Deuteronomy 26 commentary

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.

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.

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, 1Pe 1:2; chosen that we should be holy, Eph 1:4; purified a peculiar people, that we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them, Tit 2:14. Holiness is true honour, and the only way to everlasting honour.

1. And it shall be when thou art come. The Israelites are commanded to offer their first-fruits, for the same reason that they were to pay the tribute for every soul; viz., that they might confess that they themselves, and all that they had, belonged to God. This was the only distinction, that the tribute was a symbol of their emancipation, that they might acknowledge themselves to be free, as having been redeemed by the special mercy of God; but by the firstfruits they testified that the land was tributary to God, and that they were masters of it by no other title than as tenants at will, so that the direct sovereignty and property of it remained with God alone. This, then, was the object of the first-fruits, that they might renew every year the recollection of their adoption; because the land of Canaan was given to them as their peculiar inheritance, in which they were to worship God in piety and holiness, and at the same time reflect that they were not fed promiscuously, like the Gentiles, by God, but like children; whence also their food was sacred. But we shall have to speak again elsewhere of the first-fruits, in as much as they were a part of the oblations; yet it was necessary to insert here their main object, that we might know that they were appointed to be offered by the people, in pious acknowledgment that their food was received from God, and to shew that, being separated from other nations, they were dependent upon the God of Israel alone.

2. That thou shalt take of the first. We know that in the first-fruits the whole produce of the year was consecrated to God. The people, “Ainsi les enfans d’Israel apportoyent en leur corbeille une protestation qu’ils se vouloyent ranger a Dieu comme enfans, selon qu’ils l’experimentoyent Pere nourissier;” thus the children of Israel bore in their basket a protestation that they desired to rank themselves as God’s children, since they daily experienced Him to be their nursing Father. — Fr. therefore, bore in them a testimony of their piety to Him, whom they daily experienced to be their preserver, and the giver of their food. This typical rite has now, indeed, ceased, but Paul tells us that the true observation of it still remains, where he exhorts us, whether we eat or drink, to do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31.) As to the place where the first-fruits were to be offered, and why God is said to have placed His name there, we shall hereafter consider, when we come to the sacrifices; I now only briefly touch upon what concerns the present subject.

I profess this day. In these words the Israelites confess that they had not gained dominion of the land either by their own strength or good fortune, but by the free gift of God, and that according to His promise. There are, therefore, two clauses in this sentence; first, that God had gratuitously promised to grant that land to Abraham as the inheritance of his descendants; and, secondly, that He had performed His promise, not only when He had brought the children of Abraham into possession, but by adding’ to His grace by their peaceful enjoyment of it. He pursues the same point more fully immediately afterwards, where the Israelites are commanded to declare how wretched was the condition of their fathers, before the Lord embraced them with His favor, and vouchsafed unto them His mercy. The original word in verse 5, meaning to answer, I translate simply, according to the Hebrew idiom, to speak or say; unless to testify be thought better, which would be very suitable; for the solemn profession is here described, whereby they bound themselves every year to God. They do not count their origin from Abraham, but from Jacob, in whose person God’s grace shone forth more brightly; for being compelled to fly from the land of Canaan, he had spent a good part of his life in Syria, (for he did not return home, till he was old,) and then, being again driven into Egypt by the famine, he had at length died there. The land had not, therefore, fallen to them by hereditary right, nor by their own efforts; their father Jacob not having been permitted even to sojourn there. They call him a Syrian, because when he had married Laban’s daughters, and had begotten children, and was stricken in years before he had returned home, he might seem to have renounced the land of Canaan. Since then he had been content for many years with the dwelling which he chose for himself in Syria, his descendants justly confessed that he was a pilgrim and stranger, because of his long exile; and for the same reason that they also might be counted foreigners. They add that their father Jacob again abandoned the land of Canaan when he was forced by the famine to go down into Egypt; and whilst they recount that he sojourned there with a few, and afterwards grew into a mighty nation, they thus acknowledge that they were Egyptians, since they had sprung from thence, where was the beginning of their name and race. In the rest of the passage they further confirm the fact that they were led into the land of Canaan by the hand of God; because when they were oppressed by tyranny, they cried unto Him, and were heard. They are commanded also to celebrate the signs and wonders whereby their redemption was more clearly manifested, in order that they should unhesitatingly give thanks to God, and contrast His pure worship with all the imaginations of the heathen: otherwise, this would have been but a cold exercise of piety. What follows in the last verse, “And thou shalt rejoice,” etc., seems indeed to have been a promise, as if God, by setting before them the assurance of His blessing, added a stimulus to arouse the people to more cheerful affection; but the sense would appear more clear and natural if the copula were changed into the temporal adverb then; for this is the main thing in the use of our meat and drink, with a glad and joyful conscience to accept it as a testimony of God’s paternal favor. Nothing is more wretched than doubt; and therefore Paul especially requires of us this confidence, bidding us eat not without faith. (Romans 14:23.) In order, then, to render the Israelites more prompt in their duty, Moses reminds them that they would only be able to rejoice freely in the use of God’s gifts, if they should have expressed their gratitude as He commanded.

Numbers 15

Numbers 15:17-21

17. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

17. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo,

18. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you;

18. Alloquere filios Israel, et dicas els: Quum ingressi fueritis terram ad quam ego introduco Vos.

19. Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave-offering unto the Lord.

19. Tum fiet, quum incipietis comedere de pane terrae, offeretis in oblationem Jehovae.

20. Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave-offering: as ye do the heave-offering of the thrashing-floor, so shall ye heave it.

20. De primitiis conspersionum vestrarum: placentam offeretis in oblationem: stout oblationem areae, sic offeretis illam.

21. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the Lord an heave-offering in your generations.

21. De primitiis conspersionum vestrarum dabitis Jehovae, oblationem per generationes vestras.

12. When thou hast made an end of tithing. In this passage Moses urgently stimulates them to offer the tithes willingly and abundantly, by placing God, as it were, before their eyes, as if they paid them into his hand: for a solemn protestation is enjoined, in which they condemn themselves as guilty before God, if they have not faithfully paid the tax imposed upon them; but they pray for grace and peace if they have honestly discharged their duty. For nothing can be more awakening to men, than when “Il n’y a rien qui esveille mieux les hommes, et les touche plus au vif, que quand Dieu leur est amend et produit pour juge, et qu’ilsont adjournez comme en sa presence:” there is nothing which awakens men more, or touches them more on the quick, than when God is brought forward and produced as their Judge, and when they are summoned as it were into His presence. — Fr. God is introduced as the judge of any particular matter. This is the reason why he commands them to protest in God’s sight that they have obeyed His ordinance in the payment of their tithes. To separate, or “bring away out of the house,” is equivalent to their being conscious of no fraud in withholding from God what was His; and thus that they were guiltless of sacrilege, since they had not diverted anything holy to their private use. What follows, “I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them,” must only be referred to the matter in hand; for it would have been too great an act of temerity and arrogance in them, to have boasted that they had kept and fulfilled the Law in every part and parcel. Still this manner of speaking signifies desire rather than perfection; as if they had said, that it was the full purpose of their minds to obey God’s precepts. We must remember, however, what I have said, that this properly refers to the legal ceremonies. With the same meaning it is soon after said, “I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me:” for if they had gloried in their perfection, they had no need of sacrifices, or other means of purification. But as I have just said, God only invites them to examine themselves, The Fr. gives a different turn to this, “seulement Dieu les a voulu aussi examiner, en les faisant tesmoins et juges de leur syncerite et rondeur:” God only wished them also to make an examination, calling themselves as witnesses of their own sincerity and integrity. so that they may in sincerity of heart call upon Him as the witness of their piety.

14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning (tristitia) It is clear that the sacred offerings are here spoken of; but the question is, what is meant by eating in mourning? This is the exposition received by almost universal consent; that although want may have tempted them to theft and fraud, yet the people assert that, even in their poverty and straits, they have abstained from the hallowed things; and to this I willingly assent; although this word “mourning” may be taken for the anxiety of a mind conscious of its iniquity in this sense, “I have not knowingly and willingly eaten anything consecrated to God, so that the hot iron (cauterium) of an evil conscience should burn me, in the way in which man’s guilt ever torments and troubles him.” As to the second clause, interpreters differ. Some translate the word ‘בער bagnar, בער, is to consume, and especially as fire consumes. The verb is here in Pihel, in which conjugation it further signifies to carry away, as rendered in A.V. Our author gives the paraphrase of Aben Ezra, as quoted in S. M. — W. “to destroy:” as if it were said, that they had suffered nothing to perish through uncleanness; but others explain it, I have taken away nothing for a profane purpose. My own opinion is, however, that the word ‘טמא, tama, is used adverbially for “impurely,” so that the people testify that they are not polluted, or contaminated by withholding anything. “En rien appliquant a soy de ce qui appartenoit a Dieu:” by appropriating anything to themselves of what belonged to God. — Fr. Thus, in my idea, some do not badly translate it “by uncleanness:” for it was not possible for the Israelites to apply the tithes to other uses, without contracting pollution by their wicked abuse of them. The ambiguity in the third clause is still greater; literally it is, “I have not given thereof to the dead.” In my version I have followed those who refer it to funeral rites; but some suppose that the word “dead” is used metaphorically for an unclean thing; others, in a less natural sense, for expenses, which do not contribute to support man’s life. But it does not yet appear wherefore it should he said that nothing had been spent on funeral rites. It is true that whatever had touched a dead body was unclean; and therefore some expound it, that the victims had not been polluted by any connection with funeral preparations. But if this sense is preferred, the expression must be taken by synecdoche for anything unclean. My own opinion however, is, that under this particular head all things are included which have a shew of piety. The burial of the dead was a praiseworthy office and a religious exercise; “Telle apparence pouvoit enhardir les gens a y employer les offertes deues a Dieu:” this pretext might embolden the people to employ upon it the offerings due to God. — Fr. so that it might afford a colorable pretext for peculiar laxity; in this word, therefore, God would have the Israelites declare, that they offered no excuse if they had misemployed any of the consecrated things.

15. Look down from thy holy habitation. Whilst they are commanded to offer their prayers and supplications, that God would bless the land, on this condition, that they had not defiled themselves by any sacrilege, at the same time they are reminded, on the other hand, that God’s blessing was not else to be hoped for. Meanwhile the expression is remarkable, “Bless the land which thou hast given us, a land that floweth with milk and honey:” for we infer from hence that the land was not so much fertile by nature, as because God daily watered it by His secret blessing to make it so.

Numbers 18

Numbers 18:25-32

25. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

25. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

26. Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

26. Praeterea ad Levitas loqueris: et dices eis, Quum acceperitis a filiis Israel decimas quas vobis ab illis dedi in haereditatem vestram, tunc offeretis ex illis oblationem Jehovae decimas ex decimis.

27. And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

27. Et reputabitur vobis oblatio vestra, ut frumentum ex area, et ut plenitudo e torculari.

28. Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD’S heave offering to Aaron the priest.

28. Sic offeretis vos quoque oblationem Jehovae ex onmibus decimis vestris quas acceperitis a filiis Israel, et dabitis ex illis oblationem Jehovae Aharon sacerdoti.

29. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

29. Ex omnibus oblationibus vestris offeretis omnem oblationem Jehovae, ex omni pinguedine ejus, sanctificationem ipsius ex eo.

30. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

30. Ac dices illis, Quum attuleritis pinguedinem eius ex co, reputabitur Levitis ut fructus arere, et ut fructus torcularis.

31. And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

31. Comedetis autem illud ill omni loco vos et domus vestra: quia merces est vobis pro ministerio vestro in tabernaculo conventionis.

32. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.

32. Et non portabitis super eo peccatum, quum vos obtuleritis pinguedinem ejus ex eo: et sanctiticationes filiorum Israel non polluetis, ne moriamini.

16. This day the Lord thy God. He again reminds them that God is the author of the Law, in order that His majesty should the more impress them; and not only so, but that, since the Law was specially delivered to them, its observation was the more enjoined upon them. Hence he exhorts them earnestly to apply their hearts to those things which God had enjoined them to keep, because men grow careless in their duties, unless they are often stirred up. For, undoubtedly, God indirectly rebukes the people’s indifference, by so often calling them to obedience. By the words “with all thy soul” is meant serious apprehension, and carefulness, as well as sincerity, free from all disguise and deceit. For nothing is more displeasing to God than hypocrisy, because He seeth the heart. If any object that it was vain to demand of them what no mortal can perform, viz., to keep the Law with all their heart, I reply, that all the heart is opposed to a double or divided heart, and is equivalent to entire, or altogether without deceit, although (as we shall hereafter see) it is not absurd to propose to believers an object, at which they are to aim, although they may not attain to it as long as the weakness of the flesh hinders them.

17. Thou hast avouched the Lord Thou hast exalted, etc — Lat. He shews them from the consequence that nothing can be better or more desirable for them than to embrace God’s Law; for nothing can be more honorable to ourselves than to give to God His due honor, and to exalt His glory to its due preeminence. Moses declares that, if the Israelites submit themselves to the Law, this will be, as it were, to place Him in His rightful dignity; and he promises that the fruit of it will return to them, for that God, on his part, will exalt them, so that they shall far excel all other nations; as it is said in Isaiah, (Isaiah 8:13, 14,) “Sanctify the Lord of hosts — and he shall be for a sanctuary.” For no otherwise does He desire to be glorified by us, than to make us in turn partakers of His glory; and thus Moses gently entices them to receive the Law, because their solid happiness consists in this pious duty, if they altogether devote themselves to obedience. But this excellency of the Church, although it shines forth in the world, is still hidden from the blind, and, since it is spiritual, only obtains its praise before God and the angels.

DEUTERONOMY 6

deuteronomy 6:20-25

20. And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?

20. Quum interrogaverit to filius tuus cras, dicendo, Quid sibi volunt testimonia et statuta et judicia, quae praecepit Jehova Deus noster vobis.

21. Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bond-men in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

21. Tune dices filio tuo, Servi fuimus Pharaonis in Aegypto, et eduxit nos Jehova ex Aegypto in manu forti.

22. And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

22. Deditque Jehova signa et portenta magna et pessima in Aegypto in Pharaonem, et in totam domum ejus, in oculis nostris.

23. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

23. Atque nos eduxit inde, ut introduceret nos, ac darer nobis terram de qua juravit patribus nostris.

24. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

24. Itaque praecepit Jehova ut faciamus omnia statuta ista, ut timeamus Jehovam Deum nostrum in bonum nostrum omnibus diebus, ut conservaret nos in vita, ut in hac die.

25. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

25. Et justitia erit nobis quum custodierimus ut faciamus omne praeceptum istud coram Jehova Deo nostro, quemadmodum praecepit nobis.

CHAPTER 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).

Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit, etc. - This was intended to keep them in continual remembrance of the kindness of God, in preserving them through so many difficulties and literally fulfilling the promises he had made to them. God being the author of all their blessings, the first-fruits of the land were consecrated to him, as the author of every good and perfect gift.

A Syrian ready to perish was my father - This passage has been variously understood, both by the ancient versions and by modern commentators. The Vulgate renders it thus: Syrus persequebatur patrem meum, "A Syrian persecuted my father." The Septuagint thus: Συριαν απεβαλεν ὁ πατηρ μου, "My father abandoned Syria." The Targum thus: לבן ארמאה בעא לאובדא ית אבא Laban arammaah bea leobada yath abba, "Laban the Syrian endeavored to destroy my father." The Syriac: "My father was led out of Syria into Egypt." The Arabic: "Surely, Laban the Syrian had almost destroyed my father." The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel: "Our father Jacob went at first into Syria of Mesopotamia, and Laban sought to destroy him."

Father Houbigant dissents from all, and renders the original thus: Fames urgebat patrem meum, qui in Aegyptum descendit, "Famine oppressed my father, who went down into Egypt." This interpretation Houbigant gives the text, by taking the י yod from the word ארמי arammi, which signifies an Aramite or Syrian, and joining it to יאבד yeabud, the future for the perfect, which is common enough in Hebrew, and which may signify constrained; and seeking for the meaning of ארם aram in the Arabic arama, which signifies famine, dearth, etc., he thus makes out his version, and this version he defends at large in his notes. It is pretty evident, from the text, that by a Syrian we are to understand Jacob, so called from his long residence in Syria with his father-in-law Laban. And his being ready to perish may signify the hard usage and severe labor he had in Laban's service, by which, as his health was much impaired, so his life might have often been in imminent danger.

With a mighty hand, etc. - See on Deu 4:34 (note).

Thou shalt rejoice - God intends that his followers shall be happy; that they shall eat their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, praising him. Those who eat their meat grudgingly, under the pretense of their unworthiness, etc., profane God's bounties and shall have no thanks for their voluntary humility.

Thou, and the Levite, and the stranger - They were to take care to share God's bounties among all those who were dependent on them. The Levite has no inheritance, let him rejoice with thee. The stranger has no home, let him feel thee to be his friend and his father.

The third year, which is the year of tithing - This is supposed to mean the third year of the seventh or Sabbatical year, in which the tenths were to be given to the poor. See the law, Deu 14:28. But from the letter in both these places it would appear that the tithe was for the Levites, and that this tithe was drawn only once in three years.

I have not - given aught thereof for the dead - That is, I have not consecrated any of it to an idol which was generally a dead man whom superstition and ignorance had deified. From 1Cor 10:27, 1Cor 10:28, we learn that it was customary to offer that flesh to idols which was afterwards sold publicly in the shambles; probably the blood was poured out before the idol in imitation of the sacrifices offered to the true God. Perhaps the text here alludes to a similar custom.

Thou hast avouched the Lord - The people avouch - publicly declare, that they have taken Jehovah to be their God.

And the Lord hath avouched - Publicly declared, by the blessings he pours down upon them, that he has taken them to be his peculiar people. Thus the covenant is made and ratified between God and his followers.

Make thee high above all nations - It is written, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, Pro 14:34. While Israel regarded God's word and kept his testimonies, they were the greatest and most respectable of all nations; but when they forsook God and his law, they became the most contemptible. O Britain, even more highly favored than ancient Israel! learn wisdom by what they have suffered. It is not thy fleets nor thine armies, howsoever excellent and well appointed, that can ultimately exalt and secure thy permanence among the nations. It is righteousness alone. Become irreligious, neglect God's ordinances, profane his Sabbath, despise his word, persecute his followers, and thou art lost. But fear, love, and serve him, and thy enemies shall be found liars, thou shalt defeat their projects, and trample on their high places.

The form of confession when bringing the first-fruits, related Deu 26:4-10, is both affecting and edifying. Even when brought into a state of affluence and rest, they were commanded to remember and publicly acknowledge their former degradation and wretchedness, that they might be ever kept humble and dependent; and they must bring their offering as a public acknowledgment to God that it was by his mercy their state was changed, and by his bounty their comforts were continued. If a man rise from poverty to affluence, and forget his former state, he becomes proud, insolent, and oppressive. If a Christian convert forget his former state, the rock whence he was hewn, and the hole of the pit whence he was digged, he soon becomes careless, unthankful, and unholy. The case of the ten lepers that were cleansed, of whom only one returned to give God thanks, is an awful lesson. How many are continually living on the bounty of God, who feel no gratitude for his mercies! Reader, Is this thy state? If so, then expect the just God to curse thy blessings.

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.

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 Gen 28:11,20 32:10,) or through the rage of his brother Esau, and the treachery of his father - in - law Laban.

It - The basket of first - fruits, Deu 26:2.

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.

The year of tithing - Heb. the year of that tithe, so called, either because these tithes were gathered only in that year. Or rather, 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.

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.

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, Num 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.

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.

Avouched - Or, declared, or owned.

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.

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 thou shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse, to place his Name there.

This seems to be required of each particular 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 Ierusalem, as here they are.

Either of their corn, or of the fruits of trees.

Marginal references: Exod. 23. 19. chap. 16. 10.

3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those dayes, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the countrey which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.

(i. e.) To any of the Priests, who shall be appointed in Gods stead to receive these oblations and acknowledgments.

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.

So Iacob 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, as is confessed by Strabo, b. 16. and by Pliny, b. 5. c. 12. partly by his education and conversation, for which reason Christ is called a Nazarite, and a Capernaite, and partly by his relations, his wives being such, and his children too by their mothers.

Either through want and poverty; see Gen. 28. 11, 20▪ and 32. 10. or through the rage of my brother Esau, and the treachery and cruelty of my father in law Laban.

Marginal references: Gen. 46. 1.

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.

To wit, mediately, by the Priest who was to set it there, ver. 4.

(i. e.) the basket of first-fruits, ver. 2.

11 And thou shalt rejoyce 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.

(i. e.) Either 1. thou shalt hereby be enabled to rejoyce and take comfort in all thy enjoyments, when thou hast sanctified them by giving God his portion. Or 2. thou shalt feast (which is oft expressed by rejoycing) with the Levites and strangers upon the oblations which at these solemn times were offered. Which exposition is confirmed by comparing Deut. 16. 10, 11, 14, 15.

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:

Of which see on Deut. 14. 28.

Heb. the year of that tithe, so called either 1. because these tithes were gathered onely in that year▪ Or rather 2. because then onely they were so bestowed or used; and whereas these second tithes for two years together were eaten onely by the owners and Levites, and that in Ierusalem in the third year they were eaten also by the strangers, fatherless and widows, and that in their own dwellings. The seventy joyn these words with the following, and for Shenath, the year, read Shenith, the second, and take Vau for redundant, as sometimes it is, and read the place thus, The second tithe thou s[illegible: 1+ letters]it give to the Levite, &c.

Marginal references: chap. 14. 28.

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.

(i. e.) Either before the Tabernacle or Temple: or rather, in thy private and domestick addresses to God; for this is to be said presently upon the distribution of these tithes, which was not done at Ierusalem, but in their own private gates or dwellings, except we will suppose that after he had given away these tithes at home he should go up to Ierusalem meerly to make this acknowledgment, which seems improbable. And this is to be spoken before the Lord, i. e. solemnly, seriously, and in a religious manner, with due respect to Gods presence and will and glory, which is a sufficient ground for that phrase.

Or, separated or removed, to wit, from my own proper and private fruits.

(i. e.) The tithes which hath been sanctified and set apart for these uses.

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.

(i. e.) Either 1. in my funeral solemnities for the dead. But this falls in with the last branch. Or 2. in my distress or poverty, or upon pretence of my own want, in which case men are tempted and inclined to fall upon sacred or forbidden things. Or 3. 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. For though it be taken for granted by some learned Expositours from Deut. 14. 28, 29. that the owner was not to eat any part of the third years tithe; but to give it all away to the stranger and fatherless, &c. the contrary seems to me more probable from that very place, where it is said, thou shalt lay it up within thy gates, and then it follows, that the Levite, stranger, &c. shall come, to wit, to thy gates, and shall eat, to wit, there, as is expressed Deut. 26. 12. that they may not eat within thy gates, and be filled. Which implies, that these tithes, or some part of them were eaten in the owners gates or dwelling, with holy rejoycing and feasting, wherein it is most probable the owner had his share, though it be not there expressed, because it was evident in it self from the foregoing passage Deut. 14. 23, &c. where the owner is allowed and commanded to eat those tithes together with the Levites. And howsoever somethink the third years tithes ver. 28. were not the same with those ver. 23. yet it cannot with any colour of reason be thought that those tithes which were to be eaten not onely by the Levites, but also by the strangers ver. 29. were more sacred than those that were to be eaten by none but the Levites and the owners, ve[illegible: 1+ letters]. 23, 27. or that the owner might eat of the one, and not of the other.

(i. e.) For any common use, the words common and unclean being oft indifferently used one for the other, or for any other use than that which thou hast appointed, which would have been a pollution of them.

(i. e.) For any funeral pomp or service or feast, for the Iews used to send in provisions to feast with the nearest relations of the party deceased, of which see Ier. 16. 7. Ezek. 24. 17▪ Hos. 9. 4. and in that case both the guests and food were legally polluted, Numb. 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 imploying of those provisions upon sorrowful occasions which by Gods express command were to be eaten with rejoycing, Deut. 14. 26. and 26. 11.

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.

After that solemn profession of their obedience to Gods commands, they are taught to pray for Gods blessing upon their land, whereby they are instructed how vain and ineffectual the prayers of unrighteous o[illegible: 1+ letters] disobedient persons are.

Marginal references: Isa. 63. 15. Zech. 2. 13.

17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his wayes, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice.

Or declared, or, professed, or, owned.

(i. e.) At this time, in this wilderness, where thou hast accepted and ratified Gods covenant.

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 e.

Hath owned thee for such before all the world by eminent and glorious communications and manifestations of his power and grace and favour in thee and for thee, by a solemn entring into covenant with thee and giving peculiar laws promises and priviledges to thee above all mankind.

u Which is here mentioned as an act of Gods, because though this be mans duty, yet it is the work of Gods grace that he will vouchsafe to give us such commands, that he doth require and will accept of our obedience to them, and that we have any power or will to obey them, Ezek. 36. 26, 27.

Marginal references: chap. 7. 6. and 14. 2.

Deu 26:1-4

Of the first of the fruit of the ground, which was presented from the land received from the Lord, the Israelites was to take a portion (מראשׁית with מן partitive), and bring it in a basket to the place of the sanctuary, and give it to the priest who should be there, with the words, “I have made known to-day to the Lord thy God, that I have come into the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us,” upon which the priest should take the basket and put it down before the altar of Jehovah (Deu 26:1-4). From the partitive מראשׁית we cannot infer, as Schultz supposes, that the first-fruits were not to be all delivered at the sanctuary, any more than this can be inferred from Exo 23:19 (see the explanation of this passage). All that is implied is, that, for the purpose described afterwards, it was not necessary to put all the offerings of first-fruits into a basket and set them down before the altar. טנא (Deu 26:2, Deu 26:4, and Deu 28:5, Deu 28:17) is a basket of wicker-work, and not, as Knobel maintains, the Deuteronomist’s word for צנצנת rof  (Exo 16:33. “The priest” is not the high priest, but the priest who had to attend to the altar-service and receive the sacrificial gifts. - The words, “I have to-day made known to the Lord thy God,” refer to the practical confession which was made by the presentation of the first-fruits. The fruit was the tangible proof that they were in possession of the land, and the presentation of the first of this fruit the practical confession that they were indebted to the Lord for the land. This confession the offerer was also to embody in a prayer of thanksgiving, after the basket had been received by the priest, in which he confessed that he and his people owed their existence and welfare to the grace of God, manifested in the miraculous redemption of Israel out of the oppression of Egypt and their guidance into Canaan.

Deu 26:5-9 אבי אבד ארמּי, “a lost (perishing) Aramaean was my father” (not the Aramaean, Laban, wanted to destroy my father, Jacob, as the Chald., Arab., Luther, and others render it). אבד signifies not only going astray, wandering, but perishing, in danger of perishing, as in Job 29:13; Pro 31:6, etc. Jacob is referred to, for it was he who went down to Egypt in few men. He is mentioned as the tribe-father of the nation, because the nation was directly descended from his sons, and also derived its name of Israel from him. Jacob is called in Aramaean, not only because of his long sojourn in Aramaea (Gen 29-31), but also because he got his wives and children there (cf. Hos 12:13); and the relatives of the patriarchs had accompanied Abraham from Chaldaea to Mesopotamia (Aram; see Gen 11:30). מעט בּמתי, consisting of few men (בּ, the so-called beth essent., as in Deu 10:22; Exo 6:3, etc.; vid., Ewald, §299, q.). Compare Gen 34:30, where Jacob himself describes his family as “few in number.” On the number in the family that migrated into Egypt, reckoned at seventy souls, see the explanation at Gen 46:27. On the multiplication in Egypt into a great and strong people, see Exo 1:7, Exo 1:9; and on the oppression endured there, Exo 1:11-22, and Exo 2:23. - The guidance out of Egypt amidst great signs (Deu 26:8), as in Deu 4:34.

Deu 26:10

“So shalt thou set it down (the basket with the first-fruits) before Jehovah.” These words are not to be understood, as Clericus, Knobel, and others suppose, in direct opposition to Deu 26:4 and Deu 26:5, as implying that the offerer had held the basket in his hand during the prayer, but simply as a remark which closes the instructions.

Deu 26:11

Rejoicing in all the good, etc., points to the joy connected with the sacrificial meal, which followed the act of worship (as in Deu 12:12). The presentation of the first-fruits took place, no doubt, on their pilgrimages to the sanctuary at the three yearly festivals (ch. 16); but it is quite without ground that Riehm restricts these words to the sacrificial meals to be prepared from the tithes, as if they had been the only sacrificial meals (see at Deu 18:3).

Deu 26:12-13

The delivery of the tithes, like the presentation of the first-fruits, was also to be sanctified by prayer before the Lord. It is true that only a prayer after taking the second tithe in the third year is commanded here; but that is simply because this tithe was appropriated everywhere throughout the land to festal meals for the poor and destitute (Deu 14:28), when prayer before the Lord would not follow per analogiam from the previous injunction concerning the presentation of first-fruits, as it would in the case of the tithes with which sacrificial meals were prepared at the sanctuary (Deu 14:22.). לעשׂר is the infinitive Hiphil for להעשׂר, as in Neh 10:39 (on this form, vid., Ges. §53, 3 Anm. 2 and 7, and Ew. §131, b. and 244, b.). “Saying before the Lord” does not denote prayer in the sanctuary (at the tabernacle), but, as in Gen 27:7, simply prayer before God the omnipresent One, who is enthroned in heaven (Deu 26:15), and blesses His people from above from His holy habitation. The declaration of having fulfilled the commandments of God refers primarily to the directions concerning the tithes, and was such a rendering of an account as springs from the consciousness that a man very easily transgresses the commandments of God, and has nothing in common with the blindness of pharisaic self-righteousness “I have cleaned out the holy out of my house:” the holy is that which is sanctified to God, that which belongs to the Lord and His servants, as in Lev 21:22. בּער signifies not only to remove, but to clean out, wipe out. That which was sanctified to God appeared as a debt, which was to be wiped out of a man’s house (Schultz).

Deu 26:14-15

“I have not eaten thereof in my sorrow.” אני, from און, tribulation, distress, signifies here in all probability mourning, and judging from what follows, mourning for the dead, equivalent to “in a mourning condition,” i.e., in a state of legal (Levitical) uncleanness; so that בּאני really corresponded to the בּטמא which follows, except that טמא includes every kind of legal uncleanness. “I have removed nothing thereof as unclean,” i.e., while in the state of an unclean person. Not only not eaten of any, but not removed any of it from the house, carried it away in an unclean state, in which they were forbidden to touch the holy gifts (Lev 22:3). “And not given (any) of it on account of the dead.” This most probably refers to the custom of sending provisions into a house of mourning, to prepare meals for the mourners (2Sa 3:25; Jer 16:7; Hos 9:4; Tobit 4:17). A house of mourning, with its inhabitants, was regarded as unclean; consequently nothing could be carried into it of that which was sanctified. There is no good ground for thinking of idolatrous customs, or of any special superstition attached to the bread of mourning; nor is there any ground for understanding the words as referring to the later Jewish custom of putting provisions into the grave along with the corpse, to which the Septuagint rendering, οὐκ ἔδωκα ἀπ αὐτῶν τῷ τεθνηκότι, points. (On Deu 26:15, see Isa 63:15.)

Deu 26:16-19

At the close of his discourse, Moses sums up the whole in the earnest admonition that Israel would give the Lord its God occasion to fulfil the promised glorification of His people, by keeping His commandments with all their heart and soul. Deu 26:16-17

On this day the Lord commanded Israel to keep these laws and rights with all the heart and all the soul (cf. Deu 6:5; Deu 10:12.). There are two important points contained in this (Deu 26:17.). The acceptance of the laws laid before them on the part of the Israelites involved a practical declaration that the nation would accept Jehovah as its God, and walk in His way (Deu 26:17); and the giving of the law on the part of the Lord was a practical confirmation of His promise that Israel should be His people of possession, which He would glorify above all nations (Deu 26:18, Deu 26:19). “Thou hast let the Lord say to-day to be thy God,” i.e., hast given Him occasion to say to thee that He will be thy God, manifest Himself to thee as thy God. “And to walk in His ways, and to keep His laws,” etc., for “and that thou wouldst walk in His ways, and keep His laws.” The acceptance of Jehovah as its God involved eo ipso a willingness to walk in His ways.

The Offering of First-Fruits. (b. c. 1451.)

1 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord 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 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. 3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I 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. 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. 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: 6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 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 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, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. 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: 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.

Here is, I. A good work ordered to be done, and that is the presenting of a basket of their first-fruits to God every year, v. 1, 2. Besides the sheaf of first-fruits, which was offered for the whole land, on the morrow after the passover (Lev. xxiii. 10), every man was to bring for himself a basket of first-fruits at the feast of pentecost, when the harvest was ended, which is therefore called the feast of first-fruits (Exod. xxxiv. 22), and is said to be kept with a tribute of free-will-offering, Deut. xvi. 10. But the Jews say, "The first-fruits, if not brought then, might be brought any time after, between that and winter." When a man went into the field or vineyard at the time when the fruits were ripening, he was to mark that which he observed most forward, and to lay it by for first-fruits, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates, some of each sort must be put in the same basket, with leaves between them, and presented to God in the place which he should choose. Now from this law we may learn, 1. To acknowledge God as the giver of all those good things which are the support and comfort of our natural life, and therefore to serve and honour him with them. 2. To deny ourselves. What is first ripe we are most fond of; those that are nice and curious expect to be served with each fruit at its first coming in. My soul desired the first ripe fruits, Micah vii. 1. When therefore God appointed them to lay those by for him he taught them to prefer the glorifying of his name before the gratifying of their own appetites and desires. 3. To give to God the first and best we have, as those that believe him to be the first and best of beings. Those that consecrate the days of their youth, and the prime of their time, to the service and honour of God, bring him their first-fruits, and with such offerings he is well pleased. I remember the kindness of thy youth.

II. Good words put into their mouths to be said in the doing of this good work, as an explication of the meaning of this ceremony, that it might be a reasonable service. The offerer must begin his acknowledgment before he delivered his basket to the priest, and then must go on with it, when the priest had set down the basket before the altar, as a present to God their great landlord, v. 3, 4.

1. He must begin with a receipt in full for the good land which God had given them (v. 3): I profess that I have come now at last, after forty years' wandering, unto the country which the Lord swore to give us. This was most proper to be said when they came first into Canaan; probably when they had been long settled there they varied from this form. Note, When God has made good his promises to us he expects that we should own it, to the honour of his faithfulness; this is like giving up the bond, as Solomon does, 1 Kings viii. 56, There has not failed one word of all his good promise. And our creature-comforts are doubly sweet to us when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise.

2. He must remember and own the mean origin of that nation of which he was a member. How great soever they were now, and he himself with them, their beginning was very small, which ought thus to be kept in mind throughout all the ages of their church by this public confession, that they might not be proud of their privileges and advantages, but might for ever be thankful to that God whose grace chose them when they were so low and raised them so high. Two things they must own for this purpose:—(1.) The meanness of their common ancestor: A Syrian ready to perish was my father, v. 5. Jacob is here called an Aramite, or Syrian, because he lived twenty years in Padan-Aram; his wives were of that country, and his children were all born there, except Benjamin; and perhaps the confessor means not Jacob himself, but that son of Jacob who was the father of his tribe. However it be, both father and sons were more than once ready to perish, by Laban's severity, Esau's cruelty, and the famine in the land, which last was the occasion of their going down into Egypt. Laban the Syrian sought to destroy my father (so the Chaldee), had almost destroyed him, so the Arabic. (2.) The miserable condition of their nation in its infancy. They sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves (v. 6), and that a great while: as their father was called a Syrian, they might be called Egyptians; so that their possession of Canaan being so long discontinued they could not pretend any tenant-right to it. A poor, despised, oppressed people they were in Egypt, and therefore, though now rich and great, had no reason to be proud, or secure, or forgetful of God.

3. He must thankfully acknowledge God's great goodness, not only to himself in particular, but to Israel in general. (1.) In bringing them out of Egypt, v. 7, 8. It is spoken of here as an act of pity—he looked on our affliction; and an act of power—he brought us forth with a mighty hand. This was a great salvation, fit to be remembered upon all occasions, and particularly upon this; they need not grudge to bring a basket of first-fruits to God, for to him they owed it that they were not now bringing in the tale of bricks to their cruel task-masters. (2.) In settling them in Canaan: He hath given us this land, v. 9. Observe, He must not only give thanks for his own lot, but for the land in general which was given to Israel; not only for this year's profits, but for the ground itself which produced them, which God had graciously granted to his ancestors and entailed upon his posterity. Note, The comfort we have in particular enjoyments should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless God for the former mercies we remember and the further mercies we expect and hope for.

4. He must offer to God his basket of first-fruits (v. 10): "I have brought the first-fruits of the land (like a pepper-corn) as a quit-rent for the land which thou hast given me." Note, Whatever we give to God, it is but of his own that we give him, 1 Chron. xxix. 14. And it becomes us, who receive so much from him, to study what we shall render to him. The basket he set before God; and the priests, as God's receivers, had the first-fruits, as perquisites of their place and fees for attending, Num. xviii. 12.

III. The offerer is here appointed, when he has finished the service, 1. To give glory to God: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. His first-fruits were not accepted without further acts of adoration. A humble, reverent, thankful heart is that which God looks at and requires, and, without this, all we can put in a basket will not avail. If a man would give all the substance of his house to be excused from this, or in lieu of it, it would utterly be contemned. 2. To take the comfort of it to himself and family: Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing, v. 11. It is the will of God that we should be cheerful, not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances, but in our enjoyments of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we should make the most comfortable use we can of it, yet still tracing the streams to the fountain of all comfort and consolation.

Appropriation of Tithes. (b. c. 1451.)

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; 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 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. 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.

Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year we had the law before, ch. xiv. 28, 29. The second tithe, which in the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts, was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty, that they would dispose of it according to the law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless (v. 12), it is therefore required that when at the next feast after they appeared before the Lord they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious manner, that they had fully administered, and been true to their trust.

I. They must make a solemn protestation to this purport, v. 13, 14. 1. That no hallowed things were hoarded up: "I have brought them away out of my house, nothing now remains there but my own part." 2. That the poor, and particularly poor ministers, poor strangers, and poor widows, had had their part according to the commandment. It is fit that God, who by his providence gives us all we have, should by his law direct the using of it, and, though we are not now under such particular appropriations of our revenue as they then were, yet, in general, we are commanded to give alms of such things as we have; and then, and not otherwise, all things are clean to us. Then we may take the comfort of our enjoyments, when God has thus had his dues out of them. This is a commandment which must not be transgressed, no, not with an excuse of its being forgotten, v. 13. 3. That none of this tithe had been misapplied to any common use, much less to any ill use. This seems to refer to the tithe of the other two years, which was to be eaten by the owners themselves; they must profess, (1.) That they had not eaten of it in their mourning, when, by their mourning for the dead, they were commonly unclean; or they had not eaten of it grudgingly, as those that all their days eat in darkness. (2.) That they had not sacrilegiously alienated it to any common use, for it was not their own. And, (3.) That they had not given it for the dead, for the honour of their dead gods, or in hope of making it beneficial to their dead friends. Now the obliging of them to make this solemn protestation at the three years' end would be an obligation upon them to deal faithfully, knowing that they must be called upon thus to purge themselves. It is our wisdom to keep conscience clear at all times, that when we come to give up our account we may lift up our face without spot. The Jews say that this protestation of their integrity was to be made with a low voice, because it looked like a self-commendation, but that the foregoing confession of God's goodness was to be made with a loud voice to his glory. He that durst not make this protestation must bring his trespass-offering, Lev. v. 15.

II. To this solemn protestation they must add a solemn prayer (v. 15), not particularly for themselves, but for God's people Israel; for in the common peace and prosperity every particular person prospers and has peace. We must learn hence to be public-spirited in prayer, and to wrestle with God for blessings for the land and nation, our English Israel, and for the universal church, which we are directed to have an eye to in our prayers, as the Israel of God, Gal. vi. 16. In this prayer we are taught, 1. To look up to God as in a holy habitation, and thence to infer that holiness becomes his house, and that he will be sanctified in those that are about him. 2. To depend upon the favour of God, and his gracious cognizance, as sufficient to make us and our people happy. 3. To reckon it wonderful condescension in God to case an eye even upon so great and honourable a body as Israel was. It is looking down. 4. To be earnest with God for a blessing upon his people Israel, and upon the land which he has given us. For how should the earth yield its increase, or, if it does, what comfort can we take in it, unless therewith God, even our own God, gives us his blessing? Ps. lxvii. 6.

Israel Reminded of the Covenant. (b. c. 1451.)

16 This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 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: 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; 19 And to make thee high 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.

Two things Moses here urges to enforce all these precepts:—1. That they were the commands of God, v. 16. They were not the dictates of his own wisdom, nor were they enacted by any authority of his own, but infinite wisdom framed them, and the power of the King of kings made them binding to them: "The Lord thy God commands thee, therefore thou art bound in duty and gratitude to obey him, and it is at thy peril if thou disobey. They are his laws, therefore thou shalt do them, for to that end were they given thee: do them and not dispute them, do them and not draw back from them; do them not carelessly and hypocritically, but with thy heart and soul, thy whole heart and thy whole soul." 2. That their covenant with God obliged them to keep these commands. He insists not only upon God's sovereignty over them, but his propriety in them, and the relation wherein they stood to him. The covenant is mutual, and it binds to obedience both ways. (1.) That we may perform our part of the covenant, and answer the intentions of that (v. 17): "Thou hast avouched and solemnly owned and confessed the Lord Jehovah to be thy God, thy Prince and Ruler. As he is so by an incontestable right, so he is by thy own consent." They did this implicitly by their attendance on his word, had done it expressly (Exod. xxiv.), and were now to do it again before they parted, ch. xxix. 1. Now this obliges us, in fidelity to our word, as well as in duty to our Sovereign, to keep his statutes and his commandments. We really forswear ourselves, and perfidiously violate the most sacred engagements, if, when we have taken the Lord to be our God, we do not make conscience of obeying his commands. (2.) That God's part of the covenant also may be made good, and the intentions of that answered (v. 18, 19): The Lord has avouched, not only taken, but publicly owned thee to be his segullah, his peculiar people, as he has promised thee, that is, according to the true intent and meaning of the promise. Now their obedience was not only the condition of this favour, and of the continuance of it (if they were not obedient, God would disown them, and cast them off), but it was also the principal design of this favour. "He has avouched thee on purpose that thou shouldest keep his commandments, that thou mightest have both the best directions and the best encouragements in religion." Thus we are elected to obedience (1 Pet. i. 2), chosen that we should be holy (Eph. i. 4), purified, a peculiar people, that we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them, Tit. ii. 14. Two things God is here said to design in avouching them to be his peculiar people (v. 19), to make them high, and, in order to that, to make them holy; for holiness is true honour, and the only way to everlasting honour. [1.] To make them high above all nations. The greatest honour we are capable of in this world is to be taken into covenant with God, and to live in his service. They should be, First, High in praise; for God would accept them, which is true praise, Rom. ii. 29. Their friends would admire them, Zeph. iii. 19, 20. Secondly, High in name, which, some think, denotes the continuance and perpetuity of that praise, a name that shall not be cut off. Thirdly, High in honour, that is, in all the advantages of wealth and power, which would make them great above their neighbours. See Jer. xiii. 11. [2.] That they might be a holy people, separated for God, devoted to him, and employed continually in his service. This God aimed at in taking them to be his people; so that, if they did not keep his commandments, they received all this grace in vain.

CHAP. XXVI.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]

ANd it shall be when thou art come into the land which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee, for an inheritance, and thou possessest it, and dwellest therein; That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt goe unto the place which Iehovah thy God shall chuse to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the Priest, which shall be in those dayes, and shalt say unto him, I professe this day unto Iehovah thy God, that I am come into the land which Iehovah sware unto our Fathers for to give unto us. And the Priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and shall set it downe before the Altar of Iehovah thy God. And thou shalt answer and say before Iehovah thy God, A Syrian (ready to perish) was my Father, and he went down into Egypt, & sojourned there with a few men, and became there a nation great, mighty & many. And the Egyptians evill intreated us, and afflicted us, & laid upon us hard servitude. And we cried out unto Iehovah the God of our Fathers, and Iehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression. And Iehovah brought us forth out of Egypt, with a strong hand, and with an out-stretched arme, and with great terriblenesse, and with signes, and with wonders. And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given unto us this land, a land flowing with milke and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruit of the land, which thou, Iehovah, hast given unto mee; and thou shalt s[illegible: 1 letter]t it downe before Iehovah thy God, and shalt bow downe thy selfe before Iehovah thy God. And thou shalt rejoyce in all the good which Iehovah thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house; thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee.

When thou hast made [illegible: 1 letter]n end of tithing all the tithe of thy revenue, in the third yeere, the yeere of tithe, and hast given it unto the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherlesse, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled. Then thou shalt say before Iehovah thy God, I have put away the holy thing out of mine house, and also have given it unto the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherlesse, and to the widow, according to all thy commandement, which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandements, neither have I forgotten. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I put away ought thereof for the uncleane, neither have I given ought thereof for the dead: I have hearkened to the voice of Iehovah my God; I have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

Looke downe from the habitation of thine holinesse from the heavens, & blesse thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given unto us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milke and hony.

This day Iehovah thy God hath commanded thee to doe these Statutes, and Iudgements, and thou shalt keepe and doe them, with all thine heart, and with all thy soule. Thou hast avouched Iehovah this day to be unto thee for a God, and to walke in his waies, and to keepe his Statutes, & his Commandements, and his Iudgements, and to hearken unto his voice. And Iehovah hath avouched thee this day to be unto him for a people of peculiar treasure, as hee hath spoken unto thee, and to keepe all his Commandements. And to give thee to be high, above all nations which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in beautifull glory; and that thou maist be an holy people unto Iehovah thy God, as he hath spoken.

Annotations. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Here beginneth the fiftieth Lecture of the Law: see Gen. 6. 9. WHen thou art come] or, When thou shalt become. possessest it] Hee sheweth that they were not bound to (bring) the first fruits, till the land were subdued, and parted among them, saith Sol. Iarchi on this place. Vers. 2. of the first] or, of the beginning; which the Greeke translateth, of the first fruit of the fruits of thy land; meaning, of those which were first ripe, them they were to honour God with in the first place, and to shew their thankfulnesse for his blessings, that so they might be sanctified, and increased unto them, Pro. 3. 9. 10. These first-fruits were to be separated before all other, as is noted on Numb. 18. 13. And Sol. Iarchi scanneth the words thus; Of the first, and not all the first: for all fruits were not bound to give the first-fruits, but the seven sorts onely, for which the land of Israel is commended (in Deut. 8. 8.) the like is said by others of them; They bring no first-fruits save of the seven kindes spoken of in commendation of the land, (Deut. 8.) and they are wheat, and barley, and grapes, and figs, and pomgranats, and olives, and dates: and if one bring any besides these seven sorts, they are not sanctified. They bring not of the Dates that grow on Mountaines, nor of the fruits that grow in Vallies, nor of Olives which are not of the choisest; but of the dates that grow in vallies, and of the fruits that grow on mountaines, because they are of the choisest (or best.) They bring no first-fruits of liquors, save of olives and of grapes onely; for it is said, OF THE FRVIT OF THE LAND, and not of the liquor: and if one bring of the liquors, they receive them not of him. They that dwell neere to Ierusalem bring figs and grapes that are moist, and they that dwell farre off bring them dried. Maimony tom. 3. in Biccurim, chap. 2. sect. 2, 3, 4. The first-fruits have no measure set by the Law, but by the words of our wisemen, he must separate one of sixty. And hee that will make all his field first-fruits, may so doe. If he have separated his first-fruits, and returneth, and addeth more unto them, that which he addeth is as the first-fruits. Ibidem sect. 17, 18. giveth] or, is giving unto thee; the Greeke addeth, by lot, or for inheritance: this was the land of Canaan, the seat of Gods Church, and figure of a better inheritance by Christ: the first-fruits whereof (which are the graces, or the first-fruits of the Spirit, Rom. 8. 23.) are to be brought unto the Lord, that they may be accepted in Christ. Yea, wee our selves, whom he hath begotten with the word of Truth, that wee should be a kinde of first-fruits of his creatures, (Iam. 1. 18.) are to present our bodies unto him, and our reasonable service, Rom. 12. 1. The Hebrewes say, If one bring first-fruits from without the land, they are no first-fruits. Maimony in Biccurim, chap. 2. sect. 1. in a basket] so the Greeke and Chaldee translate the word Tene, used onely here, and in Deut. 28. 5. 17. The Hebrewes understand it generally of any vessell, and hold it necessary (from this place,) that the first-fruits be brought in a vessell; also they teach that every sort of fruit should be brought in a vessell by it selfe: but if he brought them in one vessell, it would serve. And they might not bring them mixed all together, but the Barley underneath, and the Wheat above it, and the Olives above that, and the Dates above them, and the Pomgranats above them, and the Figges uppermost in the vessell. And there should be some thing put betweene every severall kinde, as clothes, or rushes, or leaves, or the like; and they laid about the figs clusters of grapes outward. If he brought them in a vessell of metall, the Priest tooke the first-fruits, and restored the vessell to the owner: but if he brought them in a vessell of Osi[illegible: 1 letter]rs, or of Rushes, or the like, then both the first-fruits and baskets were the Priests. Maimony tom. 3. in Biccurim, (or treat. of First-fruits, chap. 3. sect. 7, 8. and shalt goe] namely, at the feast of Harvest, or Pentecost, which was seven weekes after the Passeover, as may be gathered by Exod. 34. 22. and Deut. 16. 9, 10. then the people went up together, and carried of their first-fruits with them. The Hebrewes say, They brought no first-fruits before the Pentecost, as it is written, And the feast of harvest of the first-fruits of thy labours, (Exod. 23. 16.) and if any brought them (before,) they received them not of him, but he left them there untill the solemne feast came. Maimony in Biccurim, c. 2. s. 6. his name to dwell] the Chaldee saith, his divine presence to dwell; the Greeke, his name to be called upon there: meaning the Tabernacle or Temple, called elsewhere the house of Iehovah, Exod. 23. 19. This in ages following, was at Shilo, and then at Ierusalem, whither the people used to repaire with great solemnity; and at the performance of this service, they are said to do thus: When they carried up the first-fruits, all the cities that were in a Station (or County) gathered together to the (chiefe) citie of the Station, to the end they might not go up alone; for it is said, In the multitude of people is the Kings honour, (Prov. 14. 28.) And they came and lodged all night in the streets of the citie, and went not into the houses for feare of pollution. And in the morning the governor said, Arise, and let us goe up to Sion the citie of the LORD our God. And before them went a Bull which had his hornes covered with gold, and an Olive garland on his head, to signifie the first-fruits of the seven kinds (of fruits.) And a Pipe strucke up before them, untill they came neere to Ierusalem; and all the way as they went, they sang, I rejoyced in them that said unto mee; Wee will goe into the house of the LORD, &c. (Psal. 122.) When they were come nigh to Ierusalem, they s[illegible: 1 span] messengers before them, to signifie it to the men of Ierusalem, &c. Then the Captaines and Governours went out of Ierusalem to meet them: if many men came, there went out many; and if but few, few. And when they all were come within Ierusalem gates, they began to sing, Our feet have beene standing in thy gates, O Ierusalem, (Psal. 122.) All the chiefe Artificers that were in Ierusalem stood before them, and saluted them, Welcome brethren the men of such a place. And they went in the midst of Ierusalem, & the Pipe striking up before them, till they came neere to the mount of the house (of God:) when they were come thither, they tooke every man his basket on his shoulder, and said, Hallelujah, Praise God in his sanctuary, &c. (Psal. 150.) and they went thus and sung till they came to the Court-yard; when they were come thither, the Levites sang (the 30, Psalme) I will exalt thee, O LORD, for thou hast drawne up me, &c. Talmud Bab. in Biccurim, chap. 3. sect. 2, 3, 4. and Maimony in Biccurim, chap. 4. sect. 16. Vnto this, and other like manner of solemne assembling, the Prophet hath reference, when he saith, Yee shall have a song as in the night when an holy solemnity is kept; and gladnesse of heart, as when one goeth with a Pipe, to come into the mountaine of Iehovah, to the Rocke of Israel, Esay 30. 29. Vers. 3. unto the Priest] Gods publike minister, and the figure of Christ, of whom it is written, By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruits of the lips, confessing to his name, Heb. 13. 15. which shall be] that is, which shall minister in his course in those daies; for the Priests ministred by turnes: see 1 Chr. 24. I professe] or, I declare, I shew openly, before the Lord. And because of this presenting themselves and their first-fruits to him, the Hebrewes say, that when they brought their first-fruits, they brought in their hand Turtle doves and young Pigeons; some they hang upon the baskets, and they were for burnt-offerings, and some in their hand, which they gave unto the Priests. Maimony in Biccurim, chap. 3. sect. 9. Vers. 4. before the Altar] that there it might he sanctified by Christ, figured by the Altar, Mat. 23. 19. He. 13. 10, &c. and so made acceptable to God. Vers. 5. shalt answer] that is, shalt speake, or pronounce: These words were to be spoken by every man that brought the first-fruits, except hee were not a man, or not the owner of the land, or the like: for such exceptions they doe put. He that brought the first-fruits, might if hee would give them to his servant, or to his neighbour, all the way, till hee came at the mount of the house (of God.) When he came to the mount of the house, hee himselfe was to take the basket on his owne shoulder, yea, though he were the King, the greatest in Israel: and when he came at the Court-yard he professed, whiles the basket was upō his shoulder, I PROFESSE THIS DAY VNTO THE LORD THY GOD, &c. Then he let down the basket from his shoulder, & the Priest put his hand under it, and waved it, and hee said, A SYRIAN READY TO PERISH was MY FATHER, &c. and hee left it by the Altars side, at the south-west borne (of the Altar) on the south side of the horne, and bowed himselfe downe, and went out. But the confession is not alike for all: some are bound to bring first-fruits, & yet make no confession over them; as the woman, and he that is of neither sex, and hee that is of both sexes, male and female; because they cannot say, WHICH THE LORD HATH GIVEN VNTO ME. Likewise Tutors (or Guardians,) and Servants & Messengers; for they cannot say, which the Lord hath given unto me. The Proselyte bringeth and professeth, as it is said to Abraham, A father of a multitude of nations have I given thee to be, (Gen. 17. 5.) Behold, he is the father of all the whole world, which are gathered under the wings of the divine Majestie. And to Abraham was the oath at first, that his sonnes should inherit the land. Likewise the Priests and Levites doe bring (first-fruits) and professe, because they have cities and suburbs. He that separateth his first-fruits, and selleth his field, bringeth them, but professeth not; for he cannot say, WHICH THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME, because the land is not his. And he that bought it, is not bound to separate other first-fruits of that sort, because he that sold it hath separated them already; and if he doe separate any, he may bring them, but not make profession; but of another sort he may separate, bring, and professe. He that separateth first-fruits, and they are lost before they come at the mount of (Gods) house, & he separate other for thē, he bringeth the second, but professeth not, because he cannot say, THE FIRST OF THE FRVIT OF THE LAND, (Deut. 26. 10.) for they are not the first, &c. Hee that bringeth first-fruits of one kinde, and maketh profession, and commeth againe & bringeth first-fruits of another kinde, hee maketh no profession over them; for it is said, I PROFESSE THIS DAY; one time in the yeere doth hee make profession, and not twise. He that bringeth first-fruits after the feast, untill the dedication, although he separated them before the feast, bringeth them, but maketh no profession, because it is said (in vers. 11.) AND THOV SHALT REIOYCE IN ALL THE GOOD: so there is no professing, but at the time of rejoycing, from the (beginning of the) feast of Weekes, untill the end of the feast. Maimony in Biccurim, ch. 3. sect. 12. &c. and ch. 4. sect. 1. &c. In that which is said of the Proselyte (or Stranger) Maimony differeth from his fellowes; for in Thalmud Bad. in Biccurim, ch. 1. sect. 4. it is said, The Proselyte bringeth, but professeth not, because he cannot say, which thou hast sworne to our fathers to give unto us; but if his mother were an Israelitesse, hee bringeth and professeth. But the former well agreeth with the mystery of the Gospell; for as it is prophesied in Ezek. 47. 22. Yee shall divide (the Land) by lot, for an inheritance to you, and to the strangers that sojourne among you, which shall be get children among you, and they shall bee unto you as borne in the countrey, &c. So when Christ came, Zacheus the chiefe Publican became the sonne of Abraham, Luk. 19. 9. and in Christ there is neither Iew nor Greeke, but all are one in him, and Abrahams seed and heires according to the promise, Gal. 3. 28, 29. And in him is this service in the mystery of it fulfilled, when wee at our Pentecost, that is, when wee receive the first-fruits of Gods Spirit, (Act. 2. Rom. 8. 23.) doe honour him with our persons, our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Prov. 3. 9. offering the sacrifice of praise unto God continually, the fruit of our lips, confessing to his name, Heb. 13. 15. For as the first of all fruits were holy, so the Church is holy unto the Lord, of all peoples in the earth, Rev. 14. 4. Iam. 1. 18. as it is written, Israel is holinesse unto Iehovah, the first-fruits of his revenue, Ier. 2. 3. And as these first-fruits were brought into the Sanctuary in a basket, so the good Israelites whom God would accept for his, are likened to a basket of good figs set before the Temple of the Lord, even like the sigs that are first ripe, and them God promiseth to acknowledge, and to set his eies upon them for good, and that they shall bee his people, and he will be their God, &c. Ier. 24. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7. A Syrian ready to perish] Hebr. An Aramite perishing, or, of perdition, that is, ready to perish through poverty, affliction, and misery. As in Prov. 31. 6, 7. Give strong drinke unto him that is ready to perish, &c. Let him drinke and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. An Aramite is after the Greeke called a Syrian, as is noted on Gen. 10. 22. & this Syrian here spoken of was Iacob, who dwelt in Syria with Laban the Syrian, twenty yeeres in hard service, Gen. 28. 5. and 31. 38, 40, 41, 42. Hos. 12. 12. and therefore though hee was naturally an Hebrew, yet for his misery is called a Syrian; as contrariwise Iether, who by nature was an Ismaelite, 1 Chron. 2 17. is for his faith and state of grace called an Israelite, 2 Sam. 17. 25. And thus God said to the Iewes that dwelt in Canaan, thy nativity is of the land o[illegible: 1 letter] Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Chethite, Ezek. 16. 3. Others understand it here of Laban, translating, A Syrian was destroying my father, (or, working his perdition;) and to this the Chaldee agreeth, saying, Laban the Syrian sought to destroy (or undoe) my father: and the vulgar Latine, A Syrian persecuted my father. The Greeke differeth from both, translating, My father left Syria. By this speech they were taught to acknowledge their first estate and originall to have beene most miserable; and so we ought all to confesse, Ephes. 2. 2, 3. a few men] in Chaldee, a small people: they went downe but with seventy soules, Gen. 46. 27. Vers. 6. evill intreated] did evill, or vexed: and this is a commemoration of their second maine affliction, whereof see Exod. 1. &c. and it was afigure of our bondage under sinne and Satan, which wee being delivered from, are to mention with thankfulnesse, Rom. 6. 17, 18. Tit. 3. 3. hard servitude] in Greeke, hardworkes: they made them serve with rigour, that their lives were bitter unto them, Exod. 1. 14. God would not have us forget our former miseries, though wee bee come out of them: hee sundry times commandeth this; Thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, Deut. 16. 12. Remember that yee having beene in times passed heathens, &c. were without Christ, being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel, &c. Ephes. 2. 11, 12. Vers. 7. wee cried out] in Chaldee, wee praied: see Exod. 2. 23, 24, 25. heard our voice] in Chaldee, accepted our praier. saw] in Chaldee, it was revealed (or manifest) before him: see Exod. 3. 7. our labour] or, our molestation. Vers. 8. out stretched] in Greeke and Chaldee, an high arme: see Exod. 7. &c. terriblenesse] or terrour: this the Greeke and Chaldee translate visions; and so in Deut. 4. 34. Vers. 9. milke and honey] under which two, all other earthly blessings and heavenly also, in figure, are implied: and hereby they acknowledge the truth of Gods promises made unto their fathers; whereof see the notes on Exod. 3. 8. So after in vers. 15. Vers. 10. the first-fruit] in Greeke, the first-fruits of the fruits. As wee our selves are the Lords first-fruits, Rev. 14. 4. and have received the first-fruits of his Spirit, Rom. 8. 23. so wee then doe give the first-fruits unto him, when in Christ (the true Sanctuary) wee acknowledge, that wee and ours are his, and have this grace not of our selves, or for our owne merits, but of his goodnesse and liberality, 2 Cor. 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 8, 9, 10. Tit. 3. 3, 4, 5, 6. set it downe] or, leave it for the Priests, which did after eat it. The first-fruits were given to the men of the charge [the Priests that ministred] and they divided them among them, as the [other] holy things of the Sanctuary. Maimony in B[illegible: 1 letter]ccurim, ch. 3. sect. 1. It figured, that wee should consecrate our selves and ours for ever unto the Lord, Rom. 12. 1. and 6. 19. 22. Vers. 11. shalt rejoyce] as they were bound to doe at all other feasts, Deut. 16. 11, 15. So that after this homage, the people abode in the holy City all that night feasting, and the next day they might depart, and not before. Hereupon the Hebrewes note seven things, which they that brought first-fruits were bound unto; the comming to the place; and the vessell (or basket;) the Profession to be made; and the oblation, (or sacrifice;) and the Song; and the Waving of it by the Priest; and the tarrying all night. When hee hath brought his first-fruits to the Sanctuary, and made profession, and offered his peace-offerings, hee may not goe out of Ierusalem that day, to returne to his owne place, but must tarry there all night, and returne on the morrow to his citie; as it is written (in Deut. 16. 7.) and thou shalt turne in the morning, and goe unto thy tents. All the turnings which thou shalt turne out of the Sanctuary after thou art come thither, shall not be but in the morning. Maimony in Biccurim, chap. 3. sect. 14. in all the good] or, as the Greeke translateth, for all the good things: the chiefest whereof are the first-fruits of the spirit, wherewith God sanctifieth his people: as when Christ teacheth that Our Father which is in heaven will give good things to them that aske him, Matth. 7. 11. another Evangelist expoundeth it, he will give the holy Spirit to them that aske him, Luke 11. 13. For this Spirit and graces of God which we have received, we ought to rejoyce before him continually, Psa. 100. Luk. 10. 20. Phil. 3. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 8. 1 Thess. 5. 16. Vers. 12. of thy revenue] which the Greeke expoundeth, of the fruits of thy land. See the notes on Deut. 14. 22. the yeere of tithe] that is, the yeere when the second tithe was to be given to the poore, which was the third and the sixt yeere of every seven yeeres, whereof the Law was given before in Deut. 14. 28. The Greeke translateth, the second tithe thou shalt give to the Levite, &c. Of this the Hebrewes say, Wee are commanded to confesse before the LORD, after that we have brought forth all the gifts which be of the seed of the land, and this is called the Confession of the tithe. And wee make not this Confession, but after the yeere wherein we have separated the Tithes of the poore, Deut. 26. 12. Maimony tom. 3. in Maasar sheni, (or treat. of the Second tithe) chap. 11. sect. 1, 2. within thy gates] that is, as the Greeke and Chaldee expound it, thy cities: see Deut. 14. 28. 29. Vers. 13. Then] Hebr. And thou shalt say. The time is recorded by the Hebrewes, to be at the Minchah [the Oblation] in the last good day of the Passeover of the fourth (yeere) and of the seventh; as it is said, WHEN THOV HAST MADE AN END OF TITHING: at the Feast wherein all the tithes are ended. And the Passeover of the fourth yeere commeth not, but all the fruits of the third (yeere) are tithed, whether they be the fruits of the trees, or fruits of the land. Maimony in Maaser sheni, ch. 11. s. 3. The reason hereof was, the Passeover was kept in Abib (or March) Deu. 16. 1. and the first of Tisri (that is, September) was tho beginning of the yeere for the tithes of corne, seeds, and herbs: and the fifteenth of [illegible: 1 word] (which wee call Ianuary,) was the beginning of the yeer for [illegible: 1 word] of the fruits of trees, as Maimony sheweth in Maaser sheni, c. 1. s. 2. so by March following, the tithes of the third yeere, (which they had [illegible: 1 word] up wi[illegible: 1 letter]hin their gates, Deut. 14. 28.) might all be bestowed▪ and the Passeover was the next feast th[illegible: 1 span] [illegible: 1 span]ed, when all men were bound to appeare [illegible: 1 word] the Lord, Deut. 16. 16. say before [illegible: 2 words] that by this solemne confession; they might testifie their voluntary obedience to his lawes with a cleare conscience, and so crave & expect his further blessing. The Hebrewes say, This confession might be uttered in any language that a man spak; and every one spake for himselfe; and if many would confesse joyntly in one, they might. And it is commanded to be done in the Sanctuary BEFORE THE LORD; and if they confessed in any place, they were discharged. Maim in Maaser sheni, c. 11. s. 5, 6. put away the holy thing▪ in Chaldee, the holy thing of the [illegible: 1 span]he: Hebr. the holinesse; meaning, things of holinesse; as the Greek translateth, I have purged the holy thing[illegible: 1 letter] out of my house: so that this confession respected not the tithe of the poore onely, but all other holy things, which they were bound to give unto God, or his Ministers, or the poore. And putting away, signifieth the removing and utter taking away, so that nothing remaineth. So the Hebrewes say, A man confesseth not untill there he not any of the gifts remaining with him; as it is said, I have put away the holy thing out of (mine) house: And in the evening of the last good day (of the Passeover,) was the putting away; and on the morrow was the confession. Thus he did: if there remained with him any heave-offering of the Tithe, hee gave it to the Priest: if any of the first tithe, hee gave it to the Levites: if any of the poores tube, hee gave it to the poore. If there remained with him any of the fruits of the second tithe of confession, or of that which was of the fourth yeeres plantation (Levit. 19. 24.) or any money of their redemption, loe he put them away, and cast them into the Sea, or burnt them. If any first-fruits remained with him, hee put them away in every place; where by is meant, that he burned and put away that which remained with him of the fruits which he could not eat all of them before the good day came, &c. Hee cannot confesse till hee have brought out all the gifts; as it is said, I HAVE PVT AWAY THE HOLY THING, that is, the second tithe, and the fourth yeeres plantation, called HOLY, Lev. 19. 24. OVT OF my HOVSE, that is, the Cake (Num. 15. 20.) which is the Priests gift in the house, I HAVE GIVEN IT TO THE LEVITE, this is the first tithe, (Num. 18. 21.) AND ALSO I HAVE GIVEN IT, which implieth generally, that the other gift was before, namely, the great Heaveoff[illegible: 1 letter]ring (of first-fruits) and the Heaven-offering of, the tithe: TO THE STRANGER, TO THE FATHERLESSE, &c. this is the tithe of the poore, and the gleaning, and the forgotten (sheafe) and the corner, (Deut. 24. 19. Lev. 19. 9. 10.) although the gleaning, the forgotten, and the corner, doe not hinder the making of confession. And he must separate the gifts in order, and afterward make confession, as it is written, ACCORDING TO ALL THY COMMANDEMENT, &c. Loe, if the second tithe were given before the first, he might not make confession. If his untithed fruits were burnt, he might not make confession, because he hath not separated the gifts, nor given them to whom they were due. Hee that had nothing but the second tithe onely, made confession, for the ground of the confession is in the tithe. And so if he had nothing but first-fruits onely, he made confession, as it is said, I HAVE PVT AWAY THE HOLY THING, &c. Maimony in Maaser sheni, chap. 11. sect. 7. &c. thy commandement] in Greeke, commandements: and the word according, implieth the order of doing all things, as before is noted. not transgressed] by doing any thing amisse, as giving bad for good; and as the Hebrewes expound it, one kinde for another, or old for new, or new for old, or the like. Of Transgression, see the notes on Deut. 17. 2. forgotten] this the Hebrewes apply to forgetting to blesse God for it, and to mention his name upon it. Maimony ibidem, chap. 11. sect. 15. But it is more generall, implying the neglect of any precept, concerning the things here spoken of: for in spirituall duties unto God, all men are faulty, Psal. 19. 12. Eccles. 7. 20. Vers. 14. in my mourning] or, in my sorrow: By this it appeareth, that this Law and confession extended further than to the third yeeres tithe, which was all given to the poore, Deut. 24. 28. 29. and might not be eaten by the owner of the land: and reached to the first and second yeeres tithes, which the owners were to eat before the Lord, Deu. 14. 22, 23. but might not eat of it in their mourning, upon paine of being beaten by the Magistrate, as Maimony sheweth in Maaser sheni, chap. 3. sect. 5. where he further saith (in sect. 6, 7.) Who is this mourner? He that bewaileth any of his kinred, whom he is bound by the Law to mourne for. And in the day of death he is bound to mourne by the Law, (Lev. 10. 19.) If he be kept unburied many daies, he is a mourner all those daies till hee be buried, by the doctrine of the Scribes. And not the second tithe only, but all the holy things, every one, if he eat of them in mourning, by the Law he is to be beaten; if in his mourning, by the Scribes doctrine, he is to be scourged. Compare herewith the saying of the Prophet, Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted, Hos. 9. 4. put away] the word before used in vers. 13. but otherwise turned here in the Greeke, I have not taken fruit thereof: which Greeke word is used in Ios. 5. 12. for eating fruit: and so the Hebrewes expound this here of eating; He that eateth the second tithe in uncleannesse, is to be beaten; for it is said, I have not put away thereof for the uncleane: whether the tithe be uncleane, and the eater cleane; or the tithe cleane, and the eater uncleane: and hee that eateth it in Ierusalem before it be redeemed. The uncircumcised is as the uncleane; and if hee eat that second tithe, he is to be beaten by the Law, &c. Maim. in Maasar sheni, ch. 3. s. 1, 4. for the uncleane] so the Greeke translateth it; meaning for any uncleane person to eat of it; or for any uncleane use. Hebr. in uncleane, whereby may be meant, in uncleannesse. for the dead] or, to the dead: whereby may be understood, to any idoll, or for any idolatrous use; as Idolaters are said to eat sacrifices of the dead, Ps. 106. 28. or to be eaten at any dead mans funeral, wherby the holy thing might be polluted; as Hos. 9. 4. for at funeralls they used to eat and drinke, Ezek. 24. 17. Ier 16. 7. The Hebrewes expound it thus; that he hath not received (or bought) therewith coffin or shrouds (for the buriall of the dead) nor given thereof to other mourners. Maimony in Maaser sheni, chap. 11. sect. 15. Further they say, The second tithe is given to eat and to drinke, Deut 14. 23. and anoynting is as drinking. And it is unlawfull for a man to bring it out for his other needs; as to receive therewith vessels, or garments, or servants; as it is written, I have not given thereof for the dead; as if he should say, I have not brought it out for any thing which keepeth not alive the bodie, &c. Ibidem chap. 3. sect. 10. Vers. 15. the habitation of thy holinesse] that is, thy holy habitation; as the Greeke translateth it, thine holy house. By this prayer they submitted themselves unto the triall and judgement of God, for their upright keeping of these his lawes, (as Psal. 26. 1, 2, 3.) and having cleare consciences, they had boldnesse before God, to crave and expect his blessing: for he that is a doer of the worke (of God) this man shall bee blessed in his deed, Iam. 1. 25. Vers. 16. This day] Moses concluding his exposition of the Lawes, with a warning of obedience, teacheth the children that they are alike interessed in Gods covenant, as were their fathers; and so their posterity: for what was spoken and done unto them, concerneth us also, Hos. 12. 4. Psal. 66. 6, 7. thy God] the first argument of obedience, from the person of God, and his grace towards them, who hath soveraigne authority thereby to command. Vers. 17. hast avouched] or, hast made to say, that is, to promise: in Greeke, hast chosen. A second reason of obedience, because of the mutuall covenant betweene God and his people: see Exod. 19. 3, 4. 8. which covenant was not with the fathers only, (Deut. 5. 2, 3.) but being now renewed with their children, and in them with all their posterity, served both to confirme their faith, and to increase their obedience and sanctification. unto thee for a God] or, as the Greeke translateth, thy God: what this meaneth is shewed on Exod. 20. 2, 3. his wayes] which hee commandeth to walke in; and they imply both doctrines of faith, and precepts of manners, (as is noted on Genes. 6. 12. and 18. 19.) and an imitation of him, as beloved children, Ephes. 5. 1, 2. Matth. 5. 48. statutes] the ordinances of worship and service which he taught: see the notes on Deut. 4. 1. Commandements] the morall law given in Ex. 20. Iudgements] the Iudiciall lawes, whereof see Exod. 21. 1. &c. So all whatsoever are in Gods law, are comprehended under these heads. hearken unto] or, obey his voice, if any speciall thing be commanded unto any, as when God sent Saul to root out Amalek, 1 Sam. 15. 1, 2, 19, 20. 22. Vers. 18. hath avouched thee] or, made thee to say, that is, to promise, or give thy word: in Greeke, hath chosen thee. peculiar treasure] in the Greek, a peculiar people; in Chaldee, a beloved people: see the notes on Exod. 19. 5. to keepe] that is, that thou shouldest keepe; which as it is a part of the covenant on Gods behalfe, so is it the worke of his grace in all his people, as he hath said, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, Ier. 31. 33. Vers. 19. give thee to be high] or make thee (set thee) high: of which see the notes on Deut. 28. 1. And this is the third argument to perswade obedience, in respect of the high excellency which Gods people begin to obtaine by him in this life, and shall fully possesse in the end. See Colos. 3. 1, 2, 3, 4. Iam. 1. 9. in praise] or for praise; to be praised even of the enemie, for my mercies upon thee, as Zeph. 3. 19. 20. So he is said to make Ierusalem (his Church) a praise in the earth, Esay 62. 7. for he exalteth the borne of his people, the praise of all his Saints, Psal. 148. 14. in name] or for name, that is, fame or renowne; this is a continuance and increase of the former praise, called therefore an everlasting name that shall not be cut off, Esay 56. 5. and a name that shall remaine, Esay 66. 22. And it was by a setled continuance of the state of his Church; as on the contrary by scattering them, he is said to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, 2 Kings 14. 27. beautifull glory] which consisteth in outward blessings wherwith God adorneth his Church, as with garments of beautifull glory, Esay 52. 1. opposed unto ashes, Esay 61. 3. and is the continuance of his heavenly ordinances and Kingdome among them, Esay 64. 11. Ezek. 16. 12. And all these three degrees of grace the Church enjoyeth by being united unto God; as it is written, As the girdle cleaveth to the loines of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto [illegible: 1 span]e the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Iudah, saith Iehovah: that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a beautifull glorie, Ier. 13. 11. See also Ier. 33. 9. an holy people] This is the chiefest end of all our obedience, the glory of God, and our owne salvation; which is accomplished by our sanctification, as the Apostle saith, Being now made free from sinne, and become servants to God, yee have your fruit unto holinesse, and the end everlasting life, Rom. 6. 22.