Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Deuteronomy-Chapter 26

Deut 26.1-19 tells us about the first fruits and the tithe once they enter the land; the prayer to be made on the third year of tithing; the declaration of the covenant made between God and Israel.

v 1…”When you enter the land (ki tavo) which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it,

v 2…that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you shall being in from the land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish his name (barley, wheat, olives, dates, pomegranate, figs, grapes to the Jerusalem Temple-Deut 8.8).

v 3…And you shall go to the priest who is in office (those whose course is on duty) at that time, and say to him (These are the same instructions that we have as we receive the New Covenant and the Olam Haba. We are to give back because we have received the promise, and that is one of the real signs that we have received the promise, giving back. That doesn’t only mean money but it can also involve our time, studying to teach others, supporting others and so on. Yeshua was given by the Father and the giver decides the value of the gift. So we must learn to receive before we can give. Once we realize just how great a salvation and inheritance we have received, and what he has saved us from, then our hearts are ready for the commandments. Yeshua is the first fruits of those who believe, and this whole thing is a way for us to say, “Thanks.” This whole portion on giving is is way of saying to the Lord, “I have not forgotten.” It teaches us to take responsibility for our actions and to evaluate our spiritual status), ‘I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land (spiritually the New Covenant and the Olam Haba) which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

v 4…Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

v 5…And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering (nomad) Aramean (Jacob) and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number (70); but there he became a great, mighty nation, and a populous nation (so much so Pharaoh became jealous of them).

v 6…And the Egyptians treated us harshly (Exo 1.11) and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

v 7…Then we cried out to the Lord (Exo 2.23), the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

v 8…and the Lord (Yehovah is pronounced during this declaration) brought us out of Egypt with a might hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror (to the Egyptians) and the signs and wonders (at the hands of Moses and Aaron);

v 9…and he has brought us to this place, and he has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

v 10…And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground (to say I have not forgotten and a sign that he has received the promise) which you, O Lord, has given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God (the bringer had resumed holding the basket that he had been set down in v 4) , and worship before the Lord your God (bow in reverence to say “thank you”),

v 11…and you and the Levite and alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

v 12…When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year (third year of the seven year Shemittah), the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite (in the Levitical city), to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

v 13…And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house (the tithe), and I have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow (and have not kept anything back), according to all they commandments which thous hast commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of thy commandments.

v 14…I have not eaten of it while mourning (it had to be eaten with joy), nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that you have commanded me.

v 15…Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as you sore to our fathers.’

v 16…This day (it is also used in 27.9 and 29.4) the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart (desires) and all your soul (a parallelism).

v 17…You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments and his ordinaces, and listen to his voice.

v 18…And the Lord has today declared you to be his people, and treasured possession (above all people on earth; they are Yehovah’s “jewels”) as he promised you, and that you should keep his commandments,

v 19…and that he shall set you high above the nations (this idea can be seen in Deut 28.10) which he has made, for praise, fame, and honor and that you shall be a consecrated people (with a kedusha) to the Lord your God, as he has spoken..”

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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