Chapter 26 concludes the long exposition of the Ten Commandments that began in chapter 6. The emphasis is still on the land God has given the Israelites. Verses 1–11 describe a ceremony involving a sample of the fruit of the land that is to be placed in a basket and brought to the “place” God’s name will dwell. The man bringing the basket will declare before the priest that he has come to the land God has pledged to give Israel. The priest will then take the basket, place it in front of the altar, and confess what almost amounts to a creed (see von Rad, 1–76). Their “father” is Jacob, the “wandering Aramean,” who while not actually being an “Aramean” yet married Aramean wives (Leah and Rachel) and lived in Aram Naharaim for twenty-one years. Eventually he went down to Egypt, with only sev…