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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 26

1 When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he chooses to locate his name. 3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our ancestors to give us.” 4 The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. 11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you. 12 When you finish tithing all your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites,⁠ the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead;⁠ I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.⁠ 15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven⁠ and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 19 Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor.⁠ You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 2.39:7 and Deuteronomy 26:19

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The promise in Deuteronomy 26 to raise Israel above other nations builds on the royal language of treasured possession in the Ugaritic letter KTU 2.39, treating national honor as a gift from the people's divine ruler.

Passages

KTU 2.39:7

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Message of the Sun. To Ammurapi say: With the Sun everything is very well. To the f[eet] of the [l]ord, the Sun, [his] lo[rd], his [ser]vant […] for he is [a servant], his treasured possession, and [his master] […] and […] my lord shall not lack. And [you], you surely [k]now: now […] to the Sun, your lord, [a ser]vant, his treasured possession, are you. Now […] the Sun, your lord, you surely know it. To me, the Sun, your lord, for a year, two years, why have you not come? And as for the tablet about food that you sent to the Sun, your lord: that food in your land there is none, the Sun […] If I go […] I have given […] two […] and […] […] […] […] with […] food […] […] And the letter […] [to] me […] wherever there is any, seek it out and give it to me.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Deuteronomy 26:19

Hebrew Bible
15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 19 Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

“... In a metaphorical sense,סגלה “ ,personal, precious property”, is applied to the people of Israel. In Deut. 7:6, the element of personal property is evident from the wordsלהיות לו (cf. Ps. 135:4, whereלסגלתוandלוare paralleled). The element of preciousness is reflected in Deut. 26:19, where a formulation similar to Deut. 7:6 is continued by Yhwh’s promise that He will set Israel high above all nations, in praise, in fame, and in honour. The metaphorical meaning ofסגלהalso occurs in Ugarit and Mesopotamia. In Ugarit, the word sglt is used in a letter from the Hittite king to the king of Ugarit (ktu 2.39).273 The Hittite king, Suppiluliuma ii (1205–1175 b.c.),274 blames his vassal Ammurapi (1205–1175 b.c.) that he has not come to him for two years now, as was prescribed in earlier treaties, and that he has failed to fulfill certain obligations. Because the text has not been preserved in its entirety, several elements from the letter are debated. The lines that contain the word sglt, however, are fairly clear. ...”
Arie Versluis, The Command to Exterminate the Canaanites: Deuteronomy 7 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 82.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 2.39:7 and Deuteronomy 26:19

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