...obey the ten commandments and trust God in everything in life!...

Sabbatical Year and Sabbath

“10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

12 For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your home-born slave and the resident alien may be refreshed. 13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.”

The Annual Festivals

“14 Three times in the year you shall hold a festival for me. 15 You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt.

No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

16 You shall observe the festival of harvest, of the first fruits of your labour, of what you sow in the field. You shall observe the festival of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labour. 17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my festival remain until the morning.

19 The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” Exodus 23:10-19.

Dear friends, in these verses of Chapter 23 we come to terms with a set of laws dealing with sabbaths (23:10–12) and a set of laws dealing with the three annual festivals (23:10–19) all of which are placed around the special, overarching command in 23:13: “Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips” — demanding exclusive covenant obedience to and faith in Yahweh. In addition to these there was to be every seven years a special concern for the land, animals, and people. When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), He summarized the point of these two laws spelled out in (23:10–12), as well as others relating to the Sabbath. Both of them emphasize that the Sabbath, whether of years or days, was intended by God to provide restoration and well-being for God's people, not merely a pause of all activity.

I particularly like the general warning to keep the covenant and trust Yahweh alone: “13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips” 23:13. This summarizes what God wants all of us to do: obey the ten commandments and trust God in everything in life!

Today, make this your prayer: obey the ten commandments and trust God in everything in life!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.