“You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.
The firstfruits and firstborn are joined together to teach Israel that both themselves and all they possess belong to God. By this offering the memory of their deliverance is kept alive, and the whole year's food is sanctified through the consecration of its first portion. Moses repeats this command so often because the Jews, once returned from Babylon, despised and neglected it entirely.
AI summary
Do not charge interest to the poor who borrow by necessity; but show mercy to those you might exploit, and share loss as well as profit with them. Do not strip a poor man of his bedclothes for a debt, but return them by nightfall so he has something to lie on. Those who sleep warm ought to consider the hard lodgings of the poor and refuse to make their suffering worse.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 22:25-31
Holiness here means separation to God, kept through obedience to His laws and appointments. You must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; cast it to the dogs instead. Even a stranger who ate such flesh became unclean and had to wash and bathe himself.
AI summary