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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
16:13 feast of tabernacles. Two Hebrew words are used to refer to the tabernacle constructed in the wilderness. One (mishkan) refers mainly to its identity as God’s “habitation” (e.g., Exodus 25:9) when He came down to meet with His people. The other (ohel) referred to the actual structure, which was that of a “tent” (e.g., Exodus 26:9). The word used for the “feast of tabernacles,” however, was succoth, meaning “booths.”
16:18 Judges and officers. In the ten commandments, no provision was made as to how they would be enforced, even though various penalties were set up for those who broke them. However, judges and officers had been appointed by Moses even before he received the tables of the law (Exodus 18:25-26; Deuteronomy 1:16-18).
16:21 a grove. This command did not forbid the planting of trees for fruit or shade or lumber, but for idol worship. The Hebrew word for “grove” here and elsewhere is usually asherah, which was the name of a goddess worshipped by the Phoenicians and other Canaanites. Her image was commonly erected in special groves of trees planted for that purpose. The goddess Asherah was said to be the wife of the god El, and the mother of Baal and many other false gods.