[551]. See pp. [109]–111, supra.
[552]. See Septuagint, in loco.
[553]. See Vulgate, in loco.
[554]. Philo’s Opera, Mangey, 2 : 292.
[555]. Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, s. v.
[556]. Cited in Levy’s Neuheb. Wörterb., s. v. “Saph.”
[557]. This on the authority of Prof. Dr. H.V. Hilprecht.
[558]. Among primitive peoples it was a common thought that the first fruits of life in any sphere belonged of right to God, or the gods. This was true of the fields, of the flocks and herds, and of the family. (See, for example, Frazer’s Golden Bough, II., 68–78, 373–384; also W. Robertson Smith’s Religion of the Semites, pp. 443–446.) As in Egypt particular gods were supposed to have power over men and beasts in special localities, the first-born belonged to them, and stood as representing their power and protection; yet Jehovah claimed to be Lord over all. And now, at the close of the contest between God and the gods, Jehovah took to himself out of the homes of his enemies the devoted first-born of man and of beast, in evidence of the truth that the gods of Egypt could not protect them.
[559]. 1 Kings 4 : 24, “Tiphsah.”
[560]. See Gesenius’s Hebr. und Aram. Handwörterbuch (12th ed.), s. v. “Tiphsakh.”