who would rest in your fatherly goodness, that you will give to us what we need. We thank you. for your watchful eye and your keeping of your promises.
In Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and I'll see you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week.
If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.