Bible Commentaries

Three annual festivals (16:1-17)

Each year all the male adults in Israel were to gather at the central place of worship for the three great annual festivals: Passover-Unleavened Bread at the beginning of the year (16:1-8; see notes on Exodus 12:1-51; Leviticus 23:4-14); Firstfruits-Weeks, or Harvest Festival, seven weeks after Passover (9-12; see notes on Leviticus 23:15-22); and Tabernacles-Ingathering, or Festival of Shelters, six months after Passover (13-17; see notes on Leviticus 23:33-44).

Justice and government (16:18-17:20)

A collection of miscellaneous laws deals with a variety of civil and religious matters. The courts had to administer justice impartially (18-20); the worship of Yahweh was not to involve any symbols or sacred objects taken from other religions (21-22); people were not to offer sick or lame animals in sacrifice (17:1); the testimony of at least two witnesses had to be in agreement before an accused person could be punished (2-7); and when local judges found a case too difficult to decide, they had to take it to the central place of worship where a higher court of judges and priests could decide it (8-13).

God foresaw that the people would later want a king like other nations, so he gave them in advance some of the qualifications and duties of an Israelite king (14-17). The man who became king was to make his own copy of God's law and study it constantly, so that he might govern the people according to God's standards (18-20).