Read Deuteronomy 15:19-23 at Bible Gateway.
Previously: deuteronomy 15:1-18, release from debt and bondage
(Please review the teaching tools of scripture, especially the Hebrew paragraph divisions and chiastic structures. The paragraphs marked by an “s” at their close are weak paragraphs, which indicate a change of facet but not a change of theme or topic. The paragraphs marked by a “p” at their close are strong paragraphs, which indicate the completion of a theme or topic. The paragraph divisions reveal the chiastic structures: narratives which zero in on the main point of the narrative at its center, like a bull’s eye at the center of a target. The main point is revealed, because the narrative elements before the main point (or central axis) are repeated after the central axis, in reverse order, while the central axis itself is not repeated.)
This section, Deu 15:19-23, is the second section explaining the fourth commandment, Honor the Sabbath day. (The fourth commandment is explained in Deu 15:1-16:17, and this is my summary of it.) These are the Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Deu 15:19-23 {p} The firstborn are holy to YHVH
Here is the strong paragraph:
“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.” Deu 15:19-23
What on earth does this have to do with Honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy? The key is in the first verse of the paragraph, vs. 19: You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd. The rest of the paragraph explains how the firstborn of the herd or flock is sanctified (made holy or set apart) to the Lord: it is taken the place of the Lord’s name, and offered in sacrifice. We learned that all ancient cultures sacrificed to the gods every time an animal was killed to be eaten, thus the instruction concerning the eating of the firstborn in the rest of the paragraph.
Even this strong paragraph makes its own chiastic structure:
1a) Deu 15:19, You shall sanctify the firstborn and do no work with them;
1b) Deu 15:20, You shall eat your sacrifice in the place of the Lord’s name;
central axis) Deu 15:21, The blemished firstborn shall not be a sacrifice to the Lord your God;
2b) Deu 15:22, You may eat the blemished firstborn within your gates;
2a) Deu 15:23, You shall not eat the blood but pour it on the ground like water.
Why is the A pair a repeating element? Because the blood, in which is the life, is holy to the Lord. While I am sure I do not understand everything there is to understand about this passage and its relation to Honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy, I can see that on the set apart side, that which is holy to YHVH, is Sabbath, rest, not working, that which is first, the unblemished sacrifice, and the blood in which is the life (therefore by extension, life, also). And on the common and ordinary side, is daily labor, working to provide for needs, that which is not first, blemishes and defects, and death.
That which pertains to salvation by grace through faith, in other words: resting in God, the unblemished sacrifice of the first begotten of God, Yeshua the Lamb of God, and His blood in which is life, is holy to the Lord. The sacrifice of the unblemished firstborn is a picture of the gospel of grace, just as Sabbath rest is a picture of the gospel of grace. When we honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy, we honor the gospel of grace by which we are saved, for central to the gospel is receiving rest in Jesus.
Leave a Reply