Deuteronomy 16:13

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

Deuteronomy 16:13-15. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

(13) Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days.—For details of the observance see the passages already referred to in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but more especially Leviticus 23:33-43.

(14) Thou, and thy son . . .—The rejoicing of the Feast of Tabernacles was proverbial among the Jews. On the persons who are to share the joy, Rashi has an interesting note. “The Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow,—My four (Jehovah’s), over against thy four—thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant. If thou wilt make My four to rejoice, I will rejoice thy four.”

(15) Seven days.—An eighth day is mentioned both in Leviticus 23:36 and Numbers 29:35. But the seven days of this feast are also spoken of in both those passages (Leviticus 23:36 and Numbers 29:12). There is, therefore, no contradiction between the two passages. The eighth day is treated apart from the first seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, somewhat in the same way as the Passover is always distinguished in the Pentateuch from the six days which followed it, and which are called the Feast of Unleavened bread. The reason for the distinction in that case becomes clear in the fulfilment of the feast by our Lord. The Passover is His sacrifice and death. We keep the feast of unleavened bread by serving Him in “sincerity and truth.” The Feast of Tabernacles has not yet been fulfilled by our Lord like the two other great feasts of the Jewish calendar. Unfulfilled prophecies regarding it may be pointed out, as in Zechariah 14. Our Lord refused to signalise that feast by any public manifestation (John 7:2-10). There may, therefore, be some reason for separating the eighth and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles from the former seven, which will appear in its fulfilment in the kingdom of God. It is remarkable that the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the commencement of the second temple and the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, all occurred about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Thou shalt surely rejoice.—In the Hebrew this is a somewhat unusual form of expression. Literally, thou wilt be only rejoicing. Rashi says it is not a command, but a promise.

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

13-17. Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days—(See on [147]Ex 23:14; [148]Le 23:34; [149]Nu 29:12). 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 (Joh 1:14), Christ being actually born at that season.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of the feast of tabernacles, see on Exodus 23:16 Leviticus 23:34 Numbers 29:12.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,.... Which began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, or September; see Leviticus 23:34, &c.

after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exodus 23:16, barley harvest began at the passover, and wheat harvest at Pentecost; and before the feast of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the olives were over, as well as all other summer fruits were got in.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou shalt {g} observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

(g) That is, the 15th day of the seventh month, Le 23:34.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Thou shalt keep] Heb. perform for thyself, see on Deuteronomy 16:1.

the feast of booths] feast, ḥag, as in Deuteronomy 16:10. Booths, suḳḳôth, lit. plaitings or interlacings, whether natural thickets (Job 38:40, etc.) or artificial shelters of branches or planks, especially for the guardians of vineyards (Isaiah 1:8); applied first by D, and explained by H, Leviticus 23:39-43, which prescribes that the people shall dwell throughout the feast in booths of palm-fronds, boughs of thick trees and poplars (Nehemiah 8:15, olive, myrtle, palm and thick tree branches). H’s reason for this custom is that Israel dwelt in booths at the Exodus; but the general resort of the cultivators to booths in their vineyards at the time of the ripening of the grapes and the vintage, which still continues in Palestine (Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 81), was no doubt very ancient and the real origin of the name of the Feast. After the centralisation of the cultus, the booths were erected in the courts and on the flat roofs of the city, Nehemiah 8:14-17, which implies that before the restoration of Israel’s worship under Nehemiah the custom had been in abeyance. The term tabernacles is used in the EVV. in the sense given by Johnson of ‘casual dwellings’ (Lat. taberna a hut, tabernaculum a tent).

seven days] So H, Leviticus 23:39, to which P, Numbers 29:35, adds an eighth, with a convocation. Passover and Weeks are one day each.

threshing-floor and winepress] Deuteronomy 15:14.

13–15. The Feast of Booths

To be observed for seven days after the harvest of corn and wine by each family and their dependents, at the One Altar; and that altogether joyfully because of God’s blessing.—For the parallels and the other name of the Feast see introd. to Deuteronomy 16:1-17. This feast is also called the feast par excellence (1 Kings 8:2; 1 Kings 8:65, etc., cp. Jdg 21:19 ff.) not so much for its length, as because it crowned the year. See further Deuteronomy 31:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 13-15. - The Feast of Tabernacles, properly, Booths (cf. Leviticus 23:33-44; Numbers 29:12-38). This feast was to be observed at the end of harvest, after the corn had been gathered into granaries, and the produce of the vineyard had been put through the press. Nothing is added here to the instructions already given respecting this festival; only the observance of it at the appointed sanctuary is enforced, and stress is laid on their making not only their sons and daughters and domestics, but also the Levite, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger participators in their rejoicings. Thou shalt surely rejoice; rather, thou shalt be wholly joyous; literally, rejoicing only; Rosenm., "adnodum laetus." Deuteronomy 16:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In connection with the Feast of Tabernacles also, he simply enforces the observance of it at the central sanctuary, and exhorts the people to rejoice at this festival, and not only to allow their sons and daughters to participate in this joy, but also the man-servant and maid-servant, and the portionless Levites, strangers, widows, and orphans. After what had already been stated, Moses did not consider it necessary to mention expressly that this festal rejoicing was also to be manifested in joyous sacrificial meals; it was enough for him to point to the blessing which God had bestowed upon their cultivation of the corn, the olive, and the vine, and upon all the works of their hands, i.e., upon their labour generally (Deuteronomy 16:13-15), as there was nothing further to remark after the instructions which had already been given with reference to this feast also (Leviticus 23:34-36, Leviticus 23:39-43; Numbers 29:12-38).