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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9290

Study this Passage

  
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9290. 'As I commanded you' means in keeping with the laws of order. This is clear from the meaning of 'commanding', when done by the Lord, as Divine Truth emanating from Him, for that Truth contains and teaches the commandments that have to do with life and with worship. This Divine Truth constitutes order itself in the heavens, and truths compose the laws of that order, 1728, 1919, 2258, 2447, 5703, 7995, 8700, 8988. From this it is evident that 'as I commanded you' means in keeping with the laws of order.

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

Commentary

 

Keep

  
Feast of Sukkot prayers, by Shalom Koboshvili

Keeping" in the Bible generally concerns the actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away from the activities of life to safeguard it. By far the most common use of "keep" is connected with keeping the Lord's commandments or keeping feast days or rituals. These all mean putting true ideas from the Lord into action in life; simply knowing them or remembering them is not enough. In a deeper sense, it means worshiping the Lord, since living life according to His leading is the ultimate act of worship. When its not possible to act from the Lord's commandments, "keeping" represents remembering and safeguarding those true ideas so that they can be put into practice eventually.