Глава 26

The Law of Firstfruits and Tithes. Deut.26:1. When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and take possession of it and settle in it; Deut.26:2. Then take the firstfruits of all the fruits of the land that you will receive from your land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose for His name to abide there. Deut.26:3. and come to the priest who will be in those days, and say to him: Today I confess before the Lord your God that I have entered the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us. Deut.26:4. The priest will take the basket from your hand and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. Deut.26:5. You answer and say before the Lord your God: my father was a wandering Aramean, and he went to Egypt and settled there with a few people, and there arose from him a great, strong and numerous people; Deut.26:6. but the Egyptians treated us badly, and oppressed us, and imposed heavy labor on us; Deut.26:7. and we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our distress, our labors and our oppression; Deut.26:8. and the Lord brought us out of Egypt [with His great strength and] with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders, Deut.26:9. and he brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; Deut.26:10. So, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, Lord, have given me, [from the land where milk and honey flow]. And you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God, Deut.26:11. and rejoice in all the good things which the Lord your God has given you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is with you. On the Feast of Passover, the first sheaf was offered (Lev.23.10–14), and on the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the first bread made from new flour was offered (Lev.23.15–17). The commented verses mark a new type of offering, the time and quantity of which the law does not determine, making them dependent on the convenience and pious mood of the donor. “The Wandering Aramean” Patr. Jacob was named because he lived for a long time with the herds of his father-in-law Laban in the country called Aram. Greco-slav. t. gives another reading: LXX – Συρίαν ἀπεβαλεν ο πατηρ μοῦ, slav. – “Leave Syria, my father.” Probably, the LXX was read not – “arammi obed (avi)”, as in the Masoretic t., but – “Aram (Syria) jobed (avi).” Deut.26:12. When you have separated all the tithes of the produce of your [land] in the third year, the year of tithes, and given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat in your gates and be satisfied, Deut.26:13. Then say before the Lord your God: I took away the holy thing from [my] house and gave it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments that You commanded me: I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor forgotten; Deut.26:14. I did not eat from it in my sorrow, nor separated it from uncleanness, nor gave it to the dead; I obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, I did everything that You commanded me; Deut.26:15. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the land that You have given us - just as You swore to our fathers [to give us] a land flowing with milk and honey. See also Deuteronomy 12:6–14, 17–19, 26–27. “I did not eat from it in my sorrow”: sadness does not correspond to the meaning of a joyful offering to the Lord from the firstfruits of the blessings with which He has given man. “He did not separate her in uncleanness,” that is, being in a state of cleansing from filth (Lev. 7:21–22, 21:1). “He did not give it to the dead,” according to the custom of the pagans, to bring food to the graves of the dead and celebrate funeral feasts there (St. Ephraim the Syrian, Interpretation on the book of Deut., Chapter XXVI). You might be interested in: