13 and thou hast said before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the separated thing out of the house, and also have given it to the Levite, and to the sojourner, and to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Thy command which Thou hast commanded me; I have not passed over from Thy commands, nor have I forgotten.
I wandered as a lost sheep, seek Thy servant, For Thy precepts I have not forgotten!
`Resh.' See my affliction, and deliver Thou me, For Thy law I have not forgotten.
My son! my law forget not, And my commands let thy heart keep,
and whoever may have the goods of the world, and may view his brother having need, and may shut up his bowels from him -- how doth the love of God remain in him? My little children, may we not love in word nor in tongue, but in word and in truth! and in this we know that of the truth we are, and before Him we shall assure our hearts, because if our heart may condemn -- because greater is God than our heart, and He doth know all things. Beloved, if our heart may not condemn us, we have boldness toward God, and whatever we may ask, we receive from Him, because His commands we keep, and the things pleasing before Him we do,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ -- who is blessed to the ages -- hath known that I do not lie! --
For our glorying is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we did conduct ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you;
and come in hath the Levite (for he hath no part and inheritance with thee), and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who `are' within thy gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou dost.
Cut me off hath my zeal, For mine adversaries forgot Thy words.
I wash in innocency my hands, And I compass Thine altar, O Jehovah.
By David. Judge me, O Jehovah, for I in mine integrity have walked, And in Jehovah I have trusted, I slide not. Try me, O Jehovah, and prove me, Purified `are' my reins and my heart. For Thy kindness `is' before mine eyes, And I have walked habitually in Thy truth.
For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not done wickedly against my God. For all His judgments `are' before me, And His statutes I turn not from me. And I am perfect with him, And I keep myself from mine iniquity. And Jehovah doth return to me, According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, Over-against his eyes.
If I withhold from pleasure the poor, And the eyes of the widow do consume, And I do eat my morsel by myself, And the orphan hath not eat of it, (But from my youth He grew up with me as `with' a father, And from the belly of my mother I am led.) If I see `any' perishing without clothing, And there is no covering to the needy, If his loins have not blessed me, And from the fleece of my sheep He doth not warm himself,
`When thou dost complete to tithe all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then thou hast given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates, and been satisfied,
`When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in a field, thou dost not turn back to take it; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is; so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hands. `When thou beatest thine olive, thou dost not examine the branch behind thee; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is. `When thou cuttest thy vineyard, thou dost not glean behind thee; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Deuteronomy 26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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).
13. thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house—This was a solemn declaration that nothing which should be devoted to the divine service had been secretly reserved for personal use.
14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning—in a season of sorrow, which brought defilement on sacred things; under a pretense of poverty, and grudging to give any away to the poor.
neither … for any unclean use—that is, any common purpose, different from what God had appointed and which would have been a desecration of it.
nor given ought thereof for the dead—on any funeral service, or, to an idol, which is a dead thing.