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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
The dedication of the firstfruits. A beautiful religious service is here associated with the dedication of the firstfruits. It was to be an act of worship. There was to be the appearance before the priest, the acknowled…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Commemorations of national deliverance. An instinct in man impels him to dwell with pleasure on his national beginnings and growth; and, in cases where that beginning sprang out from a specific event, that event has bee…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:1-11
The presentation of the first fruits. This interesting ceremony: 1. Reminded the individual that the land and its fruits were God's. 2. Required from him a devout acknowledgment of the fact, with a gift in which the ack…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:2
The first of all the fruit of the earth. (On the law of the firstfruits, see Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 18:4.) A basket; טֶנֶא, a basket of wickerwork.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:3
The priest that shall be in those clays; not the high priest, but the priests collectively, or the individual priest whose function it was to officiate on the occasion. The fruit presented was the sensible proof that th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:5
A Syrian ready to perish was my father. The reference is to Jacob, the stem-father of the twelve tribes, tie is here called a Syrian, or Aramaean, because of his long residence in Mesopotamia (Genesis 29-31.), whence Ab…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:6
The Egyptians evil entreated us (cf. Exodus 1:11-22; Exodus 2:23, etc.).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:8
(Cf. Deuteronomy 4:34.)
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:10
Thou shalt set it, etc.; either a general concluding remark, taking up the statement of Deuteronomy 26:4, or the offerer may have resumed hold of the basket, and after holding it in his hand while offering prayer, would…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:11
And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing, etc.; i.e. with these bounties of God's providence make a feast for yourself and your household, and omit not to invite the Levite and the stranger to partake of it with you.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-19
Looking up for the blessing. The interests of the dependent classes, "the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow," being considered and secured by the tithing of the third year, the Jew was directed then to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-15
On the occasion of presenting the tithes, a special service was also to be made. The tithe here referred to is the vegetable or predial tithe, which, at the end of each third year, as here prescribed, was to be converte…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12
The third year, which is the year of tithing. As each week ended with a Sabbath, so a sabbatical year ended each cycle or week of years; and as on it no tithes were levied, "the year of tithing" here specified would be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-15
Integrity in the will a condition of acceptable and successful prayer. We do not recall any passage in this book, on which we have as yet touched, that conveys a more striking impression than this of the purity and hear…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12
The year of tithing. Why so called? A double tithe was taken each year—the ordinary Levitical tithe (Numbers 18:21-28), which Deuteronomy, without mention, takes for granted; and the festal tithe, ordained as a provisio…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-15
A good conscience toward God. This solemn avowal, ordained to be made at the completion of the round of tithe obligations, was a wise safeguard against unpunctuality and neglect. The subject suggested is—The importance…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:12-15
Complete consecration a condition of continued blessing. The system of social dependence is ordained of God. By a deliberate act of wisdom, God devoted the Levites to poverty, or rather to an equitable interest in the w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:13
Say before the Lord; i.e. address him as present and ready to hear. The expression, "before the Lord," does not necessarily imply that it was in the sanctuary that the prayer was to be offered. Isaac proposed to bless h…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:14
In my mourning; i.e. while ceremonially unclean (cf. Le Deuteronomy 7:20; Deuteronomy 21:1, etc.). Neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use; rather, Neither have I removed ought of it being unclean; i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:15
(Cf. Isaiah 63:15; Isaiah 66:1.)
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Moses winds up his address by a solemn admonition to the people to keep and observe the laws and commandments which the Lord by him had laid upon them, reminding them that they had entered into covenant with God, and ha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16
This day. This refers generally to the time when this discourse was delivered.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Avouching extraordinary. A wonderful sight! Israel and God exchanging pledges, plighting troth, "avouching" fidelity each to the other. The people, by the heed they had given to Moses' exposition of the Law, perhaps by…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16-19
The golden chain. The end of the career of Moses was drawing nigh. Nothing could be more natural than that he should gather up all his powers to remind the people of their solemn vows, and to repeat in their hearing the…