Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews are commanded to offer the firstfruits of their produce to God, with a public profession that they acknowledge their produce as received from God. Second, verse 12, they are commanded in the third year to set aside the third tithe and give it to the poor. Third, verse 17, Moses urges them to serve and obey God, who has preferred them above all nations.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-19
1. And when you have entered the land which the Lord your God will give you to possess, and have obtained it and dwell in it; 2. you shall take from all your produce the firstfruits, and put them in a basket, and go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may be invoked there: 3. and you shall approach the priest who is in those days, and say to him: "I profess today before the Lord your God that I have entered the land for which He swore to our fathers to give it to us." 4. And the priest, taking the basket from your hand, shall place it before the altar of the Lord your God; 5. and you shall speak in the sight of the Lord your God: "A Syrian persecuted my father, who went down to Egypt, and sojourned there in very small numbers: and he grew into a great and powerful nation of infinite multitude; 6. and the Egyptians afflicted us and persecuted us, imposing most heavy burdens; 7. and we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, who heard us and looked upon our humiliation, our toil and anguish; 8. and He brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; 9. and He brought us to this place, and gave us a land flowing with milk and honey. 10. And therefore I now offer the firstfruits of the produce of the land which the Lord has given me." And you shall leave them in the sight of the Lord your God, and having adored the Lord your God, 11. you shall feast upon all the good things which the Lord your God has given to you and your household, you and the Levite and the stranger who is with you. 12. When you have completed the tithe of all your produce, in the third year of tithes, you shall give it to the Levite and the stranger, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied; 13. and you shall speak in the sight of the Lord your God: "I have taken away what is sanctified from my house, and have given it to the Levite and the stranger, the orphan and the widow, as You commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor forgotten Your decree. 14. I have not eaten of these in my mourning, nor separated them in any uncleanness, nor spent anything from them on a funeral matter. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as You commanded me. 15. Look down from Your sanctuary and from Your lofty dwelling in heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey." 16. Today the Lord your God commands you to observe these commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfill them with your whole heart and your whole soul. 17. You have chosen the Lord today, that He may be your God, and that you may walk in His ways, and keep His ceremonies, commandments, and judgments, and obey His authority. 18. And the Lord has chosen you today, that you may be His special people, as He spoke to you, and that you keep all His precepts: 19. and that He may make you higher than all the nations which He created, for His praise, and name, and glory: that you may be a holy people of the Lord your God, as He spoke.
Verse 1: When You Have Obtained the Land
1. "YOU HAVE OBTAINED IT." — Therefore this law did not oblige the Hebrews until the seventh year from their entry into Canaan, when, having defeated the Canaanites, they obtained and cultivated the land, and henceforth. So Abulensis.
Verse 2: The Firstfruits in a Basket
2. YOU SHALL TAKE FROM ALL YOUR PRODUCE THE FIRSTFRUITS, AND PUT THEM IN A BASKET — in a wicker basket. These firstfruits of all produce were to be offered annually at the Feast of Tabernacles, as I said on Numbers 18:12; therefore at that time the profession that follows here was to be made: therefore this profession was to be repeated annually, as was the offering of firstfruits, in order to renew the memory of God the Creator and their Benefactor, lest that memory grow old in their minds.
Note: The Gentiles assigned different gods to different things; whence they counted 300 gods, says Varro. So they assigned Ceres, or the goddess Segetia, to the crops; and when some famine occurred, they tried to appease and propitiate her with sacrifices and games, as St. Augustine attests, book 4 of the City of God, chapter 8. Lest therefore the Jews do the same, and lest they think they received their crops from someone other than the true God, He commanded them to profess this very thing in the offering of these firstfruits.
Furthermore, the Hebrews relate that this offering of firstfruits was carried out with this ritual. First, they say, they were placed in a basket. Second, they were brought into the temple. Third, they were elevated on high. Fourth, the profession prescribed here was made. Fifth, a peace offering was offered. Sixth, psalms or hymns were sung; for singing was customarily joined to sacrifices. They add, seventh, that the offerers spent the night in the city; but Scripture does not have this.
Note, second: "From all produce"; therefore the Jews had to offer firstfruits of all produce to God annually. Therefore those err who think that firstfruits were prescribed to them only of certain produce, namely of clean and not unclean. For all produce was clean; only animals were separated into clean and unclean.
Verse 5: A Syrian Persecuted My Father
5. "A SYRIAN" (namely Laban, Jacob's father-in-law, who dwelt in Mesopotamia of Syria, Genesis 28:5) "PERSECUTED MY FATHER" — namely Jacob, fleeing from him and returning to Isaac in Canaan; for Mesopotamia was called in Hebrew Aram Naharaim, that is, "Syria of the rivers," because it is enclosed by the Tigris and Euphrates. Alternatively, Vatablus translates: "That Syrian afflicted with want was my father," namely Jacob dwelling in Syria, as if to say: We did not receive these riches from our father Jacob, but from God. But the former meaning is plainer, and the Chaldean follows it.
"AND HE SOJOURNED THERE IN VERY SMALL NUMBERS" — 70 persons, namely sons and grandsons.
Verses 10-11: Adoration and Feasting
10 and 11. "AND HAVING ADORED THE LORD YOUR GOD, YOU SHALL FEAST UPON ALL THE GOOD THINGS WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS GIVEN YOU." — God here commands that everyone from the people offer the firstfruits of their produce to the Lord, and therefore enter before the Lord, that is, before the altar of burnt offerings, and there make a profession by which he declares himself bound to this offering on account of so many benefits received from God, especially the liberation from Egypt and the entry into Canaan; then, that he adore the Lord there, namely by humbling himself before the altar and praying that God direct him in good: all of which things were done for the divine honor and were acts of religion, after which he feasted with his whole household, inviting also Levites and poor strangers, and this within the court of the sanctuary, if he had offered some peace offering; but if not, he feasted on what he had brought with him, which was not consecrated to God, in some lodging. He feasted, moreover, so that from the enjoyment of this feast, he might be encouraged to frequent these acts of gratitude and devotion. So Abulensis.
On Thanksgiving and Gratitude to God
Note here how diligently God requires from us the remembrance of His benefits and thanksgiving. For this virtue is owed to God a thousand times over, and is proper to the saints and the blessed. Isaiah 51:3: "Joy and gladness shall be found in her (Zion), thanksgiving and the voice of praise." Revelation 7:12, all the angels adore God, saying: "Blessing, and brightness, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor and power, and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen." Psalm 49:13: "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise." Ephesians 5:20: "Be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and giving thanks for all things." And Philippians 4:6: "In every prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God."
St. Augustine, letter 5 to Marcellinus: "What better thing," he says, "can we bear in mind, express with our mouth, and set forth with our pen, than Thanks be to God? Nothing can be said more briefly, heard more joyfully, understood more gratefully, or done more fruitfully." Christians therefore should say at a minimum, morning, evening, and after meals: Thanks be to God.
The first fruit of thanksgiving is given by St. Chrysostom on Psalm 7:18: "Nothing," he says, "so makes one grow in virtue as constantly dwelling with God and conversing with Him, and perpetually giving Him thanks and singing psalms."
The second is given by the same Chrysostom, homily 8 on the Epistle to the Colossians: In adversity, he says, the unfaithful curse, Christians give thanks. "See how great this philosophy is. First, you gladden God. Second, you put the devil to shame. Third, you make what was done amiss into nothing. For you give thanks at the same time, and God removes the pain, and the devil departs."
The third is given by Chrysostom in the same place: "God," he says, "requires gratitude from us, not because He needs our celebration, but so that whatever profit there is may return to us again, and we may make ourselves worthy of greater helps."
The fourth is found in the same place in Chrysostom: "Nothing," he says, "is holier than the tongue which gives thanks to God in adversity. Certainly it is not inferior to the tongue of Martyrs: both are equally crowned."
So St. Job in so many adversities says: "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
The incentive to this gratitude is the consideration of God's innumerable benefits, which God has bestowed on each person through Himself and through Christ, both generally and particularly; which truly require that with a thousand minds and a thousand voices (if that were possible) we should praise Him.
Verse 12: The Third-Year Tithe
12. "WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE TITHE OF ALL YOUR PRODUCE, IN THE THIRD YEAR OF TITHES, YOU SHALL GIVE IT TO THE LEVITE, THE STRANGER, THE ORPHAN, AND THE WIDOW." — God here prescribes the tithes which were to be separated every three years and given to the poor. On this point, note: in every third year, the Jews separated and gave a threefold tithe. For first, the tithes given to the Levites were separated. Second, the tithes for the journey and for the offerings to be made three times a year in Jerusalem, at the temple. Third, there were the tithes to be given to the poor, which are discussed here; because these were the last, therefore it says: "When you have completed the tithe." And so, after paying the two former tithes, in the third year each person's produce was to be tithed, and the third tithes separated for the use of the poor. Hence this third year is called the year of tithes, because in it all three tithes were paid; in other years only the first two were paid. So Abulensis.
"THAT THEY MAY EAT WITHIN YOUR GATES." — Each person therefore fed the poor of their own cities with these third tithes. Let Christians imitate this.
Note: Just as Christ to Christians, in Luke 12:33 and elsewhere, so Moses to the Jews both here and in chapter 14, verse 24, and throughout chapter 15, and elsewhere, frequently and earnestly commends almsgiving on account of its illustrious fruits and prerogatives.
On Almsgiving: Its Fruits and Prerogatives
For first, almsgiving, as Tobias says, chapter 4, verse 11: "From all sin and from death it delivers, and does not suffer the soul to go into darkness." "Through the generosity of charity every sin is conquered or averted," says St. Leo, sermon 2 On the Ascension. "Therefore let those who wish to spare themselves before Christ have mercy on the poor," says the same Leo, sermon 4 On the Collections.
Almsgiving is like a second baptism, says St. Ambrose, sermon 32, and St. Leo, sermon 2 On the Collections, and Jerome on Psalm 133. This is what Christ says: "Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you," Luke 11:41.
Almsgiving, says St. Chrysostom, homily 33 to the People, stands at Christ's tribunal not only as an advocate, but even persuading the judge to provide patronage for the accused, and to pronounce sentence in his favor. Whence James 2:13 says: "Mercy triumphs over judgment."
Nothing is so proper to man as humanity: therefore he is truly human who is humane toward others. Hence he received hands, eyes, ears, tongue, and other members, not that he might profit himself alone, but also that he might benefit others. The Poet says: "It is a kingly thing, believe me, to come to the aid of the fallen." Hence Emperor Leo compared merciful men to the sun, which imparts its light and warmth to all.
Almsgiving increases merits, and wins grace and God's blessing. For, as St. Paul says: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully," 2 Corinthians 9:6. It increases temporal goods. For it is written: "Give, and it shall be given to you." Proverbs 28:27: "He who gives to the poor will not be in want." Proverbs 19:17: "He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him his due." "God," says St. Leo, sermon 6 On the Fast of the Tenth Month, "is the guarantor of the poor, the most generous repayer of interest." If therefore you wish to profit from lending, lend to God. Rightly Chrysostom wrote homily 33 with this title: "That Almsgiving is the Most Profitable Art of All."
Almsgiving provides great consolation to the dying. Tobit 12: "Almsgiving delivers from death, and it is the same that makes one find mercy." Psalm 40:2: "Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him." "Those are not a man's goods," says St. Ambrose, "which he cannot take with him: mercy alone is the companion of the dead."
Almsgiving builds eternal tabernacles in heaven. St. Leo, sermon 6 On the Fast of the Tenth Month: "A temporal gift," he says, "passes into an eternal reward." And Chrysostom, homily 9 On Penance: "Your commerce and trade is heaven; give bread and receive paradise; give small things and receive great; give mortal things and receive immortal." For it is written: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
Hence Peter Chrysologus, sermon 8 On Fasting and Almsgiving: "The hand of the poor," he says, "is Abraham's bosom, where whatever the poor person receives, he immediately stores away. The hand of the poor is the treasury of heaven. Give therefore, O man, to the poor person the earth, that you may receive heaven; give a coin, that you may receive a kingdom; give a crumb, that you may receive the whole."
It is more blessed to give than to receive, says Christ. Hence in giving, all nature provides us with an example. The heavens give light and influence, fire gives heat, air gives the breeze by which we breathe, the earth gives so many fruits, the sea so many fish, animals give wool and meat. The eternal Father gives His nature to the Son: the Father and the Son give the same to the Holy Spirit: the Son gave Himself to us in the manger and on the cross, and daily gives Himself in the Venerable Sacrament. It would therefore be most shameful if we, who receive so much daily from all creatures and from God, did not also learn to bestow on those who lack what we can give.
Almsgiving is given to the poor, but Christ considers it given to Himself. "I was hungry," He says, "and you gave Me to eat," etc. Christ willed to hunger in the poor, He who is rich in heaven: and do you hesitate, O man, to give to a man, when you know you are giving to Christ!
Almsgiving brings help to prayer. "Most effective for beseeching God is the petition that works of piety support," says St. Leo, sermon 10 On the Fast of the Tenth Month. Tobit 4:7: "Do not turn your face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from you." St. Augustine on Psalm 42: "Do you wish," he says, "your prayer to fly to God? Give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving."
Almsgiving is the proper virtue of illustrious saints, and is a sign of God's predestination. "Put on," says Paul, Colossians 3:12, "as God's elect, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy." St. Francis was so generous to the poor that he was accused by his father of prodigality before the Bishop, and voluntarily stripped himself of his goods: and this was the first foundation of his holiness. St. Catherine of Siena gave a silver cross to a poor beggar, having nothing else. Christ, appearing to her at night, said He would publicly display that cross on the Day of Judgment as a sign of her piety.
St. Jerome to Nepotian: "I never recall," he says, "having read that a man who willingly performed works of charity died a bad death. For he has many intercessors, and it is impossible that the prayers of many not be heard."
Finally, almsgiving is like a golden chain of noble saints and children of God, says St. Chrysostom — indeed, Solomon, Proverbs 3:3, when he says: "Let mercy and truth not forsake you: bind them around your throat, and you shall find grace and good discipline before God and men."
Almsgiving is like a sacrifice that appeases God, as St. Augustine says; and the Apostle, Hebrews 13:16: "Do not forget beneficence and sharing; for by such sacrifices God is won."
Almsgiving places riches in safety, namely in heaven through the hands of the poor. "Where," says Chrysostom, "shall we deposit our riches? They are deserters (for they flee from one person to another); how shall they be held? Distributed, they remain; guarded, they flee." And St. Cyprian, in his treatise On Works and Almsgiving: "A patrimony," he says, "entrusted to God neither the tax collector invades nor any legal calumny overturns."
Almsgiving makes a person like God. For God is goodness itself in Himself; and the nature of goodness is to communicate itself to others. "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful," says Christ, Luke 6:36.
Verse 13: I Have Brought Away What Is Sanctified
13. "I HAVE BROUGHT AWAY WHAT IS SANCTIFIED." — For "I have brought," read with the Roman editions, "I have taken away." For in Hebrew it is biarti, that is, "I have taken out, I have removed." So the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Vatablus, and others, as if to say: From my house I have removed and taken out, O Lord, these third tithes, which You commanded to be sanctified, that is, separated, and offered to You in the person of the poor. Whence it follows: "And I have given them to the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow."
Verse 14: I Have Not Eaten of Them in My Mourning
14. "I HAVE NOT EATEN OF THEM IN MY MOURNING" (as if to say: In my calamity, poverty, or want, I did not eat from these third tithes), "NOR HAVE I SEPARATED THEM IN ANY UNCLEANNESS" — that is, nor have I used them for unclean purposes, as for instance to give them to harlots, dogs, or beasts, as if to say: These tithes, as holy, whole, and untouched, I have separated and given to God, that is, to the poor in His name.
Verse 15: Look Down from Your Sanctuary
15. "LOOK DOWN FROM YOUR SANCTUARY." — In Hebrew: "Look down from the dwelling of Your holiness, from heaven itself."
Verse 19: Higher Than All Nations
19. "THAT HE MAY MAKE YOU HIGHER THAN ALL THE NATIONS WHICH HE CREATED FOR HIS PRAISE, AND NAME (that is, fame), AND GLORY." — For in so many and such various nations and things created by Him, God showed His infinite wisdom in ordering, His immense power in creating, and His immense love in communicating to them His own being and His goods, so that rightly from these all should rise up to the praise and glorification of God. So Abulensis.