Deuteronomy 26:6

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.

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 Exodus 1:9.

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.

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.

So without addition Deuteronomy 4:1 , Deuteronomy 11:17 , in the Pl. address, and Deuteronomy 15:7 , Deuteronomy 18:9 , Deuteronomy 26:2 , Deuteronomy 27:2-3 , Deuteronomy 28:8 ; Deuteronomy 28:52 , all passages in the Sg. address. With the addition to possess it as here, Deuteronomy 3:18 ( hath given ), Pl.; Deuteronomy 9:6 , Deuteronomy 12:1 , Deuteronomy 17:14 ( shalt possess ), Deuteronomy 19:14 , all Sg. (except perhaps Deuteronomy 12:1 , which is doubtful). With the addition for an inheritance , Deuteronomy 4:21 , Deuteronomy 15:4 (+ to possess it ), Deuteronomy 19:10 , Deuteronomy 24:4 , Deuteronomy 25:19 , Deuteronomy 26:1 , all Sg. Cp. Deuteronomy 12:10 causeth you , Deuteronomy 19:3 causeth thee, to inherit . Deuteronomy 5:31

אבי אבד ארמּי, "a lost (perishing) Aramaean was my father" (not the Aramaean, Laban, wanted to destroy my father, Jacob, as the Chald., Arab., Luther, and others render it). אבד signifies not only going astray, wandering, but perishing, in danger of perishing, as in Job 29:13 ; Proverbs 31:6 , etc. Jacob is referred to, for it was he who went down to Egypt in few men. He is mentioned as the tribe-father of the nation, because the nation was directly descended from his sons, and also derived its name of Israel from him. Jacob is called in Aramaean, not only because of his long sojourn in Aramaea ( Genesis 29-31 ), but also because he got his wives and children there (cf. Hosea 12:13 ); and the relatives of the patriarchs had accompanied Abraham from Chaldaea to Mesopotamia (Aram; see Genesis 11:30 ). מעט בּמתי, consisting of few men (בּ, the so-called beth essent., as in Deuteronomy 10:22 ; Exodus 6:3 , etc.; vid., Ewald, 299, q.). Compare Genesis 34:30 , where Jacob himself describes his family as "few in number." On the number in the family that migrated into Egypt, reckoned at seventy souls, see the explanation at Genesis 46:27 . On the multiplication in Egypt into a great and strong people, see Exodus 1:7 , Exodus 1:9 ; and on the oppression endured there, Exodus 1:11-22 , and Exodus 2:23 . - The guidance out of Egypt amidst great signs ( Deuteronomy 26:8 ), as in Deuteronomy 4:34 .

With the appeal to the gracious guidance of Israel by God through the desert, the address of Moses passes imperceptibly into an address from the Lord, just as in Deuteronomy 11:14 . (On Deuteronomy 29:5 , Deuteronomy 29:6 , vid., Deuteronomy 8:3-4 ; on Deuteronomy 29:7 , vid., Deuteronomy 2:26 ., and Deuteronomy 3:1 . and Deuteronomy 3:12 .).