Deuteronomy 26

De 26:1-15.

THE

CONFESSION OF

HIM

THAT

OFFERS THE

BASKET OF

FIRST

FRUITS.

2. Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth--The

Israelites in Canaan, being God's tenants-at-will, were required to

give Him tribute in the form of first-fruits and tithes. No Israelite

was at liberty to use any productions of his field until he had

presented the required offerings. The tribute began to be exigible

after the settlement in the promised land, and it was yearly repeated

at one of the great feasts

(Le 2:14; 23:10; 23:15;

Nu 28:26;

De 16:9).

Every master of a family carried it on his shoulders in a little basket

of osier, peeled willow, or palm leaves, and brought it to the

sanctuary.

5. thou shalt say . . . A Syrian ready to perish was my father--rather,

"a wandering Syrian." The ancestors of the Hebrews were nomad

shepherds, either Syrians by birth as Abraham, or by long residence as

Jacob. When they were established as a nation in the possession of the

promised land, they were indebted to God's unmerited goodness for their

distinguished privileges, and in token of gratitude they brought this

basket of first-fruits.

11. thou shalt rejoice--feasting with friends and the Levites, who

were invited on such occasions to share in the cheerful festivities

that followed oblations

(De 12:7; 16:10-15).

12-15. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine

increase the third year--Among the Hebrews there were two tithings.

The first was appropriated to the Levites

(Nu 18:21).

The second, being the tenth of what remained, was brought to Jerusalem

in kind; or it was converted into money, and the owner, on arriving in

the capital, purchased sheep, bread, and oil

(De 14:22, 23).

This was done for two consecutive years. But this second tithing was

eaten at home, and the third year distributed among the poor of the

place

(De 14:28, 29).

13. thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the

hallowed things out of mine house--This was a solemn declaration that

nothing which should be devoted to the divine service had been secretly

reserved for personal use.

14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning--in a season of sorrow,

which brought defilement on sacred things; under a pretense of poverty,

and grudging to give any away to the poor.

neither . . . for any unclean use--that is, any common purpose,

different from what God had appointed and which would have been a

desecration of it.

nor given ought thereof for the dead--on any funeral service, or, to

an idol, which is a dead thing.