Deuteronomy 26

This chapter concludes the legal provisions of Deuteronomy that begin in chapter 12. The preceding chapter ends with various social regulations and the command to remember Amalek. This chapter then provides the confessional texts for two rites to be performed after Israel enters the land, and it closes with a covenant affirmation.

Structure

• Verses 1–11: After entering the land, the worshiper places the first of the produce (the firstfruits) in a basket and brings it to the place the LORD has chosen to put His name. When the worshiper declares to the priest that he has come into the land, the priest sets the basket before the altar. The worshiper then confesses that his forefathers went down into Egypt, were oppressed, were delivered, and received a land flowing with milk and honey, and he worships. Afterward he rejoices together with the Levite and the stranger.
• Verses 12–15: The third-year tithe is distributed to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. The worshiper then declares that he has done as commanded and asks for blessing upon Israel and the land.
• Verses 16–19: Israel affirms that it acknowledges the LORD as its God, and the LORD affirms that He will make Israel His treasured people.

Key Verses

• Deuteronomy 26:5 "A Syrian ready to perish was my father" (often rendered "a wandering Aramean") — the opening words of a confession that summarizes Israel's history from the patriarchal period to settlement in the land. Some scholars call this confession a "short historical creed."
• Deuteronomy 26:12 "and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow" — this shows that the tithe was used to feed the landless and the vulnerable.
• Deuteronomy 26:18 "And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people" — this echoes the expression "a peculiar treasure unto me" in Exodus 19:5–6.

People and Places

• The wandering Aramean: An ancestor of Israel. He is commonly identified as Jacob, who lived in the land of Aram before going down to Egypt, though some identify him as Abraham.
• The priest: The one who receives the basket of firstfruits and sets it before the altar.
• The Levites: The tribe that receives no land as an inheritance and lives on offerings and tithes.
• The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow: Neighbors with no one to depend on, who share in the tithe and the festive meal.
• Egypt: The land to which the forefathers went down and where they were enslaved.
• The chosen place: The place of worship, though the text does not specify where it is.

Points for Reflection

• Deuteronomy 14:22–29 addresses both the annual tithe eaten at the sanctuary and the third-year tithe stored in the towns. Interpreters differ on whether these are two separate tithes or different uses of the same tithe. Rabbinic Jewish tradition resolved the question by holding that in the third and sixth years a "poor man's tithe" was given in place of the second tithe. Denominations and theologians also differ on whether the Old Testament tithe applies directly to giving in the church today (see tithing debate).
• The Jewish Passover liturgy (the Haggadah) expounds verses 5–8, and in doing so it includes a traditional interpretation that reads verse 5 as "an Aramean (Laban) sought to destroy my father."
• In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15:20–22 calls the risen Christ "the firstfruits of them that slept," and 1 Peter 2:9 calls the church "a peculiar people."

In the Korean Church

Because of its instruction to offer the firstfruits and rejoice together, this chapter is frequently used as a sermon text for Wheat Harvest Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving. Verse 12 is cited in sermons on the tithe and almsgiving.