Deuteronomy 26:1 - Meaning and Application

Here, first, is a good work that God ordered them to do: each year they were to bring a basket of first fruits to him (Deuteronomy 26:1, 2). Besides the sheaf of first fruits offered for the whole land the day after Passover (Leviticus 23:10), each person was to bring a basket of first fruits at Pentecost, when the harvest was finished. That is why it was called the feast of first fruits (Exodus 34:22), and it was kept with freewill offerings (Deuteronomy 16:10).

The Jews said that if the first fruits were not brought then, they could still be brought any time after that, up to winter. When a man went into his field or vineyard and saw the fruit beginning to ripen, he was to mark the earliest and best of it for first fruits. Wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates were all included, and some of each kind was placed in the same basket, with leaves between them, and brought to God at the place he chose.

From this law we can learn several things. We should acknowledge God as the giver of all the good things that support and comfort our daily lives, and so honor him with them. We should also deny ourselves. We are most eager for the first ripe fruit, and people who are fussy want each fruit as soon as it appears. So when God told them to set those aside for him, he taught them to put his honor above their own cravings and pleasures.

We also learn to give God the first and best we have, because we believe he is the first and best of all beings. Those who give their youth and the best years of life to God bring him their first fruits, and he is pleased with such offerings. “I remember the kindness of your youth.”

Second, God put fitting words into their mouths for this act, so that the ceremony would explain itself and become a reasonable service. The worshiper was to begin speaking before he gave the basket to the priest. Then, after the priest set the basket before the altar, he was to continue his confession there, as a gift to God, their great landlord (Deuteronomy 26:3, 4).

He was first to give a full receipt for the good land God had given them (Deuteronomy 26:3). He was to say, in effect, “I now come, after forty years of wandering, into the country the Lord swore to give us.” This fit especially well when they first entered Canaan, though they likely used a slightly different form later. When God keeps his promises, he expects us to admit it, so that his faithfulness is honored. It is like handing back the bond, as Solomon did when he said, “Not one word has failed of all his good promise” (1 Kings 8:56). Our daily comforts are sweeter when we see them coming from the promise of God.

He was also to remember and openly admit the humble beginning of the nation he belonged to. No matter how great they now were, their start had been very small. This public confession was meant to be remembered through all the ages of their church, so they would not grow proud of their privileges, but would always be thankful to the God whose grace chose them when they were low and raised them high. They had to own two things for this purpose.

First, they had to confess the low state of their common ancestor: “A wandering Syrian was my father” (Deuteronomy 26:5). Jacob is called a Syrian, or Aramean, because he lived twenty years in Padan-Aram, his wives were from there, and all his children except Benjamin were born there. The speaker may mean Jacob himself, or Jacob’s son who was the ancestor of his tribe. In any case, both father and sons had more than once been near ruin, because of Laban’s harshness, Esau’s anger, and the famine in the land that drove them down to Egypt. “Laban the Syrian tried to destroy my father,” says the Chaldee version, and the Arabic says he almost destroyed him.

Second, they had to confess the miserable condition of the nation in its early days. They lived in Egypt as foreigners, and they served there as slaves (Deuteronomy 26:6), for a long time. Since their family had once belonged to another land, they could not claim any right to Canaan by long possession. They had been poor, despised, and oppressed in Egypt. So, even though they were now rich and strong, they had no reason to be proud, feel secure in themselves, or forget God.

He was also to thank God for his great goodness, not only to himself, but to Israel as a whole. First, he was to thank God for bringing them out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 26:7, 8). This is described as an act of pity, because God saw their misery, and as an act of power, because he brought them out with a mighty hand. It was a great rescue, one that should be remembered at all times, and especially here. They had no reason to begrudge a basket of first fruits to God, since he had saved them from bringing in bricks for their cruel masters.

He was also to thank God for settling them in Canaan: “He has given us this land” (Deuteronomy 26:9). He was not only to thank God for his own share, but for the land itself that belonged to Israel. He was to thank God not only for the year’s crop, but for the ground that produced it. God had graciously given that land to their ancestors and passed it on to their children.

The comfort we enjoy in our own blessings should lead us to thank God for our share in public peace and plenty. With present mercies, we should also bless him for past mercies we remember and future mercies we hope for.

Finally, he was to offer his basket of first fruits to God (Deuteronomy 26:10). He was, in effect, saying, “I have brought the first fruits of the land, like a small payment, as rent for the land you have given me.” Whatever we give to God is really his own gift coming back to him (1 Chronicles 29:14). Since we receive so much from him, we should think carefully about what we will return. The basket was placed before God, and the priests, as God’s receivers, took the first fruits as part of their support and payment for their service (Numbers 18:12).

When the service was finished, the offerer was to do two things. First, he was to give glory to God: “You shall worship the Lord your God.” His first fruits were not accepted unless they were joined with worship. God looks for a humble, reverent, thankful heart, and without that, nothing we put in a basket will matter. If a man gave all he had just to avoid this duty, it would be completely rejected.

Second, he was to enjoy the comfort of it with his family: “You shall rejoice in every good thing” (Deuteronomy 26:11). God wants us to be cheerful, not only in public worship, but also in the use of his gifts in everyday life.

Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we should make the best and most comforting use of it we can. At the same time, we should still trace every stream of comfort back to the fountain of all comfort and consolation, which is God himself.