Deuteronomy 15:19 Komentář

In this chapter Moses gives orders, I. Concerning the release of debts, every seventh year (Deu 15:1-6), with a caution that this should be no hindrance to charitable lending (Deu 15:7-11). II. Concerning the release of servants after seven years' service (Deu 15:12-18). III. Concerning the sanctification of the firstlings of cattle to God (Deu 15:19, etc.).

Here is, 1. A repetition of the law concerning the firstlings of their cattle, that, if they were males, they were to be sanctified to the Lord (Deu 15:19), in remembrance of, and in thankfulness for, the sparing of the first-born of Israel, when the first-born of the Egyptians, both of man and beast, were slain by the destroying angel (Exo 13:2, Exo 13:15); on the eighth day it was to be given to God (Exo 22:30), and to be divided between the priest and the altar, Num 18:17, Num 18:18. 2. An addition to that law, for the further explication of it, directing them what to do with the firstlings, (1.) That were females: "Thou shalt do no work with the female firstlings of the cow, nor shear those of the sheep" (Deu 15:19); of them the learned bishop Patrick understands it. Though the female firstlings were not so entirely sanctified to God as the males, nor so early as at eight days old, yet they were not to be converted by the owners to their own use as the other cattle, but must be offered to God as peace-offerings, or used in a religious feast, at the year's end, Deu 15:20. Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, as directed Deu 12:18. (2.) But what must they do with that which was blemished, ill-blemished? Deu 15:21. Were it male or female, it must not be brought near the sanctuary, nor used either for sacrifice or for holy feasting, for it would not be fit to honour God with, nor to typify Christ, who is a Lamb without blemish; yet it must not be reared, but killed and eaten at their own houses as common food (Deu 15:22), only they must be sure not to eat it with the blood, Deu 15:23. The frequent repetition of this caution intimates what need the people had of it, and what stress God laid upon it. What a mercy it is that we are not under this yoke! We are not dieted as they were; we make no difference between a first calf, or lamb, and the rest that follow. Let us therefore realize the gospel meaning of this law, devoting ourselves and the first of our time and strength to God, as a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, 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.

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 15 This chapter treats of a release of debts every seventh year, to which a blessing is promised if attended to, Deu 15:1, which seventh year of release should not hinder lending to a poor man in distress, even though it was nigh at hand, Deu 15:7 and of letting servants go free, whether manservant or maidservant, at the end of six years' servitude, Deu 15:12 but if unwilling to go, and desirous of staying, must have his ear bored through with an awl, and serve to the year of jubilee, Deu 15:16 and of sanctifying and eating the firstlings of the herd and flock where the Lord directs, Deu 15:19.

All the firstling males that come of thy herd, or of thy flock, thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God,.... According to the law in Exo 13:2. See Gill on Exo 13:2; See Gill on Exo 13:12; See Gill on Exo 13:13, thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock: as to plough or tread out the corn with it, which were done with other heifers: nor shear the firstling of thy sheep; nor was the wool shorn of it to be made use of; one of the Jewish canons runs thus,"if any man weave an hand's breadth of the wool of a firstling into cloth, the cloth is to be burnt (l).'' (l) Misn. Orlah, c. 3. sect. 3.

What did Moses mean by making this prohibition, except to forbid those who have begun to live aright to engage in human occupations? To plow with the firstborn of a cow is to display the beginnings of one’s conversion in carrying out public activities. To shear the firstborn of sheep is to strip the cover of secrecy from our first good works and display them to human eyes. Therefore we are forbidden to work with the firstlings of cattle. When we are kept from shearing the firstlings of the sheep, we should not act openly too quickly, even if we have begun some solid work. Since our life begins as something simple and innocuous, it is proper that we should not lay aside the covering of its privacy, lest it show itself naked to human eyes once the wool has been sheared. The firstlings of cattle and sheep are suitable only for divine sacrifices. Whatever we begin with that is strong, simple and innocent, we should offer on the altar of our hearts to the honor of the secret judge. And he without a doubt receives it more gladly if it has been hidden from men and not stained with any desire for praise. But often the beginnings of a new conversion are mixed with elements of a carnal life and hence should not become known too quickly. Otherwise, when the good that is acceptable is praised, the soul is deceived by praise and cannot grasp the evils that still lie concealed in it.

THE SEVENTH YEAR, A YEAR OF RELEASE FOR THE POOR. (Deu 15:1-11) At the end of every seven years--during the last of the seven, that is, the sabbatical year (Exo 21:2; Exo 23:11; Lev 25:4; Jer 34:14).

All the firstling males of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God--[See on Exo 13:2]; see Exo 22:30). thou shalt do not work with the firstling of thy bullock--that is, the second firstlings (see Deu 12:17-18; Deu 14:23). Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 16

On the Year of Release. - The first two regulations in this chapter, viz., Deu 15:1-11 and Deu 15:12-18, follow simply upon the law concerning the poor tithe in Deu 14:28-29. The Israelites were not only to cause those who had no possessions (Levites, strangers, widows, and orphans) to refresh themselves with the produce of their inheritance, but they were not to force and oppress the poor. Debtors especially were not to be deprived of the blessings of the sabbatical year (Deu 15:1-6). "At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release." The expression, "at the end of seven years," is to be understood in the same way as the corresponding phrase, "at the end of three years," in Deu 14:28. The end of seven years, i.e., of the seven years' cycle formed by the sabbatical year, is mentioned as the time when debts that had been contracted were usually wiped off or demanded, after the year's harvest had been gathered in (cf. Deu 31:10, according to which the feast of Tabernacles occurred at the end of the year). שׁמטּה, from שׁמט morf ,, to let lie, to let go (cf. Exo 23:11), does not signify a remission of the debt, the relinquishing of all claim for payment, as Philo and the Talmudists affirm, but simply lengthening the term, not pressing for payment. This is the explanation in Deu 15:2 : "This is the manner of the release" (shemittah): cf. Deu 19:4; Kg1 9:15. "Every owner of a loan of his hand shall release (leave) what he has lent to his neighbour; he shall not press his neighbour, and indeed his brother; for they have proclaimed release for Jehovah." As שׁמוט (release) points unmistakeably back to Exo 23:11, it must be interpreted in the same manner here as there. And as it is not used there to denote the entire renunciation of a field or possession, so here it cannot mean the entire renunciation of what had been lent, but simply leaving it, i.e., not pressing for it during the seventh year. This is favoured by what follows, "thou shalt not press thy neighbour," which simply forbids an unreserved demand, but does not require that the debt should be remitted or presented to the debtor (see also Bhr, Symbolik, ii. pp. 570-1). "The loan of the hand:" what the hand has lent to another. "The master of the loan of the hand:" i.e., the owner of a loan, the lender. "His brother" defines with greater precision the idea of "a neighbour." Calling a release, presupposes that the sabbatical year was publicly proclaimed, like the year of jubilee (Lev 25:9). קרא is impersonal ("they call"), as in Gen 11:9 and Gen 16:14. "For Jehovah:" i.e., in honour of Jehovah, sanctified to Him, as in Exo 12:42. - This law points back to the institution of the sabbatical year in Exo 23:10; Lev 25:2-7, though it is not to be regarded as an appendix to the law of the sabbatical year, or an expansion of it, but simply as an exposition of what was already implied in the main provision of that law, viz., that the cultivation of the land should be suspended in the sabbatical year. If no harvest was gathered in, and even such produce as had grown without sowing was to be left to the poor and the beasts of the field, the landowner could have no income from which to pay his debts. The fact that the "sabbatical year" is not expressly mentioned, may be accounted for on the ground, that even in the principal law itself this name does not occur; and it is simply commanded that every seventh year there was to be a sabbath of rest to the land (Lev 25:4). In the subsequent passages in which it is referred to (Deu 15:9 and Deu 31:10), it is still not called a sabbatical year, but simply the "year of release," and that not merely with reference to debtors, but also with reference to the release (Shemittah) to be allowed to the field (Exo 23:11).

Application of the first-born of Cattle. - From the laws respecting the poor and slaves, to which the instructions concerning the tithes (Deu 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 Deu 12:6, Deu 12:17, and Deu 14:23, and concludes by an explanation upon this point. The command, which the Lord had given when first they came out of Egypt (Exo 13:2, Exo 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 (Deu 15:21, Deu 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 (Lev 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 Deu 15:22 and Deu 15:23, see Deu 12:15 and Deu 12:16.)