He2'",wli.M. : . , ii. .■ is to (!od). All things have their -i.li.i.' ^ iiiiim the sphere of the life of Him who is • tlie l''iist .-iiid the Last.' In Him they originate and in Him they cohere— oiV6s fern irpo irdvTUV, Kal tA Trai/ro fV aiV^i cvvidTtiKev (cf. Ac 17^, in reference to God). He is the Uaixb^ of the Uni- verse. And such also is His position in relation to giv
Hrst-fruits.t Not o sion, but the people likewise His ; this v overlordship. Tlifi
children
• This OT conception is illustrated in the Gospels by the par- .able of the Wicked Husbandmen, Mt 213M and parallel pas- sages ; rf. also Mk 1 33<. , , ,,
i o „.iii nf ,-niiisf lie uiidiistood that this was adapted to
,,.,,' ill,. , iilii. ii,,iiiiili, 1,1, uilli its flocks
§ There is a Talmudi(
FIRSTBORN
FIRST-FRUITS
597
commands the redemption of the firstborn : ' All the firstborn of man among thy sons shalt thou redeem' (Ex 1313, cf. IS" 342»).
From the foregoing one can understand that the term ' first- born,* ^rpuTOToxos (that which, as the most precious, belonged, in the first instance, to Jeliovah), came to be one of particular honour (ct. Ex 422, jer 319), and it is used as such in reference to Christ (Eo 829, Col 115- 1«).
The only occurrence of the term in the Gospels is in Lk 2' Kal h-eKev rhv vihv rbv TrpiordTOKOn,* and apart from its significance to the Jewish mind as outlined above, its importance lies in its bearing upon the question of the perpetual virginity of the mother of Christ. The term does not necessarOy suggest the subsequent birth of other children ; for, in the first place, as a title of honour it would natur- ally be mentioned in connexion with Christ by the Evangelist ; and secondly, to Jews the significance of ' firstborn' lay in the special sanctity which attached to such ; t this is clear from what has been said in the previous section ; indeed, St. Luke directly im- plies as much when he quotes, in substance, from Ex 13^' '- ' Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord ' (Lk 2^).
Redemption of the firstborn. — In the passage Lk 222ir. two distinct ceremonies are referred to : the presentation to tlie Lord, and the redemption ; the former of these implies the actual dedication of the child to God (cf. 1 S 1-*) ; from what has been said above, this ceremony must be regarded as the fulfilling in spirit of the primitive act of literally devoting (sacrificing) the firstborn sun to the Deity. The distinction between the two ceremonies may be illustrated by the practice of modern orthodox Jews. The father of the child first presents his firstborn to the cohen, and makes a declaration ending with the words : ' It is .said, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast ; it is mine.' This is a definite act of presentation to God, of renunciation on the part of the father, — the child is no longer his. This part of the ceremony corresponds to Lk 2^'- ^- -'• ^. Then the fatlier places fifteen shillings (five selaim or shekels) before the cohen, who thereupon asks: ' Which wouldst thou rather, give me thy first- born son, the firstborn of his mother, J or redeem him for five selaim, which thou art bound to give according to the Law ? ' The father replies : ' I desire rather to redeem my son, and here thou hast the value of his redemption, wliich I am bound to give according to the Law.'g This ceremony corresponds to Lk 2-^. II This redemption of the firstborn H (]3n jr-is) took place thirty days after birth (Lk 2-- ; cf. Lv 12^ Nu IS'^),** and the price of redemption was, according to Nu 3" 18'^, five shekels ; in Ex 13'^ the command to redeem the firstborn is given, though the price of redemption is not mentioned, while in Lv 12 there is no mention at all regarding the redemption of the firstborn, reference being made only to an atone- ♦ In Mt 125 To» ir/nuTdi-oao. is read by DC and the OL version only ; it must therefore be rejected in this passage, t Cf. He 1*5, where to» TpuTiroxav means ' only-begotten.' : The law of the redemption of the firstborn ' applies to the firstborn of the mother and not of the father. Hence the husband of several wives would have to redeem the firstborn of each one of them, while the husband of a woman wlio had had children by a previous marriage need not redeem her child although it was his firstborn' (Jeurish Encyc. v. 396). More- over, the first male child of a woman need not be redeemed if a female child has been born before him.
§ The money is sometimes returned, but the Jewish authorities do not look upon this with favour.
II See The Authorized Daily Prayer-Book'^ (ed. S. .Singer), pp. 308, 309.
TI According to Ex 1313-15 the redemption of the firstborn was instituted as an abiding act of thanksgiving to Jehovah for having spared the firstborn males of the children of Israel in Egypt. Concerning the connexion between the offering of the firstborn and the Passover, see Nowack, oj}. cit. § 99.