Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter the Twenty-sixth. Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews are commanded to offer the first-fruits of their crops to God, with a public profession that they refer their fruits as received from God. Secondly, vers. 12, they are commanded in the third year to set apart the third tithes, and give them to the poor. Thirdly, vers. 17, Moses urges them to serve and obey God, who has exalted them above all nations.
1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, and hast obtained it, and dwellest in it; 2. thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put it in a basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may be invoked there: 3. and thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come into the land for which he swore to our fathers that he would give it us. 4. And the priest taking the basket from thy hand shall set it before the altar of the Lord thy God; 5. and thou shalt say in the sight of the Lord thy God: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in very small number: and he grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude, 6. and the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us most grievous burdens: 7. and we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress: 8. and brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders: 9. and brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. 10. And therefore now I offer the first-fruits of the fruits of the land which the Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord thy God, and, after adoring the Lord thy God, 11. thou shalt feast on all the good things which the Lord thy God shall give thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee. 12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the third year of the tithes, thou shalt give to the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, to eat within thy gates and be filled; 13. and thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and have given it to the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, as thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed thy commandments, nor forgotten thy precepts. 14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them in any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast commanded me. 15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. 16. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. 17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey his command. 18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath spoken to thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments: 19. and to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created, to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayest be a holy people of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.
1. AND HAST OBTAINED IT.—This law therefore did not bind the Hebrews until the seventh year from the entering into Chanaan, in which, the Chanaanites being conquered, they had gained and tilled the land, and thenceforward. So Abulensis.
2. THOU SHALT TAKE THE FIRST OF ALL THY FRUITS—the first-fruits of all fruits were to be offered every year at the feast of Tabernacles, as I said on Numbers xviii, 12; then therefore was to be made the profession that here follows: this profession was therefore to be repeated every year, as also the offering of the first-fruits, and that to renew the memory of God their creator and benefactor, that it might not grow old in their mind.
Note: the Gentiles set various gods over various things; hence they numbered 300 gods, says Varro. So over the crops they set Ceres, or the goddess Segetia: and when any famine befell, they endeavoured to appease and propitiate her with sacrifices and games, as St. Augustine witnesses, book iv City of God, chap. viii. That the Jews, then, might not do the same, nor think they received their fruits from any other than the true God, he therefore commanded them to profess this very thing in the offering of these first-fruits. Moreover the Hebrews hand down that this offering of first-fruits was performed with this rite. First, they say, they were put in a basket. Secondly, they were carried into the temple. Thirdly, they were lifted up on high. Fourthly, the profession here prescribed was made. Fifthly, a peace-offering was sacrificed. Sixthly, psalms or hymns were sung; for singing was wont to be joined to sacrifices. They add, seventhly, that the offerers passed the night in the city; but this Scripture has not.
Note, secondly, “of all thy fruits”; the Jews therefore had to offer the first-fruits of all fruits every year. They err, therefore, who think that the first-fruits of certain fruits only, namely clean, not unclean, were commanded them. For all fruits were clean; only animals were distinguished into clean and unclean.
5. AND THOU SHALT SAY IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD THY GOD: THE SYRIAN (namely Laban, father-in-law of Jacob, who dwelt in Mesopotamia of Syria, Genesis xxviii, 5) PURSUED MY FATHER,—namely Jacob, fleeing; for Mesopotamia in Hebrew was called Aram naharaim, that is, Syria of the rivers, because it is bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates. Secondly, Vatablus renders: That Syrian labouring in want was my father, namely Jacob dwelling in Syria; as if to say: These riches we received not from our father Jacob, but from God. For Jacob in Syria suffered want, so that he served Laban; afterwards the same, labouring in poverty in the land of Chanaan, went down into Egypt. But the former sense is plainer, and the Chaldee follows it.
AND SOJOURNED THERE IN A VERY SMALL NUMBER,—of men, namely of sons and grandsons.
10 and 11. AND, AFTER ADORING THE LORD THY GOD, THOU SHALT FEAST ON ALL THE GOOD THINGS WHICH THE LORD THY GOD SHALL GIVE THEE.— God here commands that each of the people offer the first-fruits of the fruits to the Lord, and therefore enter before the Lord, that is, before the altar of holocausts, and there make the profession, by which he may protest that he is bound to this offering on account of so many benefits received from God, chiefly the deliverance from Egypt and the entrance into Chanaan; then, that he adore the Lord in the same place, namely by humbling himself before the altar, and praying that God may direct him in good: all which redounded to the divine honour, and were acts of religion; after which he feasted with all his house, calling also the Levites and poor strangers, and that within the court of the sanctuary if he had offered a peace-offering; but if not, he feasted on what he had brought with him, which was not consecrated to God, in some lodging. He feasted, however, that from the delight of this action of thanksgiving, by the right of the feast, he might be incited to frequent these acts of gratitude and devotion. So Abulensis.
Note here how earnestly God requires of us the remembrance of his benefits, and thanksgiving. For this virtue is owed to God a thousand times, and is proper to the Saints and the Blessed.
Sion, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.” Apocalypse vii, 12, all the angels adore God, saying: “Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.” Psalm xlix, 14: “Offer to God the sacrifice of praise.” Ephesians v, 18–20: “Be ye filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking to yourselves in psalms… giving thanks always for all things.” Philippians iv, 6: “In every prayer, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.” St. Augustine, epistle 5 to Marcellinus: “What better,” he says, “can we bear in mind, and utter with the mouth, and set forth with the pen, than Thanks be to God? Nothing can be said more briefly, nor heard more gladly, nor understood more pleasingly, nor done more fruitfully.” Christians, then, should say at least in the morning, in the evening, and after meals: Thanks be to God.
The first fruit of thanksgiving is that which St. Chrysostom gives on Psalm viii, 18: “Nothing,” he says, “makes one grow in virtue so much as to be continually conversant and converse with God, and to give thanks to him and sing psalms to him perpetually.”
The second, which the same Chrysostom gives, homily 8 on the epistle to the Colossians: In adversity, he says, unbelievers curse, Christians give thanks. “See how great is this philosophy. First, thou gladdenest God. Secondly, thou shamest the devil. Thirdly, thou makest what is evil to be nothing. For thou givest thanks at once, and God cuts off the pain, and the devil departs.”