Plans for the Table

"Then make a table of acacia wood, 3 feet long, 1 1/2 feet wide, and 2 1/4 feet high. Overlay it with pure gold and run a molding of gold around it. Put a rim about three inches wide around the top edge, and put a gold molding all around the rim. Make four gold rings, and put the rings at the four corners by the four legs, close to the rim around the top. These rings will support the poles used to carry the table. Make these poles from acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And make gold plates and dishes, as well as pitchers and bowls to be used in pouring out drink offerings. You must always keep the special Bread of the Presence on the table before me.

Three Annual Festivals

"Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor. The first is the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, just as I commanded you before. This festival will be an annual event at the appointed time in early spring, for that is the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt. Everyone must bring me a sacrifice at that time.

You must also celebrate the Festival of Harvest, when you bring me the first crops of your harvest. Finally, you are to celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season. At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign LORD.

"Sacrificial blood must never be offered together with bread that has yeast in it. And no sacrificial fat may be left unoffered until the next morning.

"As you harvest each of your crops, bring me a choice sample of the first day's harvest. It must be offered to the LORD your God.

"You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

Exodus 23:14-19

Dedication of the Firstborn

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Dedicate to me all the first-born sons of Israel and every firstborn male animal. They are mine."

So Moses said to the people, "This is a day to remember forever the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. For the LORD has brought you out by his mighty power. (Remember, you are not to use any yeast.) This day in early spring will be the anniversary of your exodus. You must celebrate this day when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the land he swore to give your ancestors a land flowing with mild and honey. For seven days you will eat only bread without yeast. Then on the seventh day, you will celebrate a great feast to the LORD. Eat only bread without yeast during those seven days. In fact, there must be no yeast in your homes or anywhere within the borders of your land during this time.

"During these festival days each year, you must explain to your children why you are celebrating. Say to them, 'This is a celebration of what the LORD did for us when we left Egypt.' This annual festival will be a visible reminder to you, like mark branded on your hands or your forehead. Let it remind you always to keep the LORD's instructions in your minds and on your lips. After all, it was the LORD who rescued you from Egypt with great power.

So celebrate this festival at the appointed time each year. And remember these instructions when the LORD brings you into the land he swore to give your ancestors long ago, the land where the Canaanites are now living. All firstborn sons and firstborn male animals must be presented to the LORD. A firstborn male donkey may be redeemed from the LORD by presenting a lamb in its place. But if you decide not to make the exchange, the donkey must be killed by breaking its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn son.

And in the future, your children will ask you, 'What does all this mean? Then you will tell them, 'With mighty power the LORD brought us out of Egypt from our slavery. Pharaoh refused to let us go, so the LORD killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why we now offer all the firstborn males to the LORD except that the firstborn sons are always redeemed.' Again I say, this ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hands or your forehead. It is a visible reminder that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt with great power."

Exodus 13

Israel's Exodus from Egypt

Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. "Leave us!" he cried. "Go away, all of you, all of you! Go and serve the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, and be gone. Go, but give me a blessing as you leave. All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, "We will all die!"

The Israelites took with them their bread dough made without yeast. They wrapped their kneading bowls in their spare clothing and carried them on their shoulders. And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed and asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. The LORD caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So, like a victorious army, they plundered the Egyptians!

That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succothe. There were about 600,000 men, plus all the women and children. And they were all traveling on foot. Many people who were not Israelites went with them, along with the many flocks and herds. Whenever they stopped to eat, they baked read from the yeastless dough they had brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were rushed out of Egypt and had no time to wait for bread to rise.

The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the LORD's forces left the land. This night had been reserved by the LORD to bring his people out from the land of Egypt, so this same night now belongs to him. It must be celebrated every year, from generation to generation, to remember the LORD's deliverance.