Deuteronomy 16:1-12
The Passover Reviewed (Exodus 12:1–20; 23:14–19; 34:18–26)
1 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to put His name. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.
5 “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you; 6 but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.
The Feast of Weeks Reviewed (Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15–21; Numbers 28:26–31)
9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. 11 You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
These are reiterated descriptions of the Passover and the Feast of Weeks after the harvest. The Passover was significant because it reminded the people that their LORD had passed over death to them but delivered it to the firstborn of the nation who had them in harsh bondage. It is also a picture and foreshadowing of Christ as our Passover (Exodus 12:23, 1 Corinthians 5:7), the firstborn of God (Exodus 13:15 , Colossians 1:18, Hebrews 11:28) who delivers from eternal death that we may join Him through His sacrificial lifeblood (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:22, Revelation 5:9) poured out for us, covering the entrance of our mortal houses that become temples (1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Peter 2:5) of worship and thanksgiving for our deliverance from the Destroyer as those of Egypt were judged and sentenced to death without the protection of the lifeblood of the sacrifice covering them. They were instructed to recreate the meal of haste with unleavened bread and bitter herbs along with the entire lamb sacrificed to cover their doorposts. It was a meal of haste to quickly escape the bondage of those holding them enslaved as the adversary doe with us all in our sin until we are led out of sin’s bondage into the liberty (Luke 4:18, John 8:36, Romans 8:21, Galatians 5:1) of God’s Son. We are to likewise remember our freedom from judgment on our sin (Romans 6:23) as we look back to the day of our salvation promised us from the foundation of the world that came to fruition at last when we received Jesus Christ through the gospel word and conviction of His Spirit. We do this in celebrating the Lord’s Supper that was the true Passover meal celebrated first by Jesus with His disciples (Matthew 26:18-19, 26, 27-28) and is now a constant observation (1 Corinthians 11:26) for we His people now. The feast of weeks after the harvest was also an important reminder of God’s provision to His people that they freely offer back (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, 8) to God of the bounty they are given with joy and deep gratitude as they recall their release from bondage and the little they had while enslaved in the rigor of their harsh conditions. We also remember our lost state before we were in Christ and should find extreme peace and joy in our Beloved who sacrificed Himself to set us free from the harsh conditions of sin’s consequences and the punishment were were all due (Romans 6:23) apart from His saving lifeblood applied to our lives. We should offer everything back to Him as the fruit of our labors in the harvest of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3) and the plenty of those we harvest (Proverbs 10:5, Matthew 9:37-38) with the gospel to their own salvation. As 2 Corinthians 9:15 reminds us of God’s great sacrifice of the indescribable gift of His grace, we remember and celebrate our Passover!
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