Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Moses give Israel the Lord's commands again concerning diet, sacrifices and offerings, debt, slaves, and feasts.
Moses tells Israel that as the Lord's children, they must not cut themselves or shave the front of their heads for the dead, because they are a holy and chosen people, God's special treasure above all peoples. They must not eat "detestable things." Clean and unclean animals are listed again (rabbits and pigs are not to be eaten, for example.) There is another list for water animals and birds as well. Creepy crawlies and flying insects must not be eaten. If something dies of natural or other causes, they may give or sell it to a foreigner but not eat it themselves. Boiling a young goat in its mother's milk is mentioned again as being prohibited (this may actually be an old Hebrew idiom meaning not to give the Lord leftovers by mixing the old with the new, since it is mentioned a few times in the Bible and often appears to come out of nowhere.) They are to tithe their produce and grain, and they are to eat before the Lord "in the place where He chooses to make His name abide," the tithe of their grain, new wine, oil, and the first of their flocks, so that they may learn to fear God always. (Some of this is repeated from the last few chapters.) If the journey is too long for them to carry the tithe to the Lord's chosen place, they can exchange it for money and take the money to the place instead of the offerings, spending it on whatever they want to eat it before the Lord and rejoice with their household. Also, again, they are not to forsake the Levites. At the end of every third year, they are to store the tithe of the produce and store it in their gates for the Levites, the fatherless, and the widows, so that God may bless them and the work of their hands.
At the end of seven years, they must grant a release of debts. They may require it of a foreigner but must release their brother's debt, except when there may be no poor among them. God will bless them if they carefully obey His voice to observe all His commandments with care. They will "lend to many nations but not borrow" and "reign over many nations." If there are any poor brethren among them, they must not "harden [their] heart or shut [their] hand" from him but should "open [their] hand wide to him" and willingly lend him enough for his needs, whatever they may be. Moses says (from the Lord), "Beware, lest there be a wicked thought in your heart saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release is at hand'" and they give their poor brother nothing, and that brother the cries out to the Lord, and it "becomes sin among [them.]" They are to give unbegrudingly because the Lord will bless their work and all that they put their hand to, for "the poor will never cease from the land." Therefore, they are to "open [their] hand wide to the poor and needy in [their] land." In the seventh year, they are to let their brethren who are their slaves go free, and also they must supply him with what he needs when he goes. They must always remember how they were slaves in Egypt and how God redeemed them. However, if their slave loves them and does not wish to leave, then they are to pierce his ear, and he will be their servant forever. All the firstborn males from their herds and flocks are to be sanctified to the Lord, and they must do no work with them or shear them. They will eat that sacrifice before the Lord year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. However, if it has any defect, they should not sacrifice it to the Lord but eat it in their gates as if it were any other animal, not eating the blood of course.
They are to observe the month of Abib (around late March and early April) and keep the Passover to the Lord because the month of Abib is the month when the Lord "brought them out of Egypt by night." They are to sacrifice to the Lord in the place He chooses to put His name. The commands of how to perform the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are given again so that they remember the day they came out of Egypt "all the days of [their] lives." Commands are also given again of how to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, they are commanded to rejoice! Three times a year men are to appear before the Lord with sacrifices and offerings at the place where God chooses to make His name abide, every man giving as he is able: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost or the Harvest), and the Feast of Tabernacles. They are to appoint judges from each tribe to judge the people, and they are not to "pervert justice or show partiality or take a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous." They must "follow what is altogether just, that [they] may live and inherit the land which the Lord [their] God is giving [them]." They are not to plant trees as an image or set up pillars to gods, which the Lord hates.
Thoughts/discussion questions!
Rejoicing and celebration are very important to God and an important part of worship and praise. They show gratitude and thankfulness. Parents are happy when their children are making good choices, when they are blessed, and when they are rejoicing!