Exodus 34:23

34:18-27 Once a week they must rest, even in ploughing time, and in harvest. All worldly business must give way to that holy rest; even harvest work will prosper the better, for the religious observance of the sabbath day in harvest time. We must show that we prefer our communion with God, and our duty to him, before the business or the joy of harvest. Thrice a year they must appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. Canaan was a desirable land, and the neighbouring nations were greedy; yet God says, They shall not desire it. Let us check all sinful desires against God and his glory, in our hearts, and then trust him to check all sinful desires in the hearts of others against us. The way of duty is the way of safety. Those who venture for him never lose by him. Three feasts are here mentioned: 1. The Passover, in remembrance of the deliverance out of Egypt. 2. The feast of weeks, or the feast of Pentecost; added to it is the law of the first-fruits. 3. The feast of in-gathering, or the feast of Tabernacles. Moses is to write these words, that the people might know them better. We can never be enough thankful to God for the written word. God would make a covenant with Israel, in Moses as a mediator. Thus the covenant of grace is made with believers through Christ.

Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God,.... At the three above mentioned feasts; see Gill on Exodus 23:17 here it is added: the God of Israel; who had chosen them to be his special people, had redeemed them out of Egypt, and done great things for them since; had made a covenant with them, and had now renewed that covenant with them, and was their covenant God, and they his people, and so were under great obligations to present themselves unto him at the times appointed by him.

Exodus 34:23-24 . Thrice in the year shall all the men-children appear — But it might be suggested, when all the males from every part were gone up to worship in the place that God should choose, the country would be left exposed to the insults of their neighbours; and what would become of the poor women and children? Trust God with them. Neither shall any man desire thy land — Not only they shall not invade it, but they shall not so much as think of invading it. What a standing miracle was this, for so many generations!

9, 10. he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us—On this proclamation, he, in the overflowing benevolence of s heart, founded an earnest petition for the Divine Presence being continued with the people; and God was pleased to give His favorable answer to Moses' intercession by a renewal of His promise under the form of a covenant, repeating the leading points that formed the conditions of the former national compact.

The true way to worship Jehovah is then pointed out, first of all negatively, in the prohibition against making molten images, with an allusion to the worship of the golden calf, as evinced by the use of the expression מסּכה אלהי, which only occurs again in Leviticus 19:4 , instead of the phrase "gods of silver and gold" ( Exodus 20:23 ); and then positively, by a command to observe the feast of Mazzoth and the consecration of the first-born connected with the Passover (see at Exodus 13:2 , Exodus 13:11 , and Exodus 13:12 ), also the Sabbath ( Exodus 34:21 ), the feasts of Weeks and Ingathering, the appearance of the male members of the nation three times a year before the Lord ( Exodus 34:22 , see at Exodus 23:14-17 ), together with all the other instructions connected with them ( Exodus 34:25 , Exodus 34:26 ). Before the last, however, the promise is introduced, that after the expulsion of the Canaanites, Jehovah would enlarge the borders of Israel (cf. Exodus 23:31 ), and make their land so secure, that when they went up to the Lord three times in the year, no one should desire their land, sc., because of the universal dread of the might of their God ( Exodus 23:27 ).

[Bible] 34:12. Beware thou never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be thy ruin: 34:13. But destroy their altars, break their statues and cut down their groves: 34:14. Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is jealous, he is a jealous God. 34:15. Make no covenant with the men of those countries; lest, when they have committed fornication with their gods, and have adored their idols, some one call thee to eat of the things sacrificed. 34:16. Neither shalt thou take of their daughters a wife for thy son, lest after they themselves have committed fornication, they make thy sons also to commit fornication with their gods. 34:17. Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods. 34:18: Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month of the new corn: for in the month of the spring time thou camest out from Egypt. 34:19. All of the male-kind that openeth the womb, shall be mine. Of all beasts; both of oxen and of sheep, it shall be mine. 34:20. The firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: but if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem: neither shalt thou appear before me empty. 34:21. Six days shalt thou work, the seventh day thou shalt cease to plough and to reap. 34:22. Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks with the firstfruits of the corn of thy wheat harvest, and the feast when the time of the year returneth that all things are laid in. 34:23. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear in the sight of the almighty Lord the God of Israel. 34:24. For when I shall have taken away the nations from thy face, and shall have enlarged thy borders, no man shall lie in wait against thy land when thou shalt go up, and appear in the sight of the Lord thy God thrice in a year.