Deuteronomy 26:11

26:1-11 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.

In all the blessings of goodness and mercies of life, which God in his kind providence had favoured them with: which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house; to them and their families, by which they were comfortably provided for: thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you; by which it seems that not only a basket of firstfruits was brought and presented to the Lord, which is the perquisite of the priest, but there were others also brought, or bought with their money at Jerusalem, and a sort of a kept, which the Levite, and stranger or proselyte, of along with the owner; see Deuteronomy 12:11; though Jarchi understands it of the Levite and stranger being obliged to bring the firstfruits: the Levite, he says, is bound to the firstfruits of the plants in the midst of his cities, though he had no part in the division of the land; and the same writer says, the stranger brings the firstfruits, but does not proclaim, because he cannot say, "which he sware to our fathers", Deuteronomy 26:3; but it is said (f), if his mother was an Israelitess he might proclaim; yea, Maimonides (g) says, on account of what is said of Abraham, Genesis 17:5; who is the father of the whole world; see Romans 4:10; because mention is made of rejoicing; hence it is concluded, as Jarchi says, that the proclamation of the firstfruits was only made in the time of joy, from Pentecost unto the feast that a man gathers in his increase, and his fruits, and his wine, and his oil; t

Verse 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. As with the yearly tithe ( Deuteronomy 14:23 ) and the firstlings ( Deuteronomy 15:20 ), so with this portion of the firstfruits, a festive meal was to consummate the service. According to the Law, the firstfruits were the perquisite of the priest ( Deuteronomy 18:4 ; Numbers 18:12 , etc.); but of these a portion was to be taken for this special service, and of that a feast was to be made. Deuteronomy 26:11

And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine {g} house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. (g) Signifying that God does not give us goods for ourselves only, but to be used also by those who are committed to our charge.

Thou shalt rejoice; i.e. either, 1. Thou shalt hereby be enabled to rejoice 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 rejoicing ) with the Levites and strangers upon the oblations which at these solemn times were offered; which exposition is confirmed by comparing Deu 16:10 11 14 15 .

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 Isaiah 43:22 , Isaiah 43:28 , etc.). Jacob is called a Syrian (literally, Aramaean), not only because of his own long residence in Syria with Laban Genesis 29-31 , as our Lord was called a Nazarene because of his residence at Nazareth Matthew 2:23 , but because he there married and had his children (compare Hosea 12:12 ); and might be said accordingly to belong to that more than to any other land.

11 . and thou shalt rejoice , etc.] See Deuteronomy 12:6 f., 11 f., 17 f., Deuteronomy 16:11 ; Deuteronomy 16:14 . It is not said that the worshippers shall eat the reshîth , for that has already been given to the Deity. See introd. note. and unto thine house, thou ] With Luc. read thou and thine house .

Rejoicing in all the good, etc., points to the joy connected with the sacrificial meal, which followed the act of worship (as in Deuteronomy 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 Deuteronomy 18:3 ).