Instructions to God's People.
By S. N. Haskell
The Lord gave special instruction to his people anciently, when and how to appear before him. He also made them special promises providing they would obey this instruction. Three times in the year they were to appear before the Lord God. Ex. 23:17; 34:23. At the feast of the Passover they were to bring the first-fruits of their increase; this was their spring harvest. “Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits.” “The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God.” “Ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and ye shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you.” “And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord.” “And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears until the self-same day that you brought an offering unto your God.” Ex. 22:29; 23:19; Lev. 23:10, 11, 12, 14. A wave offering was a thank offering. It was an acknowledgement of God's prospering hand temporally,3— an expression of thankfulness that Heaven had given the first and best it possessed for the human race; and of belief that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and that through his resurrection they would enter the realm of the blest. Fifty days later there was another gathering at the feast of Pentecost. At that time there was another special offering made to the Lord. During this fifty days they were to gather in the grain. The first dough of the new grain they were to give unto the Lord. “Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering; as ye do the heave offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the Lord an heave offering in your generations.” Num. 15:20, 21. Ye shall bring out of your habitation two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord.” Lev. 23:17. At the close of the autumnal harvest in the seventh month, they were again to appear before the Lord and make special offerings. This feast is mentioned by Moses in Deuteronomy the sixteenth chapter. The thirteenth to the seventeenth verses are his closing words:— “Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thy hands; therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.” Also see Ex. 23:14-17. One important command was that none should appear before him empty. Every one was to bring an offering to God. It was to be the first, and of the best they had. There is a singular promise that God made to those who did appear before him these three times a year bringing their offering in the manner specified. It seems that God pledged himself to look after their land when they were gone, that no one would desire it, and also to give them prosperity. “For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders; neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.” Ex. 34:24. Dr. Adam Clarke says that God must have miraculously blessed them temporally. God will do no less for his people to-day, if they serve him as faithfully. We recommend that all conscientiously follow the instructions God has given; prove him and see if he will not pour out a blessing till there will not be room enough to receive it. S. N. Haskell.