“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. 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.” 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 26:1-11
“The purely legal material of Deuteronomy has now ended, and this section of the book concludes with detailed instructions regarding the performance of two rituals: the presentation of the first fruits (Deuteronomy 26:1-11) and the presentation of the tithe of the third year (Deuteronomy 26:12-15).
Because these two rituals were closely associated with agriculture, they may have been in particular danger of being contaminated by elements of Canaanite worship, which was focused on maintaining the fertility of the land. This may be why such careful attention is paid to the exact words to be spoken. Another reason for the careful explanation may be that the Israelites would not have an opportunity to celebrate these festivals under the eye of Moses. They would start to be celebrated only after the people had settled in the promised land.
The instructions for this liturgy start by stressing that what is offered are fruits of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The constant reference to ‘the Lord your God’ in this section is to emphasize that it is not the pagan god Baal who is responsible for the fertility of the land and their present prosperity… The ceremony would later conclude with the assertion that the gift of the firstfruit was a grateful acknowledgement of the gift.”
Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa in “Deuteronomy” in Africa Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 244.
Today we explore the rituals linked to the offerings in the Old Testament to find God’s heart behind the instructions. By this way, we can make sure our hearts align with His. Three things stand out to me.
Firstly, the repetition of the Lord your God shows His personal care for us. We have all that we enjoy because the Lord our God cares so deeply and generously for us. His generosity is the basis for our generosity.
Secondly, the ritual aimed to teach explicit instructions so people would remember and not forget, and so their giving would avoid contamination. We do well to give clear stewardship instructions to shape the hearts of people.
Thirdly, our giving is always in a larger worldly context. God wants it to look different than the world around us. This challenges me to make sure that my living and giving looks radically different from the world.
Lord our God, thanks for your care for us. We pray that you will help us by your Spirit to obey your instructions so we give differently than the world and avoid contamination. Hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.