Deuteronomy 18:4

4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.

Deuteronomy 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:4

The firstfruit also of thy corn, and of thy wine, and of thy
oil
This is the "terumah", or heave offering, the offering of the firstfruits; what the measure or quantity was is not declared, but is fixed by the Jews; (See Gill on Exodus 22:29),

and the first of the fleece of thy sheep shall thou give him:
concerning which in the Misnah F18 it is said, the first of the fleece is used in the land and without the land, of which they give the weight of five shekels in Judea, which are ten shekels in Galilee; and they give white wool, and not defiled, enough to make of it a little garment. He that buys a fleece of the sheep of a Gentile, he is free from the first of the fleece; but if he buys it of his neighbour, if he leaves any of it, the seller is bound, if none the buyer is bound; if there are two sorts, russet and white, and he sells the russet but not the white, the males but not the females, everyone gives for himself. It may be observed in this account, that as much wool was to be given as would make a small garment; enough, says one of the commentators {s}, to make a little garment to minister in; and the least garment fit for a priest to minister in is a girdle. Jarchi's paraphrase of it is,

``when thou shearest thy flock every year, give the first of it to the priest; it does not determine the quantity, but our Rabbins fix it to the sixtieth part;''

with which agrees the observation of another writer F20, that there is no quantity fixed for the first of the fleece from the law, but from the words of the Scribes it must not be less than the sixtieth part. There is no obligation to the first of the fleece until five sheep are shorn, and the fleece of everyone of the five must not be less than twelve shekels' weight; but if there is one fleece of them less than twelve shekels, though the five fleeces are more than sixty shekels, lo, this is free; so that, as Maimonides F21 says, the first of the fleece is not less than the weight of a shekel.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Cholin, c. 11. sect. 1, 2.
F19 Bartenora in ib.
F20 Ibid.
F21 In Misn. ib.

Deuteronomy 18:4 In-Context

2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers: the LORD is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them.
3 This shall be the Kohanim' due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the Kohen the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
5 For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
6 If a Levite come from any of your gates out of all Yisra'el, where he sojourns, and come with all the desire of his soul to the place which the LORD shall choose;
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.