Deuteronomy chapter 26,
Introduction: Structure of Deuteronomy
just a bit of a review on the structure of the book of Deuteronomy is sort of set up as a covenantal document and uh... some scholars have seen parallels between what we find in terms of biblical covenants and the covenantal arrangements going on in ancient near-eastern cities or other nations so this isn't unique to biblical or to the people of god but it's not as if the people of god adopted those customs it was just a way where the king or the Lord would make an agreement or a covenant with his subject people. And the book of Deuteronomy starts with a preamble or an introduction in chapter 1, verses 1 to 4, and then there is a historical prologue, chapter 1, verse 5 to chapter 4, verse 43. Basically, what the historical prologue does is it is where the Lord or the king making the covenant rehearses or reviews what he has done for his people. And then the next section is stipulations.
And that took from chapter 4, verse 44, all the way to the end of chapter 26. So the bulk of this book is found in the stipulations. And then the latter section is what's called succession. In a covenant document, there was built into it directions for succession or for what's going to happen in the future.
And that's chapter 31. I'm sorry, I'm missing a spot here. Let me just, oh, the oaths and curses and the blessings, that comes between the stipulation and succession. So after the section that we are finishing tonight, then there's a section dealing with blessings, curses, and ratification.
So the idea being, if you do what the stipulations mandate, you will be blessed. If you disobey, then you will be cursed. And then the final section beginning in chapter 31 to 34 is succession. It is arranged as a covenant treaty or a covenant document, and so we come tonight to the last portion of the stipulation section.
And what it deals with are two particular observations wherein the people of God are thankful to Him for His goodness and His kindness to them. It deals with the law concerning firstfruits, the law concerning the tithe, and then there is a commitment to the covenant in verses 16 to 19 in this particular chapter. So that's sort of where we're going tonight. So verses 1 to 11 deals with the law concerning the first fruits.
Verses 12 to 15 deals with the law concerning the tithe. You'll notice there's no money-back guarantee with reference to the tithe. You don't give, and if God doesn't bless, then they return your money. I mentioned a couple weeks ago there's a church that has that.
I saw it on their website. You know, we know it's difficult for you to probably tithe, and so we want to, you know, tell you to do this for 90 days. If you don't experience great blessing, then we'll refund your money. after those 90 days. I can't find a money-back guarantee under Moses, so I'm guessing that that's a wrong practice.
I know it's a wrong practice. And then verses 16 to 19, as I mentioned, deals with the commitment to the covenant or a bit of a ratification of the covenant.
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 26
So beginning in chapter 26 at verse 1, And it shall be when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide. and you shall go to the one who is priest in those days and say to him, I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us. Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, my father was a Syrian, or an Aramean, about to perish. And he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number.
And there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.
He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite, and the stranger who is among you.
When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the holy tithe from my house and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. according to all your commandments which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me.
Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land which you have given us, just as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments. Therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice.
Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you that you should keep all His commandments and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken. Amen.
Introduction
So as I said, this concludes the larger section of stipulations. We've gone through a large body of material dealing with the law. In fact, if you go back to 12.1 for just a moment, I mentioned that it begins in chapter 4, verse 44, with an introduction to the Decalogue. The Decalogue or Ten Commandments is then given in chapter 5.
And from chapter 6 on, we see a lot of exhortation, a lot of command, a lot of emphasis on obedience in the land, and things will go well with them. And then specifically, the outworking of those case laws begins in chapter 12 at verse 1. These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land, which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess. If you compare that with what we just read in 26.16, this day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments.
Therefore, you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You see how it sort of bookends that section in between dealing with various laws governing their conduct. when they go into the promised land of Canaan. And so the first one we want to notice tonight, these are sort of crowning activities. They are laws to be sure and things they need to obey in terms of the first fruits and in terms of tithing.
They are an act of worship and a time to express thankfulness to the Lord God Almighty. What you see in the scriptures is a common pattern. You see guilt or misery or some sort of oppression, and then you see the grace and the kindness and the mercy of God, and then you see the recipients of that grace, mercy, and kindness respond in gratitude. The Heidelberg Catechism follows that threefold pattern.
It goes guilt, grace, misery. And when we look at the exodus out of Egypt, the guilt or the bondage or the oppression was their time there as slaves in Egypt. The Lord delivers them in the exodus and then they are to respond in the land with gratitude, with thanksgiving, and with love and worship directed to their covenant Lord. Now, as I've mentioned many, many, many times, we know that they don't do what God commands them.
We'll see in the space of a few weeks already, there is a promise of the new covenant in the latter chapters in the book of Deuteronomy. All of this, God knew, was a temporary arrangement. The people of Israel were going to sin. Much of the reason why these laws were given, or one of the reasons why these laws were given, was to continually impress the people with the need for a Savior.
In other words, there was a pedagogical function in the law given at Sinai. It was to direct them, it was to guide them, it was to show them their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. A pedagogue is simply a child tutor. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that the Old Covenant functioned in that particular way.
It was a child tutor, it was one to instruct us, one to show us of our need for the Lord Jesus Christ and the deliverance that He brings through His cross. Now, having said that, the people here didn't know that they were going to go into the land and fail. They were supposed to listen and obey. So that's the way we treat the passage of Scripture here.
The Law Concerning Firstfruits
So, first of all, the law concerning firstfruits.
Grace as the Ground of Obedience
Notice the reminder in verse 1. And it shall be when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. I think it would be an interesting study. Probably wouldn't take long.
A simple concordance would help us. to find out how many times it's been impressed upon the people that they're going into the land which the Lord your God is giving you. In other words, grace is always set forth as the reason upon which, or the foundation upon which, they are to live godly before God the Lord. Same pattern in the New Testament. We're delivered freely by the grace of God, and it's on that basis of what God has done for us in and through Jesus Christ that we are then to pursue holiness, that we are then to live as godly men and women.
And so Moses, God through Moses, never wants to let the people forget that it's by grace that they stand upon this ground. and it shall be when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. Notice the occasion that this offering of firstfruits would come to play. Now, there are traces of firstfruits offering connected with other offerings in the Old Testament. But here specifically, what Moses has in view, or God the Covenant Lord has in view, notice, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it, and you dwell in it.
So after the conquest, I think we might as well just continue after we finish Deuteronomy just to go right into the book of Joshua and then Judges. I think those are a natural place to go in our studies on Wednesday night. But when you get to Joshua, that is tasked with going into the land, conquering the land, and then dividing up the land. And so the idea is, is that when that task is complete, when that particular job is finished, then they are to engage in this offering of first fruits.
In other words, when they have this, you know, they've gotten settled, they've got their house, they don't have a housewarming party where people bring them trinkets, rather they engage in this offering of the first fruits. And
The Procedure of the Firstfruits Offering
God specifies how this is to take place in verses 2 to 4. It says that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. Remember, it was in Deuteronomy chapter 12, where God says, there will be a central sanctuary. Initially, it was probably Shiloh.
Bethel seemed to have been a place where there was some centralized worship. We know ultimately it's going to be in Jerusalem. When David consolidates power, he takes Jerusalem as sort of the capital or headquarters, it is the political headquarters, and then he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and it becomes the religious headquarters as well. Then, of course, the temple is built there, that's the central sanctuary, that's where these people would go.
Wherever they were living, they would take this basket of the first fruits, and they would then go to that central sanctuary, and they would offer it up to the Lord God Most High. The repetitive emphasis on the grace character of the land. Again and again it's highlighted there. From the land, or from your land that the Lord your God is giving you.
This is gratitude based on the reality that God has given them grace. They're not doing this in order to be redeemed, in order to get the land. It's not a barter system. They don't take these first fruits and then God apportions the land.
Rather, God gives them the land graciously and then they respond in gratitude to the Lord God Most High. Verse 3, you shall go to the one who is priest in those days and say to him, I declared to the Lord, your God, that I have come to the country, which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us." So they were to put the first fruits in a basket, take the basket to the central sanctuary, come before the priest, and then the priest sets the basket before the altar of the Lord. Now, when we drop down to verses 10 and 11, The offerer then takes the basket and presents it to the Lord. Some have seen a big contradiction there and some redactor came and didn't know what he was doing.
There's nothing wrong with seeing the priest doing it and then the offerer himself doing it. There's nothing inconsistent or contradictory about this particular activity. So the priest takes the basket, according to verse 4, out of your hand, he sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall answer and say before the Lord your God.
Rehearsing Redemptive History in Worship
Now this is why history and theology really matters. The man who offers up knows why he's offering up. The man who goes about this task of worship has a particular idea of the God whom he worships. In other words, Christianity or the religion of the Bible is not a mindless act.
It's not a disengage or turn off or tune out. Rather it is to load the mind and to load the heart with the facts of God's revelation. with the facts of God's redeeming activity. This is precisely what the worshiper does here. Think if you think a little bit and make some comparisons to what we see in this chapter.
It's not directly one-to-one, but when we come to the Lord's Supper, we're not turning off our minds. but rather we're reminding ourselves of the great redemptive act that Christ accomplished on behalf of his people. In other words, Christianity is about filling the mind and filling the heart so that our worship will then be consistent with that knowledge. Christianity is not empty-headed. It's not foolish.
It's not madness. It is not just about doing some chanting and having some thoughts about meadows or whatever. No, what the worshipper does here is he recounts and rehearses the mighty acts of God in the redemption of his people. He speaks first of their dwelling in Egypt, verse 5.
And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, my father was a Syrian or the margin reads an Aramean about to perish. And he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number. And there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. This is a reference. to Jacob.
And why does Moses, or God here, refer to him as a Syrian or an Aramean? I didn't know. Meredith Klein says, the references to Jacob, he is called Aramean because the patriarchal origins were geographically, though not racially, Aramean. And because Jacob himself sojourned in Aram Naharim, during the period of the birth of his sons, the future tribal fathers of Israel.
So you see, in the space of just a few verses, when this worshipper presents this basket to the priest, the priest lays it on the altar before the Lord, then he confesses certain tenets of the faith. In fact, one man says that this was the creed of Israel. I don't know that that's necessarily the case, but you see why he would say that. The offerer or the worshiper had to rehearse, not had to, he got to rehearse, these blessed truths concerning God.
How did we get from this dwelling in Egypt to this land of promise? How did I get to the place where I have this basket of beautiful fruits and vegetables that I'm able to present before the Lord God? You see, again, the same pattern holds true in the New Testament. When we come to take the supper, it ought never to be disengaged from the preaching of the Word. that bread and wine is not a magical element.
It's not something that somehow conveys power over the worshipper. It is in conjunction with the Word. The Word explains. The preaching of the Gospel and the doctrine of God's revelation explains that particular sign to make it what it is.
We don't just take bread, wherever we might be, and eat it and think that somehow we're getting a blessing. No, it is conjoined with the proclamation of the word. Same idea here. He doesn't just bring this basket, dump it on the ground, and then head home and do what he wants to do.
No, he remembers God. He rehearses the mighty redemptive acts of God. He speaks of the dwelling in Egypt.
Affliction, Cry, and Deliverance Rehearsed
He then mentions, secondly, the affliction that they endured in Egypt in verse 6. But the Egyptians mistreated us, they afflicted us, and they laid hard bondage on us. And again, I think it brings into stark relief the grace character of what's going on here. We've gone from a position of slavery, of harsh treatment, oppressive treatment, at the hands of godless men, to a place now where I've got a basket of fruit and I'm presenting it before my covenant Lord.
I don't think this was just some dry ritual, I'm sure it was for the heartless Israelite, but for the believing Israelite, he's probably rejoicing, his heart is throbbing, he's delighting in the reality, much like when the true believer takes that bread and takes that wine and remembers in a special way the Lord who saved him from his sins. This is a time for great celebration and of great rejoicing. This guy wasn't going through this motion because he had to. He was going through this.
Yes, it was commanded, but it was the natural outflow of the grace of God that he had experienced in being brought out of Egypt into this blessed, lush land that the Lord God had given to them. So he deals with the affliction. Then thirdly, he speaks of their cry for deliverance in Egypt in verse 7. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers.
And the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. Again, you see that idea there. We cried to the Lord, and it was the Lord who undertook. We didn't get out of Egypt because we were strong, or more mighty, or more able.
We did not go out of Egypt based on our own successful military campaigning. We went out of Egypt because God heard, God listened, or God looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression. And then he deals forthly with the exodus from Egypt, verse 8. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.
It wasn't our mighty hand. It wasn't our outstretched arm. It wasn't our signs. It wasn't our wonders.
It was the Lord God Almighty who did this. As he's standing there, as he sees this bowl or this basket of fruit being presented to the Lord, all of these redemptive truths are being played over in his mind and in his heart. Again, the faithful in Israel were probably rejoicing. This was the equivalent of singing Newton's hymn, Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I mean, that's precisely what we find in these verses as he's rehearsing redemptive history. and the mercy and the kindness of God, this is an act of worship unto the Lord. So God delivers us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders, and then fifthly, he mentions again the gift of the land, verse 9. Never underestimate that promise in the Old Testament. Land was paramount.
Land was big. Ground and dirt mattered to the Israelites. The fact that they were now standing in Canaan, the fact that they now had a basket full of fruit and vegetables grown in Canaan, the fact that they were now enjoying the milk and honey that flowed in Canaan, all that the Lord God had promised way back when, Prior to that time in Egypt, way back in Abraham's time, all of those promises that the Lord God had mentioned, all of the promises that were ratified through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have come to fruition. This basket of fruit is a testimony to the covenant faithfulness of the Lord our God.
This land that we now dwell in, he describes it in verse 9. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And then he comes to present these first fruits, verses 10 and 11. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.
Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God, so you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite, and the stranger who is among you. So you see the procedure, you see the ordinance, you see the law enacted.
Acknowledgment, Sacrifice, and Worship
You are to acknowledge the faithfulness of God. And this is big. Harmon makes this observation. This was an acknowledgment that it was Yahweh, not Baal, the fertility god of the Canaanites.
You see, when the Canaanites grew things on that dirt, they danced around and praised Baal. Not so the Israelite. The Israelite acknowledges that it's the Lord God Most High who has given these good gifts to us. Harmon says this was an acknowledgment that it was Yahweh, not Baal, the fertility god of the Canaanites, who was the provider, and therefore it was fitting that the offeror set the basket down before the altar and worshiped the Lord.
Additionally, it was an acknowledgment that it was the Lord who had blessed that. They didn't say, look at our great farming skills. Look at how quick we picked this up. We went from a wilderness people, a sort of nomadic people, and our first little bit of time in the land.
Look at all the good stuff we've grown. They acknowledge it's the hand of God most high. It is the Lord who rains on their ground. It is the Lord who causes the sun to shine.
It is the Lord who gives sprout to those seeds. It is the Lord who has filled their baskets. And this one basket of firstfruits is symbolic of all that they have at home. And so it's a time to acknowledge the kindness of God.
It then is also a time to sacrifice to the Lord. a time to sacrifice, a time to show and to acknowledge that the Lord God is the giver of these good gifts. We're going to give Him this basket of firstfruits, not grudgingly, not because we have to, but as a sign of our thankfulness and our worship unto this great God who has blessed us so mercifully. So it is an acknowledgement it is sacrifice, it is worship. That is specified there very specifically at the end of verse 10.
Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. What should the revelation of God's mighty redemptive works produce in his people? Worship. Why do we come here on Sunday?
Why do we read the Scripture? Why do we preach the Scripture? Why do we sing the Scripture? Why do we look at the Scripture in the ordinances?
What is that supposed to promote? Worship, praise, adoration, the honor of the living and true God. Theology promotes doxology. What we know about God ought to produce worship that is consistent with God.
And that is precisely what is going on here. This basket of fruit becomes the means by which the faithful Israelite acknowledges, sacrifices, and worships before the Lord. But it doesn't end there. Notice in verse 11.
So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you in your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. In other words, when that man offered up that basket, he didn't say, man, I could sell this at the local market and make a bunch of money. He's rejoicing that God's blessed him. The New Covenant worshipper, when he gives whatever he gives to the Lord, he doesn't say, because there's a money-back guarantee.
And if I don't get X amount of blessings, well, then the church will give me back my dough. He doesn't give it because somebody's going to put a gun to his head. He doesn't give it because the deacon's going to come knocking on his door, you know, with a big plumber's pipe. He doesn't give it under coercion.
He gives it cheerfully. He gives it happily. He gives it thankfully as a sign that God has blessed him. And of course, this is the natural and logical outflow of the one who has enjoyed the great redemptive acts of God Most High.
This is what we see, not just in Deuteronomy 26, but what we see in the New Covenant Scriptures as well. The grace of God as demonstrated It is observing their affliction, hearing their cries for deliverance, and redeeming them from bondage to Egypt leads to sacrifice, worship, service, and joy in the presence of the Lord God Most High.
Romans 12 and the New Covenant Parallel
Romans 12. You can turn there, just so you can see this pattern. Romans chapter 12. What does Paul do in chapters 1 to 11?
He rehearses the great redemptive acts of God. It's a little bit longer than what we find in Deuteronomy chapter 26. Paul gets into a lot more detail in terms of what justification by faith looks like, and how it is that Christ can die for us, and how it is that we are to live the sanctified life, how we are as justified believers relative to the law, what the case of ethnic Israel is in terms of chapters 9 to 11, but it's the same thing in essence. Paul in Romans 1 to 11 rehearses the great redemptive acts of God Most High.
Notice how chapter 12 verse 1 begins, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God." You shouldn't have to scratch your head and say, what does he mean? He's just detailed and outlined in the space of 11 chapters what the mercies of God look like. The mercies of God look like, you know, summarized in Romans 5a, God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The mercies of God are seen in the reality that He has saved sinners from their sin by and through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So in chapter 12.1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Paul says, this is reasonable, this is rational, this is fitting, this is gratitude in response to the grace that you have been shown. That grace that delivered you from the guilt and misery of sin. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Same idea in 1 Corinthians 11. Paul speaks of the institution of the supper given by Christ on the night he was betrayed. Jesus took bread. He took the cup.
He explains the significance of it. He rehearses those redemptive benefits. He rehearses those great acts. And then the worshiper takes and he glorifies and he honors and he delights in God.
And when we go back to 26.11, when he says, so you shall rejoice, It's not a command in the sense that you better like it, you better smile if you don't. No, he's going to rejoice. The unconverted Israelite would go through this ritual probably somewhat grudgingly. The faithful Israelite, when he gets to this point, when he's presented his gift to the Lord God Almighty and he's reconsidered or he's rehearsed all these particular facts, well certainly joy would well up in his heart.
Worship is a joyful experience. Worship is a time to rejoice in the Lord our God. How can we not when we consider amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
How can we sing when we've been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun? How does that not make us joyful and happy and delight? Or when we sing that stanza in 580, my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. I hope we're not saying that out of duty, my sin or the bliss of this glory.
We should be outside of ourselves. We should be back-flipping. We should be holy-jigging. We should make Pentecostals look tame.
Especially as Reformed Christians, when we understand the doctrine of total depravity and total inability and the power of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, The Pentecostals ought to be jealous of the kind of joy that we as Reformed Christians have. We understand the doctrine of God's Word. I'm not saying we alone. I'm just saying there is a more accurate understanding in terms of Reformed theology.
It ought not to promote coldness or hardness or a dryness. It ought to promote life and joy and happiness and a holy exultation in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. The knowledge of God's redemptive history was crucial to the faithful Israelite, and it remains so today. That's why we tell you, you know, all the time, theology matters, history matters, what God has done.
Focus on those realities. I'm convinced as well that they serve not only to promote joy in worship, but they serve to promote hope in the midst of trial. What's going to help you in that valley? What's going to help you in those dark times?
What's going to deliver you when you're struggling and battling against sin? It's the reality and the knowledge of the great redemptive acts of God. There's certain Psalms ascribed to Asaph in the 70s, in the Psalter. And Asaph was a melancholy brother.
And Asaph would agonize over what appeared to be God's non-involvement with the children of Israel. And there's one particular Psalm, I'm thinking 77 or 78, He's 77 or 70, 74, 77. He's really down. There's no immediate involvement of God in terms of delivering them from their enemies.
So what does Asaph do? He goes back to the Exodus. He goes back to the delivering power of God at a time that he can sink his teeth in. And that is what carries him, that is what gets him through what appears to be a very difficult and trying time.
So theology not only matters in terms of promoting worship in the public place to God, but theology matters in carrying us in the private place, when we're battling sin, when we're struggling against sin, when we've got issues or problems or trials or difficulties, whatever the case may be, we can latch on to the God of history, to the God of sovereignty, to the God who delivers His people and realize He is going to make good on His promises. Remember the time span that Israel spent in Egypt. It wasn't, you know, I'm going to do this and the next day He did it. a 400-year period in that. How did the children of God, the faithful in Israel, keep themselves or keep persevering?
God's faithful. He promised to Abraham he's going to make good. God's faithful. He says he's going to bring me through these trials.
I've got to believe that. I know, based on the past, that what he has said is true. So that's the law of the first fruits.
The Law Concerning the Tithe
Second, the law concerning the tithe. verses 12 to 15. Much of this material we already covered in Deuteronomy chapter 14. Now this is the triennial tithe, the every three year tithe. So conceivably, if you got into the land and you offered up the first fruits and you put it in the basket, you presented it to the priest, and you presented it before Yahweh, Two years later, you would do this triennial tithe, because you've been in the land three years.
But then subsequent to that, it's every three years. The triennial tithe is spoken of in Deuteronomy 14 specifically, verses 28 to 29, gets into the nuts and the bolts, gets into the nitty gritty. And it sounds like it reads just like what we find here. So the necessity to tithe, verse 12a, when you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled." Remember, that portion for others.
Remember, that was built into the system, so that the people who had plenty were able to help and care for the people who did not. In what we read here, and what we read in Deuteronomy 14, it's the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Remember that the Levite did not get their own cities. The fatherless, obviously, were at a position of disadvantage.
The widow was at a position of disadvantage. The stranger was at a position of disadvantage. So the law of the land was such, or the law of God, rather, was such that within that tithe mechanism, there was a portion set aside for the downtrodden and poor. It was a time to express love, a time to express community, a time to express genuine charity in a very gracious and kind and wonderful manner.
So the tithe, the commitment to it, or the necessity of it, rather, is found there in verse 12. And then in verse 13.
Declaration Accompanying the Tithe
Then you shall say before the Lord your God. So just like what we see in this offering of the first fruits. Doesn't just throw the basket up on the altar and go. No, he comes with his tithe, and he makes a declaration.
The word accompanies the sign. It gives explanation, explains the significance of the particular activity. There's a great parallel here. Anybody that gets in that baptismal tank ought to speak up for themselves.
If that's what they did when they were tithing, they were giving the explanation for it, then we ought to make them when it comes to the baptistry. That's note to self. Nobody's going to read anymore. You get up there and you expound.
No, I'm kidding. But here's what they said, verse 13. Then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the holy tithe from my house and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use. nor given any of it for the dead." I guess those would be pagan ways. Those would be pagan rituals. They are forbidden to engage in that sort of mentality. Basically, the idea is, is God has blessed us by bringing us into the land.
We're going to offer up this tithe as an evidence, as gratitude, and with the hope that through our obedience, or because of our obedience, the Lord will continue to bless us. The Lord will continue to be gracious to us. in terms of this arrangement in the land of Canaan in which we live. Verse 14, I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God and have done according to all that you have commanded me.
Christopher Wright makes this good observation. with reference to the giving of it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. So he not only doesn't do what pagans do, not only does he resist the tendency to do what the peoples around might do, those things that he says, I've not eaten it when I'm mourning, I have not removed any of it for unclean use, I haven't given any of it for the dead, I haven't used it in a pagan way, this tithe. I've not only not done those negatives, but I've done the positive. I've given To the Levite, I've given to the stranger, given to the fatherless, given it to the widow.
Wright says this. This shows once again the essential thrust of Old Testament ethics. I would say an essential. I think there's other things going on.
He says, but he's just highlighting this principle of love for neighbor. Love for the neighbor is the practical proof of any claim love for God. Isn't this what John tells us? How can you love God and hate your brother?
How can you love God who's invisible and hate your brother who is visible? If you hate your brother, don't be talking about love to God. It's just not reality. Now, that doesn't mean you love every brother the same.
It doesn't mean you love everybody. You know, you're going to have friends that you connect with and there's going to be, you know, out of the 12, Jesus had three. He had Peter, James, and John that went on the Mount of Transfiguration, that went into Gethsemane. Out of that twelve, there were three special ones near Jesus.
I didn't hear the other nine saying, but why aren't we in the inner circle? They didn't whine, they didn't complain. There's a doctrine of friendship, I think the Bible at least indirectly sets forth. We're to love all the brethren, to be sure.
We will probably gravitate towards certain brethren. And that's not sin, that's not wicked, it's not evil. Don't think, wow, that person has a friend and it's not me. Have they hated you?
Have they spit on you? Have they kicked you? Have they, you know, shot you? If they've done that, then you've got problems.
But there is an idea in the scripture that when, you know, there's certain people that we will gravitate to. But the idea here is that we will love the brethren. And so Wright says that love for the neighbor is the practical proof of any claim love for God. It also shows how the enacted love for the poor and needy is the practical proof of genuine God-honoring love for the neighbor.
The law itself thus agrees with the way the prophets later pinpoint and prioritize care for the poor as somehow definitive or paradigmatic of Israel's response to God as a whole. What he's saying is that when you look at the prophets, one of the things that the prophets rebuke Israel for is not showing love to one another. That's a bad thing. When the covenant community is not loving one another, what's the take-home message?
They're not loving God. See, when you love God, you will love one another. It's a no-brainer. It inevitably follows.
Again, maybe not in the same way or with the same affection or the same degree, but you genuinely have love for brethren. He says, they argue passionately, the prophets, that callous neglect of the weak in society utterly invalidates all the claims of their enthusiastic religious observance. So don't say or boast how many times you went to the temple, how many scriptures you recited, how many times you tithed or what you tithed or whatever, when you don't love brethren. It just doesn't follow.
He says, sacred rights are not atonement for social wrongs. We don't just go through these things and hope that they'll cover us for all of the garbage that we don't do. We need to love the brethren, and that's built in to this tithe principle. And then
The Petition: Transcendence and Immanence
notice the petition the offerer then calls out to God with. Verse 15. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land which you have given us, just as you swore to our fathers a land flowing with milk and honey." This is a powerful and a packed petition. There's some alliteration.
A powerful and packed petition. Look at what they want, or look at what the offeror rather says to God Most High. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel. He's making a theological statement here.
He is acknowledging both what's called the transcendence of God and the imminence of God. And that essentially means that God, in transcendence, is removed from the creation. God is over the creation. God is in his holy habitation.
God is in heaven. Not just spatially, not just up there. God is removed from the creation. He is the creator.
There's distinction. But the worshipper, the offerer, acknowledges his imminence. That means his nearness to the creation. You see, false religions, some of them emphasize transcendence and they have no imminence.
That's the false religion called deism. They acknowledge the otherness of God, but God is inactive in human affairs. Then there's the group that emphasize immanence. God is present, but he's not transcendent.
That's called pantheism. That means that everything is God. You see, Christianity alone has a transcendent, immanent God. He is both removed, creator-creature distinction, but He is with us.
He is omnipresent. He is immanent. He is there personally to bless and assist His people. So that's what the worshiper does.
He uses theology in his position and he uses covenant theology in his petition. He says, bless your people Israel and the land which you have given us just as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. So theology, an acknowledgment of who God is, covenant, an acknowledgment of the fact that God has sworn an oath, and we pray that you will bless consistent with that oath. Craigie says, the language of the opening words of the prayer is quite remarkable, for it at once affirms the utter transcendence of God, and yet makes plain that God could hear the words of his people spoken in their homes and settlements throughout the land.
It's great, isn't it? He's wholly removed, and he's right there in our closet. That's what Christianity, that's what biblical religion brings to the table. Deism has God as the cosmic clock watchmaker.
He winds up this world, he sets it on a shelf, he has no interaction with it whatsoever. The pantheist has God everywhere, but not wholly removed, not transcendent, wherein he can actually bless, help, save, and deliver us. So the petition here is brilliant.
Commitment to the Covenant
And then the final section, commitment to covenant or ratification. We'll see more ceremony in terms of the covenant ratification, but this just rehearses. It's a great summary statement of this entire section. of stipulation, beginning properly at chapter 4, verse 42, and specifically chapter 12, verse 1. This whole idea of the laws, the ordinance, the statutes, all of that sort of thing.
So they are again enjoined with careful obedience. This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments, therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul." Notice the corporate proclamation. Again, it kind of makes you think about what we do in 1 Corinthians 11. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you, collectively, you corporately, you as the church, proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." Well, this was a corporate proclamation of their willingness to be subject to the covenant Lord.
If you go back for just a moment, you see this in Exodus 24. Exodus 24, after giving the Decalogue in chapter 20, the laws in chapters 21 to 23, we see the covenant ratification in chapter 24, verses 1 to 8. And a couple of times, the people say, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do. They say that in verse 3, and then notice in verse 7 of Exodus 24.
Then he took the book of the covenant and read in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words." Which interestingly enough, this is a huge, huge significant difference between the old and the new covenant. Notice here what they say, all that the Lord has said we will do. Did they?
No. You get to chapter 32 and they're dancing around a calf. Who makes this statement in the New Covenant? Jesus, with whom is the covenant of grace made?
With Christ, as the second Adam, and all of the elect in him. When Christ says, all that the Lord has said I will do, he carries it out. See, even back then, I think one of the purposes for the book of Exodus was to preach the necessity of Jesus. They could not do this.
They couldn't successfully do all that the Lord says. So going back to 26, just to see that convention being used as corporate proclamation, they proclaimed loyalty to the Lord of the Covenant. Verse 17 and 26. you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God and that you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments and his judgments, and that you will obey his voice. Craigie says, you have proclaimed.
The verb indicates a formal declaration of commitment and may be a technical term in terms of treaty and covenant vocabulary. So they swore allegiance, they swore fealty to this covenant Lord. Now notice what God says in terms of the divine proclamation in verses 18 and 19. Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people just as he promised you that you should keep all his commandments and that he will set you high above all nations which he has made in praise and name and in honor and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God just as he has spoken.
Back in Exodus 19, 5 and 6, this was one of the purposes for Israel, that they would be God's special people, a chosen nation. This language is repeated in Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. Deuteronomy 14, verse 2. Interestingly enough, Titus 2, 14. uses this language of special possession, 1st Timothy 2.9.
There, obviously speaking of the church, in Titus and in 1st Peter, it is language applied to Old Covenant Israel applied to New Covenant Israel, which is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here, God enters into this covenant with his people. They swear allegiance to the Covenant Lord. The Covenant Lord swears uh... protection he swears blessing he affirms all of the things that he has promised in his word now of course the condition is their obedience in the land so when they go and disobey and break covenant and God cuts them off he's not breaking covenant he is simply operating according to the covenant that has been made but it's interesting notice the language that he uses in verse nineteen and that he will set you high above all nations which he has made in praise and name and in honor." I don't think the idea was that Israel in themselves would be praised, would have this great name, and have this honor.
It would be as Israel reflected the God of Israel. It would be the Lord God's glory displayed through this covenant community. Again, Pragee says, Israel, remaining faithful to the covenant God, would be renowned among other nations, not because of inherent merit, but because the covenant community would reflect the glory of the covenant God in its national life. There's a great illustration in Jeremiah 13, 1 to 11.
God tells Jeremiah to go to this place and get a sash. In fact, why don't we read it, just so I don't confuse you. It's one of those signs that the prophet's given, that sometimes we scratch our melons and say, what's going on here? Well, thankfully the Lord interprets for us. 13.1 of Jeremiah.
Thus the Lord said to me, go and get yourself a linen sash and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water. So I got a sash according to the word of the Lord and put it around my waist. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time saying, take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole in the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord commanded me.
Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates in Dog and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it, and there was the sash ruined. It was profitable for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord, In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who follow the dictates of their hearts and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord, that they may become my people for renown, for praise, and for glory. But they would not hear." So God likens his relationship to Israel and Judah as a man who puts on a beautiful sash. It is to display the glory of the man.
You're not supposed to look at that sash and say, boy, that's a great sash. You're supposed to say, that's a great man. And that sash just shows it. It reflects that glory.
That's the purpose for which Israel is instructed in Deuteronomy 26. They are to exist in the land of Canaan as this beautiful sash to display and to radiate the glory of the God of Israel to the nations around them. Obviously, we just read in Jeremiah, they don't do that. But that's the point in Deuteronomy 26.
So thus concludes the stipulation section, the last two laws concerning rejoicing in the land, demonstrating gratitude, worship, and service to the Lord for his kindness, for his grace, and for his mercy. And then the section ends with this covenant commitment or ratification ceremony in verses 16 to 19.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for this section that we've studied for many weeks now in Deuteronomy. It's been a great encouragement, a great way to see the wisdom of God, the holiness of God, the goodness and kindness of God. And we just pray that you would seal these truths to our own hearts, cause us to express gratitude and praise and thankfulness unto you for your great grace demonstrated in our lives.
Certainly, as we reflect upon the cross, as we reflect upon our Savior, We have so many reasons to rejoice in the Lord. We just pray now that you would go with us and watch over us in the remainder of this week. Bless our brothers and sisters that are struggling physically. Again, we just pray for Daniel that you'd set your hand upon him and give him safety as he travels these many miles.
And we pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.