Then the priest shall take the basket from your hands and place it before the altar of the LORD your God, Sermons
1. Reminded the individual that the land and its fruits were God's. 2. Required from him a devout acknowledgment of the fact, with a gift in which the acknowledgment was suitably embodied. 3. Threw him back on the recollection of God's former mercies to his nation. 4. Secured a confession and rehearsal of these from his own lips. It served: 1. To create and deepen religious feeling. 2. To quicken gratitude. 3. To encourage free-will offerings. Two main points - I. GOD'S MERCIES ARE TO BE GRATEFULLY REMEMBERED. These mercies are many and wonderful (Psalm 40:5). The points dwelt on in this declaration are God's fulfillments of his promises in the increase of the nation (ver. 5), the deliverance from Egypt (vers. 6-8), and the bringing of the people into the land of Canaan (ver. 9), part of the firstfruits of which the worshipper now presented (ver. 10). We have here: 1. National mercies. Since in Israel Church and nation were one: 2. Church mercies. 3. Personal mercies. A similar review befits every Christian. What causes of thankfulness has he, not only in the remembrance of God's loving-kindness to him personally (Psalm 40:1-4; Psalm 116:1-19), but in the review of God's dealings with his nation, and still more in the consideration of his mercies to the Church! On the one side, our noble constitution, our just laws, our civil and religious liberties, our immunity from war - the fruits of long centuries of struggle and progress. On the other side, the facts on which the Church's existence is founded - the Incarnation; Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension; the gift of the Spirit: and. the events of her extraordinary history - the progress she has made, God's goodness in preserving and protecting her, in raising up teachers and leaders, in purifying her by persecutions, in granting revivals, times of reformation, etc.; with the consideration of how in all promises have been fulfilled, prayers answered, deliverances vouchsafed, blessings bestowed, increase made. II. GOD'S MERCIES ARE TO BE SUITABLY ACKNOWLEDGED. 1. By recital of them before God himself. Acknowledgment of mercies is as much a part of devotion as praise, confession, petition, or even adoration. The value of liturgical forms (within due limits) for purposes of prayer and acknowledgment, is not to be disputed. They (1) aid memory, (2) secure comprehensiveness, (3) guide devotion, (4) prevent irrelevancy, (5) create a bond of unity. Like hymns, they testify to the Church's catholicity amidst diversities of creed and polity. Their disadvantage, if preponderant in worship, is that they check too much the element of spontaneity. They discourage freedom and naturalness in the expression of the heart's feelings. The best form of Church order would probably be a combination of the liturgical with the free and spontaneous elements in worship-the latter decidedly predominating. 2. By free-will offerings. These are needed more than ever. The sphere of the Church's operations is yearly widening. 3. By hospitality and clarity (ver. 11). Underlying all there is, of course, to be personal consecration in heart and life. It is self God wants - the love, reverence, service, devotion of self; not a mere share in self's possessions. Confession (ver. 3), gifts (ver. 10), worship (ver. 10), joy (ver. 11), have their rightful place after that, and as the outcome of it. - J.O.
Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing. It is our duty to give unstinted welcome to every visit of enjoyment with which we may be favoured. We frequently allow streams of refreshment or exhilaration to run past us without dipping into or tasting them; we blunderingly overlook many a cup of soothing and pleasing that is offered to us as we go trudging by. We are slow to discover and seize our golden chances, and hardly know how to make the most of them. At times we are afraid, it would seem, pausing now and then to squeeze a drop or two of severe or melancholy reflection into the goblet, as if there might be sin in having it too rich and sweet. The angel descending to solace us in our Gethsemane with a brief pleasant thrill, with a brief glimpse and gust of pleasure, flashes by under the sombre, wailing olives in vain, is allowed to vanish unharboured and un-utilised.I. NEVER TURN, IN YOUR BITTERNESS OF SPIRIT, FROM ANY MINISTRY OF TEMPORAL ENJOYMENT THAT MAY INTERVENE; NEVER BE SO WEDDED TO YOUR WOES, SO SHUT UP AND SUNK DOWN IN THEM, THAT YOU CANNOT ISSUE FORTH TO ACCEPT SUCH MINISTRY. For, remember, we want to be made joyful for our education quite as much as we need to be tried and troubled. To laugh, to luxuriate, to ripple and glow with delight, at times is just as essential for us as it is at times to weep and suffer. II. AT TIMES SOME OF US MAY HAVE HAD THE FEELING THAT THERE IS SO MUCH MISERY IN THE WORLD THAT IT IS HARDLY RIGHT TO IGNORE AND FORGET IT FOR A MOMENT IN REJOICING. But let us reflect that, since God is our Father and we His children, we are justified in losing sight of trouble for a time when He gives us a joy to taste. Being only a child, however, I must feel about His world, and share in His travail concerning it; I need not be afraid at intervals to cast the entire load upon Him and let Him carry it alone. Souls must turn aside at times to bask in what sunshine they. can find, and be mellowed, and warmed, and raised with it, in order to be of service in the darkness and to help to soften and relieve. (S. A. Tipple.) (J. Hamilton.). People Egyptians, MosesPlaces Beth-baal-peor, EgyptTopics Altar, Basket, Front, Hands, Placed, PriestOutline 1. The confession of him who offers the basket of firstfruits12. The prayer of him who gives his third year's tithes 16. The covenant between God and his people Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 26:1-11Library The Quiet LandGerhard Ter Steegen Deut. xxvi. 9 Stillness midst the ever-changing, Lord, my rest art Thou; So for me has dawned the morning, God's eternal NOW. Now for me the day unsetting, Now the song begun; Now, the deep surpassing glory, Brighter than the sun. Hail! all hail! thou peaceful country Of eternal calm; Summer land of milk and honey, Where the streams are balm. There the Lord my Shepherd leads me, Wheresoe'er He will; In the fresh green pastures feeds me, By the waters still. Well I know them, … Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others Appendix iv. An Abstract of Jewish History from the Reign of Alexander the Great to the Accession of Herod The Jews Make all Ready for the War; and Simon, the Son of Gioras, Falls to Plundering. Manner of Covenanting. Deuteronomy Links Deuteronomy 26:4 NIVDeuteronomy 26:4 NLT Deuteronomy 26:4 ESV Deuteronomy 26:4 NASB Deuteronomy 26:4 KJV Deuteronomy 26:4 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 26:4 Parallel Deuteronomy 26:4 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 26:4 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 26:4 French Bible Deuteronomy 26:4 German Bible Deuteronomy 26:4 Commentaries Bible Hub |