a feasting people

Try for a moment to imagine the status of Israel in the ancient world. In a world where famine was commonplace, God commands His people to have regular feasts every year. All around them people are starving because God has given them judgmental famines, and yet He tells Israel to have several feasts, each of which lasts at least a week. Today, we would not consider this a very “fair” arrangement. Feeling guilty because of our own prosperity and great use of resources, we would suggest sending all that extra food to the surrounding, less fortunate, pagan nations. But we fail to understand God’s purposes in Israel. He wanted to show the world that if a people serves idols, they will starve. If the people repent and come back to the living God, there will be abundance. God testified to this every year before the whole world, so that the world’s jealousy would be provoked. They too would want a god like Him � a god who fed them and did not feed “on” them. (Steve Wilkins, Face To Face)