What Does Exodus 22:8 Mean?

"You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. 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.

You shall do the same with your oxen and with your Sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me." The firstfruits and firstborn laws (verses 28-30) cluster three offering obligations: the first of the harvest and press (the firstfruits of grain and wine), the firstborn sons (to be redeemed, as Exodus 13:13 established), and the firstborn animals (to be given to YHWH on the eighth day). The entire "first" category, first of the harvest, first of the wine press, first of the sons, first of the animals, belongs to YHWH.

"You shall not delay" (lo te'acher, do not be late/tardy) is the promptness requirement for firstfruits offering: the first of the harvest belongs to YHWH and must be given promptly, not held back for personal use. The instinct to delay giving the firstfruits (using the first of the harvest before giving it to YHWH) is exactly the temptation the law addresses: give YHWH the first of what your fields and vats produce, not the last.

The firstfruits principle is the covenant economics' most direct claim: YHWH gets the first, not the remainder. Proverbs 3:9 formalizes this: "Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce."

"On the eighth day you shall give it to me": the eighth-day firstborn-animal offering is the covenant's application of the circumcision principle to animal offering: as the covenant sign of circumcision is performed on the eighth day of a male Israelite's life (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3), the firstborn animal is offered on its eighth day. The eighth day is the completion of the first week plus one: the first post-Sabbath day, the day of new beginning.

The eighth-day offering of the firstborn animal and the eighth-day circumcision are both "new beginning" acts: the child's covenant identity begins on day eight; the animal enters YHWH's service on day eight. The New Testament's resurrection on the first day of the week (which is the "eighth day" after the Jewish Sabbath) is the ultimate eighth-day new beginning.