THE FIRST — first in time, first in rank, and, in the cult, the first portion, which belongs to God. It is the noun inside be-reshit, the first word of Genesis 1:1, and of Proverbs 1:7, the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge (both already on these pages). ⭐ In the law it names what is handed over before anything else is used: the first of the firstfruits of your ground at Exodus 23:19 and 34:26, the first of your grain, your new wine and your oil, and the first of the shearing of your flock at Deuteronomy 18:4, and some of the first of all the fruit of the ground in the basket of 26:2 — which uses reshit and never the word bikkurim, firstfruits, that Exodus pairs with it. Balaam calls Amalek first of nations with it (Numbers 24:20), and Jeremiah calls Israel the first of his harvest (Jeremiah 2:3, both already on these pages) — the nation itself as the portion set apart. ⚠ Cain's offering at Genesis 4:3 is of the fruit of the ground with no first in front of it; the basket law is his phrase with the word put back. → first discussed at Deut 26:2