Regulations Concerning The Annual Feasts (Exodus 23:14-19).
The people have arrived at Mount Sinai and are preparing for what lies ahead. These laws are therefore providing them with a blueprint of that future and acting as a spur. It is always a sign of good leadership to picture the final fulfilment of what is in front as an encouragement in the face of difficulties. As these specific regulations for the future were read out to them at various times and seen as God's law they would renew their vision for that future. It was so easy in the wilderness to lose sight of that future.
Those who cavil at such detailed provisions being made in the wilderness have never been on a long march into the unknown under arduous conditions, when often the only thing that holds the spirits up is the consideration of the future. As they heard these regulations read out, it assured them that, although the going was tough now, in the not too distant future there would be harvests, there would be ingatherings, they would have fields to leave fallow, for this is what the regulations guaranteed. It was worth struggling through the wilderness for. It was worth going on for, it was worth fighting for. And later the outline would be filled in as they neared their final goal. (Moses was not expecting it to take forty years. That would be due to disobedience).
We can analyse this as:
a Three times in a year a feast is to be kept (Exodus 23:14).
b The feast of unleavened bread. None shall appear before Him empty (Exodus 23:15).
c The feast of harvest. The firstfruit of their labours which they sow in their field (Exodus 23:16 a).
b The feast of ingathering. When they gather in their labours from the field (Exodus 23:16 b).
a Three times in a year all to appear before the Lord Yahweh (Exodus 23:17).
Note that in ‘a' they are to keep feasts three times a year, and in the parallel they are to appear before Yahweh three times a year. In ‘b' in the seven day feast of unleavened bread none are to appear before Him empty, and in the parallel in the seven day feast of ingathering they will gather their labours from the field. Both suggest plenteous provision. In ‘c' is the central one day feast where they offer the firstfruits of their labour, their rent and tribute.
“Three times you shall keep a feast for me during the year.”
There were to be three feasts, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the religious year, the feast of harvest (or ‘sevens') celebrating the firstfruits, and the feast of ingathering (or ‘tabernacles') ‘at the end of the year', that is at the end of the period of sowing and reaping. Note the concentration on the fruitfulness of the ground. Their future was bright indeed.
“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt. And none shall appear before me empty.”
Compare Exodus 34:18. This first feast was closely connected with the Passover and has already been outlined in Exodus 12 and Exodus 13. It was the time when the harvesting began (Deuteronomy 16:9). It would ever remind them of their deliverance from Egypt when they had to eat unleavened bread because of the haste in which they came out. It would include the waving of the sheaf before Yahweh (Leviticus 23:11).
“None shall appear before me empty.” (Compare 34:19-20; Deuteronomy 16:16). All must appear bringing offerings and sacrifices from their firstlings (34:19-20) and gifts from their harvest firstfruits to Yahweh as they are able. But the especial point is that all will have such gifts to bring.
“And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of your labours which you sow in the field.”
Compare Exodus 34:22 where it is the Feast of Sevens. This feast would be held seven sevens plus one day after the feast of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:15-21; Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12), and would celebrate the wheat harvest. It would include the waving of two wave loaves of fine flour baked with leaven as firstfruits to Yahweh, and celebrated the firstfruits of their labours (Exodus 34:22 has ‘the firstfruits of the wheat harvest'). It was later called the Feast of Sevens (weeks), and Pentecost.
“And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your labours out of the field.”
This was celebrated in the seventh month and was later called the feast of tabernacles. This was the final celebration of the whole harvest including the grapes and olives, the vintage was gathered in and the threshing was over for another year (Leviticus 23:33-44; Numbers 29:12-38; Deuteronomy 16:13-15).
“At the end of the year”, that is, the agricultural ‘year' when the harvests had been gathered in. We need not assume that Moses saw them as having two official calendars. The final gathering in of the vintage and summer fruits would necessarily be seen by them as ‘the end of the year'. Agriculturally the next step would be sowing for the following year. But their official calendar now began in April. Fixation of calendars was far from Moses' mind. Whatever happened later he was dealing in practicalities.
These three feasts encapsulated all the hopes of the children of Israel. They were promised here to a landless people who were encamped in the wilderness but who looked forward in the future to owning their own land, with fruitful fields and full harvests in the land of milk and honey. In these commandments their hope for the future was written large. What encouragement must have been theirs as they contemplated them together.
This was all probably patterned on the feasts they had kept of old in Canaan, the sheepshearing and the harvests. Such customs tend to linger on, especially in a strange land, even when the specific events connected with them have ceased.
Moses would certainly have enquired into conditions in Canaan in preparation for their arrival there. He would have been incompetent not to. And there would almost certainly be a number among the people who had more recently been in Canaan before going to Egypt
Note how brief the descriptions are and their concentration on ‘none shall appear before me empty', ‘the firstfruits of your labours', and ‘you gather in your labours out of the field', just the ideas suited to encouraging a pilgrimage people.
“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.”
This is the first specific indication to the reader that all are to gather three times a year at a central sanctuary to celebrate God's goodness. At these times sections of the history and the covenants would be read out as a reminder to the people of God's promises and requirements, including the earlier covenants with the fathers and the initial covenants with Adam (Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 3:17-19) and Noah (Genesis 9:1-7) with their background histories, and the people would make their response. Every seven years the whole of the Law which had been given to Moses and which he had written down (Deuteronomy 31:9; Deuteronomy 31:24) would be read out (Deuteronomy 31:11).
The children of Israel would be, and indeed already were, divided into twelve sub-tribes whose unity was to be maintained by their connection with a central sanctuary. The arrangement is called an Amphictyony (the pattern occurred elsewhere including in ancient Greece). This was a well known form of organisation among such peoples and we have already seen indications of such arrangements among peoples connected with Abraham (Genesis 22:20-24; Genesis 25:2-4; Genesis 25:13-15; Genesis 31:23; various combinations in Genesis 36 (e.g. 36:15-19, 29-30, 40-43 - note that they were not only sons but chieftains or ‘dukes'). Indeed the name Oholibamah means ‘tent of the high place').
“All your males.” The gathering was to be officially of the males, but they would often later be accompanied by their families. Such a gathering would also be called for when danger threatened (Judges 5:13-23).
“Shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.” Note the title. Yahweh is now their Overlord. The phrase ‘appear before' occurs in 23:15; 34:20, 23, 24; Deuteronomy 16:16; Deuteronomy 31:11; Isaiah 1:12 in this technical sense. They would come to His central sanctuary to worship and renew the covenant.