Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Our Old Testament Scripture passage for this first Sunday in Lent comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, where we find the people of Israel gathered, ready to enter into the Promised Land. They are gathered together to hear the final instructions of their leader, Moses, as God has told Moses that he will not be going into the land. In his words to the people today he instructs them to remember two things. The first is to remember to bring offerings to God of the first fruits of their crops each year. The second is to remember how God has cared and protected them, their families, and their ancestors all the way back to the days of the Patriarchs.
One of the many promises that the Lord God made to the people when He brought them into the Promised Land was that if they obeyed Him, He would bless their crops and harvests. Moses instructed the people to, at each harvest time, take the first fruits of the crops and bring them as an offering to the Lord God (vs. 1-4).
We might wonder why this is so very important. If we work hard and there is enough of both sun and rain, the crops will come. Why bring of the best of the crops to God, as He can’t eat them? The danger in holding back from bringing an offering to God and thanking Him is that very soon we start to think that it is our strength, our resourcefulness and ability that gave us the harvest, the job, the house, and everything else we have. We see less and less of gratefulness to God for the blessings He has provided for us in the population today. Thanksgiving Day is just an excuse to have a big meal today. A young boy on a once very popular TV show once questioned why they should thank God for their food, as “He didn’t buy it for them”. Moses did not want the people to fall into the sin of ungratefulness to God. They needed to remember that God had promised to bless them in the new land if they remembered Him with offerings of the first fruits of their harvests. We need to give back a portion of what He has provided for us. When we give back to God an offering, we are acknowledging that God is the source of all that we have.
The second thing that Moses wanted the people to remember was how the Lord God had protected and cared for them, their families, and their ancestors (vs. 5-10). When they brought their offerings to God, the people were instructed to verbally review to everyone how God had cared and provided for their ancestors, all the way back to the days of the Patriarchs. Their ancestor Abraham had originally come from the city of Ur, near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet. He and his family migrated northwest, along the rivers to the ancient land of Aram (present day eastern Syria and northern Iraq), which is why their ancestors were called “Syrians” or “Arameans” in verse 5. Though not specifically named, this passage seems to highlight the difficulties that the Patriarch Jacob went through, and how God brought him through each one. God had watched over and cared for Jacob when he fled for his life from his brother, Esau. He cared for him when later, with wives and children he had to flee from his unscrupulous father-in-law, Laban. God cared and provided for them when famine hit the land and they needed to go down into Egypt, and later while they were taken as slaves there. Now, in their recent memory they were protected as they passed through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
Why is remembering what God did in the past so important to us today? Remembering God’s protection and provisions for us, our families, and our ancestors helps to strengthen our faith now. When we remember how He brought people in the past through some really difficult situations, our faith is bolstered to know that He can and will do the same for us. Remembering what God did in the past will give us courage now to endure difficult times.
Moses concludes our passage with the encouragement to never forget to praise and thank God for all of the good He has provided for us (vs. 11). We should never take for granted His provisions, or to fall into the trap of thinking that everything we have came through our own hard work. Just as Moses told the people of his day, the Word of God tells us today to remember.
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