What's the deal with exodus 22:29: "You must give me the firstborn of your sons?"?

Question

Does that mean the ancient hebrews killed thier firstborn sons, or is it a metaphor for circumcision or something?

Answer 1

That's pretty light stuff considering most of the Old Testament.

Answer 2

In the laws of Moses (old testament/ JEWS) every Firstborn MALE should be offered in the temple and when he grows up He will serve the temple as a Priest

please read in EXODUS also:
Exodus 13:1-2 (New International Version)

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal."


that is why when Jesus was born HE WAS PRESENTED IN THE TEMPLE (in tradition of the Jews that every FIRSTBORN MALE should be presented in the temple)
and Jesus is the LAST first born male to be offered as a Highpriest and cannot be replace

Hebrews 5:5-6 (New International Version)

5So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.[a]"[b] 6And he says in another place,
"You are a priest forever

Hebrews 7:24 (New International Version)

24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.

hope everything is clear :)

Answer 3

It meant the firstborn sons were to be dedicated to serve in the temple.If a parent did not want to, they had to redeem the child with an offering. This insured that there would always be people on hand to maintain the temple and allowed the priests to perform their duty without interruption.

Answer 4

Consecrate- means to be given to God--exodus 13:1-2 Says whether man or animal Consecrated animals were either killed as sacrifices or in lter years given to priests. Instead of the firsborn sons being killed, and animal died in each one's place as a substitue. In this way, the lives of the firstborn sons were redeemed or bought back--according to my notes

Answer 5

thats called "pidyon ha-ben" - redemption of the firstborn. its from the belief that the best things belonged to G-d. firstborn sons were required to devote their lives to service in the Temple. if you didnt want your son to spend his life in the Temple, you had to redeem him by paying a few coins to a kohein (priest). today the amount is usually $6. this ritual is still done today among orthodox jews, and many conservative jews, but usually not reform. obviously its done for all qualifying firstborns since there is no option to devote yourself to the Temple anymore. there is a big party afterwards.

Answer 6

Actually back then it meant that you made a very long journey to a temple and dedicated your first born son to God.

It was a ceremony that was performed by a priest or rabbi and you can find that Mary and Joseph conformed to this very thing and took the baby Jesus to the temple to dedicate him to the very God that he was. A bit confusing , I know, but just remember at this time Jesus was here in the flesh and was bound by the law of the flesh.

Answer 7

No they dedicated them to God. If you read in the book of Samuel, the woman Hannah, who was childless, promised God if He gave her a son, she would give him "back to God". And she did, after the child was weaned, she gave him into the keeping of a priest, to be consecrated and raised in the temple. That is the meaning of God asking they be "given" to Him.

Answer 8

Dedication!

Answer 9

At that time, the first born became a priest, or scribe to the priests! They belonged to God!
After they were weaned then entered the priesthood.

Answer 10

keep reading... firstborn son had to be redeemed by a sacrifice.