Deuteronomy 16:13 – 17 “You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
For seven days you shall celebrate a feast for the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.
Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.”
The Feast of Tabernacles was one of the “fun feasts” that God gave the Israelites. God wanted to make certain that the Israelites never forgot that they had been slaves in Egypt, that they had escaped miraculously, and that they had been forced to build temporary shelters to protect themselves from the harsh conditions in the wilderness.
This feast was to be celebrated at the end of harvest when food and wine would be readily available. As with the Feast of Shavuot, the Israelites were to make sure that nobody was left out; they were to include their families, their servants, the Levites, the foreigners, and the widows and orphans. Although the feast could be celebrated back in the village, the men of the family were to travel to the temple, bringing with them whatever gifts they could donate to God. In the beginning, the temple was in Shiloh; later on, Solomon built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem and Jerusalem became the center for worship. It was at one of the three major feasts that Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, begged God for a son. After Samuel was weaned, Hannah returned with her husband to celebrate another feast and brought with her the most precious gift she could possibly give: her only son. That free gift that Hannah gave blessed innumerable people and eventually led to the anointing of David to be King over Israel.
What is amazing about this verse is the assumption that every man coming to worship will have some kind of gift to bring with him. Certainly, a poor man struggling to feed his family might wonder if he will have anything worthy of giving to the Lord. But this verse is both law and promise. God is a good Father and does not play games with His children. If God asks for men to bring gifts, then those same men can trust that God will faithfully give them what they need so that they will have no reason to be ashamed.
APPLICATION: Mark 12:41-44 ”Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” In Jesus’ time, it was common for the rich to make grand entrances into the temple, advertising their donations and gaining the approval of the admiring crowds. While some rich person was still strutting and preening, a poor widow with no means of support crept in and quietly gave everything that she had. But Jesus was there, and Jesus immediately knew that this lady was giving up eating for the next few days so that someone else who was worse off than she might be able to survive. Generally, it’s the very poor who are more generous because they have suffered more.
“Who will give ten thousand Ghana cedis? Who will give five thousand Ghana cedis?” We were attending a function and one man had been tasked to handle fund raising. But impassioned appeals to the crowd were falling flat. Finally when the way opened for general donations, the crowd surged forward and gave. None of us felt comfortable having our donations announced.
God gives us all kinds of gifts and many of the most important ones are not monetary. Many people have talents that allow them to help others, and donations of time and energy are just as important as any other donation.
God has given us life and all that goes with it. We should be willing to give back to God out of sheer gratitude for His goodness. We can trust that whatever we give to God will be multiplied and that it will bless far more people than we can possibly imagine.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to trust You and to freely give back whatever you ask from us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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