Deuteronomy 26:1-15

IV. Fourth Division of the Laws. Ideals of Ritual Procedure with Proper Prayers, Deuteronomy 26:1-15

The Presentation of Firstfruits (Deuteronomy 26:1-11) and the Distribution of Tithes (Deuteronomy 26:12-15). Throughout in the style of D (with particular affinity to the Law of Tithes, Deuteronomy 14:22-29) and in the Sg. address; for additions, see below. These beautiful forms of service express fully D's ideals of worship that it shall be national, at the nation's one sanctuary, but performed by the separate families with their local dependents; that it shall be historical, recounting the Providence of God from the beginnings of the nation till their settlement in the Promised Land, and therefore joyful and eucharistic; and further that it shall be equally mindful of God and His dues and of the poor and their dues. No two rites could have better summed up the ritual teaching of D in its essential features, nor, with the ethical supplement which follows, have formed a fitter close to the whole Code.

On the ground of the similarity between 26 and Deuteronomy 6-11 (esp. Deuteronomy 8:1-18) Cullen (Bk. of the Covt. in Moab, 79 ff.) refers the whole of 26 to his -Miṣwah" or earlier deuteronomic Book published before the reforms of Josiah. He gives a detailed examination of the ch. well worthy of study. He points out the number of expressions in 26 not found in the Code but in 6 11. Others, however, common to 26 and the Code are not found in Deuteronomy 6-11, and the whole subject of Deuteronomy 26:1-15 is otherwise more suitable to the Code than to 6 11.