Deuteronomy

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Deuteronomy 16 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Deuteronomy 16 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.

3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

(16:3) "Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread."
How many days is unleavened bread to be eaten?

See verse 8.

4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.

5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:

6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.

8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.

(16:8) "Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread."
How many days is unleavened bread to be eaten?

Just a few verses apart (verse 3) Moses manages a contradiction. Or perhaps not. This is how the SAB reads these verses:

Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, no more and no fewer days.
Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, no more and no fewer days.

Which would have been a contradiction. But that is not what this verse says. It is clear from Ex. 12:15 that unleavened bread had to be eaten for seven days. But this verse is not about for how many days leavened bread had to be eaten, that was already established in verse 3. But it contrasts the first six days of just eating leavened bread with the seventh where there, in addition to eating the leavened bread, had to be a solemn assembly.

9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.

10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.

12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

14 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.

15 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 thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

16 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:

(16:16) "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God."
(The females he never wants to see.)

I'm sure if the Bible had commanded that women had “to appear before the LORD thy God,” the author of the SAB would have sniped about sending pregnant and vulnerable women over unsafe roads.

17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

(16:18-19) "Judges and officers ... shall judge the people with just judgment... Thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise."
Judges and officers should strive to be impartial and should never take a bribe.

19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.