Deuteronomy 26
Big idea: Israel is given words to say. When the first fruits are brought in a basket to the chosen place, the farmer recites a creed that begins in humiliation and ends in a land: my father was a Syrian ready to perish; he went down into Egypt, few in number, and became a great nation; the Egyptians mistreated us; we cried, and Yahweh heard, and brought us out with a mighty hand — and he has brought us into this place. Then the third-year tithe gets its own declaration, spoken before God about what has actually been done with it. And the chapter closes on two matching sentences that give the covenant its shape: you have declared today that Yahweh is your God; and Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession.
Chapter 26 has Israel and God each declare their side of the covenant. Chapter 27 writes it on plastered stones and reads the curses aloud from a mountain.
26:1–11 — My father was a Syrian ready to perish
A liturgy for handing over a basket, and the words prescribed are a history rather than a prayer. The farmer says 'MY FATHER WAS A SYRIAN READY TO PERISH' — beginning his family story at its most precarious point, a wandering man with nothing — and then narrates the descent, the slavery, the cry and the rescue, before mentioning the fruit at all. The produce is placed at the end of a story it does not begin.
1 It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.” 4 The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar. 5 You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9 and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God. 11 You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.
26:12–15 — I have put away the holy things
The third-year tithe, and the declaration that goes with it is an audit spoken aloud. The farmer states what he did with it, names the four people who received it, and then denies three specific misuses — none of them theft. He is swearing that a holy thing was not handled while mourning, unclean, or diverted to the dead.
12 When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled. 13 You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
26:16–19 — You have declared, and Yahweh has declared
Four verses that close the law code with a mutual declaration, and the symmetry is the point: YOU have declared, and YAHWEH has declared. Two parties on the record on the same day. What Israel promises is conduct; what God promises is status — a people for his own possession, set high in praise, name and honour.
16 Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 18 Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. 19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).