Deuteronomy 16:13

Deu_16:13-15. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

(13) Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days.—For details of the observance see the passages already referred to in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but more especially Lev_23:33-43.

(14) Thou, and thy son . . .—The rejoicing of the Feast of Tabernacles was proverbial among the Jews. On the persons who are to share the joy, Rashi has an interesting note. “The Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow,—My four (Jehovah’s), over against thy four—thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant. If thou wilt make My four to rejoice, I will rejoice thy four.”

(15) Seven days.—An eighth day is mentioned both in Lev_23:36 and Num_29:35. But the seven days of this feast are also spoken of in both those passages (Lev_23:36 and Num_29:12). There is, therefore, no contradiction between the two passages. The eighth day is treated apart from the first seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, somewhat in the same way as the Passover is always distinguished in the Pentateuch from the six days which followed it, and which are called the Feast of Unleavened bread. The reason for the distinction in that case becomes clear in the fulfilment of the feast by our Lord. The Passover is His sacrifice and death. We keep the feast of unleavened bread by serving Him in “sincerity and truth.” The Feast of Tabernacles has not yet been fulfilled by our Lord like the two other great feasts of the Jewish calendar. Unfulfilled prophecies regarding it may be pointed out, as in Zechariah 14. Our Lord refused to signalise that feast by any public manifestation (Joh_7:2-10). There may, therefore, be some reason for separating the eighth and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles from the former seven, which will appear in its fulfilment in the kingdom of God. It is remarkable that the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the commencement of the second temple and the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, all occurred about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Thou shalt surely rejoice.—In the Hebrew this is a somewhat unusual form of expression. Literally, thou wilt be only rejoicing. Rashi says it is not a command, but a promise.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 16:13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

Ver. 13. Thou shalt observe.] {See Trapp on "Exo 23:16"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu_16:13-15

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.

Harvest home

The Feast of Tabernacles was the harvest home of Israel. Where is the antitype of the festival of Tabernacles? The vision of the great multitude which no man could number is a vision throughout of a heavenly Feast of Tabernacles; the harvest home of the Church triumphant.

I. These festivals are occasions of hospitality and of reunion. A selfish life is an unchristian life. A man might possibly remember God in solitude, a monastery has ere now fostered devotion: but there is one virtue which cannot be practised in seclusion--charity; the Gospel virtue--without which we are nothing. The very exertion which it costs some men to come out is salutary. If some are made frivolous by the love of society, some are made selfish by isolation from their kind.

II. Two things were especially required of the Israelites when they assembled for their three annual feasts: first, that they should not appear before the lord empty; secondly, that children and servants, the Levite and the stranger, the fatherless and widow, should be allowed to rejoice with them. The feast only becomes a blessing when it remembers God, and remembers man.

III. The law of God was read over, once in seven years, to the assembled Israelites at their Feast of Tabernacles. If there be a time when we remember duty, surely it should be when our hands are full of gifts. A time of feasting, nay, a time of prosperity, nay, a time of unmarked, of average sufficiency, brings its own peculiar risk of practical ungodliness.

IV. Yet we recognise in this festival the comforting side of true religion. Gods voice never comes to make us miserable. If it condemns, it is that we may rise out of condemnation into a state altogether joyous. A harvest home is a glimpse of the love and of the peace and of the joy of the Gospel.

V. It is also a memento of the place of thankfulness in the Gospel. Is there any test so condemning as that which touches us on the point of gratitude? Who really gives God thanks for life, for health, for motion, for speech, for reason? Well may we have one day in the year set apart for the work of simple praise.

VI. Recognise in this celebration the identification of the God of nature and providence with the God of revelation and of the Gospel. The things that are seen become a very sign and sacrament of the things that are not seen. The harvest of the natural world indicates to us, by its marvellous yet now familiar phenomena, the working of the same power which alone can melt the heart of stone, and impress upon a trifling soul the realities of a life and a home in heaven. VII. Finally, let the service which gives thanks for an earthly harvest carry your thoughts to that great reaping after sowing, which is before every one of us, in the resurrection of the body and in the eternity which is yet beyond (Mat_13:39; Gal_6:7-8). God grant us all a place in that ingathering, the close of a worlds labour, the inauguration of a heavenly rest! (Dean Vaughan.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:13-17 The Festival of Shelters is called this because the people of Israel were instructed to camp out for a week in crude huts made of tree limbs as a memorial to their years of wilderness wandering (Lev 23:33-43). It was also a celebration of the fall harvests.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the 15th day of the seventh month, Lev. 23:34.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days--(See on Exo 23:14; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12). Various conjectures have been formed to account for the appointment of this feast at the conclusion of the whole harvest. Some imagine that it was designed to remind the Israelites of the time when they had no cornfields to reap but were daily supplied with manna; others think that it suited the convenience of the people better than any other period of the year for dwelling in booths; others that it was the time of Moses' second descent from the mount; while a fourth class are of opinion that this feast was fixed to the time of the year when the Word was made flesh and dwelt--literally, "tabernacled"--among us (Joh 1:14), Christ being actually born at that season.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13. Thou shalt keep] Heb. perform for thyself, see on Deu_16:1.

the feast of booths] feast, ḥag, as in Deu_16:10. Booths, suḳḳôth, lit. plaitings or interlacings, whether natural thickets (Job_38:40, etc.) or artificial shelters of branches or planks, especially for the guardians of vineyards (Isa_1:8); applied first by D, and explained by H, Lev_23:39-43, which prescribes that the people shall dwell throughout the feast in booths of palm-fronds, boughs of thick trees and poplars (Neh_8:15, olive, myrtle, palm and thick tree branches). H’s reason for this custom is that Israel dwelt in booths at the Exodus; but the general resort of the cultivators to booths in their vineyards at the time of the ripening of the grapes and the vintage, which still continues in Palestine (Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 81), was no doubt very ancient and the real origin of the name of the Feast. After the centralisation of the cultus, the booths were erected in the courts and on the flat roofs of the city, Neh_8:14-17, which implies that before the restoration of Israel’s worship under Nehemiah the custom had been in abeyance. The term tabernacles is used in the EVV. in the sense given by Johnson of ‘casual dwellings’ (Lat. taberna a hut, tabernaculum a tent).

seven days] So H, Lev_23:39, to which P, Num_29:35, adds an eighth, with a convocation. Passover and Weeks are one day each.

threshing-floor and winepress] Deu_15:14.

13–15. The Feast of Booths

To be observed for seven days after the harvest of corn and wine by each family and their dependents, at the One Altar; and that altogether joyfully because of God’s blessing.—For the parallels and the other name of the Feast see introd. to Deu_16:1-17. This feast is also called the feast par excellence (1Ki_8:2; 1Ki_8:65, etc., cp. Jdg_21:19 ff.) not so much for its length, as because it crowned the year. See further Deu_31:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,.... Which began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, or September; see Lev 23:34, &c.

after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exo 23:16, barley harvest began at the passover, and wheat harvest at Pentecost; and before the feast of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the olives were over, as well as all other summer fruits were got in.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of the feast of tabernacles, see on Exo 23:16; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Gathered in thy corn and thy wine — Better thus, in thy gathering from thy threshing floor and thy wine-press. At the present time very little wine is made in Palestine. “No wine is made from the very extensive vineyards of Hebron except a little by the Jews.” — ROBINSON’S Biblical Researches, vol. ii, p. 442. “Wine is not the most important, but rather the least so, of all the objects for which the vine is cultivated.” — Bibliotheca Sacra, Nov., 1846.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 13-15. The Feast of Tabernacles, properly, Booths. (cf. Lev_23:33-44; Num_29:12-38) This feast was to be observed at the end of harvest, after the corn had been gathered into granaries, and the produce of the vineyard had been put through the press. Nothing is added here to the instructions already given respecting this festival; only the observance of it at the appointed sanctuary is enforced, and stress is laid on their making not only their sons and daughters and domestics, but also the Levite, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger participators in their rejoicings. Thou shalt surely rejoice; rather, thou shalt be wholly joyous; literally, rejoicing only; Rosenm., adnodum laetus.

Vers. 13-17. The Feast of Tabernacles, or of Ingathering.

festival of tabernacles, as originally instituted, presents but little symbolism. Its primary design was to give expression to joy and gratitude in view of the products of the earth, every kind of which had now been gathered; and it was therefore also called the Festival of Ingathering." As the Passover commemorated the first deliverance, so the Feast of Booths would recall the wilderness life. And "nothing was more natural than to associate in thought the richness of their inheritance with the probationary trials by means of which the nation had been prepared to possess it" (Atwater"s "History and Significance of the Sacred Tabernacle of the Hebrews," Dodd and Co., New York, 1877). It is scarcely necessary here to do more than suggest the underlying principles which are presented here. They must needs have some similarity with those in the preceding Homily. Israel is taught the following truths:

1. After the corn and wine have been gathered in, and the anxieties of the year are so far over, they are then expected to look up gratefully to God as the Author of all.

2. God"s mercies are to be enjoyed, in grateful and delightful repose.

3. With the gladsome rest there is to be associated a thankful memory of past guidance and help in the wilderness life.

4. In this rejoicing and thankfulness, master and servant are alike to share, as both equal in the sight of God.

5. By Israel"s gladness, the sorrows of the poor, the sad, the lonely, are to be relieved, and the solitary ones are to be made conscious of a kindly care encompassing them.

6. The recognition of a reception of mercy is to be accompanied with a loving offering to God in return (vers. 16, 17). According to the blessing, so is to be the tribute.

7. Thus Israel"s nationality is to be thrice sealed every year, as a specifically religious one, in holy and joyful covenant with the Lord their God. Manifestly on each of these points, Israel"s temporary and local forms illustrated permanent and worldwide principles, in the exposition of which the Christian teacher may well delight.

Vers. 13-16. The Feast of Tabernacle.

I A FEAST OF THE INGATHERING. (Ver. 13.) Held in the seventh month, when all the fruits of the earth had been gathered in. Thus:

1. Every stage of labor was sanctified by the recognition of God. At the Passover, when the sickle was thrust into the virgin grain; at Pentecost, when the cereal crops were harvested; and now, at the close of the agricultural year, when the season"s labors had yielded to the husbandman their full results.

2. The fruits of labor were sanctified by dedication to God. The usual feasts were held, and shared with the needy (ver. 14), and free-will offerings (vers. 16, 17) were presented to God. Bountiful giving is the appropriate return for bountiful receiving.

II A MEMORIAL OF PAST WANDERINGS. (Lev_23:43) During the seven days of the festival, the Israelites were to live in booths. This symbolized, and served to remind them of, the wandering, unsettled life of the desert. Booths were erections of simpler construction, and more in keeping with an agricultural festival, especially after the settlement in Canaan, than tents would have been. But there may have been an allusion also to actual circumstances of the journeyings, e.g. the first halt at Succoth, i.e. booths. (Exo_12:3; see Stanley) This memorial was instituted:

1. That in the midst of their prosperity they might not forget the days of their adversity. (Deu_8:12-18)

2. That they might be reminded of God"s gracious care of them. Booths or huts may, as Keil thinks, have been used instead of tents with reference to this idea. The booth was a shelter, a protection. So God promises to be to his Church, as he had been in the past, "a booth for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from the storm and rain". (Isa_4:6)

3. That their enjoyment of the goodness of the land might be enhanced by feelings of warm gratitude, awakened by the sense of contrast.

III AN IMAGE OF PRESENT PILGRIMAGE. Though settled in Canaan, the Israelites were not to regard themselves as in possession of the final rest. (Heb_4:7, Heb_4:8) The pilgrim state continued. (Psa_39:12) It does so still. We still inhabit tabernacles. (2Co_5:1) Spiritual rest, the inward side of the Canaan type, is attained in Christ; but the full realization of the rest of God lies in eternity. Till heaven is reached, our state is that of pilgrims wilderness wanderers. "The admission of this festival into Zechariah"s prophecy of Messianic times (Zec_14:18) is undoubtedly founded on the thought that the keeping of the Feast of Tabernacles is an expression on the part of the nations of their thankfulness for the termination of their wanderings by their reception into the peaceful kingdom of Messiah" (Oehler). J.O.

Vers. 13-17. The Feast of Tabernacles life a tented state.

This was the third great festival, and it was after all the harvest and vintage had been gathered home. It was celebrated in the seventh month, from the fifteenth day to the twenty-second. It is also noticeable that it began five days after the great Day of Atonement, which was on the tenth day of this same seventh month. Sin pardoned, and the harvest saved, these were surely twin blessings at which poor sinners might well rejoice.

I THE FESTIVAL WAS TO REMIND THE ISRAELITES OF THE PILGRIMAGE IN THE WILDERNESS. Their settling in Canaan was not to blot out the memory of their previous pilgrimage, and how they dwelt with God in tents. The same danger threatens God"s children still. This world gets so settled and home-like that we forget the pilgrimage which life is meant by God to be. We need the exhortation of Peter, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul". (1Pe_2:11)

II THE FESTIVAL WAS TO BE A JOYOUS ONE. It would be joyous on three accounts:

(1) because of the ingathered harvest;

(2) because of the complete atonement so recently past;

(3) because of the time of year, the glorious October of Palestine.

Hence the festival would be virtually a tenting out in the pleasantest time of the year, with minds delivered from all anxiety and fear.

And this is to indicate the high-water mark of Christian experience. We are living below our privileges if we are not rejoicing in God"s providential goodness, and in his atoning grace, and in his beautiful world. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice". (Php_4:4)

III THE FESTIVAL FOSTERED HOPE. For if life as it now is should be regarded as a pilgrimage, an unsettled state, then each time we are reminded of this we learn to look for a better condition and more permanent abode. If I am reminded that I dwell in a tent of flesh, easily taken down, I learn to hope for the building of God, the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens". (2Co_5:1)

A while on earth we roam In these frail houses which are not our home, Journeying towards a refuge that is sure, A rest secure.

For in our Father"s house A mansion fair he has prepared for us; And only till his voice shall call us hence We dwell in tents.

IV THE FESTIVAL FOSTERED FORETHOUGHT AND THRIFT. It had all the wholesome effect on them which an annual picnic has upon working people. They look forward to it and make preparation for it. Now, these festivals at the center of the national worship were to be joyful and liberal times. They were not to appear empty-handed before the Lord. They were to be able to give at his altar and be hospitable as they had opportunity. Hence the festival cultivated thrifty habits in order to be openhanded when the glad day came. So should religion make us all! R.M.E.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the Feast of Tabernacle

v. 13. Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, Exo 23:16; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine, all the products of the threshing-floor and of the wine-press;

v. 14. and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates, all of whom should be remembered upon such a happy occasion.

v. 15. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord, thy God, Lev 23:39, in the place which the Lord shall choose; because the Lord, thy God, shall bless thee in all thine increase and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

v. 16. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord, thy God, in the place which He shall choose, Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23, but this precept did not exclude the women, 1Sa 1:3-5; Luk 2:41: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty;

v. 17. every man shall give as he is able, as much as he finds that he can possibly afford to give, according to the blessing of the Lord, thy God, which He hath given thee, in the form of voluntary offerings. Three points deserve to be noted here, namely, that all men appeared at these great festivals, and that they did not leave their families at home if they could arrange to bring them along, that the rejoicing was over the wonderful deeds of the Lord, and that they brought voluntary gifts, as the Lord had prospered them. These three points deserve to be kept in mind by all Christians.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Festival of Shelters

Other names for this festival are "Feast of Tabernacles," "Festival of Booths," and "Feast of the Ingathering." During harvest time, farmers would set up temporary shelters in the field. This festival took place after the last harvest of the year.

seven days

"7 days" (See: Numbers)

within your gates

Here the word "gates" represents cities or towns. AT: "within your towns" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

festival

day

harvest

thresh

winepress

joy

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

באספך [THOU SHALT KEEP THE FESTIVAL OF TABERNACLES …] AFTER THAT THOU HAST GATHERED IN THE PRODUCE — i.e. at the usual harvest time, when thou bringest into the house the summer fruits. Another explanation is: באספך מגרנך ומיקבך teaches that one should cover the Succah only with the פסולת (lit., the chips, — that which falls off) of the barn and the wine-press [i.e. with vegetable matter] (Rosh Hashanah 13a; Sukkah 12a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.