De politia judaica, tam civili quam ecclesiastica, jam inde a suis primordiis, hoc est ab orbe condito, repetita

and were utterly destroyed.

Noah, having gone out from the ark, returned to the original rites of divine worship, and he practiced them among all his own people, who were not yet dispersed, for one hundred and ten years, the time during which the dispersion of Noah’s descendants occurred.

Once that dispersion took place, it is altogether likely that each man was a Prince or Ruler and Priest within his own family, and that these dignities came from there to the firstborn of the nation or family: such that the firstborn of the primary family always obtained them, while the firstborn of other families were employed both in administering the Republic and in performing sacred rites.

In Exod. 19.22. & 24. 5. where Onkelos specifically explains the "young men" as the firstborn. Aben Ezra. Num. 16. 1

That the firstborn were accustomed to be employed for sacrifices appears not only from the commentaries of the Hebrews, but also from the fact that in the Law the Lord professes that He takes the Levites for His own worship and consecrates them to Himself, as a λυτρὸν redemption price/ransom for the remaining firstborn among the Israelites. For this is not only to be referred to the firstborn of the Israelites who were passed over by the Exterminating Angel in Egypt, but it also seems to be understood as if the Lord were signifying that not only were they His firstborn by the Law which He was then dictating, or certainly renewing, and to be placed in charge of His sacred rites, but that they had long ago