Today we begin Chapter 26.
Moses tells the congregation, "When 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, take 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." (Deuteronomy 26:1-2a) This is an offering of thankfulness for the provision of the Lord.
It is also an offering of remembrance, for the bringer of it is to recite a specific testimony about what the Lord has done for Israel. "Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for His name and 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 ancestors to give us.' The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then 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. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that You, Lord, have given me.'" (Deuteronomy 26:2b-10a)
Jacob was not an Aramean, racially speaking. But he lived for a very long time in Paddan Aram and this is why the reference to him being an Aramean is used.
We would all do well to regularly recite to ourselves and to the Lord a list of the great things He has done for us. We have so much to be thankful for and I think our faith and our joy would overflow if we were in the habit of thinking over, at the end of each day, all the things the Lord did for us that day. We should thank Him for all the things He's done for and for the things He protected us from. If we're alive and well enough to be talking to Him at bedtime, then that means He kept body and soul together. We are still breathing and we owe Him our praise, as the psalmist said: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." (Psalm 150:6)
After reciting the way the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, the bringer of the offering places his offering down in the tabernacle and everyone present rejoices. "Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before Him. Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household." (Deuteronomy 26:10b-11)
Next Moses speaks of tithes. "When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied." (Deuteronomy 26:12) Tithing was required every year. But every third year's tithe went not only to support the priests and Levites but also to support the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows. (Deuteronomy 14:22-29) We owe the Lord our praise for the blessings He's given us and we owe it to Him to be a blessing to those around us. One way to "give back" to the Lord is to give to those in need.
A special recitation is to be said when bringing the third-year tithe. "Then say to the Lord your God: 'I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all You commanded. I have not turned aside from Your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything You commanded me. Look down from heaven, Your holy dwelling place, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.'" (Deuteronomy 26:13-15)
The person has not done anything to make the food unfit for offering, including setting any of it before the dead, which was a heathen practice. In return for being obedient to the Lord's commands regarding tithes, the person asks Him for continued blessings in the promised land.
Being obedient to the Lord doesn't necessarily guarantee us an easy life. Some of the most obedient people in the Bible endured great hardships, including the Lord Jesus. But being obedient puts us in a position to receive blessings from the Lord, not only material and physical blessings but spiritual blessings as well. Living in opposition to the Lord is guaranteed to bring hardship into our lives, for the way of transgressors is hard, as the wise King Solomon said. (Proverbs 13:15) When we are disobedient we put ourselves in a position that makes it difficult or even impossible for the Lord to bless us the way He'd like to. Just as a responsible parent doesn't reward a child for deliberate disobedience, the Lord is a responsible Father. So we see that the Lord cannot, in good conscience, bless bad behavior. In addition, living contrary to godliness brings all sorts of sin---and the natural consequences of sin---into our lives. When we cheat and mistreat others, we are going to reap the natural consequences of living a dishonest and immoral life. Doing bad things brings bad things into our lives. It's a principle of the world we live in. We reap what we sow, as the Apostle Paul warned us in Galatians 6:7. If we sow obedience and godliness into our lives, the Lord can bless us. If we sow disobedience and sin into our lives, the Lord can't reward us for such behavior. We'll reap the spiritual consequences and the natural consequences of sinful living.
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