Deuteronomychapter 26
19 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.
It stands in A wandering Syrian was my father, verses 1 to 11.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The confession at the firstfruits. The Israelite shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, put it in a basket, come to the place the LORD shall choose, and recite before the priest the little creed: ‘A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there … and the Egyptians evil entreated us … and we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers … and the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt … and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey’. The third-year tithe testified. None to the dead, none unclean. ‘This day the LORD hath avouched thee to be his peculiar people’.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 26The history
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, and it gives words to be said by men who own no ground yet. The house reading dates it to about 1406 BC, stated as a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, and the ceremony described belongs to the land across the river once a harvest has been gathered. The occasion is the close of the second address, which ends the statutes and puts the covenant to the people from both sides. A first hearer knew what firstfruits meant, the first of what the ground produced carried in a basket and set down at the sanctuary, offered before anyone knew how good the year would be. A first hearer knew that the words at verses 5 to 10 were his own to say, since the worshipper spoke them rather than the priest. The third-year tithe had a declaration of its own, in which a man stated aloud that he had given the sacred portion to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. A first hearer also knew the language of the close, since a mutual declaration on record by both parties is how a treaty was ratified.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The confession put every later Israelite farmer inside the same history. However many generations he stood from the Exodus, he said that the Egyptians afflicted us in the first person. It also kept a harvest from becoming a private achievement, since the basket went down before the altar first and the tithe went out to four groups who held no land. The chapter's close then put both parties on record, Israel declaring the LORD its God and the LORD declaring Israel His treasured people.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 26, in the store's exposition_notes
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 26 falls in Second sermon, the law restated (chapters 5–26). The Decalogue repeated; the Shema; laws for the land, for worship, for kingship, for war, for the poor. The covenant's central exposition.
Before it: First sermon, retrospective, chapters 1–4. After it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The structure of this chapter
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. A wandering Syrian was my father
1. (vv. 1-2)
Deuteronomy 26:1
“Two liturgical enactments having a clear and close reference to the whole of the preceding legislation, form a most appropriate and significant conclusion to it, namely, (1) the formal acknowledgment in deed and symbol of God’s faithfulness, by presentment of a basket filled with firstfruits, and in word by recitation of the solemn formula prescribed in Deu 26:3, Deu 26:5-10; and (2) the solemn declaration and profession on the part of each Israelite on the occasion of the third tithe Deu 26:12.”
The last chapter of the stipulations opens with a law that cannot be obeyed until the land is held, given to men who own nothing yet. The place which the Lord shall choose falls here for the fifteenth and last time in this book, and the statutes close without the place ever being named. 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Kings 8:16 are where the naming happens, and the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the phrase as a place already chosen and puts it at Gerizim, which is the dispute the woman raises at John 4:20.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Deuteronomy 26:3
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 26:4
“And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand,.... To wave it, as Jarchi says, putting his hand under the hand of the owner, and so waving it; and this being waved to and fro towards the several corners of the earth, was an acknowledgment of the Lord being the proprietor of it: and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God; that it might have some appearance of a sacrifice, and be a fit emblem of the spiritual sacrifice of praise, which is accepted upon the altar Christ, which sanctifies every gift.”
Barnes reads verses 1 to 15 as two liturgical acts set at the end of the whole legislation, a basket brought with a spoken formula and a tithe declared with another. The worshipper says the words himself instead of having the priest say them for him, and what he professes is that an oath sworn to the fathers has been kept inside his own lifetime. Gill records the rabbinic tradition, citing Rashi, that the priest put his hand under the owner's hand and waved the basket before setting it down.
3. (v. 5)
Deuteronomy 26:5
“A Syrian ready to perish was my father - The reference is shown by the context to be to Jacob, as the ancestor in whom particularly the family of Abraham began to develop into a nation (compare Isa 43:22, Isa 43:28, etc.).”
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:5
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 26:5
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
A man holding a basket of fruit says the whole history of his nation in one sentence, and it begins with an ancestor who nearly died. Barnes takes the father to be Jacob, born of Syrian parents and twenty years resident in Padan-aram, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown render the Hebrew a wandering Syrian rather than one ready to perish, since the phrase will carry either. The Passover Haggadah takes this verse as the text it expounds clause by clause, so a farmer's confession became the shape of the seder's telling.
4. (vv. 6-8)
Deuteronomy 26:6
“And the Egyptians evil entreated us,.... Ordered their male children to be killed by the midwives, and by another edict to be drowned by the people: and afflicted us; by setting taskmasters over them, who put heavy burdens upon them: and laid upon us hard bondage; in mortar and brick, and all manner of field service, in which they made them serve with rigour, and whereby their lives were made bitter; see Exo 1:9.”
Deuteronomy 26:7
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 26:8
“And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt,.... After some time: with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; by his almighty power, of which full proof was given by what he then did, Deu 5:15, and with great terribleness: to Pharaoh and his people, through the plagues that were inflicted on them, especially the last, the slaying of their firstborn; see Deu 4:34, and with signs and with wonders; wrought by the hands of Moses and Aaron, meaning the ten plagues, often so called.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:8
“With a mighty hand, etc. - See on Deu 4:34 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The confession moves into the first person plural here and stays there, so a farmer born in the land says that the Egyptians afflicted us. What God did is given as a chain, we cried and he heard and looked and brought us forth, which is the order of Exodus 2:23-25. The pairing of a mighty hand with a stretched out arm is this book's standing phrase for the exodus, at 4:34, 5:15, 7:19 and 11:2, and it is put in the mouth of a man carrying produce.
5. (vv. 9-11)
Deuteronomy 26:9
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 26:10
“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. The offerer is here appointed, when he has finished the service, 1. To give glory to God: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 26:11
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The last clause of the confession is the point of it, that the fruit in the basket came out of a land the speaker was given rather than one he won. Worship follows the setting down of the basket and rejoicing follows the worship, with the Levite and the stranger named as sharers because neither of them holds ground, which is how 16:11 and 16:14 order the feasts. Clarke sets verse 11 against a grudging piety and says God intends his followers to be happy in what he has given.
B. Look down from thy holy habitation
1. (vv. 12-13)
Deuteronomy 26:12
“When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase,.... Which, according to Maimonides (k), is to be understood of the feast, in which all tithes are finished, which is the feast of the passover: the third year, which is the year of tithing; that is, the third from every seventh, when the land lay fallow.”
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:12
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 26:12
“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).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 26:13
“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.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The third year tithe goes to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and is eaten inside a man's own gates rather than at the chosen place, which is the law of 14:28-29. How many tithes Israel actually paid is an old dispute: Clarke reads one tithe diverted to the poor every third year, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read a second tithe distinct from the Levites' portion of Numbers 18:21, and Josephus in the Antiquities counts three. Gill gives the rabbinic reckoning from Maimonides, that the tithing of the third year was finished at the passover. The declaration attached to it ends on forgetting, which is the failure this book names more than any other.
2. (vv. 14-15)
Deuteronomy 26:14
“I have not eaten thereof in my mourning,.... When in grief and sorrow on account of any afflictive circumstance, for these were to be eaten with joy, Deu 16:11; and especially of the loss of relations by death, when holy things were not to be eaten by such persons; see Lev 10:19; and particularly tithes, though it is said (n),"What is doubtful of tithing (whether it has been tithed or no) might be eaten by a mourner;''and a man was reckoned such an one until his dead was buried.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:14
“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 1Co 10:27, 1Co 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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 26:15
“Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven,....”
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:15
“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.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 26:15
“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. In this prayer we are taught, 1.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Three denials, and the third is the hardest to place. Clarke reads given ought thereof for the dead as food devoted to an idol, which was often a dead man raised to a god, while Gill and Wesley keep the clause inside Israelite mourning practice, where holy things were not handled by a man with a corpse in his house. The declaration then turns into a prayer, and what the speaker asks for is a blessing on the people and on the land rather than on his own field, which Henry takes as the pattern for public-minded praying.
C. His own people, set high above the nations
1. (vv. 16-17)
Deuteronomy 26:17
“Thou hast avouched the Lord - The people avouch - publicly declare, that they have taken Jehovah to be their God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:17
“Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God,.... Said, affirmed, protested, and in the most solemn manner declared, that the Lord was their God, and him only; and that they would have no other God, nor worship, serve, or obey any other.”
Barnes marks verse 16 as the close of the second and longest discourse of the book, so the stipulations end where they began, on this day, a phrase Deuteronomy uses seventy times. Keeping the statutes with all thine heart and with all thy soul takes back the words of 6:5 and leaves off the third term, might. Verse 17 then states the covenant from the human side, and Barnes notes that avouched renders a Hebrew form meaning caused to say, so Israel has given God occasion to say that he is their God.
2. (vv. 18-19)
Deuteronomy 26:18
“These are evidently symbolic—hands, of action; heart, of deliberation; mouth, of speech. There is an excellent text on the subject of the penitent: "You have chosen God today to be your God, and the Lord has chosen you today to be his people." God makes his own the person who is eager to serve truth and reality and comes as a suppliant. Even if he is only one in number, he is honored on equal terms with the whole people. He is a part of the people.”
Clement of Alexandria· written before 215· The Stromata Book 2patristic
Deuteronomy 26:19
“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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 26:19
“To make thee high above all nations,....”
The same declaration is now made from the other side, and the two verses together are the covenant formula whole: the people have said the Lord is their God, and the Lord has said this people is his. Peculiar people renders the Hebrew segullah, the treasured property of a king, used of Israel first at Exodus 19:5, carried on at Malachi 3:17, and taken up of the church at Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9. Being set high above all nations in praise and name and honour is the promise 28:1 repeats at the head of the blessings, and holiness is stated here as the purpose the whole arrangement serves.
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 26. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.