5 `And thou hast answered and said before Jehovah thy God, A perishing Aramaean `is' my father! and he goeth down to Egypt, and sojourneth there with few men, and becometh there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous;
with seventy persons did thy fathers go down to Egypt, and now hath Jehovah thy God made thee as stars of the heavens for multitude.
And the sons of Joseph who have been born to him in Egypt `are' two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who are coming into Egypt `are' seventy.
and Jacob went down to Egypt, and died, himself and our fathers,
And Jacob doth flee to the country of Aram, And Israel doth serve for a wife, Yea, for a wife he hath kept watch.
and God sendeth me before you, to place of you a remnant in the land, and to give life to you by a great escape;
and double money take in your hand, even the money which is brought back in the mouth of your bags, ye take back in your hand, it may be it `is' an oversight.
Hearken unto Me, ye pursuing righteousness, Seeking Jehovah, Look attentively unto the rock -- ye have been hewn, And unto the hole of the pit -- ye have been digged. Look attentively unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah -- she bringeth you forth, For -- one -- I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply him.
And Israel cometh in to Egypt, And Jacob hath sojourned in the land of Ham. And He maketh His people very fruitful, And maketh it mightier than its adversaries.
but unto my land and unto my kindred dost thou go, and hast taken a wife for my son, for Isaac.'
and the sons of Israel have been fruitful, and they teem, and multiply, and are very very mighty, and the land is filled with them.
And Israel dwelleth in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they have possession in it, and are fruitful, and multiply exceedingly;
And Israel journeyeth, and all that he hath, and cometh in to Beer-Sheba, and sacrificeth sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac; and God speaketh to Israel in visions of the night, and saith, `Jacob, Jacob;' and he saith, `Here `am' I.' And He saith, `I `am' God, God of thy father, be not afraid of going down to Egypt, for for a great nation I set thee there; I -- I go down with thee to Egypt, and I -- I also certainly bring thee up, and Joseph doth put his hand on thine eyes.' And Jacob riseth from Beer-Sheba, and the sons of Israel bear away Jacob their father, And their infants, and their wives, in the waggons which Pharaoh hath sent to bear him, and they take their cattle, and their goods which they have acquired in the land of Canaan, and come into Egypt -- Jacob, and all his seed with him, his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, yea, all his seed he brought with him into Egypt.
And God cometh in unto Laban the Aramaean in a dream of the night, and saith to him, `Take heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good unto evil.'
and Jacob deceiveth the heart of Laban the Aramaean, because he hath not declared to him that he is fleeing;
And Esau hateth Jacob, because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau saith in his heart, `The days of mourning `for' my father draw near, and I slay Jacob my brother.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Deuteronomy 26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 26
De 26:1-15. The Confession of Him That Offers the Basket of First Fruits.
2. Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth—The Israelites in Canaan, being God's tenants-at-will, were required to give Him tribute in the form of first-fruits and tithes. No Israelite was at liberty to use any productions of his field until he had presented the required offerings. The tribute began to be exigible after the settlement in the promised land, and it was yearly repeated at one of the great feasts (Le 2:14; 23:10; 23:15; Nu 28:26; De 16:9). Every master of a family carried it on his shoulders in a little basket of osier, peeled willow, or palm leaves, and brought it to the sanctuary.
5. thou shalt say … A Syrian ready to perish was my father—rather, "a wandering Syrian." The ancestors of the Hebrews were nomad shepherds, either Syrians by birth as Abraham, or by long residence as Jacob. When they were established as a nation in the possession of the promised land, they were indebted to God's unmerited goodness for their distinguished privileges, and in token of gratitude they brought this basket of first-fruits.
11. thou shalt rejoice—feasting with friends and the Levites, who were invited on such occasions to share in the cheerful festivities that followed oblations (De 12:7; 16:10-15).
12-15. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year—Among the Hebrews there were two tithings. The first was appropriated to the Levites (Nu 18:21). The second, being the tenth of what remained, was brought to Jerusalem in kind; or it was converted into money, and the owner, on arriving in the capital, purchased sheep, bread, and oil (De 14:22, 23). This was done for two consecutive years. But this second tithing was eaten at home, and the third year distributed among the poor of the place (De 14:28, 29).
13. thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house—This was a solemn declaration that nothing which should be devoted to the divine service had been secretly reserved for personal use.
14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning—in a season of sorrow, which brought defilement on sacred things; under a pretense of poverty, and grudging to give any away to the poor.
neither … for any unclean use—that is, any common purpose, different from what God had appointed and which would have been a desecration of it.
nor given ought thereof for the dead—on any funeral service, or, to an idol, which is a dead thing.