Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord. The three-pilgrimage-feast requirement is restated with emphasis: all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord. The Hebrew Adonai YHWH — Sovereign Lord — is a title that emphasizes absolute lordship. Appearing before the Sovereign Lord is not optional religious attendance but covenant obligation. Psalm 84:7 says they go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. The pilgrimage feast as a spiritual journey from strength to strength — the movement toward the presence of the Sovereign Lord is itself formative. The annual pilgrimage to the sanctuary is the Old Testament practice that corresponds to the New Testament's gathering of the whole people of God in Hebrews 10:25.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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