Menephtah loves; who draws towards him his father’s heart, the singer,
the prince of archers, who governed Egypt on behalf of his father. Dead.”
- FIRST-BORN, REDEMPTION OF From the beginning the office of the
priesthood in each family belonged to the eldest son. But when the
extensive plan of sacrificial worship was introduced, requiring a company
of men to be exclusively devoted to this ministry, the primitive office of
the first-born was superseded by that of the Levites (Numbers 3:11-13),
and it was ordained that the first-born of man and of unclean animals
should henceforth be redeemed (18:15).
The laws concerning this redemption of the first-born of man are recorded
in Exodus 13:12-15; 22:29; 34:20; Numbers 3:45; 8:17; 18:16; Leviticus
12:2, 4.
The first-born male of every clean animal was to be given up to the priest
for sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:6; Exodus 13:12; 34:20; Numbers
18:15-17).
But the first-born of unclean animals was either to be redeemed or sold and
the price given to the priest (Leviticus 27:11-13, 27). The first-born of an
ass, if not redeemed, was to be put to death (Exodus 13:13; 34:20).
- FIRST-BORN, SANCTIFICATION OF THE A peculiar sanctity was
attached to the first-born both of man and of cattle. God claimed that the
first-born males of man and of animals should be consecrated to him, the
one as a priest (Exodus 19:22, 24), representing the family to which he
belonged, and the other to be offered up in sacrifice (Genesis 4:4). - FIRST-FRUITS The first-fruits of the ground were offered unto God just
as the first-born of man and animals.
The law required, (1.) That on the morrow after the Passover Sabbath a
sheaf of new corn should be waved by the priest before the altar (Leviticus
23:5, 6, 10, 12; 2:12).
(2.) That at the feast of Pentecost two loaves of leavened bread, made from
the new flour, were to be waved in like manner (Leviticus 23:15, 17;
Numbers 28:26).
(3.) The feast of Tabernacles was an acknowledgement that the fruits of
the harvest were from the Lord (Exodus 23:16; 34:22).