The Children of Israel were told to keep three feasts each year - the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first fruits, and the feast of ingathering. Should we still do that?

In Exodus 23:14-16, Moses receives the instructions about these feasts. Those three verses in Exodus comprise our brief story. Their inner meaning is explained in Arcana Coelestia 9286-9296.

There are three feasts. In the Word, the number three represents a completeness, a sense of things being covered from beginning to end. Our thankfulness to the Lord is supposed to keep going - to endure.

The first feast, of unleavened bread, stands for worship, for our thankfulness for the Lord's action in our minds to get rid of false ideas. That enables us to start to receive good loves.

The second feast, of first fruits, relates to the planting of true ideas in that "soil" of initial loves for doing good.

The third feast, of harvest, or ingathering, stands for the time when, by applying our true ideas, we receive real good - loves of the neighbor and of the Lord - that become the middle of our lives. This is the state of rebirth, where we have - by working through the year (our lives), and enduring in thankfulness, allowed the Lord to get rid of our false ideas, and push our evil loves to the periphery, so that good can work, and be fruitful.

These feasts, then, represent the progress of our spiritual lives. In some manner, we need to keep them.

8047. Verses 3-10. And Moses said to the people, Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves; for by strength of hand Jehovah brought you out from there. And nothing made with yeast shall be eaten. Today you are going out, in the month of Abib. And it shall be when Jehovah brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to Jehovah. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and nothing made with yeast shall be seen among you, and no yeast shall be seen among you within all your borders. And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, [This is done] because of what Jehovah did for me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be for you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, in order that the law of Jehovah may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Jehovah has brought you out of Egypt. And you shall keep this statute at the appointed time from year to year.

'And Moses said to the people' means instruction through God's truth. 'Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves' means that especially should they call to mind that state which was theirs when they were delivered from spiritual captivity by the Lord. 'For by strength of hand Jehovah brought you out from there' means that they were delivered by the Lord's Divine power. 'And nothing made with yeast shall be eaten' means that they shall not make anything that has been falsified their own. 'Today you are going out' means deliverance for evermore. 'In the month of Abib' means the beginning of a new state. 'And it shall be when Jehovah brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite' means into the region of heaven occupied by those steeped in evil and falsity. 'Which He swore to your fathers to give you' means which the Divine promised to those governed by goodness and truth. 'A land flowing with milk and honey' means where there is gladness and joy. 'That you shall keep this service in this month' means everlasting worship of the Lord because of His deliverance. 'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread' means purification from falsities. 'And on the seventh day there shall be a feast to Jehovah' means holy worship of the Lord. 'Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days' means that they are to be purified thoroughly from falsities. 'And nothing made with yeast shall be seen among you' means that on no account shall anything falsified be accepted. 'And no yeast shall be seen among you' means that nor shall any falsity at all be accepted. 'Within all your borders' means within the range of truth that springs from good. 'And you shall tell your son on that day, saying' means the inward perception of truth that belongs to conscience. 'Because of what Jehovah did for me when I came out of Egypt' means that they were delivered by the Lord from spiritual captivity and from damnation. 'And it shall be for you as a sign on your hand' means that it shall be constantly in their will. 'And as a memorial between your eyes' means that it shall be constantly in their understanding. 'That the law of Jehovah may be in your mouth' means in order that Divine Truth may be in everything coming from there. 'For with a strong hand Jehovah has brought you out of Egypt' means that they were delivered by Divine power. 'And you shall keep this statute at the appointed time from year to year' means that this law of order shall always hold for that state.