Context No. 2682 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 26:1-11: in context

1It shall be, when you have come in to the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to the LORD your God, that I have come to the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.” 4The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the LORD your God’s altar. 5You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers. The LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, the LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God. 11You shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.

Moses gives Israel a rite for the day they finally settle the land. Bring the first of the ground's fruit in a basket to the sanctuary, hand it to the priest, and then recite the story out loud: "My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, few in number... and the LORD brought us out with a mighty hand."

Notice the shape of this worship. The gift is small, a single basket, but the words are long, a whole history of rescue. Gratitude here is memory made concrete. Before the farmer can call the harvest his, he has to say aloud where it came from, that he arrived in this land as the heir of wanderers and slaves whom God carried out. The firstfruit is set down as proof that nothing on the table began with him.

When I give, do I retell the story of rescue behind what I hold, or quietly treat it as mine by right?

Sources

Deuteronomy 8:17: "You may say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth."
1 Chronicles 29:14: "All things come from you, and of your own have we given you."
Luke 17:17: "Weren't the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?"