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Exodus 23:19

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

Exodus 23:19 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Exodus 23:19

Theological / Devotional

The first of the firstfruits. This means either “the best” of the first fruits (Num. 18:12) or the “first ripe” fruits (Num. 18:13). As these first fruits of the harvest of the “land” were brought to God, so Christ presented Himself to the Father as the first fruits of the resurrection harvest (John 20:17; 1 Cor. 15:20–23).

The house of the Lord. This phrase is synonymous with the expression, “the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there” (Deut. 26:2 ; 12:5, 11, 14; 16:16), and refers to the sanctuary and later the Temple.

Not seethe a kid. Texts unearthed at Ras Shamra, the ancient Ugarit, a Syrian coastal city opposite the island of Cyprus, reveal the fact that boiling sacrificial kids in their mother’s milk was a ritual practice of the Canaanites. It was probably to avoid this heathen rite that God forbade His people to do so.

By SdaBc