[Scott Delamater] I want to read… I want to read about some last-minute preparations that were made many hundreds of years ago. If you'll turn over to the Book of Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 8:1. Actually, we'll go back to the last half of verse 73. It says, "When the seventh month came, the people of Israel being settled in their towns. All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate; they told the scribe, Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of the Moses." And this was on the first day of the seventh month. So here we see them all gathering together. This remnant, these captives that had come back, and they're here gathered to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, the first day of the seventh month. In verse 3, we see that Ezra… it says he read. "He read from the Law. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and women, those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.”

So, here he reads and they're listening. They're locked in, much as you are here today, and they're explaining. And it says that they explain the sense and the meaning and the people hear it. They're hearing the words of the Law that maybe they haven't heard for a very long time, at least not in this way, not being read in this formal setting, in this sort of context where they had asked him to bring it out and here they are presenting it. And it's being read and it's being understood.

And we see that it cuts them to the heart. Verse 9 says, "Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, 'This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.' For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law." It cut them to the heart. They were having such a deep reaction to hearing these things said in this way, to being taught, to having their ears open, to being able to understand it. And they're weeping over it, but the leaders correct their emotions. They say, "No, no, no, this isn't a day to be weeping. This isn't a day to be here cut to the heart in that way. This is a day of joy." And they correct them.

In verse 10, “He said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our God. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’" So he encourages them. He says, "This is a day of celebration. This is a day of joy.”

But he gives them a very interesting instruction in here, and it's one that I want to look at today as we sort of begin to prepare for the upcoming Feast that begins tomorrow evening. You might think, "Well, we've already done all of our preparations. We've already made all our plans. We're here, we've got our rooms, we've got everything all set out and laid out." But there are some instructions that he gave them here on the Feast of Trumpets that they then carried into the following fall holy days that I think are still very relevant for us as we think about this Feast ahead of us, even day by day, how we can approach this Feast and how we can celebrate this Feast in a way that is pleasing to God.

He recognized this as a time of rejoicing, and he says, "Send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared." The other instructions in here, they kind of make sense to us, right? "Drink sweet wine and eat the fat." We know we bring our second tithe here and we were able to celebrate and maybe enjoy meals in ways that we don't other times of the year, but he says very specifically to them, "Send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.”

Verse 11, "So the Levites stilled the people, saying, 'Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.' And the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions." So the people followed the words that they had heard, “and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.” They had understood the words.

What words? And why did Ezra make this command? Why did he call out sending portions to those for whom nothing was prepared? We don't know exactly the words that they had been going through. We don't know which chapters they had been going through, but I want to look at some of the verses in the Book of the Law and see how these relate to this idea that they needed to send portions for those who nothing was prepared for. We have the sense that there was great care being made that everyone collectively together would have a good Feast.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16:13. Because we know in Nehemiah that they read more of the book and they discovered that they were supposed to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And if you continue reading there in chapter 8, they see that there were these instructions given. And so, they go out and they follow them and they bring in all the leaves from all the different trees and they build their booths and they kept the Feast.

Here in Deuteronomy 16, we read a command about this. Verse 13, it says, "You shall keep the Festival of Booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves." And so we do that. We come here as households and we celebrate together as family. And I think we understand pretty well that this really is a time to be together and to be family.

But the command doesn't stop there. It says, "You, your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns." The feasts were commanded as communal festivals. They were commanded as time for the entire community to be able to come together and celebrate together, for everyone to be involved in that, for there to be great joy among all the people, regardless of circumstances, regardless of who they were, regardless of what they had.

And so it's interesting that God singles out specific groups for us to be conscious of, for them to be conscious of. He said, "Don't forget, not just your households, but these four groups." And this is what we're going to look at today. We're going to talk about the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows because it's like God places a special focus on these people during the Feast of Tabernacles to make sure that this is a community thing. That this isn't just families here and there having a nice time, or individuals here and there having a good time, but really that it's the entire community.

Look first at the Levites. It's interesting because the Levites are called out first not only in this command but in many commands, not just about the feasts. Look at some related to the feasts, but even third tithe command, for example, when it talks about giving the third tithe, the first group that it talks about that third tithe benefiting is the Levites. And then again, much like this list, the strangers, and the widows, and the orphans, those who had need. But the Levites are called out in a lot of these commands. It's fascinating.

Let's turn back to Deuteronomy 12, Deuteronomy 12:12. So here we are… this is in the context of general commands about the feasts, about times that we would all come together, that everybody would go up to wherever God had placed His name. And again, this is in Deuteronomy, so this is before they ever knew that Jerusalem was where God was going to place His name. But here He's telling them, "When you go up," in verse 12, it says, "you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns, since they have no allotment or inheritance with you.”

It's interesting that He calls them out specifically, just that group, He says, "And the Levites," and he points out that they had no allotment or inheritance. This was something that had been instituted a ways back. You might remember when God brought Israel out of Egypt and He took all the firstborn of the Egyptians. And He said, "All of your firstborn here in Israel, all of your firstborn are mine." And then later, He claimed the tribe of Levi in place of the firstborns. And He said, "The tribe of Levi is Mine." And He had the firstborns redeemed in that way. And then the Levites, of them, He said, "They should have no inheritance in the land when they go in and divide it up." That they would have no inheritance, that He would be their inheritance. God said He would be their inheritance. And so here, He gives a command to them, to the rest of the Israelites, to not forget them. It's almost like God is saying in order to fulfill that promise in that way, that He would be their inheritance, Israel needed to step up and remember them.

If you look down in Deuteronomy 12:18, talking about the tithes. It says, "These you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God in all your undertakings." Again, the Levites the only group that He singles out in this verse.

And notice verse 19, it's like He gives a double emphasis. "Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land." Here, God is… again, He is providing for them in this way through the people. He is the one that is giving them what they need.

We see elsewhere that they were scattered among the tribes. They were not given any big area. They were given a few towns throughout Israel, 40-some towns throughout all of Israel. Easton's Bible Dictionary says of this, it says, "Thus, the Levites were scattered among the tribes to keep alive among them the knowledge and service of God." That was their role. They were the ones that were supposed to help teach, help people remember. They would travel to Jerusalem and serve in the temple. Later in the synagogue era, it was the Levites who were primarily responsible for duties in the synagogue to read, to read the Law to the people. These were all Levitical responsibilities.

Now we want to take these principles and we draw them forward into our context. And we want to say, "Okay, here's a principle that God emphasizes multiple times." And we've even only gone through a few here. But God emphasizes remembering these people. And then we want to take that principle and draw it forward and say, "How does this apply today in our current era, in our modern context?" Sometimes we draw parallels between the Levites in our modern-day ministry. And there are some connections. There is not a precise equivalent, but they share similarities. There are some similarities there, and not only the ministry, right? You think about who are the people that live among us, that dwell among us, that are sort of scattered out among us that make personal sacrifices in order to serve the Church. Who are those people? Who are the people today for whom you might say that the Lord is their inheritance, that they really depend on what He provides through His people?

Those people should receive some special focus, some special attention when we are here at the Feast of Tabernacles. The interesting thing about these people is that their role during the year, over the course of the year, generally, is to serve. And so oftentimes, they come to the Feast and they continue doing that. That's sort of the kind of people that they are. They show up and these are people who serve in various ways and all sorts of different responsibilities. That's just who they are.

Often it's a little too late once we're here to step in and say, "Oh, let me take that off of your shoulders." Right? There's been so much planning going up to it. But sometimes we have opportunities to assist where we can. We can pitch in, we can move some chairs, we can do whatever it is. Somebody can hand us something, and, "Can you run this over?" and to be able to help out in those ways. Gratitude is certainly a way that we can help out. It's certainly a way that we can encourage and make sure that it's a joyful Feast for those who are laboring and working hard among us, who sacrifice so that we can have a really enjoyable, really spiritually beneficial Feast.

So let's just try to be mindful of those people. This coming week, try to be mindful of those who are serving and sacrificing among us. And to be able to show them our gratitude, to be able to do whatever we can in our unique individual ways, to be able to include them and make sure that this Feast is a joy for them as well.

The second group that God calls out are the strangers, or in some translations, it will say aliens. And the aliens that are among us… No, this is not conspiracy theory. There are aliens among us. The aliens that are among us, God wants us to make sure that they have a fantastic Feast. When you think about what God did with Israel, He brought them into Canaan and He wanted them to be a model nation. We won't turn there, but we know God wanted them to be a model nation to the world around them, to the nations around them, that they would say, "What nation is there like this that has such great laws and such an amazing God?" It's like God wanted to attract strangers to Israel. And so, God made provisions for them. He planned for them. He gave commands for them, that those who were strangers to Israel would be able to come into Israel and then still be a part of the community, still be a part of the celebrations.

These would have also… like the Levites, they would have been people who had no inheritance in terms of having no land or possession in Israel. They didn't have that. All of the land in theory was allocated to all the Israelite families. So they wouldn't have owned anything, but they would have been there living there, wanting to be there, wanting to be a part of the people. And God says, "Include these people." And in multiple places, He commands that they be allowed to come in and participate in everything.

Let's go over Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19:33 says, "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”

He makes it very cut and dry, right? He's not talking here about, "Well, what should your national policy and how should you feel about the politics of the era?" Right? None of that is mentioned. He just says, "When there are aliens among you, individually, your responsibility toward the alien, toward the stranger is that you shall love them. And they're to be to you as the citizen among you. You shall love the alien as yourself." It's a pretty simple command for us.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy 10, because there… well, even here in Leviticus, He reminds them. He says, "Here's why." He says, "You were strangers. You were aliens in a different land, in a foreign land. And you understand that." In theory, these people were the children of those slaves who had been there in Egypt. These people would have understood what it was like. They would have known the stories, heard the stories from their parents of what it was like be a stranger there. And they should have understood that.

Deuteronomy 10:17, "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and who takes no bribe. Who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." He reminds them you were once strangers.

Again, we take this and draw this forward into our context. We were once strangers to this congregation, even those of us that may have grown up in the Church, right? At some point, you realized you were not really a part of the congregation, that you were a stranger to it. That at some point maybe in your teens, you'd sort of become a little more interested in other things and that you had a need to be a part of this congregation, that you were a stranger to it. We've all been strangers to this congregation, to this group, to this Church, right? We have been on the outside and now we are on the inside and we understand the joy of that. That's why we're here. And so, He says it's very important for us to be able to take those who maybe feel like they're on the outside in some way and to make sure that they're rejoicing here with us too.

We have people here who are maybe just coming and learning about the church, maybe are here for their first Feast, right? Maybe they're actually strangers… maybe they're actually aliens from another country and they're here, and maybe they've been a part of God's Church for a long time. But if you've traveled abroad, you know that sometimes you can be in a foreign setting and feel a little bit uncomfortable, right? Even if you know it's your people, right? There are things that we can do then individually to make sure that those people feel like, "No, these are your people. This is your group. This is where you belong. You're not a stranger or an alien here." So, who are those people? It's a little hard to know. We aren't going to know necessarily right off the bat who the strangers are, but we can find out as we get to know people and we can do our part to make sure that the strangers among us feel at ease, that they have great joy in this Feast as well.

The next two groups that God mentions are the widows and orphans. And generally, these two groups are always mentioned together because when you think about it, it's the same situation that creates both. A father might go off to battle, might've been killed, and leaves behind children and a wife. So generally, widows and orphans are mentioned together. Back then, just as it does today, right, it creates a lot of challenges for those that it leaves behind. I think this one we understand pretty well. This one we don't have to work quite so hard to draw this forward into the modern context.

 

But let's see what God says about these groups. Let's go over to Exodus 22. Exodus 22:22, God says, "You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them," or in some translations it says, “if you oppress them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; My wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans." So He has a pretty clear harsh response to oppression of this group, and understandably. He's almost saying that He is going to stand in that role. That when there have been women widowed, children orphaned, that He'll stand in that role as a husband, as a father, and here as an avenger. If those people are going to oppress… if they're going to be oppressed, that God will come and avenge them for that oppression. He warns very specifically against that. He's very protective of this group.

Deuteronomy 24, Deuteronomy 24:19. I'm in the wrong place. Deuteronomy 24:19, again, just showing that God provides for these people. He calls out these groups… He makes sure that they're provided for, but He puts part of that responsibility on us to make sure that we are providing for them.

Deuteronomy 24:19, "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left. It shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow." So, here in these agricultural contexts, He says, "Don't go back and get every last thing that you can. You leave a little bit behind because there are people that are going to come along that are going to need that." And really, it's your responsibility… if you happen to own the vineyard or you own the field, it's your responsibility to make sure that there's something left out there for them. That if they're willing to come and gather that, that it's theirs.

And so, we see all of God's concerns. Again, there are plenty of commands that we could turn to about this. He has a lot of concern for the widows, for the orphans among us. And we have those among us. Today, we have literal widows and literal orphans among us. We also have those who are what we've sometimes called a spiritual widow or a spiritual orphan in the sense that they have a spouse that has left the faith, or that God never called into the faith for some reason. We have those whose parents have never been a part of the Church, and as children, they get a lot of resistance to this, right? But some of these younger people have come in in spite of that. There are those situations out there.

Feasts can be really challenging for these groups. It can be really tough. Sometimes the widows among us, the widowers among us tend to be older. Health can be challenging. Logistics can be very challenging if you're here, and especially if you're trying to take care of a bunch of kids, and it's just you as a single parent. It's difficult with all the activity. It can get a little overwhelming. You can get lost in the crowd. Sometimes you can feel very alone in a crowd when you are alone without a spouse in that way. So when we see these things, again, it's on us to make sure that these people are included, that these people that are on the margins in various ways, the Levites and the strangers, the widows, the orphans… Right? It's easy for some groups of people to be sort of pushed out on the margins and kind of left on the margins, right? But that's not a whole community celebrating or rejoicing together. And that's the goal. So God wants to make sure there's nobody sitting out there on the margins, that everybody is brought into the fold, that we're all able to celebrate together.

That includes especially those who are not able to be here. Oftentimes the widows among us, as they age, they aren't even able to travel here. So we might be aware of people back at our home congregations who are unable to be here, and as we can reach out and include them in our celebrations, that's something that we should ought to do. We really should be striving for.

Jesus Christ talks about some of these principles. Let's go over to Luke 6. Now, He's not talking here specifically about these Old Testament commands that we've been reading, these commands about the feasts, but He's talking about the spirit of generosity, the spirit of giving that is really God's Spirit, the spirit of inclusion, the spirit of making sure that we are as a people unified in that way, that we're together in that way, that we're able to share all that we have with each other.

Here in Luke 6:30, He says, "Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you." Here, He's talking about giving to those who ask, or even just caring outside of our circle. It's easy to give and share sort of within our circles, within our groups, our friends, but here, He's saying outside of your circle.

Sometimes we might excuse ourselves a little bit. We sort of think, "Well, you know, nobody ever asked me about this, and it's really their responsibility to ask if they need something, but nobody ever asked, so oh well." But we neglect… The verse that follows, it says, "Do to them as you would have them do to you." Sometimes we know there's a need and even without asking, we can fill certain needs as we see them, right? If we become aware of them, we can help try and find somebody that can, when we see those needs come up.

Because we all have different things that we're able to give here at the Feast in different ways. All of us are in different situations, different places in life. We have different resources. Sometimes we have financial resources, and that's great. That's one way to help, but that's not the only way to help. That's not the only way to give. Some of us have things, have possessions that we can lend or share that will help other people to have a fantastic Feast. Some of us have physical strength where we're able to go out and actually just do some things, lift some things, carry some things. And I know, especially when you're younger, it doesn't feel like that's really a big thing. But when moving becomes painful, right, when just getting around becomes painful, somebody that can provide and lend their physical strength, that's a real service. That's something that you might have to give.

We have other things that we can give. Some of us can give rides. If you have a car here at the Feast, that's something that you have that you're able to share and give. Some of us are really good at planning and coordinating things, organizing things, helping little things here happen along the way. Some people are really good at spotting needs. Maybe you don't know how to fill the needs, but you're really good at spotting needs, right? Not all of us are good at that. That's something that you're able to contribute, to be able to say, "Oh, I found this need." Talk to somebody about it, see if there's a way to get it filled.

Some of us are able to lend an ear in ways that other people just don't seem to be able to. And that's not a knock on those of us who can't listen very well, but some of us are able to sit and listen. And sometimes that's what people need. And rarely are they going to ask for that. Rarely is somebody going to come up to you and say, "You know, I really just need someone to listen to me right now. Would you sit down and just lend me an ear?" That's a rare ask. But if you're the kind of person that is able to lend an ear, that can be a very valuable thing here at the Feast. And prayer, all of us can offer prayer. It's something that we can give for others, especially those on the margins, that we can give to others here at the Feast. We can pray and we ought to be doing that daily.

Let's go over to Luke 14. If you look at verse 1, it says, "On one occasion, Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath." So He was invited over to somebody's house. And I love this story about Jesus Christ because it shows that He was willing to just say it like it is. So He's invited over. He's a guest at somebody's house.

Let's go down to verse 12. "And He said to the one who had invited Him, 'When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors in case they may invite you in return and you would be repaid." So someone invited Him over and he told them how they ought to throw parties, which is fantastic. He says, "But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Here, Jesus Christ calls out a situation that we really maybe have more opportunities here at the Feast to participate in than any other, which is being able to be together for meals.

Some of us might have an opportunity to host a meal. Some of us might be able to go out to a meal, to organize a group, to be able to be together, to coordinate some event, some activity. Maybe you and a bunch of friends are getting together and you think, "Oh, who should we invite to come to this?" This is an opportunity where Jesus Christ says is very significant. He says, "This is not something that is just a real casual thing, but this is an opportunity for us again to make this a collective event, to make a collective joy where we can all come together and make sure that others are being able to participate in that joy and share in that joy.”

And He connects who we invite to those events with eternal salvation… eternal reward. Sorry. Not salvation. He connects that to our reward. He says, "Your eternal reward is connected to who you invite to your dinners, to your activities, to your events." It's fascinating when you connect it that way, but it's not something that we connect just simply because, "Well, here's a transaction. Oh, God, I invited the lame and the blind, so, you know, bump up my kingdom reward." There's something deeper at play.

Let's go over to Romans 14, Romans 14:17. Paul says… Again, he's sort of inserting a thought in a thought. He says, "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." It's not really about the banquet. It's not really about the activity or the event. That's why this principle runs so deep. He's saying this is about the kind of character that we have, that we are building, that we are developing, that these events, these opportunities that we have give us an opportunity to build some character perhaps that we could develop by including people that we wouldn't necessarily normally include. And maybe we learn why it is that Jesus Christ wanted us to do that. We see it because it's more than food and drink but peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 18, "The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval." He says this is service to Jesus Christ. We're serving Jesus Christ by including these people, by including others who cannot possibly repay us. He says it's service to Him because it was God who commanded special care for those on the margins, for the Levites, for the strangers, for the widows, the orphans. And so we serve Him, we serve God, ultimately, by fulfilling those commands, by serving these people.

Let's go over to John 7 in closing. John 7:37 says, "On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, He cried out, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me.'" So, here He is. Perhaps it's uncertain He… When we read back in Nehemiah that they had all gathered together, they were at the Water Gate, and it's very possible that where Jesus Christ is talking here was in that same area, where the Law was poured out, that Ezra spoke to the people and they learned. Jesus Christ here may be in that same area. We don't know. But it says that He was standing there and he cries out and He says, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me. And let the one who believes in Me drink, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.’"

This foretells the giving of God's Spirit. And so, we look at this and we say He's telling us that we'll receive His Spirit. And yes, that's true. But even further than that, it speaks to the activity of God's Spirit in our lives. It says, "Here's what God's Spirit in your life will look like. It'll look like rivers of living water flowing from you." What does that look like? What does it look like when living waters flow from our heart? What impact will that have on others?

That's kind of the question that we get to answer here at the Feast this year. The Feast of Tabernacles gives us an opportunity to model this, to share joy not only with our family, not only with our friends, with the Levite, with the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. So let's plan for an inclusive, joyful Feast.