Presentation in The Temple

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petra22

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Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple when he was 40 days old to dedicate him to the Lord. This was a command for them.

What was the ceremony like and is there still a ceremony like that in the Jewish experience? If so, what is it like today???
 
I believe that the presentation was because he was the first born son. As such he was to be redeemed/ransomed as per Exodus 13 and Numbers 18:15-18. In Judaism this would be the Pidyon ha-Ben. The basis of the Pidyon ha-Ben is that each first born male belongs to God. As such they would become the priest of the family, but since the incident of the Golden Calf only the descendants of Levi would hold that office. Because of that, the first born would be taken to a priest after 31 days and ransomed for 5 silver shekels. The outline of the ceremony can be found here.

As I understand it the ceremony is very rare. It does not apply to sons born via c-section, after the birth of a daughter, or after a miscarriage. It also does not apply to any children where either parent is from the priestly line. Finally, there was no requirement that it be done in the temple. It is likely that this was done more in line with Samuel’s presentation in the temple for service in the sanctuary (1 Samuel 1:24-28).

As to why it says at 40 days instead of 31? A woman was considered ritually impure for 40 days after the birth of a child. The offering of 2 pigeons or turtle doves is in regard to atonement for Mary after giving birth (Leviticus 12:2-8). So if the Pidyon ha-Ben was done in the temple, then Mary could not be in the temple precincts until after the ritual atonement and purification was complete.
 
Well the first thought that come to mind, is they do not have a temple anymore.😉
 
Thanks for the information. I check the link but it said it was no longer there… also is there a special NAME for first born son or is that it? First born SON?
 
What was the ceremony like and is there still a ceremony like that in the Jewish experience? If so, what is it like today???
Click to expand...
Purchase an Art Scroll Siddur (prayer book) with English translation. Page 219-220 contains detailed commentary and the prayers recited.
 
petra22 said:
Thanks for the information. I check the link but it said it was no longer there… also is there a special NAME for first born son or is that it? First born SON?
Click to expand...
My apologies. it looks like it I pasted the link without removing the existing http:. The link is: aish.com/jl/l/b/Pidyon_Haben_-_Redemption_of_First_Born.html

Not sure I follow the question, but if I understand correctly, ha-ben, הבן, literally means “the son” whereas bekhor, בְּכוֹר, is the first born son. Pidyon Haben only applied to the son who “opened the womb” (פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם, peter rechem). In other words, only to the first naturally born (i.e. vaginally birth) child of a particular woman when the child was male. From that I get that ha-ben is different from bekhor, so it likely depends on if it’s the first born son of the mother or of the father. In general I have seen bekhor used to refer to the first born son, where ha-ben seems to be a more specialized meaning.

(My apologies to our Jewish brethren if my Hebrew and transliterations are off or if my interpretation is incorrect)
 
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