Deuteronomy 26: Ubiquity

Deuteronomy 26: First Fruits and Tithes / Concluding Exhortation

Today's reading serves as a wonderful example of the biblical plot: the relationship between God and Israel. God's presence is to be all-encompassing. And as long as the people obey the Lord, it will be well for them.

First Fruits and Tithes: Deuteronomy 26.1-15
Moses gives instructions from the Lord regarding the harvest of the first fruits when the Israelites enter the promised land. The ritual is described in a manner that emphasizes the Lord's all-encompassing presence in the lives of the Israelites. The phase "the Lord your God" appears 9 times from verse 1 through verse 11. The word "Lord," (YHWH) separate from this phrase, appears 5 additional times. Therefore the divine name YHWH is invoked 14 times in 11 verses. God's presence is interspersed throughout the verses in imitation of the ubiquitous reminders of God's presence in daily Israelite life.

The Israelites are to take some of the harvest of the first fruit to a priest at the dwelling-plce that the Lord designates for himself. They will make a declaration to the Lord acknowledging that they have entered the land promised to their ancestors. The priest will take the basket and the Israelites will make another declaration. The second declaration acknowledges the Israelite history in Egypt, their affliction, imprisonment, and deliverance through the Lord's terrifying displays of power and wonders into the promised land flowing with milk and honey. The gift of first fruit, they will swear, has been given ultimately by the Lord.

The gift of first fruits is to be placed before the Lord and the Israelites and their Levites and resident aliens "shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house" (Deut. 26.11).

In the third year the Israelites will pay a tithe to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, as discussed earlier in Deuteronomy 14.28-29. Again the divine presence is acknowledge: the Israelites will make a declaration to the Lord that this is done in accordance with the Lord's commandment. The closing portion of the prayer offers a glimpse at the conception of the divine: "Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore our ancestors - a land flowing with milk and honey" (Deut. 26.15). God resides in a place holy separate place physically above the Israelites.

Concluding Exhortation: Deuteronomy 26.16-19
This legal section concludes with a reminder that the commandments of the Lord should be followed diligently. An agreement has been reached: YHWH will be the god of the Israelites, and the Israelites will follow God only and obey all his commands in order to keep his favor. In this way God will set the Israelites above all nations he has created, and the Israelites will become a people wholly devoted to God.