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Deuteronomy 26

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The Offering of Firstfruits 1–11

1
And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein,
2
that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring in from thy land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee; and thou shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ​
3
And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land which Jehovah sware unto our fathers to give us.
4
And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God.
5
And thou shalt answer and say before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ​
6
And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
7
and we cried unto Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression;
8
and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders;
9
and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10
And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God:
11
and thou shalt rejoice in all the good which Jehovah thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner that is in the midst of thee. ​

Declaration After the Triennial Tithe 12–15

12
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shalt give it unto the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled. ​
13
And thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: ​
14
I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given thereof for the dead: I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. ​
15
Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. ​

Covenant Commitment and Reciprocal Oaths 16–19

16
This day Jehovah thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and ordinances: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ​
17
Thou hast avouched Jehovah this day to be thy God, and that thou wouldest walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and hearken unto his voice: ​
18
and Jehovah hath avouched thee this day to be a people for his own possession, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; ​
19
and to make thee high above all nations that he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, as he hath spoken. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 26

Verse 2

the first of all the fruit of the earth — Reshith is the first and best part of the harvest, carried in a teneh, a woven basket (the word occurs only here, in v.4 and in Deut 28:5, 17). It goes to the place which the LORD shall choose 'out of all your tribes to put his name there' (Deut 12:5), and the priest sets it 'before the altar' (v.4).

Verse 5

A Syrian ready to perish — Arammi is the word used of 'Laban the Syrian' (Gen 25:20; 31:20), in whose house Jacob lived. 'Ready to perish' is abad, perishing or wandering. The father 'went down into Egypt… with a few' (Gen 46:27: 'threescore and ten') and there 'became… a nation, great, mighty, and populous'.

Verse 11

rejoice in every good thing — Samach, to be glad, is the festival verb of Deut 16:11, which names the same company: 'the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow'. The first-fruits confession ends with the harvest enjoyed 'thou, and the Levite, and the stranger' together.

Verse 12

the third year, which is the year of tithing — This is the tithe of Deut 14:28–29, laid up 'within thy gates' every three years so that the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow 'shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied'. 'Be filled' here is the same verb (saba), and the year is named for the gift.

Verse 13

the hallowed things — Qodesh, the holy portion set apart. 'Brought away' is baar, to clear out, the verb of 'so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee' (Deut 13:5). The worshipper states that he neither 'transgressed' nor 'forgotten', the lapse against which Moses warned: 'Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God' (Deut 8:11).

Verse 14

in my mourning — Three disclaimers guard the holy portion. Food eaten in sorrow was defiled: 'the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted' (Hos 9:4). The 'unclean use' (tame) and the gift 'for the dead' bring to mind the 'sacrifices of the dead' eaten at Baal-peor (Ps 106:28).

Verse 15

Look down from thy holy habitation — Maon is a dwelling-place; the prayer asks the LORD to look down (shaqaph) from heaven and 'bless thy people Israel' on the strength of his oath, 'which he sware unto thy fathers' (Deut 6:10). 'A land that floweth with milk and honey' is the description first given to Moses at the burning bush.

Verse 16

with all thine heart, and with all thy soul — This closes the body of statutes that opened at Deut 12:1, 'These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land'. The phrase is the measure of the command to love: 'thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul' (Deut 6:5).

Verse 17

Thou hast avouched the LORD — Amar, to say, in the causative form: Israel has caused the LORD to be declared 'thy God'. The same form occurs only in the next verse, where the LORD makes the matching declaration. Israel's part is a promise 'to walk in his ways', answering 'All that the LORD hath said will we do' (Ex 24:7).

Verse 18

his peculiar people — Segullah, a treasure laid up as one's own possession. It was given at Sinai: 'a peculiar treasure unto me above all people' (Ex 19:5), and Deuteronomy repeats it at 7:6, 14:2 and here. Peter gives the title to the church, 'an holy nation, a peculiar people' (1 Pet 2:9).

Verse 19

in praise, and in name, and in honour — The three words are tehillah, shem and tiphereth, the same three that the LORD uses of Israel in Jer 13:11, 'for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory'. Being set 'on high above all nations' (Deut 28:1) goes with being 'an holy people unto the LORD'.