that none ſhould ever come ar thoſe times withour ſome offering or :
ether, for the ſupport of the Levites, and of the Worſhip of God ;
bur the determination of this, or what they would give, was left
to their choice. Or 2. a promiſe to encourage them ro come ſo oft from their remoteſt Habirations to Jeruſalem, - becauſe they ſhou!d ne- wer appear before God in vain, 3: e. to no purpoſe, or withour ſome be- nefit, for ſo the word, rekams, oft ſignifies So it may be parallel to Iſaiah 45: 19: 1ſaidno unto the ſeed of Jacob,ſrek ye me im vain. But the former ſenle 1s more probable, by comparing this with irs parallel place, Deut: 16: 16, 17.
16 And the feaſt of harveſt b, the firſt fruits of thy labours c, which thou haft ſown in the field : and the feaſt of in-gathering d which is in the end of the year e, when thou haſt gathered in thy labours our of the field.
b ( #: e; ) Of Wheat-harveſt;for Barley-harveſt was before this time. This Feaſt was otherwiſe called Pentecoſt. c Queſf. How were theſe $: e firſt-fruits, when a Sheaf was offered ta God inthe Feaſt gf the
-
OW accord, as 15 here implied. 7 He names one kind,under which he underitands a Lamb, or a Calf, &'c. according to the uſe of Scri- pture-{tile, This Law many underſtand literally, and that it is for-
h
Laws. The words may be rendred thus, Thow ſhalt ( for the word 6ajhal ſignifiesto reſt, amor err dent from Deur. 16; 7. 5 a kia, being, or whilſt it is ( which is to the Verb ſubſtantive ) in his mother's milk ; which it may be ſai
. . » . >? id e be, either 1. whilſt it ſucks its Mother's milk ; and mah Show &2
the Pail-over, of which moſt conceive he had now ſpok : : 8 | : en, v; 18: in winch they uſed either a Lamb or a Kid, Zxod; x 2: - Kee then the
word 6aſbal muſt be rendredre#. 2. That this ſpeaks not of Sacrifice
| to God, wherein ſucking Creatures were allowed, Exod, 2 2: 30; Lev: | 22: 27, 1 Sam: 7: 9.but of man's uſe; and ſo God ordained this, part-
| Iy becauſe this was unwholſome food, and principalh»- ro reſtrain , crue'ty, even towards Brute-creatures, and luxury in the uſe of them. Or rather 2. whilſt it is very tender and young, rather of a ' milky than of a ileſhy ſubtgnce, like rhat young Kid of which JOvg= 2g! thus ſpeaks, Yu plus IaFfis habet quam ſanguinis i.e,which hath wore ; milk than blood in it. Andit may beſaid to be in its mother's milk,
; by an uſual Hypallage, when its mother's milkis in it, i;e: whilſt the
the Firſt-fruits or Firſt-born of the Carre!
or till they were eight days old, fairh that place.
men for food. |
20 q *Behold, I ſend an Angel ms before thee to keep 2: * © bring thee into the place y _
thee in the way, and which Ihave prepared,
Chap. X 7 6 \
k This ſeems ro be a genera} Rule exrending to all the Fruits Y which the Earth firſt produced;in every kind of which the very firſt 2re here enjoined to beoffered unto God, before they ſhould pre. ſume to eat ary of them. Ir may ſeem to be repeated here, where *
be given to God of all that rhe Earth produced, not only by their ::bour and Seed, as might be thought from werſe 16; bur alſo of its
bidden to them, becauſe the Idolaters had ſuch a cuſtom, whereof yer there ſecs to be no ſufficient proof; nor, if there were doth it ſeem to De a Rite of that importance or probability to entice the 1/- raelites toumitare it, that there needed a particular Law againſt this
more than againſt an hundred ſuch ridiculous uſeges which were a= morg the Heathen,and are not taken natice of in the Book.of God's
or rof
as wel] as to boi], as it is evie
| be underſtood, there being nothing more commen than an Ellipſis of
| mitofa twofold interpretztion, 1. that this is to be underſteod of
milk 1t ſucks, as it were, remains in it undigoſted and nnconverted .nto fleth, even as a man 1s oft ſaid to be in the ſpirit, when indeed the Joirit isin him. And what is here indefinitely prohibited, is elſewhere particularly explained, and the time defined, to wit, that it $ not offered to God before it was eight daysold. And this interpre- tation may receive light and ſtrength from hence, that the Law of | the Firſt-fruits, which both here and Exod; 34: 26; goes immediate- | ly before this Law, doth in Exod: 22. 30. immediately go before that Law of not offering them before the eighth days, which im- plies, that both of them ſpeak concerning the ſame thing, to wit, which were not to be of< fered to God while they were in their Mother's milk, ſaith this i K
: And conſe - £ ly, if they might not be offered to God, they might not be uſed by
ha $
F