[First fruits: specifically, wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and date-honey” — who would have guessed that even the kind of fruit is regulated for offerings? Couldn’t you just bring apples and strawberries and mangoes? If you did not have the specific ‘fruits’ on the list but truly wanted to bring an offering, would God not accept any offering that comes from a sincere heart? Might that have been the problem with Cain’s offering, or was it the condition of his heart?
How specific is Israel’s God, the Creator and the Revelator on Sinai?
When we were yet evangelical Christians, there was an issue similar to this, in connection with the symbols used in communion. A well-known figure from Reform Protestantism (R. C. Sproul) was asked: if communion required wine and bread, and those were not available in certain areas, could they substitute something else? The ‘asker’ got flippant, like hamburger and coke? Of course the Lecturer got all upset, in fact went ballistic explaining how SPECIFIC is God!
Well, we swallowed this lecture hook, line, and sinker. . . except as we progressed in our non-stop studying of Scripture (NT only then), we discovered that the Christian fellowships did not truly adhere to the true requirement which was supposedly wine and unleavened bread. Some would have grape juice and crackers, or loaf bread. The stricter sects resorted to unleavened rounded hosts, like those used in Catholic communion. Would that suffice? Then the Messianics went even farther backward according to OT — unleavened wafers (Matzo) kosher to be sure, and grape juice. There was discussion about whether the drink should be fermented grapes or not, etc. etc.
Aaarggghhh, enough!!! Isaiah 8:20: To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn . . . .
Yes indeed, why not just look at the ORIGINAL teaching? This chapter more or less covers the requirement for “first fruits” offering, one of the bloodless offerings required for specific feasts and purposes. With the Temple no longer existing in Yerushalayim, surely the Rabbis have figured substitutions for this commandment. Remember to always read in context of culture and history.
This chapter, as all the previous ones, is an eye-opener again, in terms of the Torah requirements in the treatment of all of God’s creatures. Commentary here is from the best of Jewish minds as collected in one resource book by Dr. J.H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs; our translation of choice is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses..—Admin1.]
Image from cfijerusalem.org
Deuteronomy/Davarim 26
(5) CONCLUSION OF CODE
1-11. FIRST FRUITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
The present chapter prescribes the rituals that were to accompany the presentation of the first-fruits and the tithe at the Sanctuary. It was to be an occasion of thanksgiving to God, by whose favour the Israelites had been rescued from the hardships of the past, and raised to become a great nation that dwelt in comfort in a rich and fertile land. This beautiful prayer leads us to believe that other sacrifices at the Sanctuary were likewise not offered in silence; Joel II,17.
1 Now it shall be: when you enter the land that YHVH your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it,
2 you are to take from the premier-part of all the fruit of the soil that you produce from your land that YHVH your God is giving you; you are to put it in a basket and are to go to the place that YHVH your God chooses to have his name dwell.
of the first of all the fruit. Not the first of every kind of fruit, but only of the seven kinds mentioned in Deut. VIII,8 as typical of the fruitfulness of the Land. These are:—wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and date-honey.
3 You are to come to the priest that is (there) in those days, and you are to say to him: “I announce today to YHVH your God that I have entered the land that YHVH swore to our fathers, to give us.”I profess. Heb. ‘I solemnly proclaim.’ Vs. 5-10 are a brief epitome of early Jewish history, and constitute the ‘profession’. The Rabbis made the exposition of these verses an important part of the Passover Haggadah.
thy God. Thy is used because the priest is here conceived as standing in a special relationship to God; ‘The God of Abraham,’ in the Liturgy.
I am come. The thank-offering would be the visible proof that the land was now in the possession of the Israelites, and that the Divine Promise had been faithfully fulfilled.
4 Then the priest is to take the basket from your hand and is to deposit it before the slaughter-site of YHVH your God.5 And you are to speak up and say, before the presence of YHVH your God: “An Aramean Astray my Ancestor; he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, as menfolk few-in-number, but he became there a nation, great, mighty (in number) and many.
speak. Testify. This prayer (v 5-10) had to be recited in the Hebrew language. Those who could not do so repeated it after the priest. To avoid putting anyone to shame, it was eventually ruled that all must repeat the words after the priest.
a wandering Aramean. Or, ‘a nomad Aramean.’ Ibn Ezra, Rashbam, and Sforno refer this to Jacob, because of his straying and unsettled life; ‘Jacob fled into the field of Aram’ (Hosea XII,13). The Heb. for wandering often means ‘astray’, ‘ready to perish’; Psalm CXIX end. The Passover Haggadah renders it, ‘An Aramean (i.e. Laban) sought to destroy my father.’
few in number. Seventy souls in all.
6 Now the Egyptians dealt-ill with us And afflicted us, and placed upon us hard servitude.7-8. God’s anger is but momentary; Psalm XXX,6. Although the years of the Exile seemed interminably long, they will prove but a brief space in the vast sweep of Israel’s history.
7 We cried out to YHVH, the God of our fathers, and YHVH hearkened to our voice: he saw our affliction, and our strain, and our oppression,our affliction. See Exod. I,11.
8 and YHVH took us out from Egypt, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awe-inspiring (acts) and with signs and portents,9-10. Yet another utterance of comfort.
for this. i.e. The exile and the comfort. The Exile is compared to the Flood; and the comfort, to the Divine promise that the Flood should never recur.
milk and honey. This further brings out the contrast with the state of nomads.
10 So now- here, I have brought the premier-part of the fruits of the soil that you have given me, O YHVH!” Then you are to deposit it before the presence of YHVH your God and you are to prostrate-yourself before the presence of YHVH your God;which Thou, O LORD, hast given me. Refers to the Land and not to the fruits. The above prayer contains two features that are characteristic of all Jewish prayer: (1) recognition of Israel’s historic relationship to God; (2) recognition of God is the Source of all blessings.
thou shalt set it down. The bringer of the first fruits would resume hold of the basket whilst making the declaration contained in v. 5-10, and would now, once again, solemnly deposit it before the Altar.
11 you are to rejoice in all the good-things that YHVH your God has given you and your household, you and the Levite and the sojourner that is in your midst.thou shalt rejoice. The yearly dedication of the first-fruits must be made a family festivity, in which, as in the case of the fixed annual Feasts mentioned in XVI, 9-17, the Levite, who had no portion in the land, as well as the ‘stranger’, were to participate.
The following description of the Procession of the first-fruits to the Temple is given in the Mishnah:—-
‘How do they set apart the first-fruits? When a man goes down to his field and sees for the first time a ripe fig or a ripe cluster of grapes or a ripe pomegranate, he binds it round with reed-grass and says, “Lo, these are first-fruits.”
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‘How do they take up the first-fruits to Jerusalem? The men of all smaller towns that belonged to the Maamad (i.e. the local delegation to the Temple) gathered together in the town of the Maamad, and spent the night in the open place of the town. Early in the morning the officer of the Maamad said, ‘Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion, unto the LORD our God.”
‘They that were near to Jerusalem brought fresh figs and grapes and they that were far off brought dried figs and raisins. Before them went the ox, having its horns overlaid with gold and a wreath of olive-leaves on its head. The flute was played before them until they drew nigh to Jerusalem. When they had drawn nigh to Jerusalem, they sent messengers before them and bedecked their first-fruits. The rulers and the prefects and the treasurers of the Temple went forth to meet them. According to the honour due to them that came in, used they to go forth. And all the craftsmen in Jerusalem used to rise up before them and greet them, saying, “Brethren, men of such-and-such a place, ye are welcome.”
‘The flute was played before them until they reached the Temple Mount. When they reached the Temple Mount, even Agrippa the king would take his basket on his shoulder and enter in as far as the Temple Court. When they reached the Temple Court, the Levites sang the song, “I will exalt thee, O LORD, for thou hast raised me up, and not made mine enemies to triumph over me.”
‘While the basket was yet on his shoulder, a man would recite the passage from I profess this day unto the LORD, thy God, until he reached the end of the passage. R. Judah says, Until he reached the words, A wandering Aramean was my father. When he reached the word Aramean, he took down the basket from his shoulder and held it by the rim. And the priest put his hand beneath it and waved it; and the man then recited the words from A wandering Aramean until he finished the passage. Then he left the basket by the side of the Altar, and bowed himself down and went his way.
‘The rich brought their first-fruits in baskets overlaid in silver and gold, while the poor brought them in wicker baskets of peeled willow-branches: and baskets and first-fruits were given to the priests’.
12-15. TRIENNIAL DISTRIBUTION OF TITHES AND PRAYER
There were three tithes. The first tithe was applied to the maintenance of the landless Levites; Num. XVIII,21-32. The second tithe was taken by the owner to Jerusalem, where he and the members of his family consumed it, or else redeemed it for money; Deut. XIV,22. In the third year, this second tithe was devoted entirely to the poor and dependent classes (XIV,29), whose sufferings so often excite the compassion or indignation of the Prophets and Psalmists. It was later called ‘the tithe of the poor.’ The third year was also known as ‘the year of removal’. In it the landowner had to remove all his tithes out of the house; that is, pay all his arrears. This ‘removal’ was accompanied by a solemn declaration, and a prayer for Divine blessing on Israel.
12 When you finish tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give (it) to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the orphan and to the widow; that they may eat (it) within your gates, and be-satisfied.the year of tithing. Of the poor-tithe.
13 And you are to say, before the presence of YHVH your God: “I have removed the holy-part from the house, I have also given (it) to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the orphan and to the widow, according to all your command that you have commanded me; I have not crossed-over away from your commandments, I have not forgotten:put away the hallowed things. ‘I have removed the tithe out of my house. I have not secretly kept it back for personal use, but have given it away to those to whom the Torah charges me to give it.’
the hallowed things. Heb. kodesh; i.e. the tithe, as holy to God.
14 I have not eaten of it while in sorrow, I have not removed any of it (while) tamei, I have not given any of it to the dead! I have hearkened to the voice of YHVH my God, I have done according to all that you have commanded me!in my mourning. lit. ‘as a mourner’. The second tithe, like all sacrificial meats, had to be eaten in a spirit of joy.
being unclean. In that state it was unlawful to eat anything that was hallowed.
nor given thereof for the dead. Not used any part of the tithe to provide a coffin or grave-clothes for a dead person (Sifri), or towards a meal in the house of mourning. Some commentators refer these words to the Egyptian custom of placing articles of food inside the tomb. According to others, the allusion is to actual sacrifices offered to the dead in order to render them propitious to the survivors. However, the cult of the dead is opposed to both the letter and spirit of the Torah; see XVIII,11 and Psalm CVI,28.
15 Look down from your holy abode, from heaven, and bless your people, Israel, and the soil that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”look forth. ‘Even as we have fulfilled our obligations unto Thee, O God, so do Thou fulfil Thy promise unto us, by blessing us and making the land Thou has given us a land flowing with milk and honey.’
16-19. FORMULATION OF THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL
16 This day YHVH your God commands you to observe these laws and the regulations; you are to take-care and observe them with all your heart and with all your being.17 YHVH you have declared today, to be for you a god, to walk in his ways and to keep his
laws, his commandments and his regulations, and to hearken to his voice.
avouched. Avowed, acknowledged; lit. ‘thou hast caused the LORD to say’ (Herxheimer); probably a technical legal term by which either of the two parties to a covenant made the other utter a declaration of his obligation under it. Israel, by pledging himself to obedience to all that God hath enjoined, has given occasion to Him to declare Himself to be Israel’s God.
18 And YHVH has declared you today, to be for him a specially- treasured people, as he promised you, to be-careful (regarding) all his commandments,the LORD hath avouched thee. In the same way, God hath given occasion to the Israelites to say that they were His treasured People, in accordance with Exodus XIX,5,6.
make thee high above all nations. Such is the glorious distinction in store for an Israel that is obedient and loyal. The idea is elaborated in XXVIII,10, ‘And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon thee.’
as He hath spoken. See Exodus XIX,6, ‘And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’