Numbers 18:18 - Exposition

The flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. This is on the face of it inconsistent with the direction given in Deuteronomy 15:19 , Deuteronomy 15:20 , that the flesh of the first-lings should be eaten by the offerers in the holy place (cf. also Deuteronomy 12:17 , Deuteronomy 12:18 ). Two explanations have been proposed.

1 . That the firstlings were given to the priest in the same sense as the peace offerings, i.e; only as regarded the breast and shoulder, while the rest went to the offerer. This, however, does obvious violence to the language, and is not supported by the Septuagint.

2 . That as the priest was bound to consume the firstlings with his family, and could not sell them, he would be certainly disposed to invite the offerer to join him in the sacred meal. This may have been usually the case, but it was entirely within the option of the priest, and could scarcely be made the basis of a direct command, like that of Deuteronomy 15:19 , still less of an indirect assumption, like that of Deuteronomy 12:17 , Deuteronomy 12:18 , that the firstlings stood upon the same footing as free-will offerings and heave offerings. It is easier to suppose that the law was actually modified in this, as in some other particulars.