We Were Taught To Work Hard Even Under Deadlines. But Was That Right?

For most of us around the world, the Christmas and New Year's festivities are over.  People have gone back to work.  Many students are back in school.  People will be going to doctor appointments.  Pursuits set aside for a few days, will be picked up again.  Some who, through the love and care of others, were able to forget their lot in life temporarily, will once again, find themselves struggling to survive -- be it financially, physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually.

In short, life goes on as they say for all of us, no matter our lot in life. Whether that lot becomes an exciting journey or the following a rut created over time will depend on how well we realize and rely on the fact that true joy and hope cannot be based on our circumstances, but on our personal relationship with God.

Here is the passage of Scripture I studied today and some thoughts on it:

Exodus 34:21-24

"You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.
"And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
"Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
"For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God."

Thoughts on the Passage

I don't know about you, but I was to work hard, especially while there was work to do.  And I certainly tried to pass that on to my children. However, as I read this passage, I realize that I may have been all wrong.  Clearly, God is saying to His people that one day a week they must rest "even during. . . harvest". And He is emphatic about it, saying, "you shall rest". We need to rethink our attitude towards "workaholism".  I'm not saying God wants us to be slouches or to avoid work. No, not at all. He Himself is a God of Creation and active involved in the lives of His people. But what God is saying is that He knows how He created us and we need periodic rest.  Ignore that advice from Him, and you'll soon find yourself in bed, or worse still, in a casket, unable to do any work.

And the Israelites were to celebrate The Feast of Weeks and the Feast of the Ingathering which is also known as the The Feast of Tabernacles.  It is also known as Sukkot.

We can get all caught up in the intricacies of all these special feasts, many of which Jesus himself participated in later on, and we can also argue as to whether or not they are for New Testament Christians after Christ's Resurrection. Instead, I suggest we just focus on the fact that some of these various feasts had as their purpose to remind the Israelites Who it is that supplies all their needs. And it seemed that, in a farming economy, the end of harvest after all the reaping is completed is a great time to stop and give thanks.  This is not unlike our more modern-day Thanksgiving Day celebration that was started by the Pilgrms to America.

We can do this once a year at Thanksgiving, or we can do it monthly, or weekly.  Some of us do it every time we thank God when we eat.

But here is the most interesting part of the passage. Next, God tells the Israelites that all their males are to appear before Him three times a year. And I think the emphasis is indeed on all. That means no male is to be left to act as guards from the enemies, or to attend to other work.  Otherwise, why does God make a point of saying that no one will 'covet' or take their land while they are doing this.  God will protect their property.

On a personal or individual scale, this suggests we can trust God with our property at all times, but especially when we go to appear before Him and worship Him. On a national scale, this suggests that if we have our priorities right, putting God first, God will bless a nation.  David Guzik suggests that these three times are those that are referred to in Exouds 23:14-17 where God commanded that at three feasts each year (Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles), each Israelite man should gather before the Lord. And in this passage, Guzik continues, God even promised a supernatural protection for an obedient Israel when they went to these feasts.

We can only pray that our political leaders would call and ask for such an action for all the males in our nation. But we can pray and actually do something about it in our churches.  And even more at home, we can encourage the men in our families to do so.  If we are the man of the family, we can resolve to do it.

Recently, we noted again what God would do even today if His people actually turn to Him and pray for something.  This happened in December 2017 -- after five years of no rain in Israel, thousands prayed at the Western Wall, and God answered big-time.  What will God do for you? Your family? Your church? Your city? Your country? The World? -- What will He do in the days ahead? It all depends on what you and I are willing to do in obedience to Him.

Please share your own thoughts on this passage or on my comments above.  If this blog helped you at all, please feel free to tell others about it.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Three Feasts God Wants Us to Celebrate “unto Him” -- Exodus 23:14-17

“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.”
 

I do not know about you, but I have often thought that we have too many holidays.  If you subscribe to an on-line ‘holidays’ software package in conjunction with your computer calendar, you will soon notice that just about every day of the year it seems is a ‘holiday’ somewhere. In North America in January, we have New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In February there’s Groundhog Day; Lincoln’s Birthday; Valentine’s Day; Family Day, Louis Riel Day, Islander Day (these last three in Canada); President’s Day; and Washington’s Birthday. Do I need to go on through the rest of the year? Yes, some are even religious holidays although we have done our best to change even that.

There are many references to feasts in the Bible, but here in this short passage, God is requiring that we celebrate three of them “unto Him” annually. Without going into great detail about each of these feasts, let us focus on what we believe to be God’s purpose in having us celebrate them “unto Him”.

The first one, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was intended for us to remember that it was God who brought them out of slavery from the land of Egypt and how miraculously He did it. For us today, it would mean celebrating and remembering how God brought us out of our sinful state and saved us through the miracle of His Son Jesus Christ coming to earth and dying in our place.

The second one, the Feast of the Harvest in which the Israelites were to present God their “first fruits” from the annual yield of their fields, was intended to keep reminding them that it is God that gives the harvest and arranges for it, not they themselves. For us today, it would mean celebrating “unto Him” and thanking Him for the fact that we can and are totally dependent on Him for all of our earthly needs and the products of our labor.

The third one, the Feast of the Ingathering (also known as the Feast of Booths) takes place after the last harvest of the year is gathered.  It was for the purpose of giving thanks to God for His provision of the right weather to allow the Israelites to process their crops, especially grapes and grain, before the yield would be useful for eating. In those days all the winepresses and threshing floors were outdoors and the Israelites needed favorable weather to carry these activities out.  Again, for us today, this would mean giving God thanks for how He is involved in our day-to-day lives, taking care of the details if you like.

In asking them to celebrate these three feasts, God makes two stipulations.  First (provided at the end of our passage) that “all the males” should gather together at these three events and that they should eat together at them (after all, that is what one does at feasts). And secondly, God tells the Israelites that no one (no male) is to appear before Him at this celebration “empty-handed”.  On this latter point, Matthew Henry writes,

“Some free-will offering or other they must bring, in token of their respect and gratitude to their great benefactor; and, as they were not allowed to come empty-handed, so we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our souls must be filled with grace, with pious and devout affections, holy desires towards him, and dedications of ourselves to him, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.”

In our modern world, full of hustle and bustle, and never a spare moment, we have developed the ability to do more in less time.  We have fast-food, drive-thru bank services, stay in your automobile carwashes, texting (vs. writing or calling or even emailing) ‘sounds’ or ‘short-forms’ rather than full words, and I am sure you can think of many more shortcuts that you take. We seem to have done the same thing with the Feasts that God wanted us to observe. We now have one annual Thanksgiving Day (at which many do very little giving of thanks and some don’t even feast) to replace all three feasts God had prescribed we celebrate. And you we claim to love Him dearly.

I humbly suggest that as a minimum at our next Thanksgiving Day Feast, we try to consider what God wanted us to remember through the three feasts He describes in this Scripture passage. Let us at least take time to thank Him for delivering us from sin, His provisions for our daily needs, and His involvement in our lives.  And if you are really up to it, try establishing three different feasts for your family.

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Giving God Our First-Borns -- Exodus 22:29-31:

--> “You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep.  It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. And you shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.”

Interestingly, these three verses follow the one about how we are not to curse God or our rulers (see comments on vs. 28). So it appears not only are we not to curse our leaders (both God and those who rule our people), but also we are to give them what they require from us in a timely fashion.

For the Israelites that meant two things: They needed to present to the priests the first gatherings from their harvests and these were dedicated to God. Secondly, they needed to dedicate their first-born sons to God and His service. The statement is very direct – “The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me.” If you are a parent of a son in particular, have you thought about that instruction of God’s? It reminds me of hearing one parent of our grandchildren saying to them, in a strong tone, “Give me that right now!”  Well, if we know what is good for us (as my grandchildren do when they hear their mom or dad say that), then we need to hear it just like that from God while recognizing we have a choice not to obey.  So I ask, have you in your heart and mind settled once and for all that your son has been given to God for Him to keep and to use as His very own no matter what that means for you? That is the requirement. We either fulfill it or we do not.

And after we get that hard thing settled, then God says you are to do likewise with your possessions (the first-born of one’s oxen and sheep in the days of the Israelites).  Wait, maybe that is harder than giving our first-born son to God. I mean we are talking about real things here – things I have worked hard to attain. And many will feel exactly that. But God says, “I want your first-born son, and the best of all your possessions. I want you to know they are mine because you have given them to Me and that I am free to use them as I see fit – no ifs, buts, or whys.” In fact, it appears that God is saying, “Go ahead, enjoy them for a few days when you first get them – take that yacht down to the Caribbean, have a party at your cottage, invite friends to your box at the arena, do not let anyone drive that brand new car for a few days, but ultimately, figure out a way to use all of these things for Me and for the Kingdom.”

Then God makes another one of His logical connections: Do not curse God or rulers; give both God and rulers what they require in a timely fashion; and that will go a long way to make you “holy men to God”.  So far so good, I follow the argument.

But then God says “because you will be holy men, do not eat any flesh torn to pieces; give it to the dogs instead.”  Wow, and thus ended the chapter.  But what is the meaning of this last instruction here? David Guzik suggests that this simply is God’s way of saying, “As holy men of God, we are to act differently in all ways of our lives; in all of our behavior.”  Matthew Henry on the other hand seems to be implying that the statement is a call for the Israelites (and those in the body of Christ today) to be different in their diets than their neighbors. He suggests that one mark of our holiness is our distinction from others in what we eat and may I add, what we drink. And if not that, perhaps how we view our ‘food’ and ‘drink’.

[An Aside: I must admit I find it very strange and somehow troublesome when I consider how absorbed many Christians in North America, and perhaps elsewhere in the world, are with food dishes and recipes and gourmet this and that, and vintage wines, etc. I am not suggesting at all that food is to be drab and boring and I really appreciate the special efforts my daughters and wife go to in order for us to have most interesting meals. But I believe we need to do all of this in moderation, keeping in mind others that may not have a thing in their stomachs as they try to sleep tonight.]

The bottom line message in these last few verses of this chapter is clear: Honor God, Give Him what is His, be holy, and be different. How we do that in our personal lives is between God and us unless the Scripture is crystal clear on a matter of behavior or thought.

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