The Basket of Firstfruits

Anonymous

In this most interesting ordinance in Deuteronomy 26, we see three distinct practical results flowing out of the Israelite’s possession of the land of Canaan: namely worship, active benevolence and personal holiness. It was when the hand of Jehovah had conducted His people into the promised land that the fruits of that land could be presented. It was necessary to be in Canaan ere Canaan’s fruits could be offered in worship. The worshipper was able to say, ‘I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us’ (v. 3).

Here was the root of the matter: ‘I am come’. He does not say, ‘I am coming, or hoping to come, or longing to come.’ No; but ‘I am come’. Thus it must ever be. We must know ourselves saved, ere we can offer the fruits of a known salvation. We may be most sincere in our desires after salvation, most earnest in our efforts to be saved. But then we cannot but see that efforts to be saved and the fruits of salvation are wholly different. The Israelite did not offer the basket of first fruits in order to get into the land, but because he was actually in it — and there is no mistake about it. There is then the offering of the fruit of it and, in verses 5 to 9, a lovely sample of worship.

The second practical result, namely active benevolence, is seen in verses 12–13: ‘When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled’. Nothing can be more beautiful, morally, than the order of these things. It is similar to what we have in Hebrews 13:15–16. ‘By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name’ — here is the worship. ‘But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased’ — here is the active benevolence. Putting both together, we have what we may call the upper and the nether side of the Christian’s character — praising God and doing good to men. Precious characteristics! May we exhibit them more faithfully! One thing is certain: they will always go together. Show me a man whose heart is full of praise to God, and I will show you one whose heart is open to every form of human need. He may not be rich in this world’s goods. He may be obliged to say, like one of old who was not ashamed to say it, ‘Silver and gold have I none’. But he will have the tear of sympathy, the kindly look, the soothing word, and these things tell far more powerfully upon a sensitive heart than the opening of the purse-strings and the jingling of silver and gold.

But let the reader mark the divine order laid down in Hebrews 13 and illustrated in Deuteronomy 26. Worship gets the first, the highest place. Let us never forget this. We are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God ‘continually’. So also the psalmist says: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth’ (Ps. 34:1). It is not merely now and then, or when all is bright and cheery around us, when everything goes on smoothly and prosperously; no, but ‘at all times … continually’. The stream of thanksgiving is to flow uninterruptedly. There is no interval for murmuring and complaining, fretfulness, or dissatisfaction, gloom or despondency. Praise and thanksgiving are to be our continual occupation. We are ever to cultivate the spirit of worship. This will be our happy and holy service while eternity rolls along its course of golden ages. When we shall have no further call ‘to communicate’, no demand on our sympathies or resources, when we shall have bid an eternal adieu to this scene of sorrow and need, then shall we praise our God forevermore, in the sanctuary of His own blessed presence above.

‘But to do good and to communicate forget not’. There is singular interest attaching to the mode in which this is put. He does not say, ‘But to offer the sacrifice of praise forget not.’ No; but lest, in the happy enjoyment of our place and portion in Christ, we should forget that we are passing through a scene of sorrow and need, trial and pressure, the apostle adds the salutary admonition as to doing good and communicating. The spiritual Israelite is not only to rejoice in every good thing which the Lord his God has bestowed upon him, but he is also to remember the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow — that is, the one who has no earthly portion, no earthly home, no earthly protector, and no earthly stay. It must ever be thus. The tide of grace rolls down from the bosom of God, fills our hearts to overflowing, and in its overflow, refreshes and gladdens the entire scene around us. If we were only living in the enjoyment of what is ours in God, our every movement, our every act, yea our every look would do good. The Christian, according to the divine idea, is one who stands with one hand lifted up to God in the presentation of the sacrifice of praise and the other hand filled with the fragrant fruits of genuine benevolence to meet every needy object.

Author unknown[1]

[1] Adapted from Things New and Old vol. 5 p. 61.

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2021