Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1925

Deuteronomy 26:12-19¹²When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled; ¹³Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: ¹⁴I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. ¹⁵Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. ¹⁶This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. ¹⁷Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: ¹⁸And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; ¹⁹And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken. (Deuteronomy 26:12‑19)

THE subject the twelfth verse takes up seems quite detached from what we have been considering, but it is not. If verse 11 shows the obedient people of God, happy in His presence, rejoicing in every good thing He has given their; verse 12 bids them show that unselfishness! which we can see in its fulness only in the Lord Jesus, who, “though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9⁹For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Deuteronomy 14:28,29²⁸At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: ²⁹And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. (Deuteronomy 14:28‑29) has already told us of the tithe of the third year, when the people of Israel stayed at home, and gave to those who had not, out of their bounty. The Levite who was in the service of God; the “stranger” who was not an Israelite but had come among them; the fatherless and the widow were not forgotten by God, and He graciously reminds His people in this chapter that their happiness is not complete without care for the friendless, the neglected and the needy. What do you do with what God has given you, Christian reader?

Verse 13: notice the latter part of this verse, and of the next one. The whole Word of God should be observed; there are true Christians who are not willing to obey where it cuts into their pleasures, and in other ways takes from them what is clung to, but is contrary to the mind of God. Personal holiness should characterize the believer, as is brought out in verse 14. “Mourning” in this verse is elsewhere many times translated “iniquity” or “vanity”, and this seems to be the true meaning.

Then follows the prayer of verse 15, for, “No matter how God may bless us, to whatever extent He is pleased to make us a means of blessing to others, there is this further consideration that we are not taken out of the place of dependence.” Heart and soul (verse 16) are to be engaged for God.

What nearness to God the closing verses tell of! Reader, are you saved? If saved, are you seeking to please Him who has bought you with His blood?

ML 02/22/1925

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