Exodus 22:29

Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) The first of thy ripe fruits.—Heb., of thy fulness. “Firstfruits” were the spontaneous tribute of natural piety among almost all nations. They were called by the Greeks ἀπαρχαί, by the Romans primitive. Abel’s offering (Genesis 4:4) was one of the “firstlings of his flock,” and Cain’s probably one of firstfruits. In the present passage it is assumed that firstfruits are due, and the stress is laid upon offering them promptly, without “delay.” Delay would show a grudging spirit.

Of thy liquors.—As wine and oil. (Compare Nehemiah 10:37; Nehemiah 10:39.)

The firstborn of thy sons.—See the Note on Exodus 13:2; and on the means of redeeming firstborn sons, see Exodus 13:13, and Num. 17:15, 16.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 22:29. The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me — And much more reason have we to give ourselves and all we have to God, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. The first ripe of their corn they must not delay to offer; there is danger if we delay our duty, lest we wholly omit it; and by slipping the first opportunity in expectation of another, we suffer Satan to cheat us of all our time.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22; 1 - 31 Judicial laws. - The people of God should ever be ready to show mildness and mercy, according to the spirit of these laws. We must answer to God, not only for what we do maliciously, but for what we do heedlessly. Therefore, when we have done harm to our neighbour, we should make restitution, though not compelled by law. Let these scriptures lead our souls to remember, that if the grace of God has indeed appeared to us, then it has taught us, and enabled us so to conduct ourselves by its holy power, that denying ungodliness and wordly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Titus 2:12. And the grace of God teaches us, that as the Lord is our portion, there is enough in him to satisfy all the desires of our souls.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The offering of firstfruits appears to have been a custom of primitive antiquity and was connected with the earliest acts of sacrifice. See Genesis 4:3-4. The references to it here and in Exodus 23:19 had probably been handed down from patriarchal times. The specific law relating to the firstborn of living creatures was brought out in a strong light in connection with the deliverance from Egypt Exodus 13:2, Exodus 13:12-13; compare Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 22:27; Deuteronomy 26:2-11; Nehemiah 10:35.

The first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors - See the margin. The rendering of our King James Bible is a paraphrase.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. gods—a word which is several times in this chapter rendered "judges" or magistrates.

the ruler of thy people—and the chief magistrate who was also the high priest, at least in the time of Paul (Ac 23:1-5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou shalt not delay beyond the times appointed, lest this delay grow to a total neglect. And delay may here be put for neglect, as that word is used, Deu 7:10 23:21 Habakkuk 2:3; which may seem to be favoured by the following clause, which commands the giving or offering of the first-born without any mention of the hastening or delaying of it.

Thy ripe fruits, Heb thy fulness; and whereas this word is sometimes applied to seed or corn, as Numbers 18:27, and sometimes to the vintage, as Deu 22:9, the circumstances must determine, as it doth in like cases, how it must be taken; which here seem to restrain it to dry fruits, as corn, &c., because it is opposed to

liquors; and so all sorts of fruits are comprehended here. Unless you will make this a usual figure called hendyadis, as judgment and justice, Deu 16:18, is put for judgment of justice, or just judgment; so here the fulness and liquors, for the fulness of thy liquors; and so this may be one kind mentioned for all the rest, than which nothing more frequent.

Shalt thou give unto me, not in kind, but by a price of redemption to be paid to me in their stead.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou shall not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits,.... Which, according to Maimonides (k), were of seven kinds only; for he says,"they do not bring the firstfruits, but of the seven kinds, said in the praise of the land, (the land of Canaan), Deuteronomy 8:8 and they are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates;''and how much of these were to be offered is not fixed by the law, but were left to the generosity of the people: the above mentioned writer asks (l),"what measure do the wise men set? a good eye (or a bountiful man) brings one of forty (or the fortieth part of his fruits); a middling one (one that is neither liberal nor stubborn) brings one of fifty (or the fiftieth part); and an evil one (a covetous man) one of sixty (or the sixtieth part), but never less than that.''Now this was not to be delayed, but to be brought as soon and as early as could be: the Jewish writers seem to understand this of postponing things, or inverting the order of them, bringing that first which should be last, and that last which should be first; so Jarchi interprets it,"thou shall not change the order of their separation, to postpone that which should be first, and to put before that which should be last; for the first oblation should not be brought before the firstfruits, and the tithes before the first oblation.''And thus runs one of their canons or traditions (m),"if anyone brings the first oblation before the firstfruits, the first tithe before the first oblation, the second tithe before the first, it is as if he transgressed a negative precept: "thou shalt not delay or postpone", &c. Exodus 22:29'

And of thy liquors: and these, according to Maimonides (n), were only the firstfruits of liquors of olives and grapes:

the firstborn of thy sons thou shall give unto me; which is a repetition of the law. See Gill on Exodus 13:2.

(k) Hilchot Biccurim, c. 2. sect. 2.((l) Hilchot Trumot, c. 3. sect. 2.((m) Misn. Trumot, c. 3. sect. 6. (n) Biccurim, ut supra. (k))

Geneva Study Bible

Thou shalt not delay to offer the {k} first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

(k) Your abundance of your corn.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29–31. A group of fundamental ceremonial injunctions. Jehovah’s customary due from the first annual produce of the threshing-floor and the wine-press to be promptly paid: firstborn males, both of men and animals, to be given to Him; flesh torn of beasts not to be eaten. The laws are stated here tersely and generally: more detailed, and sometimes discrepant, regulations are given in the later codes.

29a. thy fulness and thy trickling thou shalt not delay] A paraphrase is a necessity for English idiom: but it obliterates the characteristic curtness of the original. The two substantives are paraphrased by LXX., no doubt correctly, by ‘the firstfruits of thy threshing-floor and of thy wine-press.’ Both expressions are, however, peculiar, and no doubt archaic. ‘Fulness’ is used similarly in Numbers 18:27 (P) ‘like the fulness [in the parallel, v. 30, ‘increase,’ ‘produce’] from the wine-vat, and the corn from the threshing-floor’ (offered viz. by the Israelites as tithe): it seems to mean properly full yield (RVm. abundance)—here of the newly threshed corn, as in Nu. l.c. of the freshly expressed grape-juice. Naturally it does not signify here the whole yield of the year, but only that part of it which was offered to Jehovah as ‘firstfruits’ (cf. Exodus 23:16; Exodus 23:19). ‘Trickling’ (the masc. of the ordinary Heb. word for ‘tear’), whatever the true explanation of the expression may be1[190], pretty clearly denotes the freshly extracted juice of the grape (tirôsh, ‘must’),—perhaps also (but see footnote) of the olive (yiẓhâr, ‘fresh oil’) as well.

[190] Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 913, cites the expression ‘tear of the vine’ for wine; and A. R. S. Kennedy (EB. iv. 5314, s.v. Wine and Strong Drink) refers to the Spanish lagrima, ‘tear,’ the name for wine made from grape-juice which has exuded from the grapes without pressure. Such wine has always been considered superior to that made from juice extracted by treading the grapes; and as this method of obtaining grape-juice is mentioned in the Mishnah, and is still practised in Syria,—the grapes being laid out for some days on a mishtâḥ, or ‘spreading-place,’ from which the exuding juice trickled down into the wine-vat (see ibid.),—it is possible that the choice juice so obtained is what is here meant. If this explanation is correct, however, ‘oil’ will not have been included in the term; and the inclusion of this in the firstfruits (Deuteronomy 18:4, &c.) will not have taken place till later.

The dedication to the deity of a portion of the new produce of the year is a widely prevalent custom. ‘Primitive peoples often partake of the new corn sacramentally, because they suppose it to be instinct with a divine spirit of life. At a later age, when the fruits of the earth are conceived as created rather than as animated by divinity, the new fruits are no longer partaken of sacramentally; but a portion of them is presented as a thank-offering to the divine beings who are supposed to have produced them.… Till the firstfruits have been presented to the deity, people are not at liberty to eat of the new crops’ (Frazer, The Golden Bough,2 ii. 459, with numerous examples, pp. 318–340, 459–471, some excerpted by Dr Gray, Numbers, p. 225 f.). Cf. Leviticus 23:14 a (H), Deuteronomy 26:1-11.

29b, 30. Like the firstfruits of the soil, the firstborn of men and animals are also to be given to Jehovah. This principle has been laid down before, Exodus 13:1-2 (P), 11–16 (J): see on Exodus 13:1-2, and p. 409.

shalt thou give unto me] how it is to be given is not stated: exactly the same expression is used in v. 30 of animals (which were sacrificed). The principle is formulated in general terms, which must have been interpreted in the light of the usage of the time: how it was understood in practice is stated by J (Exodus 13:13 b = Exodus 34:20 b).

30. The firstling of a cow or sheep to be given to Jehovah on the eighth day after birth. The ‘eighth day’ agrees with the general principle (Leviticus 22:27 H), that no animal might be offered in sacrifice till it was of that age. The present law evidently presupposes a plurality of local sanctuaries (cf. on Exodus 20:24): a journey to Jerusalem, every time that a firstling of cow or sheep was born, would naturally be out of the question. In Dt. (Deuteronomy 15:19 f.) no age-limit is prescribed, but the firstlings are to be taken ‘year by year,’—i.e. no doubt mostly, as cattle in Arabia chiefly yean in spring (p. 411; Rel. Sem.2[191] 465), at Maẓẓoth,—to the central sanctuary, and eaten there at a sacred meal by the owner and his household: the older usage has thus been accommodated to the later principle of a single sanctuary. Nothing is said here about the firstlings of unclean animals: see in J Exodus 13:13 a = Exodus 34:20 a.

[191] W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, ed. 2, 1894.

31a. Flesh torn by wild beasts not to be eaten.

holy men] ‘Holy’ is a word with a history; and the ideas expressed by it in the OT. do not appear to have been always the same. ‘Its connotation would seem to have been at first physical and ceremonial, and to have become gradually more and more ethical and spiritual’ (Sanday-Headlam on Romans 1:7). Originally, like all such words, it had naturally a physical sense, now completely lost both in Heb. and in the other Semitic languages, but conjectured to have been that of separation. In actual usage it expresses the idea of belonging to deity, whether of the character of deity itself (cf. on Exodus 15:11), or of the character of men or things as belonging to Him: as the conception of deity became elevated and purified, the idea expressed by ‘holy’ became elevated and purified likewise, till at last it expressed the idea of most absolute purity and sanctity. Here the context shews that it must be used in one of its lower senses: it is followed by a command, not to shun and abhor every kind of evil, for instance, or to be morally pure or saintly, but by the purely ceremonial command not to eat flesh torn by beasts: the ‘holiness’ is thus not moral, but ritual. In Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:19, it is used in a higher sense: for it is in each case connected with some prohibition of idolatry or superstition, or an exhortation to obey Jehovah’s moral commands. See farther, on the idea of Holiness, Sanday-Headlam, l.c.; A. B. Davidson, Theol. of OT., pp. 144–160; Skinner, art. Holiness in DB.; Simcox, art. Clean and Unclean in EB.

and flesh in the field, a torn animal, ye shall not eat] The Heb. is not very natural; and perhaps, with LXX. (who express ‘flesh torn of beasts’ alone), Budde, Bä., we should read simply, ‘and the flesh of a torn animal ye shall not eat,’ regarding בשדה ‘in the field’ as a dittograph of בשר ‘flesh.’ For ṭerçphâh, ‘that which is torn (by wild beasts),’ or ‘a torn animal,’ see v. 13, Genesis 31:39. With the present law, comp. Leviticus 17:15 (P), where lustrations are prescribed for those who have eaten either nebhçlâh (‘a carcase,’ ‘that which dieth of itself’) or ṭerçphâh, but neither is in so many words prohibited as food1[192], and Deuteronomy 14:21, where the eating of nebhçlâh is prohibited, but nothing is said about ṭerçphâh. The reason of both prohibitions is doubtless to be found in the fact that such flesh had not been properly drained of blood (Deuteronomy 12:16; Deuteronomy 12:23, &c.).

[192] Both were prohibited absolutely to priests (Leviticus 22:8; Ezekiel 44:31; cf. Ezekiel 4:14).

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 29, 30. - Law concerning first-fruits. God required as first-fruits from his people,

1. The first-born of their children;

2. The firstborn of all their cattle; and

3. The first of all the produce of their lands,

whether wet or dry; wine, oil, grain of all kinds, and fruits. The first-born of their children were to be redeemed by a money payment (Exodus 13:13; Numbers 3:46-48); but the rest was to be offered in sacrifice. The phrase, "thou shalt not delay," implies that there would be reluctance to comply with this obligation, and that the offering would be continually put off. In Nehemiah's time the entire custom had at one period fallen into disuse. (Nehemiah 10:35, 36.) The first of thy ripe fruits. Literally, "thy fulness." The paraphrase of the A. V. no doubt gives the true meaning. The first-born of thy sons, Compare above, Exodus 13:2, 12. Exodus 22:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Thy fulness and thy flowing thou shalt not delay (to Me)." מלאה fulness, signifies the produce of corn (Deuteronomy 22:9); and דּמע (lit., tear, flowing, liquor stillans), which only occurs here, is a poetical epithet for the produce of the press, both wine and oil (cf. δάκρυον τῶν δένδρων, lxx; arborum lacrimae, Plin. 11:6). The meaning is correctly given by the lxx: ἀπαρχὰς ἅλωνος καὶ ληνοῦ σοῦ. That the command not to delay and not to withhold the fulness, etc., relates to the offering of the first-fruits of the field and vineyard, as is more fully defined in Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 26:2-11, is evident from what follows, in which the law given at the exodus from Egypt, with reference to the sanctification of the first-born of man and beast (Exodus 13:2, Exodus 13:12), is repeated and incorporated in the rights of Israel, inasmuch as the adoption of the first-born on the part of Jehovah was a perpetual guarantee to the whole nation of the right of covenant fellowship. (On the rule laid down in Exodus 22:30, see Leviticus 22:27.)