Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God,.... This has been observed before, Ex 23:17, and is repeated here for the sake of mentioning the place where they were to appear, which before now was not observed, and indeed it is chiefly for that the other festivals are here recited:in the place which he shall choose; which though not expressed is now easily understood; and the three times at which they were to appear there were, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; or passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles; and of numbers of people going up from the country to each of these feasts, we have instances in the New Testament; to the passover, Lu 2:42, to Pentecost, Ac 2:5, to tabernacles, Joh 7:2,and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; Aben Ezra observes, the meaning is, not empty of the tribute of the freewill offering of their hand, and which Jarchi more fully explains of the burnt offerings of appearance, and of the peace offerings of the Chagigah, or money answerable to them; which, according to the Misnah was a meah of silver for a burnt offering, and two pieces of silver for the Chagigah, which weighed thirty two barley corns Chagigah, c.
1. sect. 2. Maimon.