Deuteronomy 16:10

And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-17 The laws for the three yearly feasts are here repeated; that of the Passover, that of the Pentecost, that of Tabernacles; and the general law concerning the people's attendance. Never should a believer forget his low estate of guilt and misery, his deliverance, and the price it cost the Redeemer; that gratitude and joy in the Lord may be mingled with sorrow for sin, and patience under the tribulations in his way to the kingdom of heaven. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight, as well as our enjoyment. If those who were under the law must rejoice before God, much more we that are under the grace of the gospel; which makes it our duty to rejoice evermore, to rejoice in the Lord always. When we rejoice in God ourselves, we should do what we can to assist others also to rejoice in him, by comforting the mourners, and supplying those who are in want. All who make God their joy, may rejoice in hope, for He is faithful that has promised.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Feast of Weeks; and Deuteronomy 16:13-17, Feast of Tabernacles. Nothing is here added to the rules given in Leviticus and Numbers except the clauses so often recurring in Deuteronomy and so characteristic of it, which restrict the public celebration of the festivals to the sanctuary, and enjoin that the enjoyments of them should be extended to the Levites, widows, orphans, etc.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-12. Seven weeks shalt thou number—The feast of weeks, or a WEEK OF WEEKS: the feast of pentecost (see on [146]Le 23:10; also see Ex 34:22; Ac 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 (Ex 23:16; Nu 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 (De 8:3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The feast of weeks, i.e. of pentecost, Acts 2:1.

Which thou shalt give, over and besides what was appointed, Leviticus 23:17-20 Numbers 28:27-31.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thou shall keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God,.... The feast of Pentecost, at which time the Spirit was poured down upon the apostles, Acts 2:1.

with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand; there were two wave loaves which were ordered to be brought and seven lambs, one young bullock and two rams for a burnt offering, together with the meat and drink offerings belonging thereunto, and a kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs for a peace offering, Leviticus 23:17, and besides all this, there was to be a voluntary contribution brought in their hands; for this was one of those feasts at which all the males were to appear before the Lord, and none of them empty:

which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God,

according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; no certain rate was fixed, it was to be a free gift, and in proportion to a man's abilities, or what the Lord had blessed him with.

Geneva Study Bible

And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. feast] Heb. ḥag, as in Rabbinic Hebrew a pilgrim-feast, and in Ar. pilgrimage (perhaps originally a sacred dance, Wellh. Reste d. Arab. Heiden. iii. 106, 165, and Exodus 32:5 f.; cp. the vb ḥagag, Psalm 42:5; Psalm 107:27). So E, Exodus 23:14, and frequently in O.T. of the three pilgrim feasts. See Driver’s Exod. 242.

with a tribute of a free-will offering, etc.] Heb. (according to) the sufficiency of the free-will offering, etc.; i.e. with a gift (see on Deuteronomy 12:6) adequate to the competence of the offerer, as he has been blessed by God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - This feast was to be kept with sacrificial gifts according to the measure of the free-will offerings of their hand, i.e. voluntary offerings which they gave as the Lord had blessed them; nothing was specially prescribed, each was to give of his own free-will as the Lord had prospered him. The word translated "tribute" in the Authorized Version (מִסַּת) occurs only here, and is of doubtful signification. The LXX. render it by καθὼς, as, according to; it is identical with the Aramaic מסת sufficiency, enough, and may be understood here of the full measure according to which their offerings were to be presented. The freewill offering of thine hand, here referred to, belonged to the gifts of burnt offerings, meat offerings, drink offerings, and thank offerings which might be offered at every feast along with the sacrifices prescribed (cf. Leviticus 23:38; Numbers 29:39). Of the latter no mention is made here, as the law regarding them was already sufficiently proclaimed (Numbers 28, and 29.); and in a popular address it was rather to what depended on the will of the people than to what was imperative by law, that attention had to be directed. Deuteronomy 16:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With regard to the Feast of Weeks (see at Exodus 23:16), it is stated that the time for its observance was to be reckoned from the Passover. Seven weeks shall they count "from the beginning of the sickle to the corn," i.e., from the time when the sickle began to be applied to the corn, or from the commencement of the corn-harvest. As the corn-harvest was opened with the presentation of the sheaf of first-fruits on the second day of the Passover, this regulation as to time coincides with the rule laid down in Leviticus 23:15. "Thou shalt keep the feast to the Lord thy God according to the measure of the free gift of thy hand, which thou givest as Jehovah thy God blesseth thee." The ἁπ. λεγ. מסּת is the standing rendering in the Chaldee for דּי, sufficiency, need; it probably signifies abundance, from מסס equals מסה, to flow, to overflow, to derive. The idea is this: Israel was to keep this feast with sacrificial gifts, which every one was able to bring, according to the extent to which the Lord had blessed him, and (Deuteronomy 16:11) to rejoice before the Lord at the place where His name dwelt with sacrificial meals, to which the needy were to be invited (cf. Deuteronomy 14:29), in remembrance of the fact that they also were bondmen in Egypt (cf. Deuteronomy 15:15). The "free-will offering of the hand," which the Israelites were to bring with them to this feast, and with which they were to rejoice before the Lord, belonged to the free-will gifts of burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, drink-offerings, and thank-offerings, which might be offered, according to Numbers 29:39 (cf. Leviticus 23:38), at every feast, along with the festal sacrifices enjoined upon the congregation. The latter were binding upon the priests and congregation, and are fully described in Numbers 28 and 29, so that there was no necessity for Moses to say anything further with reference to them.