And there ye shall eat before the Lord. The injunction here and in Deuteronomy 12:17, respecting the eating by the offerer of the firstlings of his flocks and herds, appears to be inconsistent with the injunction in Numbers 18:18.
There it seems as if the whole of the flesh was to be given to the priest. "And the flesh of them shall be thine [the priest's], as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine." This may be taken to mean that just as the wave breast and the right shoulder are the perquisites of the priests in the case of other offerings, as e.
g. the peace offering, so in the case of the firstling offering the whole flesh shall be the priest's; and thus taken, the passage presents an unquestionable discrepancy to that in Deuteronomy. But probably the passage is not to be so taken.
The particle translated "as" ( כְּ.) not infrequently occurs in the sense of "according to, after the manner of," implying conformity to some rule or model (Genesis 44:2; Exodus 21:9; Exodus 39:8; Le Exodus 5:10; Numbers 8:4; Numbers 9:3; Numbers 29:18; Ps 7:18; Zechariah 2:10 (6), etc.
). The passage, therefore, may be rendered thus: And the flesh of them shalt thou take after the manner (or according to the rule), of the wave breast, etc; i.e. not the whole of it, but only these parts.
So the LXX. seem to have taken the passage: καὶ τα κρεα εὐται κασα καὶ το στηθυνιον του ἐπιθέματος καὶ κατὰ τὸν βραχίονα τὸν δεξιὸν σοι ἔσται. Of some of the offerings the whole was received by the priest, as in the case of the sin offering and trespass offering (Le Deuteronomy 6:25, etc.
; Deuteronomy 7:1, etc.); while of others only certain portions, viz. the wave breast and the heave shoulder, were given to him, as in the case of the peace offering (Le 7:28, etc.). The purport of the law in Numbers 18:18 is that, in respect of the firstling offering, the allotment to the priest shall be after the same manner as in the peace offering.
There is thus no discrepancy between the two passages. The animal belonged originally to the offerer; when he brought it before the Lord part of it was consumed on the altar, part of it was assigned to the priest, and the rest, as a matter of course, remained with himself.
The law in Numbers, addressed to the priest, intimates what he might claim as his portion; the law in Deuteronomy, where the people are addressed, directs them how to use the portion that remained with them.
It may be added that, even supposing that all the flesh was given to the priest, yet, as it had to be consumed on the day in which the sacrifice was offered, and as every clean person in the house might partake of it, it is almost certain that the offerer would, as a matter of course, share in the meal, as was usual in the case of sacrificial meals.
Rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto; enjoy whatever your hand may gain, whatever you may earn, all the good which the Lord may give you (cf. verse 18; Deuteronomy 15:10; Deuteronomy 23:20; Deuteronomy 28:8, Deuteronomy 28:20).
The phrase is peculiar to Deuteronomy; but comp. Genesis 3:22; Isaiah 11:14.