Home | What's New |
Mission Statement | Location|
Services | Calendar |
Lessons |
Committees | Activities |
Search | Links
Music, Search By: Hymnal / By Tune
/ Music Book |
Scott's Reference Library
Deuteronomy 26:1 through Deuteronomy 26:11 (NIV)
1When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2take some of the
firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God
is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God
will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3and say to the priest in office at the
time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the
LORD swore to our forefathers to give us.” 4The priest shall take the basket
from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.
5Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering
Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and
became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6But the Egyptians mistreated us
and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. 7Then we cried out to the LORD,
the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil
and oppression. 8So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9He
brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and
honey; 10and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have
given me.” Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him.
11And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good
things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 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.