Deuteronomy 15:23

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:19-23 Here is a direction what to do with the firstlings. We are not now limited as the Israelites were; we make no difference between a first calf, or lamb, and the rest. Let us then look to the gospel meaning of this law, devoting ourselves and the first of our time and strength to God; and using all our comforts and enjoyments to his praise, and under the direction of his law, as we have them all by his gift.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Exodus 13:11 ff. The directions of the preceding legislation (see Numbers 18:15 ff) are here assumed, with the injunction added, that the animals thus set apart to God Deuteronomy 15:19 were not to be used by their owners for their earthly purposes. It is further allowed that firstborn animals which had a blemish should be regarded as exceptions, and instead of being given to God might be used as food Deuteronomy 15:21-22. The application of the firstborn of cattle is here directed as in Deuteronomy 12:6, Deuteronomy 12:17; Deuteronomy 14:23 : they are to be consumed in the sacred Feasts at the sanctuary.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. All the firstling males of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God—[See on [143]Ex 13:2]; see Ex 22:30).

thou shalt do not work with the firstling of thy bullock—that is, the second firstlings (see De 12:17, 18; 14:23).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof,.... Of the firstling:

thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water; See Gill on Deuteronomy 12:16; see Gill on Deuteronomy 12:23; see Gill on Deuteronomy 12:24.

Geneva Study Bible

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. See on Deuteronomy 12:23.

Deuteronomy 15:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Application 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.)