Misc. Laws Pt-4, Observing the feasts (Ex. 23:10-19)

7/5/2008 7:29 AM

 My Worship Time                   Focus:  Misc. Laws IV, Observing the feasts

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 23:10-19

            Message of the verses:  “10 ¶  "Plant and harvest your crops for six years,

11  but let the land rest and lie fallow during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest any volunteer crop that may come up. Leave the rest for the animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.  12  "Work for six days, and rest on the seventh. This will give your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It will also allow the people of your household, including your slaves and visitors, to be refreshed.  13  "Be sure to obey all my instructions. And remember, never pray to or swear by any other gods. Do not even mention their names.  14  "Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor.  15  The first is the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, just as I commanded you before. This festival will be an annual event at the appointed time in early spring, for that is the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt. Everyone must bring me a sacrifice at that time.  16  You must also celebrate the Festival of Harvest, when you bring me the first crops of your harvest. Finally, you are to celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season.

17  At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign LORD.  18  "Sacrificial blood must never be offered together with bread that has yeast in it. And no sacrificial fat may be left unoffered until the next morning.  19  "As you harvest each of your crops, bring me a choice sample of the first day’s harvest. It must be offered to the LORD your God. "You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”  (NLT)

            I want to mention a couple of things that I have learned about some of these laws from other studies.  Verse twelve has the word “day” in it and it is translated from the Hebrew word “yome,” which in the AV is used 2008 times.  There are different meanings for this word day; such as how it is used in verse twelve, “Work for six days, and rest on the seventh.”  This obviously means a twenty-four period of time.  In the NASB the phrase “The day of the Lord” is used twenty-six times, and this surely does not mean a twenty-four hour period of time, but a longer period of time.  The question is how does a person look at this word (yome) and determine the time period it is referring to?  As I have studied this I have learned that any time the word is connected with a number it always means a twenty-four hour period of time.  The reason that I am bringing this up is that there is a (I believe a false teaching going around in order to compromise the truth of Scripture) and this teaching is that there is a large time gap between the days of creation in Genesis one.  Some would teach that there were thousands or even millions of years between these “days” and so it could have taken God millions of years to create the earth.  I am greatly opposed to this and just one of the evidences that show this is untrue is in verse twelve of the text I am using today, and that is that God tells His people to work for six days and then rest on the seventh day.  This is one of the Ten Commandments and in that section where the Ten Commandments are first given God goes on to say that it took Him six days to create the earth and He rested on the seventh day and that is the principle of this Law.  If this word “yome” is referring to thousands or millions of years then the children of Israel would still be resting today from their Sabbath. 

            The second thing I observe from this section is the wonderful ecological things that can be learned from these laws along with bringing about good health and wellbeing for those who observe these laws.  The land resting for one year in seven was great for it as it got a chance to replenish the minerals in it so that the crops would be better for food.  All of this took faith and Israel did not keep one of the Sabbatical years and that was one of the reasons God took them out of their land for seventy years, for they had been in the land for four hundred and ninety years and therefore missed seventy Sabbatical years.

            Verse nineteen speaks of not boiling a young goat in it’s mother’s milk, and I have read different reasons as to why this should not be done in the past, but Dr. Wiersbe points out that this was a heathen practice and therefore God did not want them to do as they did.  Young goat boiled in milk is said to make it tenderer.  I’m sure that there are other spiritual reasons as to why God gave this law, but I suppose that God will have to teach me those when He is ready.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God’s Laws surely are good for me to keep and do bring freedom to me, however there are far too many times when I want to do things my ways and miss out on the blessings of following God’s Laws.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. By faith keep the Laws of God.
2. Ask the Lord, by faith, to search my heart to see if there any sin dwells there.
3. By faith, give myself to the Lord today for service and worship.
4. By faith, trust the Lord to guide my paths today.
5. By faith trust that the Lord will provide a way of escape when tests and trials get to hard for me to bear.
6. By faith, trust that the Lord will teach me contentment through the tests that I am going through.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

7/5/2008 8:22 AM