The Bible

 

Exodus 23:14-19 : The Three Annual Festivals

Study

14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Commentary

 

Harvesting Your Mind

By Todd Beiswenger


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At harvest, we are to remember that all good things come from God. We are to acknowledge this not because God needs our praise, but because it is good for us. It opens our minds, and prepares us for God's good harvest.

(References: Divine Love and Wisdom 335; Exodus 23:14-19; James 1:17; Jeremiah 29:11; John 3:27, 6:27)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8418

Study this Passage

  
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8418. 'And gather the thing of a day in its day' means continually, in proportion to need. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering' as receiving, for when 'raining' means flowing in - that is to say, good from the Divine flowing in - 'gathering' means receiving, because the one activity goes with the other; from the meaning of 'the thing' as the object to which it refers, in this instance the bread or manna from heaven; and from the meaning of 'a day in its day' as continually, in proportion to need. Continually is meant because they received the manna daily (for the meaning of 'daily' is continually, see 2838); and in proportion to need is meant because they were to gather as much each day as they were going to need and no more, which for each person was an omen

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.