"You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
Exodus 34:18-26
This is also the point of the Sabbath command (21), for its observance was the token that all their days belonged to Him, and that, for their part, they were honouring the covenant and that they were a people set apart for Him. Not even earing (ploughing) time or harvest were to be exceptions to this, a fact which is important for our modern, highly sophisticated age. Do Christian farmers in fact suffer for honouring the Sabbath? What is said in 24 about keeping the feasts would surely be applicable here. If God was prepared to guard His people's land while they observed the feasts, surely He will look after the crops and provide weather for harvesting for those who honour His day. A cynic once wrote to the Press the following letter: 'Dear Sir, I have been trying an experiment. I have a field of corn which I ploughed on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday. I cultivated it on Sunday. I cut it and hauled it to the barn on Sunday. And I find that I have more corn in the acre than has been gathered by any of my neighbours this October'. The Editor printed the letter, and added one sentence of comment underneath: 'God does not make full settlement in October' - Editor.