“For that alone is his covering, it is his garment for his skin; in what shall he lie? It shall be that when he cries out to Me, I will hear, as I am gracious” (Exodus 22:26). “You shall not curse judges, and a prince among your people you shall not revile” (Exodus 22:27). “I will hear, as I am gracious.”
What is written thereafter? “You shall not curse judges” (Exodus 22:27). What does this matter have to do with that? Our Rabbis said: There was an incident involving one who had a court case and came before the judge, and he exonerated him.
The one who was exonerated emerged and said: ‘Judge so and so, there is no one like him in the world.’ Some time later, he had a court case and came before him, and he declared him liable. He emerged from before him and said: ‘There is no judge more foolish than he is.’ They said to him: ‘Yesterday he was praiseworthy and today a fool?’
That is why the verse cautions you: “You shall not curse judges.” If you curse, you are cursing your crops,21The punishment for cursing a judge is that one will have a poor crop. as it is stated: “The surfeit of your crop and the outpouring of your juices you shall not delay” (Exodus 22:28). That is why they are written one after the other. Likewise you find that when judges are cursed, the crops diminish, as it is stated: “It was in the days when the judges judged [shefot hashofetim],22The midrash interprets this phrase to mean “it was in the days of judging the judges.” there was a famine in the land” (Ruth 1:1).
That is why it is stated: “The surfeit of your crop and the outpouring of your juices you shall not delay.” Do not tithe improperly. Do not separate the tithe and then teruma, and not the second tithe and then the first tithe. That is why it says: “You shall not delay.”
But if you separate them properly, I will grant you male children, as it is stated: “The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me” (Exodus 22:28), as in the wilderness, the firstborn of Israel were priests, as it is stated: “He sent the young men of the children of Israel [and they sacrificed burnt offerings]” (Exodus 24:5). When they sinned with the Calf, the Holy One blessed be He removed them and installed the Levites in their place, as it says: “I have taken the Levites…in place of every firstborn” (Numbers 3:12). That is why it is stated: “The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.”