Nehemiah 10:35 - Exposition

And to bring the first-fruits … unto the house of the Lord . The idea of offering "first-fruits" may be ascribed to natural piety. They were well known to the Greeks and Romans ( ἀπαρχαί , primitiae ). But in the Mosaic law they were commanded ( Exodus 22:29 ; Exodus 23:19 ; Leviticus 23:10 , Leviticus 23:17 , etc.), and thenceforth became a matter of religious obligation. The present passage furnishes, however, distinct evidence that the obligation had now for some time been disregarded. The first-fruits of all fruit . First-fruits were required not merely of wheat and other grain, bat also expressly of wine and oil, the produce of the vine and olive, and by implication of all other fruit trees (see Numbers 18:12 ; Deuteronomy 18:4 , etc.).