---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Deuteronomy 16"
description: "CHAPTER 16   :-. THE FEAST
OF THE PASSOVER. 1. Observe the month of Abib—or
first-fruits. It comprehended the latter part of our March and the
beginning o"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/deuteronomy/16"
---

CHAPTER 16

. THE FEAST
OF THE PASSOVER.

**1. Observe the month of Abib**—or
first-fruits. It comprehended the latter part of our March and the
beginning of April. Green ears of the barley, which were then full,
were offered as first-fruits, on the second day of the passover.
**for in the month of Abib the
Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night**—This statement
is apparently at variance with the prohibition () as well as with the recorded fact that their departure
took place in the *morning* ([Exodus 13:3](../../../kjv/exodus/13/3);
[Numbers 33:3](../../../kjv/numbers/33/3)). But it is susceptible
of easy reconciliation. Pharaoh's permission, the first step of
emancipation, was extorted during the night, the preparations for
departure commenced, the rendezvous at Rameses made, and the march
entered on in the morning.

**2. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice
the passover**—not the paschal lamb, which was strictly and
properly the passover. The whole solemnity is here meant, as is
evident from the mention of the additional victims that required to
be offered on the subsequent days of the feast ([Numbers 28:18](../../../kjv/numbers/28/18);
[Numbers 28:19](../../../kjv/numbers/28/19); [2 Chronicles 35:8](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/35/8);
[2 Chronicles 35:9](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/35/9)), and from the allusion
to the continued use of unleavened bread for seven days, whereas the
passover itself was to be eaten at once. The words before us are
equivalent to "thou shalt observe the feast of the passover."

**3. seven days shalt thou eat
unleavened bread**—a sour, unpleasant, unwholesome kind of bread,
designed to be a memorial of their Egyptian misery and of the haste
with which they departed, not allowing time for their morning dough
to ferment.

**5, 6. Thou mayest not sacrifice the
passover within any of thy gates**—The passover was to be
observed nowhere but in the court of the tabernacle or temple, as it
was not a religious feast or sacramental occasion merely, but an
actual sacrifice ([Exodus 12:27](../../../kjv/exodus/12/27);
[Exodus 23:18](../../../kjv/exodus/23/18); [Exodus 34:25](../../../kjv/exodus/34/25)).
The blood had to be sprinkled on the altar and in the place where the
true Passover was afterwards to be sacrificed for us "at even,
at the going down of the sun"—literally, "between the
evenings."

**6. at the season**—that is, the
month and day, though not perhaps the precise hour. The immense
number of victims that had to be immolated on the eve of the
passover—that is, within a space of four hours—has appeared to
some writers a great difficulty. But the large number of officiating
priests, their dexterity and skill in the preparation of the
sacrifices, the wide range of the court, the extraordinary dimensions
of the altar of burnt offering and orderly method of conducting the
solemn ceremonial, rendered it easy to do that in a few hours, which
would otherwise have required as many days.

**7. thou shalt roast and eat it**—(See
on ; compare ).
**thou shalt turn in the
morning, and go unto thy tents**—The sense of this passage, on
the first glance of the words, seems to point to the morning after
the first day—the passover eve. Perhaps, however, the divinely
appointed duration of this feast, the solemn character and important
object, the journey of the people from the distant parts of the land
to be present, and the recorded examples of their continuing all the
time ([2 Chronicles 30:21](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/30/21); [2 Chronicles 35:17](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/35/17)),
(though these may be considered extraordinary, and therefore
exceptional occasions), may warrant the conclusion that the leave
given to the people to return home was to be on the morning after the
completion of the seven days.

**9-12. Seven weeks shalt thou
number**—The feast of weeks, or a WEEK
OF WEEKS: the feast of pentecost (see on ; also see [Exodus 34:22](../../../kjv/exodus/34/22);
[Acts 2:1](../../../kjv/acts/2/1)). As on the second day of
the passover a sheaf of new barley, reaped on purpose, was offered,
so on the second day of pentecost a sheaf of new wheat was presented
as first-fruits ([Exodus 23:16](../../../kjv/exodus/23/16);
[Numbers 28:26](../../../kjv/numbers/28/26)), a freewill,
spontaneous tribute of gratitude to God for His temporal bounties.
This feast was instituted in memory of the giving of the law, that
spiritual food by which man's soul is nourished ([Numbers 28:26](../../../kjv/numbers/28/26)).

**13-17. Thou shalt observe the feast
of tabernacles seven days**—(See on ; ; ). 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 (), Christ being actually born at that season.

**15. in all the works of thine hands
. . . rejoice**—that is, praising God with a warm and elevated
heart. According to Jewish tradition, no marriages were allowed to be
celebrated during these great festivals, that no personal or private
rejoicings might be mingled with the demonstrations of public and
national gladness.

**16. Three times in a year shall all
thy males appear before the Lord thy God**—No *command* was
laid on women to undertake the journeys, partly from regard to the
natural weakness of their sex, and partly to their domestic cares.

**13-17. Thou shalt observe the feast
of tabernacles seven days**—(See on ; ; ). 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 (), Christ being actually born at that season.

**18-20. Judges and officers shalt
thou make**—These last meant heralds or bailiffs, employed in
executing the sentence of their superiors.
**in all thy gates**—The
gate was the place of public resort among the Israelites and other
Eastern people, where business was transacted and causes decided. The
Ottoman Porte derived its name from the administration of justice at
its gates.

**21. Thou shalt not plant thee a
grove**—A grove has in Scripture a variety of significations—a
group of overshadowing trees, or a grove adorned with altars
dedicated to a particular deity, or a wooden image in a grove
([Judges 6:25](../../../kjv/judges/6/25); [2 Kings 23:4-6](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/4-6)).
They might be placed near the earthen and temporary altars erected in
the wilderness, but they could not exist either at the tabernacle or
temples. They were places, which, with their usual accompaniments,
presented strong allurements to idolatry; and therefore the
Israelites were prohibited from planting them.

**22. Neither shalt thou set thee up
any image**—erroneously rendered so for "pillar";
pillars of various kinds, and materials of wood or stone were erected
in the neighborhood of altars. Sometimes they were conical or oblong,
at other times they served as pedestals for the statues of idols. A
superstitious reverence was attached to them, and hence they were
forbidden.

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