Devarim 15:19-23 (Re'eh) – Two types of firstborn animals

Devarim 12:6 records that a firstborn animal, bekhor, is sacrificed and Devarim 12:17,18 and 14:23 record that the bekhor is to be eaten before G-d in the chosen place. Devarim 15:19-23 clarifies that this requirement is only for a firstborn animal that has no blemishes. If a firstborn animal has a blemish, then it can be eaten anywhere like regular meat. These laws about the firstborn animal are surprising since they make no distinction between priests and regular people, and the implication is that non-priests are the ones eating the firstborn animal. However, Bemidbar 18:18 states that the priests eat the firstborn animal. How can Devarim 12-15 allow a regular person to eat the firstborn animal?

In Jewish law, (Rambam, Laws of Firstborns, 1:1,2) the firstborn animal of a pure unblemished animal (cow, sheep) is offered as a sacrifice and the priests eat the part of the animal that is not put on the altar. This law accords with Bemidbar 18:18, but what about the laws from Devarim 12-15? The traditional answer is that all the cases in Devarim 12-15 that refer to a person eating a sacrificed firstborn animal are only addressed to the priests and not to the general population (Rashi on 12:17, 15:20, Ibn Ezra on 12:17, 14:23 and 15:20). This is difficult since there is no indication in the Torah that the laws in Devarim 12-15 are only for priests. In addition, even in Jewish law, a non-priest can eat the blemished firstborn animal. The blemished firstborn animal must still be given to the priest, but based on 15:21,22, the priest can give it away or sell it to anybody (Rambam, Laws of firstborns, 1:3, Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, 306:5). This means that 15:21,22, the law of a blemished firstborn animal, is understood as being addressed to the general population, and hence it is difficult to argue that the previous verse, 15:20, concerning the unblemished firstborn animal was only addressed to the priest.

Ibn Ezra (on 12:17) quotes a logical answer from the Karaites, but he rejects it without providing a reason. He writes that the deniers (Karaites) explain that there are two types of firstborn animals in the Torah, the firstborn animal of the womb and the firstborn animal each year of the flock. The law in Bemidbar 18:18 is referring to the firstborn animal of the womb, which goes to the priest, while Devarim 12-15 refer to the annual firstborn animal of the flock, which was eaten by the general population.

Alexander Rofe (1988a, p. 34), writes that this distinction between the two types of firstborn animals is from the Karaite work, Keter Torah. He calls it elegant since there is textual support for it, but he also does not accept it, again without providing a reason. The textual support is that Bemidbar 18:14 uses the word womb when discussing the firstborn animal, while Devarim 15:19 does not mention the term womb. Also Devarim 12-15 refer to firstborn of all the animals, which could mean from the entire flock. This explanation of the Karaites clearly contradicts normative Jewish law, but this is not a reason to reject it as an explanation of the text. The Rashbam (Introduction to parashat Mishpatim) writes that while the traditional interpretation is primary and is how we practice, still one can interpret the text differently.

There is another proof for this distinction between two types of firstborn animals, which I do not know if the Karaites already mentioned. Devarim 15:20 records that the firstborn animal is to be eaten “year after year.” What does it mean “year after year?” Rashi (on 15:20) writes that the phrase requires the unblemished firstborn animal to be brought as a sacrifice in its first year. However, this does not seem to be the sense of the phrase “year after year.” Also, it contradicts Shemot 22:29 that the firstborn animal should be brought to G-d on its 8th day. The traditional answer (Rambam, Laws of Firstborns, 1:8) is that the firstborn animal can be given to G-d from the 8th day onwards until it is one year old.

With the distinction between the two types of firstborn animals, the phrase "year after year" is not difficult at all. If Devarim 12-15 is referring to the firstborn of the entire flock, then each year there would be a new firstborn something that does necessarily occur when the firstborn is the first of the womb. Thus, Devarim 15:20, just means simply that each year the sacrifice is to be offered, and is not referring to how soon after the animal was born is it offered as a sacrifice.

This distinction between the two types of firstborn animals also better explains the change in the law from a non-blemished firstborn animal to a blemished firstborn animal that a non-priest can eat the blemished firstborn animal, 15:21,22. This law of the blemished firstborn animal is in reference to the annual firstborn of the flock, which has a lower level of kedusha than the firstborn of the womb. The annual firstborn of the flock has a lower level of kedusha, that even when the firstborn animal is non-blemished a regular person can eat it, just in the chosen place, so when the animal is blemished, a regular person can eat it anywhere ("one jump down"). However, for the a firstborn animal of the womb, which can only eaten by priest when it is non-blemished, so one would think that if blemished, while it cannot be offered as a sacrifice, it could also not be eaten by a non-priest ("two jumps down").

Finally, Rashi (on 15:19) notes that the word to dedicate, takdish, the firstborn animals in 15:19 seems to contradict Vayikra 27:26, which records that the firstborn animal is not to be dedicated since it already G-d's. An answer based on the distinction between the two types of firstborn animals could be that Vayikra 27:26 is referring to a firstborn animal from the womb and this firstborn animal cannot be dedicated, while 15:19 is referring to the annual firstborn of the flock and these firstborn animals can be dedicated.