Thus ZBXY )DM means most probably,
"offerers belonging to the human race." At the same time, even if
the expression did mean "sacrificers of men," it would prove nothing
regarding regular sacrifices of children.
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human first-born was certainly no regular or commanded exaction in
ancient times; there are no traces of so enormous a blood tax,
but, on the contrary, many of a great preference for eldest sons.
It was not until shortly before the exile that the burning of
children was introduced on a grand scale along with many other
innovations, and supported by a strict interpretation of the
command regarding firstlings (Jeremiah vii. 31, xix. 5; Ezekiel xx.
26). In harmony with this is the fact that the law of Exodus
xiii. 3-16 comes from the hand of the latest redactor of the
Jehovistic history.
III.I.2. "Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a husbandman. And in
process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering unto the Lord; and Abel also brought
an offering of the firstlings of his sheep."
It is out of the simplest, most natural, and most wide-spread
offerings, those of the first-fruits of the flock, herd, and
field, the occasions for which recur regularly with the seasons of
the year, that the annual festivals took their rise.
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