Exodus 23:14-15 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
I tend to overthink everything; therefore, I totally get commentary’s appraisal that verse 19 is why some observant Jews don’t eat cheeseburgers. It is the concern that the meat might be from the offspring and the cheese might come from the milk of the mother. The two could mix, or boil, in the stomach.
Exodus 23:16-17 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
And while my knee-jerk reaction is to say, “That’s ridiculous,” I truly don’t think God would fault anyone trying to live a life that is pleasing to Him. The problem is our human messiness. Our tendency to overthink. Our desire to adhere to the letter of the law to the point that we utterly miss the spirit of the law.
Exodus 23:18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.
Precious Savior, Again I come back to that old billboard: “Just love everyone. I’ll sort them out later. ~God” I don’t think You would fault anyone who is earnestly trying to live a life that is pleasing to You. Help me to love like You love, to love and not to judge, regardless of my knee-jerk reaction. Help me to shine Your light. Help me, Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 23:19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Have a blessed day.