The Consumption of the Firstborn Males in Worship Before Yahweh (Deuteronomy 15:19-23).
Moses now reintroduces the firstborn males. These are Yahweh's because He spared them on the night of the Passover and they must therefore be sacrificed to Him, with the meat originally going to the priests. They can therefore actually represent poor people and bondsmen before Yahweh, for they represented the firstborn who were spared in Egypt who were in such a situation (Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:11-16), thus they fit very suitably here in a context of ‘the poor'. And in eating them before Yahweh, along with their servants and bondservants, the people will be assuring Him that they are being generous to the poor and to those of their brothers who experience bondage, as well as rejoicing in their own deliverance.
For fuller details with respect to firstborn males see also Exodus 34:19-20; Numbers 18:15-18; Leviticus 27:26-27. A ‘firstborn' (bechor) from this point of view is the first male young ‘that opened the womb' born to cattle, sheep or goats. Other ‘firstling' males, born first in a new season but not firstborn, together with firstling females born first in a new season, or being actually firstborn but females, could be firstfruits (Exodus 22:30). Still others would be included within the tithing system whereby one out of ten who went under the rod were Yahweh's (Leviticus 27:32-33). How these three interrelated is not made clear, but would have been well known to the priests and Levites. (Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 12:17 are feminine and presumably refer to firstlings and not male firstborn).
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 15:19 a).
b You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstling of your flock, you shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh shall choose, you and your household (Deuteronomy 15:19-20).
b And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God, you shall eat it within your gates, the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart (Deuteronomy 15:21-22).
a Only you shall not eat its blood, you shall pour it out on the ground as water (Deuteronomy 15:23).
Note that in ‘a' the firstborn males are set apart in holiness to Yahweh, and in the parallel the blood is especially set apart to Yahweh. In ‘b' its ‘unblemished state' must be preserved by not working with it or shearing it and it must be eaten before Yahweh their God in the place which He chooses, and in the parallel if it is blemished they may eat it in their cities and not sacrifice it to Yahweh their God.
‘ All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstling of your flock.'
The recognised responsibility is reasserted here. All the firstborn males born to herd or flock, that is the first male young that opened their womb, were to be seen as holy to Yahweh, being separated off for Him so that they could be taken to the place where Yahweh had chosen to dwell, to be presented to Him. And they were so seriously ‘holy' (separated off to Yahweh as His) that no personal advantage was to be taken of them. No work must be done with them and they were not to be sheared. They must be kept pure from earthly activity. They were Yahweh's right from the start and were to be treated as such. They were in total contrast with the poor and the bondspeople who both had to work, and metaphorically could be ‘fleeced'. But those who ate the firstborn would remember what they themselves had been and how Yahweh had spared their firstborns and would behave rightly to the poor.
Exodus 22:30 says that the firstborn must be given to Yahweh on the eighth day as soon as they were weaned. They were then ‘made holy'. From that point on they were separated off as Yahweh's. That is why they were not to be worked or sheared. Leviticus 27:26-27 stresses that they could not be sanctified by man. This was because as they already belonged to Yahweh and were therefore already sanctified they could not be further sanctified so as to make them a freewill gift or in respect of an oath. They were already Yahweh's. Numbers 18:15-18 declares that when offered on the altar the flesh was to be the priests. They were at their disposal. It was thus probably due to expanding herds and flocks and their subsequent fruitfulness that the level of meat available became so large that the priests made much of it available to those households which brought them to the Central Sanctuary, for none who were clean and were there to worship ‘before Yahweh' were anywhere forbidden to eat of the firstborns. As Yahweh's people they were holy and could thus partake of holy things of this level of holiness.
‘ You shall eat it before Yahweh your God year by year in the place which Yahweh shall choose, you and your household.'
So the firstborns were to be taken to the Sanctuary year by year, in the year that they were born, by a household representative, and presented to Yahweh in the place which Yahweh would choose, there to be offered as a sacrifice (although that is not mentioned in Deuteronomy. It is the eating that is the emphasis in Deuteronomy), after which they and their household could receive a share of them from the priests and consume them before Yahweh in a joyous religious feast in the place to which Yahweh had chosen to welcome them. And they could do it with a clear conscience because they had treated the poor well.
‘ And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God, you shall eat it within your gates, the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart.'
However, if the firstborn turned out to be blemished prior to this, whether through lameness, or blindness, or any other blemish whatsoever, it must not be taken to the sanctuary and presented before Yahweh, or be sacrificed to Him, it must be eaten at home (within their gates), and in this case both clean and unclean could partake of it for it is like the gazelle and the hart, clean, eatable but no longer sacred. The impression given, however, is that there was not the alternative of it being retained. It must be eaten. For it had at one stage been set apart to Yahweh.
The reason why something blemished could not be offered to Yahweh is the same as that which excludes the ‘unclean'. It was because they came short of perfection. To offer them to Yahweh or bring them to Yahweh would thus be an insult, for He is deserving of the very best. It is not that God looks with disfavour on the blemished, it is that man should not even consider offering such. The principle stresses to all men the perfection of God, and that only the best should be offered to Him.
‘ Only you shall not eat its blood, you shall pour it out on the ground as water.'
But as always the blood must not be eaten or drunk. It must be poured out on the ground to Yahweh like an offering of water.
The lesson for us from the firstlings is that just as Israel gave of the first of all they received to God because He had delivered them from Egypt, only to receive some back again, so must we give the first of all we receive in gratitude to God, looking to Him to discover what we should do with it. The practise may need to be worked out, but the principle is clear, gratitude for what He gives us, and gratitude especially for His great Deliverance in Jesus Christ for which we should be willing to give Him all things.
We should note now that there has been a constant theme which has been running through the last four Chapter s. In Deuteronomy 12 the thought was of coming to the place which Yahweh would choose where they would joyfully worship Him. Deuteronomy 13 gave the warning against turning from this joyous situation by listening to deviant voices. Deuteronomy 14 warned against those who enjoyed such joyful worship spoiling themselves by contact with what was unwholesome, and then stressed the need for provision to all the needy. Deuteronomy 15 has warned against allowing the land to be defiled by wrong attitudes to the poor, and by allowing the poor to suffer. All this has then been summed up by their partaking of the firstlings in joyous worship, the firstlings which in themselves represented those who had themselves been in bondage. They can partake of such with joy because in their lives they are revealing the true spirit of Yahweh.