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Deuteronomy Chapter
Twenty-six
Deuteronomy 26
Chapter Contents
Confession in offering the first-fruits. (1-11) The
prayer after disposal of the third year's tithe. (12-15) The covenant between
God and the people. (16-19)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
(Read Deuteronomy 26:1-11)
When God has made good his promises to us
he expects we
should own it to the honour of his faithfulness. And our creature comforts are
doubly sweet
when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise. The
person who offered his first-fruits
must remember and own the mean origin of
that nation
of which he was a member. A Syrian ready to perish was my father.
Jacob is here called a Syrian. Their nation in its infancy sojourned in Egypt
as strangers
they served there as slaves. They were a poor
despised
oppressed people in Egypt; and though become rich and great
had no reason to
be proud
secure
or forgetful of God. He must thankfully acknowledge God's
great goodness to Israel. The comfort we have in our own enjoyments
should
lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with
present mercies we should bless the Lord for the former mercies we remember
and the further mercies we expect and hope for. He must offer his basket of
first-fruits. Whatever good thing God gives us
it is his will that we make the
most comfortable use we can of it
tracing the streams to the Fountain of all
consolation.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-15
(Read Deuteronomy 26:12-15)
How should the earth yield its increase
or
if it does
what comfort can we take in it
unless therewith our God gives us his blessing?
All this represented the covenant relation between a reconciled God and every
true believer
and the privileges and duties belonging to it. We must be
watchful
and show that according to the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus
the
Lord is our God
and we are his people
waiting in his appointed way for the
performance of his gracious promises.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16-19
(Read Deuteronomy 26:16-19)
Moses here enforces the precepts. They are God's laws
therefore thou shalt do them
to that end were they given thee; do them
and
dispute them not; do them
and draw not back; do them
not carelessly and
hypocritically
but with thy heart and soul
thy whole heart and thy whole
soul. We forswear ourselves
and break the most sacred engagement
if
when we
have taken the Lord to be our God
we do not make conscience of obeying his
commands. We are elected to obedience
1 Peter 1:2; chosen that we should be holy
Ephesians 1:4; purified a peculiar people
that
we might not only do good works
but be zealous in them
Titus 2:14. Holiness is true honour
and the
only way to everlasting honour.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy》
Deuteronomy 26
Verse 2
[2] That
thou shalt 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 go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to
place his name there.
Thou shalt take —
This seems to be required of each master of a family
either upon his first
settlement
or once every year at one of their three feasts
when they were
obliged to go up to Jerusalem.
Verse 5
[5] And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God
A Syrian ready to
perish was my father
and he went down into Egypt
and sojourned there with a
few
and became there a nation
great
mighty
and populous:
A Syrian — So
Jacob was
partly by his original
as being born of Syrian parents
as were
Abraham and Rebecca
both of Chaldea or Mesopotamia
which was a part of Syria
largely so called
partly by his education and conversation; and partly by his
relations
his wives being such
and his children too by their mother's.
Ready to perish —
Either through want and poverty; (See Genesis 28:11
20; 32:10
) or through the rage of his brother Esau
and the treachery of his father-in-law Laban.
Verse 10
[10] And
now
behold
I have brought the firstfruits 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:
It — The basket of
first-fruits
Deuteronomy 26:2.
Verse 11
[11] And
thou shalt 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.
Thou shalt rejoice —
Thou shalt hereby enabled to take comfort in all thy employments
when thou
hast sanctified them by giving God his portion. It is the will of God
that we
should be chearful not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances
but in
our enjoyment of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God gives us
we should make the most comfortable use of it we can
still tracing the streams
to the fountain of all consolation.
Verse 12
[12] When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the
third 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;
The year of tithing —
Heb. the year of that tithe
so called
either 1. because these tithes were
gathered only in that year. Or rather
2. because then only they were so
bestowed; and whereas these second tithes for two years together were eaten
only by the owners and Levites
and that in Jerusalem
in the third year they
were eaten also by the strangers
fatherless
and widows
and that in their own
dwellings.
Verse 13
[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:
Before the Lord — In
thy private addresses to God; for this is to be said presently upon the
distribution of these tithes
which was not done at Jerusalem
but in their own
private gates or dwellings. And this is to be spoken before the Lord
that is
solemnly
seriously
and in a religious manner
with due respect to God's
presence
and will
and glory.
Verse 14
[14] I
have not eaten thereof in my mourning
neither have I taken away ought thereof
for any unclean use
nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened
to the voice of the LORD my God
and have done according to all that thou hast
commanded me.
In my mourning — In
sorrow
or grieving that I was to give away so much of my profits to the poor
but I have chearfully eaten and feasted with them
as I was obliged to do.
Unclean use —
For any common use; for any other use than that which thou hast appointed
which would have been a pollution of them.
For the dead —
For any funeral pomp or service; for the Jews used to send in provisions to
feast with the nearest relations of the party deceased; and in that case both
the guests and food were legally polluted
Numbers 19:11
14
and therefore the use of these
tithes in such cases had been a double fault
both the defiling of sacred food
and the employing those provisions upon sorrowful occasions
which by God's
express command were to be eaten with rejoicing.
Verse 15
[15] Look
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.
Look down —
After that solemn profession of their obedience to God's commands
they are
taught to pray for God's blessing whereby they are instructed how vain and
ineffectual the prayers of unrighteous or disobedient persons are.
Verse 17
[17] Thou
hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God
and to walk in his ways
and to
keep his statutes
and his commandments
and his judgments
and to hearken unto
his voice:
Avouched —
Or
declared
or owned.
Verse 18
[18] And
the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people
as he hath
promised thee
and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;
Avouched thee —
Hath owned thee for such before all the world by eminent and glorious
manifestations of his power and favour
by a solemn entering into covenant with
thee
and giving peculiar laws
promises
and privileges to thee above all mankind.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Deuteronomy》
The
Firstfruits (Deut.26:2)
I.
What
the Offerers brought vs.1~4
1. Firstfruits—Quality of the Gift
the best (v.2)
2 .In a Basket—Quantity of the
Gift
limited (v.2)
3 .Unto the Place—Place of giving
the Lord’s choice (v.2)
4 .Unto the Priest—Presentation of
the Gift (v.3)
II.
What the Offerers said vs. 5~10
There was—
1. Remembrance of the their former
condition (v.5)
2. Recognition of God’s goodness
(v.7)
3 .Review of God’s deliverance
(v.8)
4 .Rejoicing in God’s provision
(v.9)
III.
What the offerers did vs. 10
11
Set their offering before the Lord
Worshipped before the Lord
Rejoiced before the Lord
26 Chapter 26
Verse 5
A Syrian ready to perish was my father.
Humiliation in connection with gratitude
Such was the confession required of every priest of Israel when he
presented
before the altar
the offering of first-fruits. It was
therefore
in the midst of abundance
a memorial of former destitution
and an
acknowledgment of utter unworthiness
under circumstances of peculiar
obligation. The text is capable of divers renderings; but take whichever we
may
the lesson is the same. It teaches us
that when the Divine promises are
all fulfilled
and our salvation is complete
we are still to remember the past
(Isaiah 51:1). The connection between acceptable
thanksgiving and profound humiliation is a fact which none but a Pharisee would
dare to disregard
and which it behoves the Christian to bear in mind in all
his devout meditations and religious exercises. Should pride ever rise within
his bosom--“Who maketh thee to differ?” is a consideration which may suffice to
put it down: nor will he
if walking in the fear of God
and in the comfort of
the Holy Ghost
when
by virtue of his “royal priesthood
” he has “boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus
” forget to say there--“A Syrian
ready to perish was my father.” The natural philosopher may rejoice that he is
not a brute
and a pagan may glory in the attributes peculiar to man
but the
devout student learns some very humbling facts concerning the position of our
race. Among the rest is this
that
of intelligent beings
man is probably the
lowest in the scale. That angels excel us in strength is obvious from
everything we know concerning them; and that devils have far greater intellectual
power than belongs to man
none acquainted with their devices will be disposed
to question. To boast of our mental superiority
then
is but to mingle
ignorance with pride. The humiliation which these considerations may be
supposed to engender is deepened by the recollection
that our case is not one
of poverty alone
but of degradation. Whatever may have been man’s original
glory
that glory has long since departed. His boast of heraldry is vain;
traced back to its earliest antiquity
it bespeaks his ruin. His crest is an
inverted crown. And this is his motto--“Man that was in honour abode not.” The
grace of God works wonders. It copes with depravity
and subdues it. It rescues
the sinner from his degradation
and renders him meet to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in light. But it also teaches him never to forget
even amidst
the splendours of the heavenly temple
to which it ultimately introduces him
the ancient acknowledgment of the adoring Israelite--“A Syrian ready to perish
was my father.” (D. E. Ford.)
Verse 11
Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing.
Rejoice in every good thing
It is our duty to give unstinted welcome to every visit of
enjoyment with which we may be favoured. We frequently allow streams of
refreshment or exhilaration to run past us without dipping into or tasting
them; we blunderingly overlook many a cup of soothing and pleasing that is
offered to us as we go trudging by. We are slow to discover and seize our
golden chances
and hardly know how to make the most of them. At times we are
afraid
it would seem
pausing now and then to squeeze a drop or two of severe
or melancholy reflection into the goblet
as if there might be sin in having it
too rich and sweet. The angel descending to solace us in our Gethsemane with a
brief pleasant thrill
with a brief glimpse and gust of pleasure
flashes by
under the sombre
wailing olives in vain
is allowed to vanish unharboured and
un-utilised.
I. Never turn
in
your bitterness of spirit
from any ministry of temporal enjoyment that may
intervene; never be so wedded to your woes
so shut up and sunk down in them
that you cannot issue forth to accept such ministry. For
remember
we want to be
made joyful for our education quite as much as we need to be tried and
troubled. To laugh
to luxuriate
to ripple and glow with delight
at times is
just as essential for us as it is at times to weep and suffer.
II. At times some
of us may have had the feeling that there is so much misery in the world that
it is hardly right to ignore and forget it for a moment in rejoicing. But let
us reflect that
since God is our Father and we His children
we are justified
in losing sight of trouble for a time when He gives us a joy to taste. Being
only a child
however
I must feel about His world
and share in His travail
concerning it; I need not be afraid at intervals to cast the entire load upon
Him and let Him carry it alone. Souls must turn aside at times to bask in what
sunshine they can find
and be mellowed
and warmed
and raised with it
in
order to be of service in the darkness and to help to soften and relieve. (S.
A. Tipple.)
Rejoice with a rejoicing universe
Rejoice with the morning stars
and let your adoring spirit march
to the music of hymning spheres. Rejoice with the jocund spring in its gush of
hope
and its dancing glory
with its swinging insect clouds and its suffusion
of multitudinous song; and rejoice with golden autumn
as he rustles his grateful
sheaves
and clasps his purple hands
as he breathes his story of fruition
his
anthem of promises fulfilled; as he breathes it softly in the morning stillness
of ripened fields
or flings it in AEolian sweeps from lavish orchards and from
branches tossing bounty into mellow winds. Rejoice with infancy
as it guesses
its wondering way into more and more existence
and laughs and carols as the
field of pleasant life enlarges on it
and new secrets of delight flow in
through fresh and open senses. Rejoice with the second youth of the heaven-born
soul
as the revelations of a second birth pour in upon it
and the glories of
a new world amaze it. Rejoice with the joyful believer when he sings
“O Lord!
I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me
Thine anger is turned away
and Thou comfortedst me. Behold
God is my salvation.” Rejoice with him whose
incredulous ecstasy has alighted on the great Gospel secret
whoso eye is
beaming as none can beam save that which for the first time beholds the Lamb;
whose awe-struck countenance and uplifted hands are evidently exclaiming
“This
is my beloved
and this is my friend.” Rejoice with saints and angels
as they
rejoice in a sight like this. Rejoice with Immanuel
whose soul now sees of its
travail. Rejoice with the ever blessed Three
and with a heaven whose work is
joy. “Be glad in the Lord
and rejoice
ye righteous; and shout for joy
all ye
that are upright in heart.” (J. Hamilton.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》