Charles Preuss and Work

I went to a Sarah Vowell talk last night. She spent quite a bit of time on Charles Preuss. Pruess was the cartographer on three Fremont expeditions. His maps were key to the United States's expansion into the West. He was very good at making beautiful maps with side notes that provided useful information for pioneers. He found his calling, Sarah said, but he hated life in the frontier. To do the work he loved, he had to live in a way he hated. For health reasons, he gave up the expeditions at age 50. He committed suicide in 1854.

Moses and the celebration of Work

Deuteronomy 16 13-15

“You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

“Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

NASB

Celebration, Productivity, God's Blessing, Joy and Work are all tied together in this passage.

I did some research on "altogether joyful." The emphasis was on community according to this one commentator. The celebration was elaborate and each Israelite was responsible to be joyful and to make every one in Israel joyful on this occasion. The celebration was a thanksgivings to God for His bountiful provision and His acts of salvation in the past.