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This section describes the three major festivals of the year for Israel: Passover, Feast of Weeks, and Feast of Tabernacles. These feasts and festivals had theological implications and punctuated Israel’s secular year with “sacred time.” Israel’s time was Yahweh’s time.
The significance of the Passover as recounted here lay in Israel’s need always to “remember the time of [their] departure from Egypt.” The ceremony was to be held in the sacred space, the place Yahweh would choose to cause his Name to dwell (v.5), a directive given for each festival (vv.5, 11, 15). So the people of God dedicated sacred (hallowed) time and sacred space to Yahweh for the purpose of remembering and renewing who they were.
The Feast of Weeks was held at the beginning of the wheat harvest seven weeks after the standing grain began to be harvested (cf. Ex 23:16; 34:22; Lev 23:15-21; Nu 28:26-31). The purpose was to promote social solidarity within the community and rejoicing and praise before Yahweh. His blessings were to be kept in perspective by Israel, as the people remembered that they had been slaves in Egypt and had been unable to enjoy the blessings of Yahweh there (v.12).
The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated for seven days (cf. Ex 23:16; 34:22; Lev 23:34). The Israelites were to be joyful and celebrate (vv.14-15), and no one was to appear without something for the Lord. It cost a person to serve Yahweh (v.16).
In these festivals Israel renewed her commitment to Yahweh and recognized his sovereignty over all of life. The celebrations functioned also as an evangel to other nations, a witness before them, of what Yahweh had done for Israel and their reciprocal response of love to him. (For more technical descriptions of the details of the feast see NBC or HBD.) Peter mentions that one of God’s purposes in calling out a people (1Pe 2:9) is that they “may declare the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light.”