You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 19. Firstlings. Some belonged to the priests. Others, of which Moses speaks here, might be disposed of by the owners. Calmet. 12:17. Calmet.—Thus females, which came first, belonged to them, but they could not work with them; ( Menochius.) with such at least as were the best, and fattened for a religious feast. Sheep designed for this purpose were not to be shorn; or, as the original term means, their wool was not to be “torn away.” Bellon observes, that this is still the custom in some parts of the East, as it was formerly in Italy, according to Varro. Plin. (viii. 48,) also remarks, that fleece was torn off in some places, ( Calmet.) and the same method is said to prevail still in Shetland. Bible.