Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Deuteronomy
Book: Deuteronomy
Chapter: 26
Overview:
Confession in
Offering the
First-fruits.
(1-11) The
Prayer
after disposal of the third
Year's
Tithe.
(12-15) The
Covenant
between
God and the people.
(16-19)
1-11 When
God has made good his promises to us, he expects we
should own it to the honour of his faithfulness. And our
Creature comforts are doubly sweet, when we see them flowing
from the
Fountain of the promise. The person who offered his
First-fruits, must remember and own the mean origin of that
nation, of which he was a member. A Syrian ready to perish was
my
Father.
Jacob is here called a Syrian. Their nation in its
infancy sojourned in
Egypt as strangers, they served there as
slaves. They were a
Poor, despised, oppressed people in
Egypt;
and though become rich and great, had
No reason to be proud,
secure, or forgetful of
God. He must thankfully acknowledge
God's great
Goodness to
Israel. The comfort we have in our own
enjoyments, should lead us to be thankful for our share in
public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should
Bless the
Lord for the former mercies we remember, and the
further mercies we expect and
Hope for. He must offer his
Basket
of
First-fruits. Whatever good thing
God gives us, it is his
will that we make the most comfortable use we can of it, tracing
the streams to the
Fountain of all consolation.
12-15 How should the
Earth yield its increase, or, if it does,
what comfort can we take in it, unless therewith our
God gives
us his blessing? All this represented the
Covenant relation
between a reconciled
God and every true believer, and the
privileges and duties belonging to it. We must be watchful, and
show that according to the
Covenant of
Grace in
Christ Jesus,
the
Lord is our
God, and we are his people, waiting in his
appointed way for the performance of his gracious promises.
16-19 Moses here enforces the precepts. They are
God's laws,
therefore thou shalt do them, to that
End were they given thee;
do them, and dispute them not; do them, and draw not back; do
them, not carelessly and hypocritically, but with thy
Heart and
soul, thy whole
Heart and thy whole soul. We forswear ourselves,
and break the most sacred engagement, if, when we have taken the
Lord to be our
God, we do not make
Conscience of obeying his
commands. We are elected to obedience, 1Pe 1:2;
Chosen that we
should be holy, Eph 1:4; purified a
Peculiar people, that we
might not only do good
Works, but be zealous in them, Tit
2:14.
Holiness is true honour, and the only way to
Everlasting
honour.