The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 26
Chapter XXVI · Vol. I, p. 520
1 The confession of him that offereth the basket of first-fruits. 12 The prayer of him that giveth his third year's tithes. 16 The covenant between God and the people.
1 AND it shall be, when athou art come in unto bthe land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein,1
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
a Nu. 15.2,18. ch. 17.14; 18.9.
b ch. 4.1; 27.2,3; ver. 2,3,9,10,15.
1 This was to be an annual offering, to take effect immediately after they had obtained possession of Canaan. It was intended to be a visible acknowledgment, 1st. That the country was God's, and that he had given it to them. 2d. That it was by God's blessing the fruits of the field had been made to spring up. 3d. That the people dedicated their property to God's service.—P.
2 That thou cshalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt dgo unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
c Ex. 23.16,19; 34.26. Le. 2.12-16. ch. 16.10. Pr. 3.9,10. 1 Co. 15.21-23. Ro. 15.16. Ja. 1.18. Re. 14.4.
3 And thou shalt go eunto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, fI profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
e Le. 2.12-16. He. 13.15.
4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down gbefore the altar of the LORD thy God.
g Mat. 23.19. He. 13.11-15. ver. 10.
5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A hSyrian2 ready to perish3 was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a ifew, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
h Ho. 12.12. Ge. 27.41; 31.40; 42.1. Is. 51.1,2. Eze. 16.3.
2 An Aramæan. Jacob is so called not only because of his long residence in Aram, but also because his wives? were Aramæan, his children with one exception were born there, and the foundation of his fortune was laid there.—P.
3 Some translate the words, A Syrian persecuted my father—alluding to Laban's persecution of Jacob; others translate them a wandering Syrian—alluding to the unsettled life of Abraham and his posterity. It is evidently intended as a corrective of the undue pride of ancestry, into which the Jews subsequently fell. See Jn. 8.33.—C.
i Ge. 46.27; 47.27. Ex. 1.7,12; 12.37. Ps. 105.24. ch. 10.22.
6 And the Egyptians kevil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
k Ex. 1.8-22; 2.23-25; 3.6-17; v.; 6.5-9.
7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
8 And the LORD lbrought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
l Ex. vii.-xiv.; 3.19,20; 6.6. ch. 4.34; 6.10,11; 8.8,9; 11.10,11. Ne. 9.9-11. Is. 63.9-13. Ps. 78.42,54; 105.27-44; 114.1-8; 106.8,9; 135.8-12; 136.10-22. Je. 32.20-22; 2.6,7. Eze. 20.5-28. 1 Ch. 17.21,22. Ac. 7.34-36; 13.17.
9 And mhe hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
10 And now, behold, nI have brought the first-fruits of the land which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.
n ver. 2,4; ch. 18.4. Nu. 18.11,13. Ex. 22.29; 34.22,26.
11 And thou oshalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.
o ch. 12.7,17-19; 14.22-29; 18.4; 28.1-14. Le. 7.11-16. Mat. 7.11; 6.33. Ro. 8.28,31. Ps. 84.11; 85.12. Phi. 4.19.
12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the pthird year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;4
p ch. 14.28,29. Pr. 14.21. The Jews had at least two yearly tithes, the first belonged only to the Levites, the second was used by the giver and Levites. Perhaps this on the third year was entirely given to Levites and poor, to be eaten at home.
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
4 Another example of the Mosaic poor-laws, in which, as in other instances, the introduction of the word stranger seems to imply that there was not, in this charitable institution, any regulations that, in modern language, would be called law of settlement.—C.
13 Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
14 I have qnot eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead:5 but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me:
15 Lookr down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.6
r Is. 63.15; 64.1. Zec. 2.13. Ps. 90.17; 28.9; 29.11; 115.12-15.
6 This related to the second tithe before considered, ch. 14.22-29. ‘Two years together they paid the Levites' tithe, and the festival tithe; but in the third year, they paid the Levites' tithe, and the poor man's tithe; that is, what was wont in other years to be spent in feasting, was wholly spent every third year upon the poor.’—Mede, quoted by Patrick. Once in three years this solemn protestation was required from every proprietor of land in Canaan, probably in the presence of the priests at the tabernacle. They all declared that the whole of this second tithe had been employed to those purposes for which it was appropriated, and that no part had been used by them in mourning, or at funerals, which rendered them unclean; or in any superstitious ceremony, in imitation of the idolaters around them. As the matter lay very much between God and their conscience, this protestation was the more suitable, and would tend both to remind them of their duty, and render them afraid of neglecting it, ch. 12.5-7; 18.6-8.—Scott.
16 Thiss day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: tthou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
s Ho. 13.4. ch. 5.1-3; 4.1,5,6,9,40; 6.1,5; 11.1; 12.1,32.
t ch. 5.29; 6.5; 10.12; 11.13,18; 30.2,10; 13.3. Ps. 119.34,69.
17 Thou hast uavouched7 the LORD this day to be thy God, and xto walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
u ch. 5.2,3. Ex. 19.3,4,8; 15.2. Is. 12.2. Ps. 31.14; 91.2; 118.28. Zec. 13.9.
7 Avouched—borne witness to the fact, in opposition to idolatry.—C.
x ver. 16. Ps. 119.5,6,11,30,106; 116.16. Lu. 1.6.
18 And ythe LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;
y ch. 7.6; 14.2. Ex. 19.5,6; 6.7. 2 Sa. 7.24. Ge. 17.2. Je. 31.34; 32.38-40. Eze. 36.25-27.
19 And to make thee zhigh above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.
z ch. 4.7,8; 28.1; 7.6; 14.2. Is. 62.7,12; 50.7; 66.20,21; 52.1; 63.18; 65.10,11. Ps. 148.14. Je. 13.11; 33.9. Zep. 3.19,20. Eze. 16.12. 1 Pe. 2.5,9. Ge. 17.7. Ex. 6.7; 19.5,6.
Notes
Reflections.—God faithfully and exactly fulfils his promises, even to the most unworthy. And a grateful acknowledgment thereof, and of our own meanness and guilt, is but a just tribute to him for his goodness. Past deliverances, granted to ourselves or others, ought never to be forgotten: and all our gifts of providence, as well as of redemption, must be acknowledged as coming from God's hand. The first and best thereof of all that we have ought to be offered up to his service: and our earthly blessings will then be doubly sweet to us when we receive them as coming to us from God's mercy and love. Let our distributions to the Lord's ministers and poor be such as we can answer for at the judgment-seat of God. Faithfulness in these will draw his blessing on our enjoyments; but if we rob him in them, we may expect his curse on our basket and on our store. Let us then be hearty friends and well-wishers to the welfare of his church and people. Let our covenant relation to God, our solemn obligation in it, and the honours which he has given or promised to us, excite us to the most exact and universal obedience to his laws.