That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit. The Israelites in Canaan being God's tenants-at-will, the entire produce of the land was His; and as holding of Him, they were required to give Him tribute in the form of first-fruits and tithes. No Israelite was at liberty to use any productions of his fields until he had presented the first-fruits and tithes. No Israelite was at liberty to use any productions of his fields until he had presented the required offering.
The terms of the law (Deuteronomy 26:1) seem to restrict the obligation to Canaan proper; but the duty was considered equally binding on those who resided on the east of Jordan. The tribute began to be exigible after the settlement in the promised land; and as an annual fee simple to the feudal Sovereign, from whom its tenure was held, the presentation of the season's produce was yearly repeated at one of the great feasts-the first-fruits of barley at the Passover (Leviticus 2:14; Leviticus 23:10), of wheat at Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:9), and those of other fruits as they ripened. Every master of a family carried it on his shoulders in a little basket of osier, peeled willow, or palm leaves, and brought it to the sanctuary.