Deuteronomy 26:12

12 "When you have finished paying all 1the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is 2the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,

Deuteronomy 26:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 26:12

When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine
increase
Which, according to Maimonides F11, is to be understood of the feast, in which all tithes are finished, which is the feast of the passover:

the third year, [which is] the year of tithing;
that is, the third from every seventh, when the land lay fallow. Every year a tithe was paid to the Levites; and besides that a second tithe, which was carried to Jerusalem and eaten there; and every third year it was eaten at home, in their towns and cities in the country instead of it, with the Levite, poor and stranger, and was called the poor's tithe; and hence the Targum of Jonathan here calls this year the year of the poor's tithe, as was also the sixth year, and was reckoned not complete till the passover in the following year, as the Jewish writers F12 say:

and hath given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and
the widow;
that is, the poor's tithe of the third year, which these were to eat of with the owner, ( Deuteronomy 14:28 Deuteronomy 14:29 ) ; though the Jews commonly distinguish the Levite from the rest, and suppose that both first and second tithes are meant, the one to be given to the former, and the other to the latter; so the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi:

that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled:
for this was a considerable entertainment, a sort of a feast, a full meal, however; hence it is concluded, as Jarchi says, that they did not give less of corn to a poor man than half a kab of wheat, which was above three pints.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 In Misn. Maaser Sheni, c. 5. sect. 6.
F12 Misn. ib. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Deuteronomy 26:12 In-Context

10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.' And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God.
11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
12 "When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,
13 then you shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me.

Cross References 2

  • 1. See Leviticus 27:30
  • 2. Deuteronomy 14:28, 29; [Amos 4:4]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.