18 “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
19 “The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. 20 “You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.
21 “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. 22 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 “Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. 24 “For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.
25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
26 “You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
It was important that they realized who was the source of everything they had. God wanted them to have constant reminders. They were to redeem their firstborn, and the firstborn of their animals. And they had to bring the first of their first fruits to God. And even throughout the harvest, they were not to neglect the harvest. Don’t forget the source of everything you have. We may not have all the reminders that the Israelites had, but the reality is still the same. Everything we have comes from (and belongs to) God.