Deuteronomy 31

Deuteronomy 31:1

Alien, Orphan and Widow

God upholds the right of the weak. We are referred back to what God has done for us. And then we see Someone Who has not thought of Himself, but only of our interests. He has freed us from the power of sin at the expense of Himself. That is the abiding example for our attitude toward others. We see this in the parable that the Lord Jesus tells of the debtor with a large debt that is forgiven him. This man forgets that so much has been forgiven him. This is evident from the fact that he constrains another who owes him a much smaller debt, without mercy, to repay it (Matthew 18:21-35).

This deals with maintaining the rights of the other. In the church of God, it is different than in the world. In the world the norm and standard is upholding of self-focused human rights: ‘I have rights the other is obliged to respect.’ The defense of my own rights is my principal stance. In the church of God, on the other hand, my brother has only rights and I only duties. We cannot assert any rights. It is about heeding what God says to me. Of course, what He says is just as applicable to the other as well, but that is not my concern here. The memory of my own oppression and my liberation from it, helps to shift my stance to one defending others, including those who are oppressed.

What has remained on the land or on the olive tree and in the vineyard may not be collected later by the owner (see also Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 23:22). God determines that the reaping of what is left over is for those who have no other support than Him.

What has not been collected has been forgotten by the mowers. They have overlooked it. It is, so to speak, a fruit that sometimes is not obvious. Those to whom God has bestowed this fruit of the land must make an effort to find it, collect it, and enjoy it. It is not thrown into their laps or delivered to their homes. Ruth has to be active to appropriate these blessings (cf. Rth 2:2; 7).

Just as the exhortation of Deu 24:17 is followed by a reminder of the liberation from Egypt, so is the case with the reaping of what is left of the harvest. It is to be expected from those who have been shown mercy that they themselves will show mercy to others. The memory of proven goodness urges us to show goodness to others.

Deuteronomy 31:2

Alien, Orphan and Widow

God upholds the right of the weak. We are referred back to what God has done for us. And then we see Someone Who has not thought of Himself, but only of our interests. He has freed us from the power of sin at the expense of Himself. That is the abiding example for our attitude toward others. We see this in the parable that the Lord Jesus tells of the debtor with a large debt that is forgiven him. This man forgets that so much has been forgiven him. This is evident from the fact that he constrains another who owes him a much smaller debt, without mercy, to repay it (Matthew 18:21-35).

This deals with maintaining the rights of the other. In the church of God, it is different than in the world. In the world the norm and standard is upholding of self-focused human rights: ‘I have rights the other is obliged to respect.’ The defense of my own rights is my principal stance. In the church of God, on the other hand, my brother has only rights and I only duties. We cannot assert any rights. It is about heeding what God says to me. Of course, what He says is just as applicable to the other as well, but that is not my concern here. The memory of my own oppression and my liberation from it, helps to shift my stance to one defending others, including those who are oppressed.

What has remained on the land or on the olive tree and in the vineyard may not be collected later by the owner (see also Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 23:22). God determines that the reaping of what is left over is for those who have no other support than Him.

What has not been collected has been forgotten by the mowers. They have overlooked it. It is, so to speak, a fruit that sometimes is not obvious. Those to whom God has bestowed this fruit of the land must make an effort to find it, collect it, and enjoy it. It is not thrown into their laps or delivered to their homes. Ruth has to be active to appropriate these blessings (cf. Rth 2:2; 7).

Just as the exhortation of Deu 24:17 is followed by a reminder of the liberation from Egypt, so is the case with the reaping of what is left of the harvest. It is to be expected from those who have been shown mercy that they themselves will show mercy to others. The memory of proven goodness urges us to show goodness to others.

Deuteronomy 31:3

Alien, Orphan and Widow

God upholds the right of the weak. We are referred back to what God has done for us. And then we see Someone Who has not thought of Himself, but only of our interests. He has freed us from the power of sin at the expense of Himself. That is the abiding example for our attitude toward others. We see this in the parable that the Lord Jesus tells of the debtor with a large debt that is forgiven him. This man forgets that so much has been forgiven him. This is evident from the fact that he constrains another who owes him a much smaller debt, without mercy, to repay it (Matthew 18:21-35).

This deals with maintaining the rights of the other. In the church of God, it is different than in the world. In the world the norm and standard is upholding of self-focused human rights: ‘I have rights the other is obliged to respect.’ The defense of my own rights is my principal stance. In the church of God, on the other hand, my brother has only rights and I only duties. We cannot assert any rights. It is about heeding what God says to me. Of course, what He says is just as applicable to the other as well, but that is not my concern here. The memory of my own oppression and my liberation from it, helps to shift my stance to one defending others, including those who are oppressed.

What has remained on the land or on the olive tree and in the vineyard may not be collected later by the owner (see also Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 23:22). God determines that the reaping of what is left over is for those who have no other support than Him.

What has not been collected has been forgotten by the mowers. They have overlooked it. It is, so to speak, a fruit that sometimes is not obvious. Those to whom God has bestowed this fruit of the land must make an effort to find it, collect it, and enjoy it. It is not thrown into their laps or delivered to their homes. Ruth has to be active to appropriate these blessings (cf. Rth 2:2; 7).

Just as the exhortation of Deu 24:17 is followed by a reminder of the liberation from Egypt, so is the case with the reaping of what is left of the harvest. It is to be expected from those who have been shown mercy that they themselves will show mercy to others. The memory of proven goodness urges us to show goodness to others.

Deuteronomy 31:5

Righteous Punishment

Punishment should be given where necessary, but not more than necessary. The punishment must be in accordance with the crime and with the responsibility of the criminal: “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know [it], and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

The number of forty stripes is a maximum, where the number forty stands for a full punishment (Genesis 7:12; Numbers 14:33-34). In giving the punishment, the rabbis, for fear of violating the letter of the law, have determined that forty minus one stripes must be given in case one should count wrong. Paul has received this maximum five times (2 Corinthians 11:24). It indicates that he was seen by the Jews as a great criminal.

In the church of God, what is called justice here is discipline. Discipline is exercised by the entire church. In practice, spiritually-minded brothers will prepare a disciplinary case. Here, too, it is important that a disciplinary measure is in accordance with the committed sin. For example, someone who lives an undisciplined Christian life is unfaithful and must be designated so. While this does not revoke his status as a brother, such unfaithfulness vitally requires admonishing (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, Darby Translation). The heaviest disciplinary measure of removing from the church does not fit in this case (1 Corinthians 5:13b). That would be tantamount to degrading the brother.

The stripes must be given in the presence of the judge. This emphasizes the fact that the sentence is executed as it was pronounced and that the sentence must be executed immediately.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Righteous Punishment

Punishment should be given where necessary, but not more than necessary. The punishment must be in accordance with the crime and with the responsibility of the criminal: “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know [it], and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

The number of forty stripes is a maximum, where the number forty stands for a full punishment (Genesis 7:12; Numbers 14:33-34). In giving the punishment, the rabbis, for fear of violating the letter of the law, have determined that forty minus one stripes must be given in case one should count wrong. Paul has received this maximum five times (2 Corinthians 11:24). It indicates that he was seen by the Jews as a great criminal.

In the church of God, what is called justice here is discipline. Discipline is exercised by the entire church. In practice, spiritually-minded brothers will prepare a disciplinary case. Here, too, it is important that a disciplinary measure is in accordance with the committed sin. For example, someone who lives an undisciplined Christian life is unfaithful and must be designated so. While this does not revoke his status as a brother, such unfaithfulness vitally requires admonishing (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, Darby Translation). The heaviest disciplinary measure of removing from the church does not fit in this case (1 Corinthians 5:13b). That would be tantamount to degrading the brother.

The stripes must be given in the presence of the judge. This emphasizes the fact that the sentence is executed as it was pronounced and that the sentence must be executed immediately.

Deuteronomy 31:7

Righteous Punishment

Punishment should be given where necessary, but not more than necessary. The punishment must be in accordance with the crime and with the responsibility of the criminal: “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know [it], and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

The number of forty stripes is a maximum, where the number forty stands for a full punishment (Genesis 7:12; Numbers 14:33-34). In giving the punishment, the rabbis, for fear of violating the letter of the law, have determined that forty minus one stripes must be given in case one should count wrong. Paul has received this maximum five times (2 Corinthians 11:24). It indicates that he was seen by the Jews as a great criminal.

In the church of God, what is called justice here is discipline. Discipline is exercised by the entire church. In practice, spiritually-minded brothers will prepare a disciplinary case. Here, too, it is important that a disciplinary measure is in accordance with the committed sin. For example, someone who lives an undisciplined Christian life is unfaithful and must be designated so. While this does not revoke his status as a brother, such unfaithfulness vitally requires admonishing (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, Darby Translation). The heaviest disciplinary measure of removing from the church does not fit in this case (1 Corinthians 5:13b). That would be tantamount to degrading the brother.

The stripes must be given in the presence of the judge. This emphasizes the fact that the sentence is executed as it was pronounced and that the sentence must be executed immediately.

Deuteronomy 31:8

Not Muzzle a Threshing Ox

As the previous section teaches that punishment should be given according to the offence, so this verse brings to bear that nourishment may be enjoyed according to the work done. Just as a criminal is deserving of punishment, so the laborer is worthy of his wages.

This verse is quoted twice in the New Testament: 1. “For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher [to thresh] in hope of sharing [the crops]” (1 Corinthians 9:9-10). 2. “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages”” (1 Timothy 5:17-18).

The first quotation shows that this instruction was not given primarily out of concern for the ox, but that it is intended for the worker in God’s kingdom. It is not just an abstract application but a practical explanation of this verse.

This precept makes it clear to believers that those who do spiritual work are entitled to material support from those who benefit from this spiritual work (cf. Galatians 6:6).

Deuteronomy 31:9

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:10

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:11

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:12

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:13

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:14

The Duty of a Husband’s Brother

In these verses an arrangement is made to protect the inheritance, that it may not fall into other hands. It describes the situation of two brothers who live in the same inheritance, of whom one is married and the other yet unmarried. If the married brother dies without a descendant, the other brother must take the widow as his wife. This is called “the duty of a husband’s brother” (Deuteronomy 25:5; 7). The son who is then conceived shall assume the name of the first husband and is his heir. This use, now enacted as law, has been known for some time (Genesis 38:8).

With Boaz’s marriage to Ruth it is about a family member further away, because there is no brother (Rth 4:1-8). There, too, the land has already passed into other hands. Boaz must become both the redeemer and the one who performs the duty of a husband’s brother. God has now enacted this existing, unwritten law and also brought it to the human level. This allows the brother to evade the duty of a husband’s brother. He can do this because he simply does not want it or because he puts his own interests at risk.

The pulling off the sandal, is a symbolic indication. To put the sandal or shoe upon a given thing, speaks of taking possession of it, appropriating it and making it your own (Joshua 1:3; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 108:10). Pulling off the shoe speaks of the opposite and means abandoning a given thing. That is what the man does in the case of Ruth (Rth 4:7). He does so because he ruins his own inheritance by marrying Ruth. He thinks more of his own interests. He then renounces the woman and the land. Here the woman pulls the sandal off his foot. Such an instance, results in a name of insult for the man.

In the book of Ruth is a redeemer who is nearer. This first redeemer is a type of law. The law is given as the first obligation to man in order to receive life through it. The law says: “Do this and you will live’ (Leviticus 18:5). But this first redeemer cannot redeem. People who enforce the law are like thieves and robbers. The Pharisees and scribes think only of their own interest and not of the people. They impose heavy loads.

Then comes the Redeemer Who can do it and does it, the Lord Jesus. He does not think of Himself. He is not afraid to lose His own inheritance. He wants to be ”cut off and have nothing” (Daniel 9:26b). The Lord Jesus is the true Boaz, which means ‘in him is strength’. Ruth is a picture of the remnant of Israel and Naomi of the Israel that has lost everything. How aptly Ruth, who is a Moabitess, shows the disenfranchisement of the remnant and that everything that is obtained is only on the basis of grace.

The meaning for us is what we have to do for the other. It shows that we have to step aside for the other. Are we prepared to prioritize the interests of the brother, or do we look like the first redeemer? It may take some time or effort, but how important is it to us that the other person keeps his inheritance?

The Sadducees refer in one of their discussions with the Lord Jesus to the duty of a husband’s brother to “prove” the implausibility of the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). The Sadducees are the liberals of that time. They only believe in what they can reason. Therefore they do not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They propose to the Lord the case invented by them of seven brothers who marry the same woman in succession. They explain from their corrupt thinking how the situation develops in their fabricated example.

Yet still, the Lord makes an effort to enlighten their darkened minds. He refers to the Scripture that speaks of God as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 15-16). The Lord quotes this Scripture to show that in the days of Moses the patriarchs live in another world, although they then have not yet been raised from the dead. The fact that their spirits are in the other world guarantees that they will share the fulfillment of the promises with resurrected bodies.

When God says this to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since passed away. But God has given them His promises. Will He not then be able to make them come true? Certainly, He will make them come true. He will do that in the resurrection. How very different is the faith of Abraham from that of the Sadducees. He has believed that God is able to raise even the dead (Hebrews 11:18).

Deuteronomy 31:15

Improper Method of Delivery

This case is related to the previous part, but as a counterpart. If her husband’s brother refuses to perform duty of the husband’s brother in marrying her, the woman, being very independent, may express her contempt (Deuteronomy 25:9). But in these verses it is made clear that this freedom must not tempt her into unauthorized, shameless actions. It is understandable that she wants to stand up for her husband, but the way she does it shows cruel malice. She wants to make her husband’s opponent unfit to conceive offspring.

The physical mutilation that should be used here as a punishment is the only example given in the law. The evil that is happening here must be punished with a punishment that has a lasting effect. In the execution of the sentence, pity, for example because it concerns a woman, should not play a role (cf. Deuteronomy 13:8; Deuteronomy 19:13; 21).

The Lord may point to this precept when He speaks of cutting off the hand that can cause us to fall into sin. Preventing an inappropriate act is done by judging oneself. Whoever cuts off his hand spiritually speaking, will not literally have to lose it. The Lord goes much further: whoever cuts off his hand spiritually, thereby escapes the judgment of hell (Mark 9:43).

Deuteronomy 31:16

Improper Method of Delivery

This case is related to the previous part, but as a counterpart. If her husband’s brother refuses to perform duty of the husband’s brother in marrying her, the woman, being very independent, may express her contempt (Deuteronomy 25:9). But in these verses it is made clear that this freedom must not tempt her into unauthorized, shameless actions. It is understandable that she wants to stand up for her husband, but the way she does it shows cruel malice. She wants to make her husband’s opponent unfit to conceive offspring.

The physical mutilation that should be used here as a punishment is the only example given in the law. The evil that is happening here must be punished with a punishment that has a lasting effect. In the execution of the sentence, pity, for example because it concerns a woman, should not play a role (cf. Deuteronomy 13:8; Deuteronomy 19:13; 21).

The Lord may point to this precept when He speaks of cutting off the hand that can cause us to fall into sin. Preventing an inappropriate act is done by judging oneself. Whoever cuts off his hand spiritually speaking, will not literally have to lose it. The Lord goes much further: whoever cuts off his hand spiritually, thereby escapes the judgment of hell (Mark 9:43).

Deuteronomy 31:17

A Full and Just Weight and Measure

The prohibition of dual weights and measures impinges not only on their use, but also on their possession. The bad merchant has a large measure for the purchase and a small measure for the sale. The prophet Amos also speaks against this evil with clear language (Amos 8:5b). The prohibition has been given before (Leviticus 19:35-36). In the same line we read in Psalms 12 about speaking “with flattering lips and with a double heart” (Psalms 12:3).

The evil of two measures can so easily play a role in our own hearts and in church life. When it comes to ourselves, we often apply different standards than when it comes to others. We are often much more lenient toward family members than toward outsiders. That is why it is wise, for example, to stay out of a disciplinary case as a family.

For God, such a conduct of ambivalence is an abomination (Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:23). In Deuteronomy 25:16 it is said of everyone who measures with two measures that such a man is “an abomination to the LORD your God”. The LORD wants judgment without regard to persons. In His ways of government, He takes considers what measure we have used for others. How we have judged others, according to that standard we ourselves will be judged by Him, as He Himself says: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38c).

God rewards honest conduct with a long life in the land. Those who are honest do not do themselves any harm, even though it sometimes seems so. The full blessing that God grants His people to enjoy in the land He, is the heavenly places for the Christian. Honesty in all relationships is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of spiritual blessings.

Deuteronomy 31:18

A Full and Just Weight and Measure

The prohibition of dual weights and measures impinges not only on their use, but also on their possession. The bad merchant has a large measure for the purchase and a small measure for the sale. The prophet Amos also speaks against this evil with clear language (Amos 8:5b). The prohibition has been given before (Leviticus 19:35-36). In the same line we read in Psalms 12 about speaking “with flattering lips and with a double heart” (Psalms 12:3).

The evil of two measures can so easily play a role in our own hearts and in church life. When it comes to ourselves, we often apply different standards than when it comes to others. We are often much more lenient toward family members than toward outsiders. That is why it is wise, for example, to stay out of a disciplinary case as a family.

For God, such a conduct of ambivalence is an abomination (Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:23). In Deuteronomy 25:16 it is said of everyone who measures with two measures that such a man is “an abomination to the LORD your God”. The LORD wants judgment without regard to persons. In His ways of government, He takes considers what measure we have used for others. How we have judged others, according to that standard we ourselves will be judged by Him, as He Himself says: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38c).

God rewards honest conduct with a long life in the land. Those who are honest do not do themselves any harm, even though it sometimes seems so. The full blessing that God grants His people to enjoy in the land He, is the heavenly places for the Christian. Honesty in all relationships is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of spiritual blessings.

Deuteronomy 31:19

A Full and Just Weight and Measure

The prohibition of dual weights and measures impinges not only on their use, but also on their possession. The bad merchant has a large measure for the purchase and a small measure for the sale. The prophet Amos also speaks against this evil with clear language (Amos 8:5b). The prohibition has been given before (Leviticus 19:35-36). In the same line we read in Psalms 12 about speaking “with flattering lips and with a double heart” (Psalms 12:3).

The evil of two measures can so easily play a role in our own hearts and in church life. When it comes to ourselves, we often apply different standards than when it comes to others. We are often much more lenient toward family members than toward outsiders. That is why it is wise, for example, to stay out of a disciplinary case as a family.

For God, such a conduct of ambivalence is an abomination (Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:23). In Deuteronomy 25:16 it is said of everyone who measures with two measures that such a man is “an abomination to the LORD your God”. The LORD wants judgment without regard to persons. In His ways of government, He takes considers what measure we have used for others. How we have judged others, according to that standard we ourselves will be judged by Him, as He Himself says: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38c).

God rewards honest conduct with a long life in the land. Those who are honest do not do themselves any harm, even though it sometimes seems so. The full blessing that God grants His people to enjoy in the land He, is the heavenly places for the Christian. Honesty in all relationships is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of spiritual blessings.

Deuteronomy 31:20

A Full and Just Weight and Measure

The prohibition of dual weights and measures impinges not only on their use, but also on their possession. The bad merchant has a large measure for the purchase and a small measure for the sale. The prophet Amos also speaks against this evil with clear language (Amos 8:5b). The prohibition has been given before (Leviticus 19:35-36). In the same line we read in Psalms 12 about speaking “with flattering lips and with a double heart” (Psalms 12:3).

The evil of two measures can so easily play a role in our own hearts and in church life. When it comes to ourselves, we often apply different standards than when it comes to others. We are often much more lenient toward family members than toward outsiders. That is why it is wise, for example, to stay out of a disciplinary case as a family.

For God, such a conduct of ambivalence is an abomination (Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:23). In Deuteronomy 25:16 it is said of everyone who measures with two measures that such a man is “an abomination to the LORD your God”. The LORD wants judgment without regard to persons. In His ways of government, He takes considers what measure we have used for others. How we have judged others, according to that standard we ourselves will be judged by Him, as He Himself says: “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38c).

God rewards honest conduct with a long life in the land. Those who are honest do not do themselves any harm, even though it sometimes seems so. The full blessing that God grants His people to enjoy in the land He, is the heavenly places for the Christian. Honesty in all relationships is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of spiritual blessings.

Deuteronomy 31:21

Command to Blot out Amalek

Amalek is a cruel people who attack the weakest points of a people who have barely escaped slavery (Exodus 17:8; 14-16). They also attack a people who not only have no experience of fighting, but also have occasioned them no harm. In this attack of God’s people, they reveal a mindset without fear of God.

God does not forget what this cowardly enemy has done to His people. The verdict is to totally blot out the memory of this enemy by a complete judgment. It can be compared to the judgment of the flood in the days of Noah and the overturning and burning of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 6:5-7; Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24-25). Saul is commissioned to blot out Amalek, but fails by disobedience (1 Samuel 15:1-3; 18-19). Some time later David beats the Amalekites (2 Samuel 1:1). In the days of Hezekiah the final liquidation of Amalek takes place (1 Chronicles 4:41-43).

Amalek is a picture of the sinful flesh. The flesh, the sin in us, must be completely set aside. Faith knows that sin in the flesh is judged when Christ died under God’s judgment on the cross and that we are crucified there with Him (Romans 6:6; Romans 8:3). Now it is our responsibility to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

Just like Amalek, the sinful flesh is also very cruel. It attacks us at times of weakness and at our weakest points. Right then it is important to think of Christ and His work and of our union with Him in that work. Then the flesh has no chance to assert itself and seduce us to sin through which we suffer defeat.

We must go far in our love for others, but we must not give any room to the flesh. We must allow God to preside in all our affairs, in all our relationships. Then things like charity, resolve, and discernment – all will find their place and be found in all our ways. Love for the flesh, for Satan and his powers, must never be there, otherwise we will never apprehend the beautiful message of the next chapter.

Deuteronomy 31:22

Command to Blot out Amalek

Amalek is a cruel people who attack the weakest points of a people who have barely escaped slavery (Exodus 17:8; 14-16). They also attack a people who not only have no experience of fighting, but also have occasioned them no harm. In this attack of God’s people, they reveal a mindset without fear of God.

God does not forget what this cowardly enemy has done to His people. The verdict is to totally blot out the memory of this enemy by a complete judgment. It can be compared to the judgment of the flood in the days of Noah and the overturning and burning of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 6:5-7; Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24-25). Saul is commissioned to blot out Amalek, but fails by disobedience (1 Samuel 15:1-3; 18-19). Some time later David beats the Amalekites (2 Samuel 1:1). In the days of Hezekiah the final liquidation of Amalek takes place (1 Chronicles 4:41-43).

Amalek is a picture of the sinful flesh. The flesh, the sin in us, must be completely set aside. Faith knows that sin in the flesh is judged when Christ died under God’s judgment on the cross and that we are crucified there with Him (Romans 6:6; Romans 8:3). Now it is our responsibility to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

Just like Amalek, the sinful flesh is also very cruel. It attacks us at times of weakness and at our weakest points. Right then it is important to think of Christ and His work and of our union with Him in that work. Then the flesh has no chance to assert itself and seduce us to sin through which we suffer defeat.

We must go far in our love for others, but we must not give any room to the flesh. We must allow God to preside in all our affairs, in all our relationships. Then things like charity, resolve, and discernment – all will find their place and be found in all our ways. Love for the flesh, for Satan and his powers, must never be there, otherwise we will never apprehend the beautiful message of the next chapter.

Deuteronomy 31:23

Command to Blot out Amalek

Amalek is a cruel people who attack the weakest points of a people who have barely escaped slavery (Exodus 17:8; 14-16). They also attack a people who not only have no experience of fighting, but also have occasioned them no harm. In this attack of God’s people, they reveal a mindset without fear of God.

God does not forget what this cowardly enemy has done to His people. The verdict is to totally blot out the memory of this enemy by a complete judgment. It can be compared to the judgment of the flood in the days of Noah and the overturning and burning of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 6:5-7; Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24-25). Saul is commissioned to blot out Amalek, but fails by disobedience (1 Samuel 15:1-3; 18-19). Some time later David beats the Amalekites (2 Samuel 1:1). In the days of Hezekiah the final liquidation of Amalek takes place (1 Chronicles 4:41-43).

Amalek is a picture of the sinful flesh. The flesh, the sin in us, must be completely set aside. Faith knows that sin in the flesh is judged when Christ died under God’s judgment on the cross and that we are crucified there with Him (Romans 6:6; Romans 8:3). Now it is our responsibility to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

Just like Amalek, the sinful flesh is also very cruel. It attacks us at times of weakness and at our weakest points. Right then it is important to think of Christ and His work and of our union with Him in that work. Then the flesh has no chance to assert itself and seduce us to sin through which we suffer defeat.

We must go far in our love for others, but we must not give any room to the flesh. We must allow God to preside in all our affairs, in all our relationships. Then things like charity, resolve, and discernment – all will find their place and be found in all our ways. Love for the flesh, for Satan and his powers, must never be there, otherwise we will never apprehend the beautiful message of the next chapter.

Deuteronomy 31:25

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?

Deuteronomy 31:26

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?

Deuteronomy 31:27

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?

Deuteronomy 31:28

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?

Deuteronomy 31:29

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?

Deuteronomy 31:30

Introduction

This chapter is about offering the LORD a basket containing the first fruits of all the fruits of the land. It is the conclusion of a long speech by Moses and the climax of it. All the preceding chapters are the preparation for what is presented in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 1-11 we get to know the land. In Deuteronomy 12-16 it is mainly about getting to know the place where the LORD dwells.

In other words, the LORD tells us here with what to fill the baskets (Deuteronomy 1-11) and where to take the filled baskets (Deuteronomy 12-16). Deuteronomy 17-25 is about the effect of the commandments that God gives. There, what is spelled out is the appropriate mindset for God’s people when coming together, like in this chapter, with their filled baskets. With Deuteronomy 27 a new section begins. The spiritual application for us is easy to make: laid before us here, is the essence of worship.

The Offering of the First Fruits of the Land

This section is about worship. In order to comply with what is written here, the Israelites must first have fruit. They will only be able to have it in the land. Bringing the fruit is therefore proof that they have arrived in the land. By bringing the first fruits of this fruit they confess that they owe the land to the LORD.

The fruit is described in Deuteronomy 8. But the Israelite must not only know what to bring, he must also know where to bring it to. This is described in Deuteronomy 12. He has to look for that place as soon as he enters the land. Only then will he be able to do what is written here in Deuteronomy 26:10, which is “worship before the LORD your God”. Thirdly, it is about the way in which the first fruits are to be brought. The fruit must be put in a basket and confession must be made when presented.

The application for us is whether we have something to bring to God and whether we know the place where He dwells, the place He has chosen. We can also worship personally, at home, but that is not the same as this place. There we do not come as individuals, but there we come together as a people, as a church.

In the wilderness too, a place was stipulated for the people to gather: the tabernacle.. But this is about the land and therefore a different place, with different characteristics. With which one do we have to do? With both places. Thus, in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the letter to the Hebrews the believers are seen and addressed as living in the wilderness. We meet on the first day of the week in the awareness that we are still in the wilderness.

We can also have awareness of being in the land. The land means to us what we find in the letter to the Ephesians: the heavenly places with the spiritual blessings as the fruit of the land. If the believer comes with worship on the first day of the week, he comes not only as someone with a sacrifice from the wilderness, but also as someone who has collected fruit in the land.

This is not just about entering and taking possession of the land, but about living in the land. Owning the land does not mean that we live there. Living means to rest in it, to be at home there. The introduction of Israel into the land of promises corresponds for the believer to the enjoyment of his privileges in Christ, in the practice of the life of faith. To ‘live’ in those privileges means to know the fulfilment of the blessings and to be satisfied with them.

That is what is proposed to us in the letter to the Ephesians. Before Paul mentions the spiritual blessings with which the believer is blessed in Christ in the heavenly places, he begins to praise Him from Whom all blessings come forth: “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). This praise is addressed directly to God, the Giver of all riches. This must be the result of enjoying the Divine blessings.

What do I find in the land, what blessings do I enjoy there? First of all, I meet in heaven a glorified Lord at the right hand of God. Further to this, I enjoy my personal attachment to this Lord, because I share in the sonship He affords. Thirdly, I find there that I am part of the body of Christ and that I am therefore also intimately connected with Him in that way. There too I discover the house of God, where the Holy Spirit now lives. And because the Lord Jesus is my life, His Father is my Father – I may enter the sanctuary as one of the sons who say “Abba, Father”, to worship Him!

The basket also says something of the zeal needed to fill it. The fruits we bring must have cost us something. Collection is done with effort. We cannot bring old fruits; it is about the first fruits.

God wants us to bring the fruits to the place He has chosen. For an Israelite, the city of Jerusalem is the only place on earth, where the people have to gather to celebrate the feasts of the LORD. And for us? For the redeemed of Christ there is only one center of meeting. It is not left to our own insight to discover that place. The Word clearly lets us know through the Lord Jesus: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

The pagans bring sacrifices in every place they consider good. God Himself will designate this place for His people, and He expects His people to seek it. Not until four hundred years after they are in the land does it become known where that place is. That’s because then, there is one who genuinely seeks it: David.

Psalms 132 describes the exercises associated with this search. David finds the ark in the fields of Efratha (Psalms 132:1-7). At this time he is still young. Youthfulness should serve no prohibition in finding that place of fellowship. If interest in that place abounds, God will give the means to ensure that it is found.

Geographically, believers meet in many places as a church. But it is always the same God, the same altar, the same Table of the Lord, and not, as with the pagans, different gods and tables. It is not the intention that a new group with its own insights should meet at every location. It is also important to be open to all the children of God who live in fellowship with God. That place can only be where the characteristics of the body of Christ are practiced. His authority applies there.

In that place we not only bring fruits, we also eat there. Which is to say, we have fellowship with God and with each other. We share what we ourselves have collected of fruits with others. The first fruits are for God. We offer our thanks to God for it. As we do so, the other attendees enjoy of what, as the result of a fresh collection, is offered in thanksgiving to God.

In Deuteronomy 16 there is the danger that not everyone comes with something in his heart, because it is not offered loudly to the Lord. Sisters may think that they need not have anything, because they cannot speak it loudly anyway (1 Corinthians 14:34). But what matters is what is in the heart; that is what God sees, and there He expects fruit. There is no excuse whatsoever for someone coming empty-handed, i.e. with an empty heart. The first fruits must be taken from all the fruit and put in a basket (Deuteronomy 26:2). We are that basket ourselves. We must not appear empty, there must be something in our hearts of the Lord Jesus. Everything we have seen of Him, we may offer to God.

In Deuteronomy 26:3-4 we again have one of the rare mentions of the priest in this book. That is because worship is mentioned here, a more familiar theme and occurrence in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it is about bloody sacrifices. They are placed on the altar. Deuteronomy, however, deals with the fruits of the land. These sacrifices do not come onto the altar, but are placed before the altar. In worship there is a personal aspect – “I declare … that I have entered” (Deuteronomy 26:3a) – and a joint aspect – “our fathers to give us” (Deuteronomy 26:3b). God is praised by us personally that He has blessed His people, the church, according to His counsels.

In the foregoing we have seen what the Israelite must do by order of the Lord. In what follows, we find what he should say when he is in the presence of the priest. What the Israelite must remember is important to show the grace of which the people are the object of, from the LORD’s side. He mentions the old state of the people (Deuteronomy 26:5-7), the liberation of which the people are the object of from the side of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:8) and the part given to him according to the promise of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:9).

These three aspects are important to our worship. We remember: 1. That we were in bondage to sin. 2. That Christ freed us from it at the cost of His life. 3. That we are now blessed with many and great blessings. Will not the remembrance of these things elevate our worship?

The Supper He left for us for the time of His absence is a remembrance meal. It focuses our thoughts on Christ, our beloved Savior, Who has given Himself as a propitiation for us. We owe everything to His death on the cross. In no other place than the worship service with the Supper as the center, does it suit us better to be aware of the various and rich blessings. Our God and Father overloaded us with them in Christ. We may enjoy them through the Holy Spirit. They are listed in the letter to the Ephesians.

The Israelite gives a personal testimony in Deuteronomy 26:5-9. When we meet as a church, the individuality of the believer does not disappear. We eat personally and together. He not only brought me into the land, He brought us into the land. The meeting on the first day of the week is the perfect day to glorify God together. In worship we tell Him what we have seen of the Lord Jesus. We tell Him what we used to be. But we don’t stop there.

Jacob is “a wandering Aramean” because he lived in Syria for twenty years and because his mother comes from there. There he also had a wife and children from whom the people are built (Hosea 12:13). He has been at death’s doorstep, because Laban has tried to kill him. This part of the confession emphasizes the humiliating origin. As far as origin is concerned, there is nothing that the Israelite can boast of.

But God is the God of Jacob, and He has freed him from his distress. He has turned a man who was in danger of being killed into a great people. The act of liberation is an act of mercy and compassion. Making a great people and bringing the people into the blessing of the land are acts of God’s intention and sovereignty. Thus we have found ourselves in the world (Egypt), and God has led us out of it, and in so doing has formed the church according to His counsel.

The wilderness is not mentioned here. That is not part of God’s counsels. The wilderness belongs to the ways of God with us, our upbringing. That’s why we don’t tell God on the first day of the week what we have all experienced in the world. We can do this on other occasions, such as the meeting for prayer.

In the worship service we speak about how we used to belong to the world and what He did to bring us into the land. We praise Him for the great blessings we have found there. The most important thing, however, is not the gift, but the Giver Who is the cause of our joy.

We find in these verses a beautiful painting of worship. This exalted Christian service on earth is experienced by us weak and imperfect. Despite that, it is a foretaste of what will be perfectly and for all eternity realized in the glory by the countless redeemed.

The name ‘worship service’ is sometimes given to some religious gathering of which the purpose is prayer or listening to the Word of God. That, however, that is not what biblical worship means. Here we have a picture of what this service truly consists of. The Israelite comes in the presence of the LORD to bring Him an offering which He has prescribed. For the Christian, the worship service is a service where he offers up to God the Father “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

The above does not weaken the value of prayer and the reading and studying of Scripture in the meeting. On the contrary, if this is done in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, it will result in the hearts expressing themselves more fully in praise and worship.

In order to be able to offer something to God, it is important that we can say: “For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14b). Mary of Bethany, who offers at the feet of the Lord Jesus very costly perfume of pure nard, performs worship (John 12:1-8). Her deed is a striking picture of it. Hence, it can be said of our worship service to God: “The sweet scent of our praise is nothing but that of Your love.”

In these eleven verses the word ‘given’ occurs regularly. It points out to us that God makes Himself known as Giver, not as Someone Who demands. And He has given “all the good” (Deuteronomy 26:11). He only gives good gifts: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17; Matthew 7:11). If an Israelite must rejoice at all the good that the LORD had given his God to him, how much more reason do we have than to bow down, just like the Israelite, in holy reverence before God and His Son?