DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2014 March 29
The Peasant Meal (1642)
Le Nain Brothers: Antoine Le Nain (c. 1599-1648), Louis Le Nain (c. 1593-1648), and Mathieu Le Nain (1607-1677)
Note: This painting may have been done by Louis who was noted for a series of paintings of peasant life or by Antoine, though he mainly did miniatures. Some think all three contributed.
Naturalism Style of Genre Art
Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
Image Source: Web Gallery of Art
Explanation: The main focus of Deuteronomy 16 is feasting -- specifically the three prescribed feasts of the year -- the Feast of Unleavened Bread (at the time of the Passover), the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All three feasts were times of sharing (see verses 16-17). It was at those times, especially, that a poor person's table (as represented above) would be more richly appointed.
God commanded the Israelites to observe the Passover on the first day of Spring and to eat unleavened bread for the seven days following that meal. Those days were called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and they commemorated the haste with which the Israelites had to leave Egypt, having insufficient time to make leavened bread. They must sacrifice the Passover lamb in the place which the LORD would choose in the Promised Land. On the seventh day of the feast they were to call a solemn assembly and were not allowed to do any work on that day (1-8). They were to observe the Feast of Weeks seven weeks after the harvest began. They were to give freewill offerings to the LORD; and it was to be a time of sharing with the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows. It was to be a time when they remembered that they were slaves in Egypt (9-12). At the end of the harvest they were to observe the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days. It was to be a time of sharing with the family, the servants, the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows (13-15). These three feasts (the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles) were times in which all the males were required to appear before the LORD; and everyone was to come together and share the blessings which the LORD gave them (16-17). Also, to serve the needs of the community, they were to appoint judges and officers in all their cities who would render just judgments and would not take a bribe or respect persons. In this way they would help preserve their inheritance of the land from the hand of the LORD (18-20). Also they must not mix pagan worship with the worship of the LORD; and they must not make any idols to use in worship (21-22).
Deuteronomy 16
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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