And please, try to be rigorous in your analysis, not just make crap up that helps you feel good about your beliefs.
Genesis 34:19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed."
When I read these words, it speaks of sacrifice -- of giving up something. That is the meaning of "no one is to appear before my empty-handed." Pay up, folks.
Clearly, the "firstborn males of your livestock" seems to infer sacrifice. This is reinforced by verse 20, which acknowledges that, hey, donkeys are kind of costly so you might replace it with a much cheaper lamb. But the word "redeem" poses a problem. While it might mean "set aside" (for what purpose? If you can't use it, who will?) the suggestion that "if you do not redeem it, break its neck" suggests strongly that we're talking about here is sacrifice. And if that is the case, then how do we proceed to the next sentence, "redeem all your firstborn sons?"
You are correct that the animals are too be sacrificed, lambs, cows and goats. The reason donkeys aren't sacrificed had nothing to do with cost, but rather because they are considered unclean and are unlawful to sacrifice. Hence they are redeemed instead, as you can see in
Numbers 18:15-18:
15 “Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which
is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem
[clean animals, therefore to be sacrificed, not redeemed]; they
are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat
as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. 18 And their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave breast and the right thigh are yours.
The concept of redemption in the bible is I think an important one, something that I'd like to study more, but I think there is a deeper picture here than just, hey, I want every first lamb, donkey, and child. The first time it mentions reserving the first born for YHWH is in Exodus 13, right after the death of all the firstborn of man and beast in Egypt, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is a tie-in somehow with that. But according to my understanding, originally, it was going to be the firstborn Israelites who would be the priests, or function in that capacity in some way. Then, after the incident with the golden calf and Israel's infidelity toward YHWH, the Levites were the ones who stood up and chose God over even family and friends, and for that reason (and perhaps other reasons that I'm forgetting or am not aware of yet), YHWH chose them rather than the firstborns, though the firstborn children were still to be redeemed. See Exodus 32:26-29.
Numbers 3:11-13
11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, 13 because all the firstborn
are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I
am the Lord.”
This process is further explained in numbers 3:40-51.
Anyways, I hope this makes some sense. There is no reason to think, though, that the firstborn sons were to be sacrificed, which I think is what you were inferring.
