5. And thou shalt answer and thou shalt say before the face of the LORD, thy God:
My father was an Aramean about to perish,
And so he went down to Egypt,
And then he sojourned there with men of small number,
And yet there he came to be a great nation,
mighty and many.
6. But then the Egyptians caused us evil,
And then they afflicted us,
And then they laid upon us hard servitude.
7. But then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers,
And then the LORD heard our voice,
And then He saw our affliction
in our toil with our oppression.
8. And so the LORD made us go forth from Egypt
with a strong hand
and with an outstretched arm,
and with great terror
and with signs and with wonders.
9. And then He brought us to this place,
And then He gave us this land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
10. So now, lo, I have brought the first-fruits
of the fruit of the ground
which Thou hast given to me, O LORD.
And thou shalt set it down [make it rest] before the face of the LORD, thy God, and thou shalt
prostrate thyself before the face of the LORD, thy God.
The reading from the Old Testament which is appointed to the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after
Pentecost in Series B of Lutheran Worship consists in the initial nine verses of Deuteronomy 6.
(The exegesis of these verses below is, assuredly, in no way designed to promote the use in the
main service of the week of any such modern selection of gospels and epistles as those suggested
in Lutheran Worship. This exegete, on the contrary, would continue to urge, on various grounds,
fidelity to the pericopal tradition inherited from the ancient church by the church of the
reformation and modified only slightly by the Blessed Reformer of the Church, if one is speaking
specifically of the gospels and epistles to be read in the main (eucharistic) service of the week.
No comparable series of readings, on the other hand, from the Old Testament was either handed
down from the ancient church or bestowed on us by the Blessed Reformer; nor, indeed, is there
such a program of readings from the New Testament to be used in all the possible additional
offices of any given week. In such cases, therefore, even such a traditionalist as this exegete is
able, with consistency, to make use of any pericope drawn from the region of Holy Scripture
desired.)
The historical and literary observations which follow assume the auctorial integrity of the Book of Deuteronomy and, indeed, of the Pentateuch as a whole which this exegete has defended elsewhere (especially in Isagogical Notes on the Pentateuch). The Book of Deuteronomy is called in addition, quite correctly, the Fifth Book of Moses. St. Moses, the Prophet Primarius of the Old Testament, delivered orally the various discourses which comprise the book and composed the book itself, as well as including it in a final edition of the Pentateuch, in Shebat (corresponding to late January and early February) of the year 1406 B.C. For all these events took place between "the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month" (Deuteronomy 1:3) and at least "thirty days" (34:8) before the seventh day of Nisan (March-April), considering Joshua 1:11 and 4:19.
The place of the composition of the Book of Deuteronomy, as the locale of the preaching of all the discourses within it, was the plain of Moab across the River Jordan from Jericho (chapters 1: 1-5; 4:46; and 34: 1-8). The original audience, in a general way, was the second generation of the nation of Israel, all of whom (with two exceptions only) had been, if yet born, under the age of twenty years at the time of the rebellion of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea some thirty-eight and a half years previously (Numbers 14: 27-38). The occasion of the book (as of its oral precedents) was the imminence of the entrance of Israel into Canaan, and, among many additional historical circumstances of importance, the one weighing most heavily on the minds of the original addressees would surely have been the imminence, already assured, of the death of the Prophet Moses himself.
The purpose of the Book of Deuteronomy, as already of the discourses collected therein, was to
prepare the people from whom the Savior of the world was to come for the occupation of the
land in which she was to live as a distinct nation until His coming. The theme, correspondingly,
may be stated as follows: God promised Israel political security and economic prosperity in
Palestine so long as she should prove faithful to Him (as the true visible church of the age) and
threatened to reject Israel if she should prove unfaithful to Him (bringing deprivation and
devastation and then deportation and destruction).
The Book of Deuteronomy consists in seven discourses which are tied together by small pieces of historical narrative. The second discursive section (chapters 4:41-26:19) constitutes by far the most lengthy of these seven portion. A description, firstly, of the circumstances introduces the discourse itself in chapters 4:41-5:1a, beginning in verses 41-43 with the designation of the cities of refuge in Transjordan.
There follows, then, by far the longest continuous portion of the section -- and by far the longest discourse in the Book of Deuteronomy -- which is to say the sermon comprising chapters 5:1b-26:19. This sermon of some twenty-two chapters consists in four chief parts. Following (1.) a restatement of the nature of the national berith (Deuteronomy 5:1b-3) come (2.) a recapitulation of the promulgation of the decalogue (Deuteronomy 5: 4-22) and (3.) a restatement of the various laws binding upon Israel by virtue of the national berith (chapters 5:23-26:15) before, finally, (4.) a concluding call to faithfulness to the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 26: 16-19).
In the third section of the sermon (chapters 5:23-26:15) provisions for the mediation of the
founding legislation of Israel by Moses (Deuteronomy 5: 23-33) precede legislation which
principally serves to inculcate devotion to the One True God (chapters 6:1-18:22), beginning
with the basic command to love God above all, in the sixth of the chapters into which the Book
of Deuteronomy has come to be divided in modern times.
EXEGETICAL AND CONTEXTUAL OUTLINE
The following basic outline of the second discursive section (chapters 4:41-26:19) of the Book of
Deuteronomy emerges, then, with special emphasis upon verses 1-11 of chapter 26:
I. The Circumstance s (4: 41-49)
A. The designation of cities of refuge in Transjordan (4: 41-43)
B. The isagogical characteristics of the discourse (4:44-5:1a)
II. The Sermon (5:1b-26:19)
A. A restatement of the nature of the national berith (5:1b-3)
B. A recapitulation of the promulgation of the decalogue (5: 4- 22)
1. The circumstances (verses 4-5)
2. The decalogue (verses 6-21)
3. The circumstances (verse 22)
C. A restatement of the various laws binding upon Israel by virtue of the national berith (5:23-26:15)
1. Provisions for the mediation of this legislation by Moses (5: 23-33)
2. Legislation principally inculcating devotion to the One True God (chapters (6:1-18:22)
a. The basic command to love God above all (6: 1-25)
(1.) An introduction (verses 1-3)
(2.) The basic injunction with pedagogical implications in the foundation of "Great Shema" (verses 4-9)
(3.) A reiteration of the motivations involved (verses 10-25)
b. A variety of subsidiary commandments (7:1-18:22)
3. Legislation principally inculcating the treating of others in a God-pleasing way (19:1-25:19)
4. Concluding legislation (26: 1-15)
a. The offering and use of the first fruits of the land (26:1-11)
(1.) Its derivation (verse 1)
(a.) Its divine source (verse 1a)
(b.) Its human recipients (verse 1b)
(2.) Its aggregation and transportation (verse 2)
(a.) Its aggregation (verse 2a)
(b.) Its transportation to the central sanctuary (verse 2b)
(3.) Its presentation (verses 3-4)
(a.) The introduction (verse 3)
[1.] The transmission to the priest (verse 3a)
[2.] The initial declaration (verse 3b)
(b.) The reception (verse 4)
[1.] The mediation of the priest (verse 4a)
[2.] The deposition of the first-fruits before the altar (verse 4b)
(c.) The introduction of the accompanying confession (verse 5a1a)
(d.) The accompanying confession (verses 5a1b-10a)
[1.] The rationale of the presentation (verse 5a1b-9)
[a.] The origin and initial peril of Israel (verse 5a1b)
[b.] The Egyptian Sojourn (verse 5a2-7)
i. The migration to Egypt (verse 5a2)
ii. The growth of Israel (verse 5b)
iii. The affliction of Israel (verse 6]
iv. The prayers of Israel (verse 7a)
v. The attention of the Lord (verse 7b)
[c.] The exodus from Egypt (verse 8)
i. Its essence (verse 8a)
ii. Its accompanying miracles (8b)
[d.] The divine guidance of Israel in the wilderness (verse 9a)
[e.] The divine gift of the Promised Land (verse 9b)
i. The conquest of the land (verse 9b1)
ii. The nature of the land (verse 9b2)
[2.] The presentation in verbal form (verse 10a)
[a.] Its essence (verse 10a1)
[b.] Its essential rationale reiterated (verse 10a2)
(d.) The conclusion (verse 10b)
[1.] The summation of the ceremony (verse 10b1)
[2.] The final action of the ceremony (verse 10b2)
(4.) Its aftermath (verse 11)
(a.) The rejoicing of those presenting the first-fruits (verse 11a)
(b.) The rejoicing of the beneficiaries of the first-fruits (verse 11b)
[1.] Levites in Israel (verse 11b1)
[2.] Strangers in Israel (verse 11b2)
b. The use of the extra third-year tithe (26:12-15)
D. A call to faithfulness to the God of Israel (26: 16-19)
In the division of verses in this outline into parts "a" and "b" the line of demarcation is always the
massoretic 'athnach. In verse 5a the division between parts 1 and 2 has been made at the zaqeph
qaton above 'abhi ("my father"), and between the two halves therein at the rbhia' above
'elohekha ("thy God"). The bifurcation between parts 1 and 2 of verses 9b and 11b has been
made at the zaqeph qaton above hazzo'th ("this") and whallewiy ("and the Levite") respectively.
The division, likewise, comes in both halves of verse 10 with the zaqeph qaton above
ha'adhamah ("the land") and 'elohekha ("thy God") respectively. A more detailed outline of the
second sermon of Deuteronomy may be found in the exegete's Isagogical Notes on the
Pentateuch.
5. And thou shalt answer and thou shalt say before the face of the LORD, thy God:
My father was an Aramean about to perish,
And so he went down to Egypt,
And then he sojourned there with men of small number,
And yet there he came to be a great nation,
mighty and many.
The initial four words in this translation of Deuteronomy 26:5 ("and thou shalt answer") correspond to the one word w'anitha in the veritas hebraica. The conjunction waw connects the basic vocable with the instructions on the presentation of the first-fruits already given in verses 1-4. The perfective aspect of the verb, therefore, possesses a mandatory connotation. The form is, therefore, translated as "thou shalt answer" (as opposed to "thou wilt answer").
There are, actually, four different verbal roots in Classical Hebrew with the same three letters 'nh. One is the root used in the ensuing verse (translated below as "they afflicted us"), which is listed as Root III in the Hebrew and English Lexicon [BDB, 776a-b, with its derivatives discussed on pages 776b-777a]. Root II, meaning "be occupied" in the sense of being busy with something is rare and perhaps an Aramaic loanword, being restricted, as one of its two derivatives, to the Book of Ecclesiastes [BDB, 775b, with its derivatives discussed on pages 775b-776a]. The less rare homonym which the Hebrew and English Lexicon lists as Root IV has to do with singing or chanting, possessing cognates of like significance in Arabic, Syriac, and possibly Akkadian [BDB, 777a]. Moses employs forms of this triliteral stem in Exodus 15:21 and Numbers 21:17 but, above all, thrice in Exodus 32:18, where the intensive significance of the piel infinitive is instructively distinguished from the more plastic purview of the two qal infinitives. The form of 'nh here could feasiblely be construed as a specimen of this root, but the it is found nowhere else in the instructions of the Mosaic Code.
By far the most common and prolific of the roots spelled 'nh occurs some 316 times in the Old Testament [BDB, 772b, in "I": 772b-773a]. This stem then gives birth to some ten derivatives [BDB, 773a-775b], several of which are vocables of considerable frequency in the Hebrew Bible, namely, 'eth [BDB, 773a-b], 'attah [773b-774b], ya'an [BDB, 774b-775a], and lma'an [BDB, 775a-b]. The verb itself means "answer" and so, more generally, "respond" in some way to something said or done. One subcategory of significance is responding "to an occasion" by speaking "in view of circumstances" surrounding someone. The specific idea here, then, is that the worshipping individual is responding to the action of the priest in taking from him the basket of first-fruits and placing it before the altar of the central sanctuary. The following perfective of 'mr defines the nature of the response as the ensuing confession which expresses the rationale of the ceremony which is in the course of being observed.
The phrase "my father" in the translation above renders the word 'abhiy in the original text, which is clearly a reference to Jacob as the eponym of Israel on the basis of Genesis 32 (verses 24-32, especially 28). An "Aramean" ('arammiy) was someone belonging in some way to the people called Aram in the Bible [BDB, 74b]. The Arameans were one of the main branches of the Semitic race, whose chief territorial holdings were northern Syria and northwestern Mesopotamia [BDB, 74a-b]. According to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, Aram, the eponym of this people, was one of the five sons of Shem and so the brother of Arphaxad, from whom Abraham descended through Eber (verses 22-24, comparing 11: 10-27).
There would, however, be several reasons why Jacob would be described as an Aramean if he
was to be classified in any racial terms more specific than Semite, since Israel, of course, did not
as yet exist, nor was "Hebrew" as yet a tribal designation distinctive to the patriarchal family.
(1.) For, firstly, already his forefathers Terah and Abraham became Arameans when they moved
to Haran in an Aramean area which became henceforth the homeland of the majority of Jacob's
kinfolk (Genesis 11 [31-32] and 22 [20-24]). The specific region, indeed, in which were located
the cities of Haran and Nahor (if "Nahor" is a toponym in Genesis 24:10) is called
Aram-Naharaim and Paddan-Aram in the patriarchal narratives. The term "Aram-Naharaim"
occurs in Genesis 24:10 (as also in Deuteronomy 23:5, Judges 3:8, 1 Chronicles 19:6, and Psalm
60:1 MT) [H.G. Andersen, ZPEB, I, 255b], while "Paddan-Aram" appears more frequently,
namely in Genesis 25 (20), 31 (18), 33 (18), 35 (9 and 26), 46 (15), and, in a slightly differing
form, in Genesis 28 (2 and 5-7). The reference is, in modern terminology, to the valley of the
River Balikh, a tributary of the Euphrates, in northwestern Mesopotamia [L.L. Walker, ZPEB, I,
245b, in 245a-249a; S. Barabas, ZPEB, III, 32b-33a; P.A. Verhoef, ZPEB, IV, 355b-356a].
Abraham himself may have lived the majority of his first seventy-five years in Aramean Haran
before his divine call to travel on to Canaan in 1991 B.C.
(2.) Rebekah, secondlyn Standard Bible). The Authorized Version renders the participle more correctly with "ready to perish" (as does the New King James Version, with the same translation as here). In terms of temporal reference, 'obedh is a specimen of the present-future use of the participle to indicate imminent action: "about to perish" [listed as II.B.5.A.3.b in CHEL].
The verb 'bd, to be sure, is applied to beasts which have gone astray in Deuteronomy 22 (verse 3), 1 Samuel 9 (verses 3 and 20), Jeremiah 50 (verse 6), Ezekiel 34 (verse 4 and 16), and Psalm 119 (verse 176) [BDB, 1b, in 1a-22]. In all these cases, however, the animal has been lost, which is the reason why the verb can be applied in Deuteronomy 22, not only to a donkey, but also to clothing and, indeed, to "every lost thing" (verse 3). The assumption of this usage, then, is that a possession which has been lost, whsheep.
By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.
(4.) Doubtless, fourthly, Jacob spoke Aramaic, the language of the Arameans, quite as fluently
as he spoke the language of Canaan which only long afterward came to be called Hebrew
(Genesis 31:47) [L.L. Walker, ZPEB, I, 249a-251a; G.L. Archer, ZPEB, I, 251a-255a].
Although the basic noun 'aram appears 149 times in the Old Testament, the gentilic 'arammiy is uncommon, occurring before this verse only five times in the Book of Genesis (25:20 [twice], 28:5, and 31 [20 and 24]) and afterward only seven times in the books of Kings and Chronicles [BDB, 74b].
The phrase "about to perish" in the translation above renders the participle 'obedh, which serves adjectivally to modify 'arammiy as an anarthrous attributive [a usage of the participle listed as II.B.5.C.2.a in CHEL]. The word in this particular passage is often translated as "wandering" (as in the Revised Standard Version and the New America8). It was this same great famine, indeed, which provided the rationale for the migration of Israel to Egypt in conjunction with the use which God had made of Joseph in the history of both Egypt and Israel (according to 45:5-7; 47 [especially verses 4 and 13] and ; 50:20).
The third and fourth clauses of verse 5 recall the migration to Egypt itself, which was undertaken
by Jacob and his family in 1876 B.C., as is recorded in chapters 46 and 47 of the Book of
Genesis. The phrase "with men of small number" in the translation above renders the construct
chain bimthey-ma'at. The prepositional prefix on mthey is an example of the beth-essentiae,
which expresses the domain in which something exists or the form in which it consists or appears
[GKC, 379; 119i; 119.3.(b.)(1.)]. Cowley, therefore, translates bimthey-ma'at as "in the
condition of being fether through straying or any other means, has effectively
perished with regard to its owner. There can, moreover, be no doubt that the basic meaning of
'bd is "perish" in the qal and therefore "destroy" in the piel and hiphil [BDB, 1b, in 1a-22].
The reference, then, of the participle 'obedh is to the famine of seven years which fell upon Palestine as well as Egypt in the year 1878 B.C. It was this famine which led Jacob to send his sons to Egypt to purchase grain in 1877 (according to Genesis 41:53-42:5) and to allow them to return thither to the same end in 1876 (according to 43: 1-14). We may note especially the words of Jacob himself in Genesis 42: "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; get you down thither and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die (verse 2). On this basis does Judah plead with "Israel his father" to allow Benjamin to accompany his brothers to Egypt in the following year: "Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little ones" (Genesis 43:8). It was this same great famine, indeed, which provided the rationale for the migration of Israel to Egypt in conjunction with the use which God had made of Joseph in the history of both Egypt and Israel (according to 45:5-7; 47 [especially verses 4 and 13] and ; 50:20).
The third and fourth clauses of verse 5 recall the migration to Egypt itself, which was undertaken
by Jacob and his family in 1876 B.C., as is recorded in chapters 46 and 47 of the Book of
Genesis. The phrase "with men of small number" in the translation above renders the construct
chain bimthey-ma'at. The prepositional prefix on mthey is an example of the beth-essentiae,
which expresses the domain in which something exists or the form in which it consists or appears
[GKC, 379; 119i; 119.3.(b.)(1.)]. Cowley, therefore, translates bimthey-ma'vitude.
In the final clause of Deuteronomy 26:5, the concluding adjectives 'atzum warabh ("mighty and
many") are coupled in such a way as to specify the sense in which Israel became "a great nation"
during the Egyptian Sojourn. The remarkable growth of Israel in Egypt was a cause of concern
firstly to the Hyksos and then to the Egyptians themselves. The first stage of the process is
recorded in Exodus 1:7, and succeeding stages, despite all attempts t rationale in Exodus 6 (verses 5-6).
8. And so the LORD made us go forth from Egypt
with a strong hand
and with an outstretched arm,
and with great terror
and with signs and with wonders.
The exodus from Egypt itself, as recorded in chapters 12-14 of the Book of Exodus, took place in
the middle of the month of Nisan (which corresponds to March and April) of the year 1446 B.C.,
as this exegete has argued elsewhere [CEOT, "The Mosaic Era"; CTQ, "Critical Chronology and
the Date of the Exodus"]. The verse before us, however, p>Evidently, to be sure, it was originally the Hyksos who enslaved the people of Israel by 1700
B.C. in the way recorded in Exodus 1 (verses 8-11), as is indicated by this exegete elsewhere
[CEOT, "The Egyptian Sojourn"]. The Egyptians, nevertheless, when they regained control of
the country and drove out the Hyksos in 1567 B.C., continued to enslave the Israelites (Exodus 1:
13-14). Succeeding pharaohs, indeed, of the Eighteenth Dynasty made two attempts to stop the
growth of Israel by edicts ordering the infanticide of all Hebrew males (Exodus 1: 16-22).
Various additional aspects of the oppressive slavery of Israel in Egypt are recounted in first
fourteen chapters of the Book of Exodus.
7. But then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers,
And then the LORD heard our voice,
And then He saw our affliction
in our toil with our oppression.
The rationale of the exodus asserted in this verse is already propounded in Exodus 2 (verses
23-25). The Lord Himself then enunciates His response to the afflictions and petitions of His
people in the call of Moses to the prophetic office in Exodus 3 (verse 7-9), who then
communicates this message to the people of Israel in Exodus 4 (verse 31). Despite, moreover,
initial indications to the Contrary, the Lord reiterates the same rationale in Exodus 6 (verses 5-6).
8. And so the LORD made us go forth from Egypt
with a strong hand
and with an outstretched arm,
and with great terror
and with signs and with wonders.
The exodus from Egypt itself, as recorded in chapters 12-14 of the Book of Exodus, took place in
the middle of the month of Nisan (which corresponds to March and April) of the year 1446 B.C.,
as this exegete has argued elsewhere [CEOT, "The Mosaic Era"; CTQ, "Critical Chronology and
the Date of the Exodus"]. The verse before us, however, includes also the semester preceding the
exodus in the course of which the ten plagues were falling on Egypt [CEOT]. A whole
succession of words employed in this verse emphasize the omnipotence of the One True God
which was so signally displayed in the plagues and the exodus.
9. And then He brought us to this place,
And then He gave us this land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
The initial half of this verse may be said to encapsulate all the chapters of the Pentateuch
following the exodus, which is to say from Exodus 15 to Deuteronomy 34 [as outlined in
Isagogical Notes on the Pentateuch]. In an overlapping way the second half of the verse was
already coming to pass with the conquests in Transjordan recorded in Numbers 21 which took
place in the autumn of 1407 B.C. [CEOT]. The initial conquests in Canaan, however,
accomplished by Joshua, between 1406 and 1400 B.C. were checked and even reversed during
the Period of the Judges by reason of the infidelity of Israel [CEOT, "The Tribal Era"]. The
subjugation, therefore, of the Promised Land did not actually come to completion until the reign
of David [CEOT, "The United Monarchy"].
10. So now, lo, I have brought the first-fruits
of the fruit of the ground
which Thou hast given to me, O LORD.
And thou shalt set it down [make it rest] before the face of the LORD, thy God, and thou shalt
prostrate thyself before the face of the LORD, thy God.
The term "first-fruits" in st-fruits of thy ground")
Ezekiel 44:30a, re'shith-kol-bikkurey-khol ("the first-fruits of all of the first-fruits of all")
b. Additional Uses Involving Soil in General ("Ground" and "Land")
Deuteronomy 26:2, mere'shith-kol-priy-ha'adhamah ("from the first-fruits of encorrectly giving "beginning, chief" as the basic
definition of re'shith]. The feminine noun occurs more than fifty times in the Old Testament,
including the first word in Holy Scripture, where bre'shith means "at first" (being traditionally
translated as "in the beginning"). Bre'shith became thereby the usual Jewish name of the first
book of the TaNaK. The Hebrew and English Dictionary defines re'shith as "first-fruits" in four
places in the Old Testament and implies the position of another fifteen instances within the same
semantic sphere, although its subdivisions within this sphere are misleading [BDB, 912a]. The
usage of re'shith as "first-fruits" may be classified more properly as follows:
A. Uses of Re'shith in the Absolute State
or with a Suffix
Leviticus 2:12, qorban-re'shith ("an offering of first-fruits")
Numbers 18:12, re'shitham ("their first-fruits" [standing parallel to a form of bikkurim in verse
13])
Nehemiah 12:44, lare'shith ("for the first-fruits" [listed between "the offerings" and "the tithes"])
B. Uses of Re'shith in the Construct State
1. Uses of a More General Nature
a. Uses Involving Bikkurim
Exodus 23:19, re'shith-bikkurey-'adhmathkha ("the first-fruits of the first-fruits of thy ground")
Exodus 34:26, re'shith-bikkurey-'adhmathkha ("the first-fruits of the first-fruits of thy ground")
Ezekiel 44:30a, re'shith-kol-bikkurey-khol ("the first-fruits of all of the first-fruits of all")
b. Additional Uses Involving Soil in General ("Ground" and "Land")
Deuteronomy 26:2, mere'shith-kol-priy-ha'adhamah ("from the first-fruits of every fruit of the
ground")
Deuteronomy 26:10, re'shith-priy-ha'adhamah ("the first-fruits of the fruit of the ground")
Ezekiel 48:14, re'shith-ha'aretz ("the first-fruits of the land")
c. Uses Involving One's Yield in General (noting also 2 Chronicles 31:5 cited below)
Proverbs 3:9, umere'shith kol-tbhu'athekha ("yea, from all thy yield")
Jeremiah 2:3, re'shith tbhu'athoh ("the first-fruits of His yield")
2. Uses of a More Specific Nature
a. With Reference to the First Sheaf of Grain
Leviticus 23:10, 'omer-re'shith-qtzirkhem ("the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest" [the
reference being, by the nature of case, to barley])
b. With reference to dough or ground meal
Numbers 15:20, re'shith-'arisothekhem challah, ("the first-fruits of your ground meal as a cake")
Numbers 15:21, mere'shith-'arisothekhem ("from the first-fruits of your ground meal")
Ezekiel 44:30b, re'shith-'arisothekhem ("the first-fruits of your ground meal")
Nehemiah 10:38 (MT, 37 EV), re'shith-'arisothenu ("the first fruits of our ground meal")
c. With reference to grain, new wine, and oil
Deuteronomy 18:4, re'shith-dagonkha tiroshkha wyitzharekha ("the first-fruits of thy grain, thy
new wine, and thine oil")
2 Chronicles 31:5, re'shith-dagan tirosh wyitzhar udhabhash wkhol tbhu'ath sadheh ("first-fruits
of grain, new wine, and oil and honey and every yield of a field")
d. With reference to wool
Deuteronomy 18:4, wre'shith-gez-tzo'nkha ("and the first-fruits of the fleece of thy sheep")
In Jeremiah 2:3 re'shith becomes a figure of Israel as the first-fruits of the Lord's yield frotituted the "first-fruits" (in the
technical sense) which wworld through His word and sacraments.
There are, actually, two different terms in Classical Hebrew which are customarily rendered as
"first-fruits" in English. In addition to re'shith there is also the plural bikkurim [BDB, 114b],
which, indeed, as opposed to re'shith, is strictly a technical term. This bikkurim is, of course, a
close cognate of the noun bkhor, which designates the "first-born" of men and animals [BDB,
114a]. The Hebrew and English Dictionary defines bikkurim as "the first of grain and fruit that
ripened and was gathered and offered to God according to the ritual" of the first-fruits [BDB,
114b]. This ritual included the offering of the bread (the lechem-habbikkurim) made from the
newly ripened grain on the Day of the First-Fruits (yom-habbikkurim), which is to say Pentecost
[BDB, 114b]. The several forms of bikkurim are found some seventeen times in the Old
Testament, as opposed to the nineteen occasions on which the more general vocable re'shith
refers to the "first-fruits" of one's produce.
In the majority of instances, as we have seen, re'shith serves, as here in Deuteronomy 26, as the
nomen regens in a construct chain, but the absolute in the first three instances cited above shows
the use re'shith in a technical sense as a synonym of bikkurim. This same congruence of terms
likewise appears, not only from those passages in which re'shith stands in a parallel position to
bikkurim, but also the construct chains which actually incorporate both of these terms. In such
chains bikkurim, evidently, modifies the preceding re'shith in the epexegetical manner of an
explicative genitive of restrictive significance [listed as III.A.B.7.a in CHEL]. The reference, in
other words, is to those initial products of the land which constituted the "first-fruits" (in the
technical sense) which were to be offered to God.
R.O. Rigsby, to be sure, suggests that re'shith refers specifically to "processed produce rather
than produce in the raw state" of nature [R.O. Rigsby, ABD, II, 797a, in 796b-797b]. This
hypothesis, however, runs aground on the applications of the word, not only to honey and wool,
but, above all, to the first sheaf of barley which the Israelites were to bring to the sanctuary each
year to be presented on the sixteenth day of Nisan. Nor need we assume with J.E. Rosscup that a
distinction may have been made between re'shith and bikkurim in some periods of history as
opposed to others [J.E. Rosscup, ZPEB, II, 541a, in 541a-b].
The rationale of all the offerings of first-fruits in the Old Testament was the divine ownership of
Israel. The land and everything and everyone who lived on it belonged to the One True God.
The people of Israel were His stewards who were allowed the use of the majority of everything
arising from the land or receiving its sustenance therefrom. As reminders, however, of this basic
relationship between the Lord and His people (who were, indeed, metaphorically, His own
first-fruits), the children of Israel were obliged to consecrate specifically to the Lord in one way
or another the first-born of all His people and animals and the first-fruits of all the products of
His land. The ordinances, therefore, of Nehemiah the Governor evince quite clearly the close
relationship between the offering of the first-fruits of the land and the first-born of man and beast
(Nehemiah 10: 36-40 MT [35-39 EV]).
Again, therefore, in addition to the instances of re'shith cited above, the word bikkurim is
likewise applied to the production of the land in general in Exodus 23 (verses 16 and 19) and 34
(verse 26), Numbers 28 (verse 26), and Nehemiah 10 (verse 36 [MT, 35 EV]) and 13 (verse 31).
The term is then applied more specifically to fruits in general (Numbers 18:13, Ezekiel 44:30,
and Nehemiah 10:36 [MT, 35 EV]), grain in general (Leviticus 2:14), wheat in particular
(Exodus 34:22), ground meal or dough (Ezekiel 44:30), loaves of bread (Leviticus 23 [17 and 20]
and 2 Kings 4:42), grapes (Numbers 13:20), and figs