This week’s Torah reading opens up with the commandment to offer to the Lord the first of every fruit from the harvest. This commandment is connected to the Children of Israel dwelling in the Land. In fact, when the individual gives the offering to the priest he is to say,

“I have declared today to the Lord your God that I have come to the Land which the Lord swore to our forefathers to give to us.” Deuteronomy 26:3

This offering should not be confused with the tithe, but rather it should be understood as a special symbolic offering that acknowledges the faithfulness of God is a unique way. As believers in Messiah Jesus we too should acknowledge the faithfulness of the Lord to save us. In the Deuteronomy passage the individual would place a small amount of the first fruits in a basket and walk to the priest to present him with the gift. The amount that was given to the priest was not the important part of this command; rather it was the public observance of the command that was its main aspect. The idea here is that when one would place the fruit in the basket and would walk to the priest, his neighbors would see this one performing the commandment and would remember that it was the Lord who faithfully kept His promise which He had made with the Patriarchs. Also it was expected that others would see this and follow suit and obey the command.

Perhaps as believers in Jesus, we too could remember the faithfulness of God to send His Son into this world and save us, by blessing another. There are those who are in need all around us. Some are in financial need, while others just may need some encouragement or some act of kindness. It would be wise to pray and ask God, how He would like you to acknowledge His faithfulness to others. It is not enough just to do the act, but remember the declaration that one was commanded to make before the priest. It is important that we share with those who the Lord leads us to bless the reason why we are doing this. People need to hear that we are responding to the faithfulness of our God to provide forgiveness for our sins by Messiah’s death on the tree. Without this declaration, the key element of the mitzvah (command) is not being fulfilled.