Deuteronomy 18:3

And this shall be the priests" due, etc.] Heb. mishpaṭ, as in 1 Samuel 2:13, where render: and the priests" due from the people.

from them that offer a sacrifice Heb. slay, or sacrifice, a sacrifice, a comprehensive phrase including every victim offered at the Altar where alone sacrifice was valid. This precludes the various theories suggested with the view of reconciling D's law with that of P (see next note), viz. (1) that the law refers not to animals offered at the Temple but to those slain for food at home (Deuteronomy 12:15 f.); (2) that it refers only to the eating of firstlings (Deuteronomy 12:17 f., Deuteronomy 15:20); (3) that it refers to more dues to the priests, additional to those prescribed in P.

the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw According to 1 Samuel 2:12-17 the earlier practice had been that the priest's servant with a three-pronged fork took what he could for his master out of the caldron in which the victim was being boiled for the worshippers; and it was regarded as a sinful innovation when the sons of Eli demanded to receive their portions while the flesh was still raw, no doubt in order that they might secure certain definite parts of the animal. This claim the law in D now legalises, naming the pieces of the victim to be given to the priest. P represents a later development, and prescribes still better pieces, the breast and the right thigh (Leviticus 7:31 ff; Leviticus 10:14 f., Numbers 18:18). For the gradual increase of the priests" dues and of their other sources of revenue from D onwards, see Jerusalem, i. 354 366.