V. 1. ff. When you come into the land 2c.
After the explanation of the holy ten commandments is finished, he concludes in this chapter all the sermons that have been preached about the commandments by adding, as it were, as a corollary or instead of a conclusion to the speech, the customs of offering the firstfruits and tithes, thus confirming the covenant between God and the children of Israel.
But thou seest how beautifully he teaches to set the words [v. 3. ff.] in the offering of the firstfruits, that we may know that this offering is nothing else but a praise and thanksgiving for deliverance from enemies and for the possession of the land, not unlike when an hireling confesses by his interest to his lord that he has his field by the grace of him. But the firstfruits were the [fruits],
which they offered to the priests on the feast of Pentecost, of which it is said in the 16th chapter.
So he does with the tithes in the third year, teaching that they are to be given to the Levites, the fatherless, the widows and the strangers, with the confession that they have fulfilled the work of love. "I have brought" (saith he [v. 13.)), not for sacrifice, but to a special place, where in every city such tithes were collected for the poor, as it were into a sack (bursam) or common box.
"I have not transgressed Your commandments (namely, as far as this work is concerned; otherwise, who fulfills even One commandment completely?), nor have I eaten of it in my suffering (that is, I have not done it sorrowfully but cheerfully, for a cheerful giver is dear to God), nor have I eaten of it in uncleanness" (that is, not with sins or uncleanness, but in holiness I have set it apart). For the sacrifice of the unclean is as little pleasing to [GOtte] as the sacrifice of the afflicted. "Neither have I given of it unto the dead," for thereby he who does this would also be defiled, and so the offering of tithes would also be defiled.
V. 16. Today the LORD your God gives you 2c.
These are words of the confirmed covenant, that they should keep the aforementioned commandments, and he adds the promise that if
they would keep the commandments, the LORD would make them high above all nations in glory and honor and honor, which he did as long as they kept the covenant. And this is the end of the holy ten commandments and [other] commandments. Now what is dealt with in the following chapters are some ordinances to be kept according to the occasion of the time, exhortations, orders, curses and blessings, to remind the people to keep the commandments of God.
The secret interpretation of the firstfruits has been sufficiently discussed above [Cap. 15), that they signify the confession of faith and the thanksgiving of the righteousness of the Spirit, since we confess at the same time how great an affliction we have been subjected to, from which the Lord has delivered us, and how great goods we have received through faith. But the bringing of tithes means that we are completely given over to the service of our neighbor through love, as Paul says (Gal. 5, 13.]: "Through love serve one another." But this does not happen if you have not first fulfilled all the commandments of God as one justified by faith and are righteous. Further, cheerfully, not sadly or unwillingly; finally, without impurity, that is, not desiring to be repaid in kind, but out of a simple and pure heart. You shall not give anything to the dead, that is, there shall be no unfruitful work in love, but it shall all be living, holy, free, joyful and pleasing to God.