19. firstling] Heb. bekôr, firstborn both of men (e.g. Deuteronomy 21:15 f., Exodus 11:5) and of animals; either collectively or of the individual firstling. The root meaning is to break; and bekôr is defined (Exodus 13:2; Exodus 34:19) as that which openeth, or cleaveth, the womb. It covers, therefore, not the earliest births of every year in the herd or flock, but the firstborn of every dam. W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 443, compares the ambiguous Ar. fara‘. Another form, bikku̅ri̅m, is applied to firstfruits in general; bikkurah is the early fig (Micah 7:1, etc.).

males] ‘At least a preference for male victims is found among the Semites generally, even where the deity is a goddess,’ W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 280 n.; with instances from the Semitic and African races. He connects the distinction on the one hand with the prevalence of kinship through women and on the other with the fact that the cow fosters man with its milk.

thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord] So P, Exodus 13:2 (but with a different form of the same vb.); J. Exodus 13:12, thou shalt cause to pass over to Jehovah; Exodus 34:19, all that openeth the womb is mine.

19–23. Of Firstlings

All male firstlings of herd and flock are to be sanctified to Jehovah; those of the ox shall not work nor those of the sheep be shorn; their flesh shall be eaten before the Lord by the offerer and his household at the One Altar year by year (Deuteronomy 15:9 f.). A blemished firstling shall not be sacrificed, but eaten at home under the conditions laid down (Deuteronomy 12:20 ff.) for the profane slaughter and eating of animals (Deuteronomy 15:21-23).—Sg. throughout. Steuern. takes Deuteronomy 15:21 and Deuteronomy 15:22 f. as probably later additions on the ground that the former is covered by Deuteronomy 17:1, the latter by Deuteronomy 12:22 ff. But their repetition in this law is pertinent to its central purpose. For reasons why the law is placed just here see below on Deuteronomy 15:20.

The earliest law on firstlings is found in variant forms in J, Exodus 13:11-16; Exodus 34:19 f. and E, Exodus 22:2 f. (see the notes in Driver’s Exod. 108, 235, 370 ff. with comparative table). These enjoin the passing over or giving to the Lord of all firstborn males, both human and animal; those of men and ‘unclean’ animals (i.e. unfit for sacrifice) may be redeemed. D does not give so full a law on the subject, for his only intention is to adapt the practice enjoined in these earlier laws to the new conditions in which sacrifice is lawful only at the one shrine. Hence he says nothing of the firstborn of men or of unclean beasts. And hence he omits the provision in Exodus 22:29 f, that the firstlings of ox and sheep were to be taken from the dam after seven days and on the eighth given to the Lord; because, while this was practicable when there were many local shrines, it is no longer so when there is to be one altar. Hence also he substitutes the general direction that the offerings are to be made year by year. No more clear illustration could be afforded of the fact that D’s code was not intended as a complete legislation, but that its motive was simply to modify earlier codes or the consuetudinary laws of Israel to the new situation brought about by its central law of one sanctuary.—P’s law on the subject, Numbers 18:15-18, is similar to the others; but adds that the flesh of the firstlings of oxen, sheep and goats shall be the perquisite of the priests: an injunction irreconcileable with D’s, that it is to be enjoyed by the offerer and his family, and indicative, like so much else in P, of the growing power of the priesthood to absorb what had previously been the rights of the laity.

Verses 19-23. - In Deuteronomy 12:6, 17 and in Deuteronomy 14:23, reference is made to sacrificial meals, and to the appropriation of the firstlings of the herds and flocks thereto; Moses here reverts to this, and gives a fuller exposition of it. It is enjoined that, as all the firstborn were to be sanctified to the Lord (Exodus 13:2-13), they were not to work with the firstborn of their cattle, either by yoking the bullock to the plough or wagon or by shearing the sheep: these belonged to God, and were not to be put to any vulgar uses of men; year by year they were to be brought to the sanctuary, offered as sacrifices, and eaten before the Lord. If any of the firstborn animals were blind, or lame, or in any way blemished, such was not to be offered to the Lord, but might be used as food in their ordinary places of residence (cf. Leviticus 22:19, etc.).



Deuteronomy 15:19Application of the first-born of Cattle. - From the laws respecting the poor and slaves, to which the instructions concerning the tithes (Deuteronomy 14:22-29) had given occasion, Moses returns to appropriation of the first-born of the herd and flock to sacrificial meals, which he had already touched upon in Deuteronomy 12:6, Deuteronomy 12:17, and Deuteronomy 14:23, and concludes by an explanation upon this point. The command, which the Lord had given when first they came out of Egypt (Exodus 13:2, Exodus 13:12), that all the first-born of the herd and flock should be sanctified to Him, is repeated here by Moses, with the express injunction that they were not to work with the first-born of cattle (by yoking them to the plough or waggon), and not to shear the first-born of sheep; that is to say, they were not to use the first-born animals which were sanctified to the Lord for their own earthly purposes, but to offer them year by year as sacrifices to the Lord, and consume them in sacrificial meals. To this he adds (Deuteronomy 15:21, Deuteronomy 15:22) that further provision, that first-born animals, which were blind or lame, or had any other bad fault, were not to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord, but, like ordinary animals used for food, could be eaten in all the towns of the land. Although the first part of this law was involved in the general laws as to the kind of animal that could be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 22:19.), it was by no means unimportant to point out distinctly their applicability to the first-born, and add some instructions with regard to the way in which they were to be applied. (On Deuteronomy 15:22 and Deuteronomy 15:23, see Deuteronomy 12:15 and Deuteronomy 12:16.) Deuteronomy 15:19 Interlinear
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