Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
Exodus 22:29, 30
29. The first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
29. Primogeniture filiorum tuorum dabis mihi.
30. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.
30. Sic facies de bore tuo, et de pecude tua: septem diebus erit cum matre sua, die autem octavo dabis eum mihi.
2. Sanctify unto me all the first-born. This also refers to the First Commandment, because God asserts His right over the first-born, lest the recollection of their redemption should ever be lost. For thus were the Israelites admonished that they must honor that God by whose grace they had escaped in safety from the common destruction of Egypt, and, moreover, that they were rescued by His special blessing, in order that they should consecrate themselves to God their Deliverer. For the offering which He here requires, was a mark of separation between them and the heathen nations.328 The first-born is called the opening of the womb, because it is the beginning of generation. The expression, "among the children of Israel," when he is speaking of brutes, as well as of their own offspring and children, is meant to distinguish the wild beasts from the tame and domestic animals. But although He commands only the first-born of the race of Abraham to be offered to Him, still this must undoubtedly be extended to the sanctification of the whole people; for whilst He says, that the first-born were His, because they especially owed their preservation to His mercy, yet for the same reason he signifies that all were His own.
11. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee. He proceeds with what had been glanced at in the beginning of the chapter with respect to the consecration of the first-born, that in this way they should bear witness to the special blessing of God which preserved them when He destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians. But He commands the animals to329 be brought to Him, in order that they should be slain in the tabernacle. It is a common figure of speech to say, that the faithful and their gifts were Omitted in Fr.
Observe A. V., "thou shalt set apart;" margin, "cause to pass over;" Lat., "transferes."