And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Exodus 13 opens with God speaking to Moses again, just as Israel is about to leave Egypt. His first words are not about the road ahead. They are about who owns the firstborn: the God who sheltered them from death now claims them as His own.
Israel stood ready to leave, yet the story pauses for God to speak. One writer gives two grounds for God's claim: creation and redemption.
Rather than letting the people rush out past Egypt's borders, God calmly insists first on His own claims over Israel. Only in verse 20 of this chapter do we see them leaving Succoth. The Lord calls on Moses to "sanctify" or "set apart" all the firstborn of Israel and all the firstborn of their domestic animals. It was of course the firstborn whom the blood of the lamb had preserved. God claimed these, for even by creation He has rights over what comes first, and redemption emphasizes this claim all the more.
Why the firstborn, and not anyone else? (The ESV renders the command in verse 2, "Consecrate to me all the firstborn.")
In the previous chapter we saw how each household was identified with its firstborn, and how the lamb, as substitute, bore the judgment due to the firstborn... The purpose of God in delivering the children of Israel from the land of Egypt was to bring them to Himself... He redeems and delivers so that He might have a people in relationship with Himself. The same Voice that said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you," says, "Hallow to Me every firstborn." All that is sheltered by the blood is hallowed to God. He has a distinct claim on all who are sheltered by the blood of Christ.
Another writer applies the same word to believers now:
Exodus 13:2 shows that sanctification is God claiming for Himself those whom He has sheltered by blood. We are thereby separated, or set apart, for the pleasure and service of God.
Why should rescue create duties? Because rescue transfers ownership. That is why this chapter sits where it does.
The story of the exodus from Egypt pauses here to bring in certain consequences — consequences the children of Israel were now responsible for — consequences that flowed from their redemption out of the land of Egypt... If God acts in grace for His people, He thereby establishes claims on them, and this chapter unfolds those claims. A redeemed people become the property of the Redeemer. We read, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20.)
God says "it is mine" about people another master had claimed for years.
Exodus 13 begins with the assertion of God's claim on the firstborn, who had been sheltered from death. They were now to be "sanctified" — that is, set apart for God, as belonging to Him. Of each firstborn God said, "It is Mine." But for years Pharaoh had been saying of them and of all Israel, "They are mine; slaves to do my pleasure." Among men, when two parties claim the same object, conflict is bound to follow.
God's ownership rests on a price He paid. The price shows what His people are worth to Him.
When judgment went through the land of Egypt, Israel was safely sheltered by a protection God gave, and the very blood that sheltered them was also the price that bought them... Thank God, His people are not only set free from judgment and the fear of wrath, but God has bought them out of slavery to Satan and to sin. Best of all, they are not their own masters. It was a badge of the highest honour to have been bought by Christ... We are a company of servants, and we can glory in a slavery that is complete liberty: to be wholly for God, bought by His perfect love, through the most precious blood of Christ. The price paid shows the value God sets on us.
Redemption comes first, then devotion. Reverse the order, and the effort collapses.
The more fully we enter into the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption will prove the most hopeless work possible. All our doing must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get anything from Him.
- Sheltered — the blood spared the firstborn first. Safety comes before the claim.
- Claimed — "sanctify" here means set apart as God's own; He claims for Himself those He has sheltered.
- Bought — the blood that shielded was also the purchase price, and the cost shows the value He places on His people.
- Contested — Pharaoh had said "they are mine" for years; God's "it is mine" makes conflict certain.
- Devoted — separation and wholehearted service grow out of redemption. They never buy it.
Hallow unto me every firstborn, whatever breaketh open the womb among the children of Israel, of man and of cattle it is mine.
God speaks this word to Moses right after the night when death passed through Egypt. The blood on the doorposts had kept Israel's firstborn alive. The first thing He says to the rescued people is not an order about the road ahead. It is a claim of ownership.
Chapter 12 shelters; chapter 13 claims. One voice speaks both.
In the previous chapter we saw how each household was identified with its firstborn. The lamb took the firstborn's place and bore the judgment due to him. God's purpose in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt was to bring them to Himself... The same Voice that said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you," says, "Hallow to Me every firstborn." Everything sheltered by the blood is set apart for God. He has a distinct claim upon all who are sheltered by the blood of Christ.
The ESV says "Consecrate to me"; older translations read "sanctify" or "hallow". The word has a plain sense, and this verse is where Scripture first applies it to people.
They are now formally claimed by God as belonging to Him. "They are Mine," is the word, and so Moses was to "sanctify" them; that is, set them apart for God's special pleasure and service... This is the first mention in Scripture of sanctification as applied to persons. The earlier use was in Genesis 2, when God sanctified, or set apart, the seventh day of creation. Both passages help to show the simple meaning of "sanctification" — "to set apart for God." Because God has set us apart in this way, practical sanctification is our duty. The blood of Christ has not sheltered us from judgment so that we can please ourselves. It has sheltered us so that we might be for Him.
Someone else had been saying "mine" about these same people for years.
Of each firstborn God said, "It is Mine." But for many years Pharaoh had been saying of them and of all Israel — "They are mine; slaves to do what I want." Among men, when two parties claim the same object, conflict is bound to follow.
God interrupts the departure to settle this.
Instead of letting the people rush out of Egypt, He calmly insists first on His own claims over Israel... The Lord calls on Moses to "sanctify" or "set apart" all the firstborn of Israel and all the firstborn of their farm animals. These were the ones the blood of the lamb had kept safe. God claimed them, for even by creation He has rights over what is first, and this is all the more emphasized by redemption.
The blood saved the firstborn from death. God's claim went further.
The firstborn of Israel were not merely redeemed from death; they were bought for God — "you were bought with a price; so glorify God in your body."
Later that claim meant real work at the tabernacle, God's tent of worship. One tribe did it in place of every family's firstborn.
The service at God's tabernacle belonged to the firstborn, but the tribe of Levi took their places. Each Levite represented a firstborn man in Israel... So the Levites were in a special way a redeemed company. Clearly they picture Christians, both in our redemption and in the claim God has upon us for service as redeemed. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God" (redemption-mercies here) "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
The order of the chapters is also the order of Christian experience.
We enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit of God. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Trying to produce either one before you know redemption will prove the most hopeless work possible. All our doing must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not in order to get something from Him. Efforts after life and peace prove that we are, as yet, strangers to the power of the blood.
Centuries later Joseph and Mary obeyed this same law with their newborn.
The point to highlight is in verse 23: it is a quotation from the law. "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Ex. 13:2). At the time of Israel's exodus from Egypt, God established His rights as Redeemer. He wanted those rights shown in every firstborn baby boy. So when the Lord Jesus came into the world, Joseph and Mary obeyed. Their action acknowledged God's rights over Christ as a man and as one of God's earthly people.
- Sheltered — the voice that promised to pass over the blood-marked house now says who those spared lives belong to.
- Set apart — "sanctify" simply means set apart for God; this verse is its first use of persons in Scripture.
- Owned — God's "it is mine" answers Pharaoh's older claim. It rests on His rights as Creator, and redemption presses it home.
- Bought — the firstborn was not only saved from death but bought for God. That is why service follows, and a body presented to Him.
- Freed to give — devotedness is the fruit of redemption already known, never the price paid to get it; Christ Himself was presented as holy to the Lord.
And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought you out from this; and nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Moses gives a freed people their first instruction, and it is not a march order but a memory order. They must keep the day. They must name the hand that set them free. And one food is banned from their tables.
The command to remember has two objects: the day itself, and the One who made that day happen.
The feast of unleavened bread was to be tied for ever to the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." The Lord would always have His people remember the day of their deliverance. That was the day He brought them out of darkness into light. It was the day He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins, into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Secondly, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They owed everything to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains. No other arm could have struck down their oppressor, protected them from the destroyer, and set them free.
The place they came out of stands for more than one country. Commentators read Egypt as a picture of the world. The slavery is a condition a person does not even feel until God begins to work.
Egypt is the world of nature, in which our standing is "in the flesh," and in which sin reigns over us unto death, as Pharaoh reigned over Israel. It is a condition not realised as bondage until God works in the soul, but then an increasingly bitter one. Then the "law of sin" becomes a "law of death" as well, and the soul groans for deliverance. Only God's hand can bring that deliverance.
Israel owed everything to a rescue they had no part in. The same question presses on anyone God has rescued.
The beloved apostle could say to the saints at Corinth, "For who makes you to differ? and what do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). So in verse 3 of our chapter Moses urges the children of Israel, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Does this not speak with deeper meaning to us? God has delivered us from a bondage far greater than the one the children of Israel came out of.
The ban on leaven is not a dietary rule but a picture. Yeast spreads through dough the way sin spreads. The seven days stand for a whole Christian life.
Israel was to remember this day in which they were redeemed from the bondage of Egypt by the power of the hand of God. Then Moses first of all strongly forbids them to eat leaven (or yeast) during the seven days of the feast. These seven days are symbolic of our complete Christian life. For leaven is corrupting, a little of it leavening the whole lump (Gal. 5:9), so that it symbolises sin. In the sacrifice of Christ (pictured by the Passover) sin has been fully judged. We today are to recognise this by honestly judging any sin in our own lives. We keep the feast "not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
Rescue comes first in the verse, and the change of diet second. Reverse that order and holiness becomes a way to earn what God has already given.
The more fully we enter into the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, the more decided our separation will be. And the more whole-hearted our devotedness will be. The effort to produce either the one or the other, until redemption is known, will prove the most hopeless labour possible. All our doings must be "because of that which the Lord has done," not to get anything from Him.
The rescue happened once. Keeping it in memory goes on for generations, long after that night has passed.
Israel was to keep the Passover every year as a remembrance, at a time when there was no passing over, once they were in the land. It is the same with us. We are in heavenly places in Christ, and we celebrate a deliverance and redemption accomplished long ago… It was a lasting remembrance.
- Remember the day. The command points to one dated event. It is the day they walked out of slavery, out from under judgment into God's favour.
- Remember the hand. No other arm could have broken those chains. The strength was God's alone. The freed are debtors, not achievers.
- Remember what you left. Egypt pictures a bondage a person does not feel until God stirs the soul. Only God's hand can free anyone from it.
- Remember by what you eat. Leaven pictures evil that spreads. Seven days of unleavened bread mean a whole life kept clear of it.
- Remember, then live. Devotedness follows rescue; it never earns it. And the memorial outlasts the night it marks.
Ye come out to-day, in the month Abib.
This verse dates Israel's escape from Egypt: they walked out in the month Abib. That one detail matters — a named month, a yearly anniversary, and a year that starts over because God has redeemed a people.
The name Abib describes what the fields looked like when God brought His people out.
Israel's new first month received the name Abib — "the month of the ears of corn." For Israel it was the month of life out of death, the fruitful month. The name suited a people at their birth into national life. You can see this important principle about their year all through the books of Moses, Joshua, and Judges. Only Abib has a name there. All the other months are spoken of by number in relation to it — the "second," the "third," and so on.
After Israel's time in captivity, the same month went by another name.
The month that marks Israel's new beginning is Abib, the "green ear" month, because the corn was then in the ear. After the captivity it was called Nissan (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7). It is our April.
Abib had not always been the first month of the year.
The month in question was Abib, otherwise Nisan (Ex. 13:4), and corresponded to our March–April. Until then it had been counted the seventh month. From the time of Israel's deliverance from Egypt it was to be counted the first. So redemption gave the people a new start with God. It is just the same now. A man may admit that he is a sinner in God's sight, exposed to eternal wrath. If he then takes refuge in simple faith under the blood of the Lamb, he begins life anew. God wipes out his past of sin and guilt.
Israel's year had two starting points, and the new one falls where winter ends.
It had two beginnings, each of them in the seventh month dating from the other. The month Tizri began the civil year. From there we pass through the cold and barren season until we come to the seventh month, Abib. Abib then becomes the first month of the new era (Ex. 12:2; Ex. 16:1), and everything is changed: "for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come." All is in resurrection life.
The date mattered for the future: once Israel reached the land, they had to keep this day every year.
On this day they were going out, in the month Abib (v. 4). In time the Lord would bring them into the land He had promised. There they were to keep this service of the Passover in the same month every year. Verses 6 and 7 insist again, twice over, that they must keep leaven out of their homes during the seven days of the Passover. On the seventh day there was to be a feast to the Lord. This is written for our instruction. On the negative side, we are to shut sin out. On the positive side, we are to honour the Lord.
The command to remember a dated deliverance has a counterpart among Christians.
In verses 3 and 4, Israel is told to "remember" the day of their deliverance. This is, as I say, in the spirit of the New Testament. It is so much so that the standing ordinance among believers in this gospel age is a feast of remembrance (1 Cor. 11:23-26). Other scriptures in the same New Testament teach us more. This remembering is to be the very business of eternity — of the life of the redeemed in glory (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:9).
Devotion follows redemption. It never comes first.
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we enter into it, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption will prove the most hopeless work possible. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him. Working to gain life and peace proves that we are still strangers to the power of the blood.
- Named. Abib means the month of the ears of corn — the only month in the early books given a name, all others numbered from it.
- Moved. Abib had been the seventh month. Deliverance made it the first, so the calendar itself marked a new start with God.
- Green. The year now opens where winter ends and the fields are in ear — the picture is life out of death, resurrection life.
- Kept. Israel had to keep the day every year in the same month, with leaven shut out and the Lord honoured. The Christian's standing feast is also a remembrance of deliverance.
- Ordered. Conduct comes after rescue. What Israel does is "because of what the Lord has done," never to earn it.
And it shall be when Jehovah hath brought thee into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
The command about the feast does not stop at the border of Egypt. It reaches forward to a land Israel had never seen. God swore that land to their fathers, and He sets the same feast there: same service, same month, kept by a people who are home.
The verse assumes an arrival. God speaks of the moment He brings them in, not of a chance that He might.
For the people redeemed from Egypt the wilderness was not Jehovah's purpose, only His way. The Jordan sets forth our death and resurrection with Christ, as the Red Sea does Christ's death and resurrection for us.
God names the land by what it grows on its own. Two words carry the whole picture.
The land is a good land and a large one, flowing with milk and honey. It is not a land of narrowness, as Egypt is, and heaven is not shaped by the needs and struggles of earth. The "river" is not at war with the desert there. There is all "fatness," which the word for milk literally means, and all sweetness, as the honey implies. Salvation for us must issue in satisfaction, or it is not salvation.
That land worked differently from Egypt.
The blessings of that land were earthly, but they came from the hand of God and were not won as the result of irrigation and toil as in the case of Egypt.
The land already had owners, and they are listed by name. Their removal is not presented as an accident of war.
"Out of Egypt I called my son," said Jehovah. He carried the nation out of the house of slavery into the land of plenty, a land flowing with milk and honey. The original inhabitants of Canaan were driven out because of their gross idolatry and moral depravity. This made room for those known in prophetic language as "sons of the living God."
Chapter 12 gave the feast at the moment of rescue. Chapter 13 gives it again, and ties it to the inheritance.
It is remarkable how the feast of unleavened bread is introduced in chapter 13. In the chapter before, God commanded the feast right after the sprinkling of the blood of the passover lamb. This was to show that only a holy life fits people who have been redeemed by blood. The feast comes up again in chapter 13. This time God adds instructions for keeping it once He brings them into their inheritance, and a special word about setting apart the firstborn.
The feast was not only for the day of rescue. One writer sets it beside the Lord's Supper.
Verses 3-10 made one thing clear to Israel. They were not to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread just as they came out of Egypt and then treat it as finished. It was for all time, as a memorial of the great deliverance. Three Gospels record how the Lord's Supper began. If we had only those, we might think it mattered no further than the night He was betrayed. But the fourth record, in 1 Corinthians 11, settles the point. It is to be observed "until He comes."
Kept in Egypt, the feast was eaten in haste, with the destroyer outside. Kept in Canaan, the same sacrifice is remembered by people in no danger at all.
It is no longer leaving Egypt, nor the wilderness they passed through. It is Jehovah putting forth His power in new and, if possible, richer ways, bringing His people into the full accomplishment of the blessing... When we are first awakened, our sense of danger presses hard on us. We urgently need Christ's work to shelter us from judgment for our sins. But He and that work lead us on to appreciate far deeper things. So now we have the calm and peaceful enjoyment of a work that is in itself the very same, and infinite in its value.
- Sworn — God promised the land on oath to the fathers. The wilderness is only His road, never His goal.
- Given — Milk means fatness and honey means sweetness. God handed that land over; no one watered it into fruitfulness by toil.
- Cleared — Idolatry and moral corruption cost the old inhabitants their place. God made room there for a people called His sons.
- Kept — God commands the feast a second time, now for the land. It stands for all time, as the Lord's Supper stands "until He comes."
- Deepened — The danger passes, but the work does not shrink. Fear gives way to calm enjoyment of a value that never changes.
Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread; and in the seventh day is a feast to Jehovah.
Israel has just left Egypt, sheltered by the blood of the lamb. The first instruction God gives His redeemed people concerns bread: seven days without leaven, ending in a feast. Why a week? And why does God tie a feast to removing something as ordinary as yeast?
Commentators take both parts of the command as a picture — the leaven, and the length of time.
First of all, Moses strongly forbids them to eat leaven (yeast) during the seven days of the feast (v. 3). These seven days picture the whole of our Christian life. Leaven corrupts, and a little of it leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5:9), so it stands for sin. In the sacrifice of Christ, which the Passover pictures, God has fully judged sin. We are to own this today by honestly judging any sin in our own lives, and so keep the feast "not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
The timing matters as much as the length.
As we may see elsewhere, the two are so bound together that both are sometimes called the Passover. Not one day is allowed to come between them. God will not have the forgiveness of our sins, brought in by the blood of the Lamb, separated even in the smallest degree from our responsibility to holiness. The moment the Israelite was under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, God forbade him to eat leavened bread, or to keep leaven of any kind in his house.
That leaves the question of motive. What is a redeemed person's obedience for?
The more fully we enter, by the power of the Spirit of God, into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the clearer our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless work there is. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not a way to get something from Him. Straining after life and peace shows that we are still strangers to the power of the blood.
Another writer puts the purpose positively:
You are not keeping this feast of unleavened bread in order to get saved. No — that is all clear, and secured by the death of Christ. You keep this feast so that you may enjoy what is already yours.
The command has two halves — a week without leaven, and a day kept for the Lord.
Verses 6 and 7 insist twice over that leaven must be kept out of their homes during the seven days of the Passover. On the seventh day there was to be a feast to the Lord. This is written to instruct us. On the negative side, we are to shut sin out; on the positive side, we are to honor the Lord.
That negative side reaches further than the kitchen.
We must remember about leaven that keeping company with evil is itself leavening. No leaven was to be found in any of the houses of Israel. This tells us that all the surroundings and company of anyone who would keep the feast must be kept in line with the truth and will of God.
The week is called a feast, not a fast — and that shapes how it is kept.
Keeping the feast of Unleavened Bread is the practical answer in us to the work of Christ for us. We gladly refuse the evil He had to suffer for on our behalf, and we walk in practical sanctification before God, with Christ the Holy One as our food. No slave-like work was to be done during the feast. The life of sanctification to God is not a life of legalism, or a weary round of irritating duties and useless ceremonies. The love of Christ moves us, and we serve the Lord with gladness and a single heart. Self-will is what brings in the misery; obedience means blessing and joy.
Keeping it takes daily food, not just daily watchfulness:
The seven days carry us from one Lord's Day to the next, right through the week, walking through the world conformed to His death. The thought of His death governing every detail of life, so that I may be apart from all He died to, would be the answer to keeping the feast "seven days." But let us not forget: if I am to have power to keep apart from all that is evil, I must feed on Christ daily.
- Blood first. Redemption comes first. Not one day separates the Passover from the week that follows.
- Bread next. Leaven pictures sin, and the seven unleavened days stand for the whole span of a believer's life.
- Because, not in order to. Everything in the feast answers what the Lord has already done. It never tries to win anything from Him.
- Every quarter. No house may keep leaven, so our company and surroundings come under the same rule as our table.
- A feast, not a burden. The week ends in a feast to the Lord, and the power to keep it comes from feeding on Christ daily.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten the seven days; and leavened bread shall not be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy borders.
This command goes further than "do not eat it": for seven days no leaven may even be seen, anywhere in Israel's land. What does leaven stand for, why is the ban so total, and where do redeemed people find the power to keep it?
Where does the power to keep such a command come from? One writer traces it back to redemption.
We enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit of God. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless work possible. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him. Efforts after life and peace prove that we are, as yet, strangers to the power of the blood.
Leaven is yeast — a small amount changes a whole batch of dough. One writer explains the picture, the seven days, and the wrong conclusion a heart can draw from grace.
Leaven, as explained before, is a picture of evil. Evil spreads, and it makes whatever it spreads through take on its own character. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." So eating unleavened bread stands for separation from evil — practical holiness. Note, too, that the feast was to last seven days — that is, a complete period of time. The lesson, then, is that holiness is the duty of everyone sheltered by the blood of the Passover Lamb, for the whole of their life on earth… Our wretched hearts might reason that we can go on sinning so that grace may abound. "No!" says the Spirit of God. "As soon as you are under the value of the death of Christ, you are under the responsibility to be separate from evil."
The feast starts the moment the Passover ends. One writer sees that timing as deliberate.
Not one day is allowed to come between them. God will not let the forgiveness of our sins, brought in by the blood of the Lamb, be separated even slightly from our responsibility to holiness. The moment an Israelite came under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, he could not eat leavened bread, or keep leaven in any form in his house.
The wording moves outward from the mouth to the whole land. That widening makes the demand searching.
The Israelites had a solemn command, for that time and for later. During this feast they were to take the greatest care to free themselves and their houses from every trace of leaven. Every household was to search thoroughly and systematically. They were to put any leaven they found out of the house at once, so that not a crumb could be seen anywhere in their borders.
One writer warns against being strict in private life while careless about the church.
Leaven was to be banished from the house as well as from the individual. You may often find people rightly careful about their own walk, yet very lax about impurity in the church. The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But purity in the church is a worthless claim if we do not care about personal holiness. … The feast of "unleavened bread" takes in the whole journey — our whole course, public as well as private.
Clearing crumbs out of a house is straightforward work. Doing the same with what the crumbs picture is not.
Real leaven is easy to look for, find, and throw away. Dealing with what it stands for takes an eye of spiritual discernment, an honest heart for God, and holy zeal that puts His great Name first at any cost. Searching cupboards and corners for leaven, or cleaning the outside, is work anyone can do. But too few are willing to examine themselves and search their own hearts in the light of God's word.
The verse commands two things: leaven out, unleavened bread in. Removal alone leaves a person empty.
All this, important as it is, is negative. It is more what we have finished with in our former life. … Christianity is not only a putting off; there is also a putting on. … They were to eat unleavened bread. If we are to spread a feast of unleavened bread for the Lord, we must take Christ in daily as food for the soul. Only as we feed upon Him will we grow to be like Him.
- Blood first. Separation grows out of redemption already received. It never buys it. We act "because of what the Lord has done."
- Then at once. Not one day comes between Passover and unleavened bread. God never separates forgiveness through the blood from the call to holiness.
- Then everywhere. Not eaten, not seen, nowhere in your territory. Personal life and church life both, and neither excuses the other.
- Then always. Seven days is a complete period, standing for the believer's whole life on earth.
- And fed, not just emptied. Putting leaven out is only half. We must take Christ in daily as the soul's food, or the house is swept but bare.
And thou shalt inform thy son in that day, saying, It is because of what Jehovah did to me when I came out of Egypt.
Exodus 13:8 sits inside the instructions for the week of unleavened bread. It tells a father what to say to his son: the family lives this way because of what God did when He brought Israel out of Egypt.
The feast is not a price paid for freedom. It is what freed people do because they are free.
Look at the reason given for eating unleavened bread. It is the response of affection: "It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt." You are not keeping this feast to get saved. No — that is all clear, and secured by the death of Christ. You are keeping this feast so that you may enjoy what is already yours. Grace gives me a good conscience by the blood of the Lamb, but it is by a tender, holy walk that I keep that good conscience.
The order cannot be reversed. Separation and devotion grow out of the rescue. They never come first.
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Try to produce either one before you know redemption, and the labour will be the most hopeless there is. All our doings must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get anything from Him. Efforts to win life and peace prove that we are still strangers to the power of the blood. But the pure fruits of a redemption we have experienced give praise to Him who has redeemed us. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8).
The command reaches past the generation that walked out of Egypt. Children who never saw that night are still meant to know it.
This was also to be handed on from generation to generation. The children were to be well informed of the power and grace of God in bringing Israel out of Egypt's bondage (v. 8). In the same way, children of believers today should be taught carefully about the grace and power of God in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, which has delivered us from all the bondage of the enemy.
Whether a child asks at all depends on how the parents keep the day.
So much would depend on how the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children were bound to be interested and ask, "Why?" If the parents treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, the children would not ask. But once their interest was awake, the parents had a gripping story to tell. They could tell of God's care for them, and how He delivered them from slavery and made them a free people. The children's interest would then revive the parents' own interest and stir their gratitude to God.
The same writer applies this to the Lord's Supper:
One thing is sure: what moves the parents will make an impression on the children. If the children see that their parents prize the Lord's Supper and prepare for it, they will want to know what it means… So the spirit of gratitude and worship that belongs to the Supper travels from the gathering to the home. There the children will see, in the gladness of it, how good a thing it is to be redeemed by the Lord, and that the Lord who redeemed their parents does not overlook them.
The telling passes on more than a memory. It puts the child under the same claim as the father.
The father was to impress this truth on his son too. Then the son would learn that the Lord's claims rested on him just as much as on his father. Both alike, as redeemed ones, owed their service to the Redeemer. It is an immense point gained when the believer looks on himself and his family as belonging to the Lord. Whether each of them owns that claim is another matter. We cannot stress too strongly that there is no salvation apart from individual faith.
- Because — the whole feast hangs on one word. It is kept because of what the Lord did, never to get something from Him.
- Enjoy — keeping the feast does not buy the rescue. It lets rescued people enjoy what is already theirs.
- Order — separation and devotedness grow out of redemption known. Work for them before that, and the labour is hopeless.
- Tell — pass the rescue on to the next generation. Children ask when they see that their parents value it.
- Belong — the son learns the same claim as his father. Both, as redeemed people, owe their service to the Redeemer. Each must still come to faith himself.
And it shall be for a sign to thee on thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth; for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt.
Israel had just walked out of Egypt. God ties that night to a yearly feast, and Israel is to wear its sign — on the hand, before the eyes, in the mouth. How does a past rescue keep shaping a person's work, thoughts and speech long after the event?
The verse names three places, and together they cover a person's whole active life.
The feast of unleavened bread was to be a sign to them too (v. 9). First, it would affect their hands. That is, it would have an influence over their works. Second, it would be a memorial between their eyes, influencing all their thoughts. Third, the Lord's law would be in their mouth, influencing their words to agree with the Word of God. How true all this is also when we rightly regard the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus! For in this we see the strength of the hand of God. For this reason we too are to keep a feast of remembrance to the Lord at its proper time (v. 10).
The verse ends by naming the reason: a strong hand brought them out. That closing clause guards them against crediting the rescue to themselves.
They were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They owed everything to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains. No other arm could have struck down their oppressor, protected them from the destroyer, or set them free. He alone could have ransomed them from the hand of the enemy.
The sign points back to something already finished. The feast never looks forward to a rescue still being earned.
The more fully we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one, before a person knows redemption, is the most hopeless work possible. All our doings must be "because of that which the Lord has done," and not in order to get anything from Him.
Another writer traces it back a step further, to the heart.
The heart must be taken captive if the life is to be surrendered. Service must be the fruit of love, for love is the constraining spirit of service... Let us note here that certainly a known salvation, not a doubtful one, was the basis of this feast for Israel. The feast was also for them a sign on the hand, and it set that hand apart to God. It was a memorial between the eyes, plain to everyone as an unashamed confession of separation. And so the mouth too would be called on to give its testimony of obedience.
A sign on the hand marks that hand as someone's property. One writer links this with the ceremonies that put blood on ear, thumb and toe.
"And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand." Beautiful — the hand that used to do what its owner liked, that hand belongs to Jesus now. So with the eyes and the mouth. When the priests were set apart, and when the leper was cleansed, blood was put on the tip of the right ear. It was also put on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the foot. The moment you are redeemed, God looks on you as belonging completely to Him. The eyes, the mouth, the ear, the hand and the foot are all His servants.
Some people took the wording as an object to wear.
They made broad phylacteries — head-bands with the law written in them. They took Exodus 13:9 literally ("a memorial between your eyes"), instead of having their eyes opened to see its moral meaning.
This feast did not stop with the night it recalls. Israel kept it year after year in the land, when no one was passing over anything.
The passover was to be kept every year as a remembrance, at a time when there was no passing over. They were in the land by then, as we are in heavenly places in Christ. They were celebrating a deliverance and redemption completed long ago... It was a remembrance that went on for ever.
- Strong hand. The verse names the cause of everything else. Israel did not break out. No other arm could have broken their chains or kept the destroyer away.
- Known hand. That deliverance must be settled and certain, not doubtful, before it can become the basis of a feast at all.
- Owned hand. The hand that once did whatever its owner liked now belongs to God — and with it the eyes, the mouth and the ear.
- Working hand. From there the sign reaches out three ways: works, thoughts, and words that match God's Word.
- Remembering hand. The feast keeps going year after year in the land, long after the night it recalls. It dies the moment it becomes a head-band instead of a life.
And thou shalt keep this ordinance at its set time from year to year.
This verse closes the rules for the feast of unleavened bread with a command about timing: Israel was to keep it at its set date, year after year. Why would God fix a date for remembering, and what does a repeated appointment teach people He has already rescued?
Verses 3-10 could sound like emergency rules for the week Israel walked out of Egypt. This verse says otherwise. One writer sets the feast beside the meal the Lord gave His followers on the night He was betrayed:
Verses 3-10 made clear to Israel that the feast of Unleavened Bread was not just for the moment they came out of Egypt. They were not to keep it once and then treat it as done with. It was for all time, as a memorial of the great deliverance. Suppose we had only the account in the three Gospels of the giving of the Lord's Supper. We might then think it reached no further than the night in which He was betrayed. But the fourth record, in 1 Corinthians 11, settles the point. We are to keep it "until He comes." Israel was to "keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year." We observe the Lord's Supper from Lord's Day to Lord's Day.
The command holds content, not just a date. It ties the feast to two facts: when God freed them, and who freed them:
It was to be connected for ever with the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." The Lord would always have His people remember the day of their deliverance. On that day He brought them out of darkness into light. He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Secondly, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place." They owed it all to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor. No one else could have shielded them from the destroyer and set them free.
Keeping the feast every year raises a question: was the rescue incomplete? One writer separates the rescue itself from the memorial of it:
The passover and "the feast of the passover" are distinct. One is the deliverance itself, which took place in Egypt. The other is the memorial of that deliverance. There was but one passover, while the feast of the passover was annual. The passover was once for all; the feast of it, as frequent as the years of freedom. Christ's blood was shed once and for ever. Our redemption by His precious blood is complete. But the memorial, the feast of remembrance, goes on.
Verse 9 had just described the feast reaching hands, eyes and mouth. The "therefore" of verse 10 rests on that:
The feast of unleavened bread was to be a sign to them as well (v. 9). First, it would affect their hands, that is, it would influence their works. Second, it would be a memorial between their eyes, shaping all their thoughts. Third, the Lord's law would be in their mouth, so that their words agreed with the Word of God. How true all this is also when we rightly regard the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus! For in this we see the strength of the hand of God. For this reason we too are to keep a feast of remembrance to the Lord at its proper time (v. 10).
Commentators differ on how the timing carries over. Hole matches it to a weekly Lord's Supper. Another writer sees the fixed date give way to something with no gaps:
God's Church has no yearly remembrances. To the believer, Israel's appointed feasts picture permanent realities... The yearly passover was solemnly commanded, but soon neglected. For those who share the heavenly calling, the unceasing ordinance of faith takes its place. To live by Christ, we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is not an occasional act of remembrance only, but something continual.
One writer takes God's ruling on a missed offering and applies it to Christians today:
"That person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin." So it is a very solemn thing to neglect the memorial of our redemption. It means neglecting the remembrance of Him whose death and resurrection have secured it, in His own appointed way. Many Christians might well take the warning to heart.
- Rescued once. The deliverance happened in Egypt and never repeats. Christ's blood was shed once and for ever.
- Remembered always. What repeats is the memorial — "as frequent as the years of freedom," never dismissed as done with.
- Two facts fixed. Every keeping holds the same two things: the day they came out, and the strong hand that brought them.
- Hands, eyes, mouth. The sign shapes works, thoughts and words, so we keep the feast at its proper time.
- Neglect is serious. Missing the appointed season was no small thing. Writers apply that warning to remembering the Lord's death today.
And it shall be when Jehovah hath brought thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he hath sworn to thee and to thy fathers, and hath given it thee,
Israel is still in Egypt when God speaks of a day that has not yet come — the day He brings them into Canaan and gives it to them. Why does a rescued people get commands about a land they have not yet seen, and what does God claim once they are in it?
The chapter pauses the exodus story to state what redemption requires. It looks past the desert to Canaan.
The story of the exodus from Egypt pauses here to bring in certain consequences. The children of Israel were responsible for them, and they flowed from their redemption out of the land of Egypt. Israel is still in Egypt, but the teaching of the chapter rests on their having been brought out, and it looks ahead to their being in Canaan. If God acts in grace for His people, He establishes claims on them by that act. These are the claims unfolded here. A redeemed people become the property of the Redeemer... The last chapter commanded the feast of unleavened bread right after the sprinkling of the blood. That was to show that the two things — shelter by the blood, and the obligation of a holy life — can never be separated.
The verse assumes an arrival, not a possibility. God had already tied the two halves together when He first announced the rescue.
That was God's purpose, that was what He had come down for; there is no hint of the wilderness here. It is the same in chapter 6: "I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment... And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD." That is out of Egypt into the land of Canaan, with no thought of the wilderness. That was God's purpose, and He tells them He is going to do as He had said.
God made His claim on the firstborn known before Israel left Egypt, and He meant to collect it in Canaan.
On that memorable night in the land of Egypt, God destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians. He preserved from judgment all the firstborn males in Israel, both of man and of beast. That long-oppressed people had not yet left Egyptian territory. Even then He made known to Moses the claim He had on all their firstborn males. He would not give up that claim, and He intended to enforce it once they had entered the land of Canaan.
Entering Canaan did not retire the older command; it repeated it.
Not only were the firstborn in Israel to be set apart at the time of Israel's liberation from Egypt, as in verses 1 and 2, but when the Lord brought them into Canaan the same sanctification was required. Animals are mentioned first: every firstborn male was to be the Lord's.
Setting apart is not a fee charged for entry into the land. It follows from what God had already done for the firstborn.
The third section presses the setting apart of the firstborn to God, and again shows the connection between redemption and holiness. God had redeemed the firstborn from the judgment that fell on the Egyptians, and here the Lord claims for Himself what He redeemed. This is what holiness is: setting apart to God. Practical sanctification means devoting the heart and life to Him in the power of the Holy Spirit... Everything He has created must belong to Him, but only redemption really gives Him what is His. So all that He has redeemed must be entirely His. It would be disastrous to keep anything back from Him.
One writer takes the donkey in this passage and turns it into a question for the reader.
Can you devote a donkey to God? No. Break its neck. You have something you were very good at before you were converted; can you use it for the Lord and devote it to Him? No. Have you broken the donkey's neck — have you judged the thing and set it aside as unfit for the Lord? I do not know what it is in your history, but you know. The point is this: we used to belong to the world, but now we belong to Christ. What I have and what I am all belong to Him.
- Promise. God swore the land to the fathers. The verse treats the arrival as settled, because He both brings out and brings in.
- Property. Grace creates obligation. A redeemed people become the property of the Redeemer.
- Postponed. God announced the claim on the firstborn in Egypt and enforced it in Canaan. Obedience reached the land before the people did.
- Practice. Holiness means setting yourself apart for God. It follows redemption; it never earns it.
- Personal. Judge whatever you cannot devote to Christ. Everything the redeemed have belongs to Him.
that thou shalt offer unto Jehovah all that breaketh open the womb, and every firstling that cometh of cattle which is thine the males [shall be] Jehovah's.
God gives this command as Israel walks out of Egypt, and it looks ahead to the day they enter Canaan. Every firstborn, human or animal, now belongs to Him. But why does God claim the firstborn at all? And why must a human son be bought back with a lamb instead?
The command covers both people and livestock. One writer ties it to the Passover night just past, and to what God teaches afterward.
But God takes up the firstborn here to show us, in this Passover scene, His judgment on all that comes of us. Then, once the blessing of redemption is learned, He teaches us to devote to Himself "the chief of all our strength." All the firstborn must either be claimed for judgment or preserved by redemption.
The claim does not end with the wilderness. It holds when Israel settles in the land, and the animals come first.
In verses 1 and 2, the firstborn in Israel were set apart at the time of Israel's liberation from Egypt. The Lord required the same consecration when He brought them into Canaan. The animals come first: every firstborn male was to be the Lord's. Israel would offer the clean animals in sacrifice to Him, but not the unclean animals. They could be redeemed by the sacrifice of a clean animal.
The chapter gives the reason, and it reaches back to the night God struck Egypt.
It is important to notice the ground on which God claimed the firstborn. The chapter links it plainly to the destruction of the firstborn in the land of Egypt (v. 15). As we have seen, God spared Israel on that dreadful night only because of the sprinkled blood of the slain lamb — only because another died in their place. So it rested on the principle of substitution, and this in fact is the ground of God's claim in this chapter. If God spared the firstborn because of the Passover Lamb, He afterwards claimed them as His own. It is the same now. We belong to Him who has redeemed us, because He took our place and bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
The next verse makes one exception, and it exposes the whole logic. A firstborn donkey and a firstborn son are handled the same way: buy them back with a lamb, or break the donkey's neck.
There were two classes, the clean and the unclean, and man was classed with the unclean. The lamb was to answer for the unclean; and if the donkey were not redeemed, its neck was to be broken. So an unredeemed man was put on the same level as an unclean animal, in a condition that could not be more worthless.
One writer traces the picture back to what God said about Ishmael, Hagar's son.
We have only to listen to what God says of Ishmael, where He calls him not just "a wild man," as older translations put it, but literally "a wild-donkey man"... The wild-donkey man is Hagar's son, a child of nature... But Ishmael is not only Israel's picture, he is also ours in our natural state. Whether educated and refined or ignorant and degraded, we belong to that race with a neck that refuses to bear a yoke.
The order matters. God sets the firstborn apart because He has already brought the people out — not so they can get out.
The more fully we enter, by the power of the Spirit of God, into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the more decided our separation will be. Our devotedness will be more whole-hearted too. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless work possible. All our doings must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him.
This ownership is not partial. The altar sets the measure.
We see, then, that the consecration that flowed from redemption was entire and personal. The sacrifice was wholly burned up on the altar. In the same way, the redeemed person is counted as belonging wholly to the Lord, soul and body, and set apart in every way for His service.
Redemption puts a question to the redeemed and to their households. One writer presses it home.
It is well to ask ourselves often whether we are recognizing His claim — His claim on us, on all that we are, and on all that we have. The father was to impress this truth on his son too (vv. 14-16), for both alike, as redeemed ones, owed their service to the Redeemer. It is a great gain when a believer sees himself and his family as belonging to the Lord.
- Judgment. Every firstborn meets one of two ends: judgment, or rescue by redemption. There is no third option.
- Substitute. God's claim rests on the Passover. Another died in their place, He spared them, and then He claimed them as His own.
- Level. The same lamb buys back the son and the unclean donkey. Without redemption, man is worth no more than that.
- Whole. What God redeems belongs to Him entirely — soul and body, like a sacrifice wholly burned on the altar.
- Afterward. Devotion follows rescue. We act because of what the Lord has done, never to get something from Him.
And every firstling of an ass shalt thou ransom with a lamb; and if thou do not ransom it, thou shalt break its neck; and every firstborn of a man among thy sons shalt thou ransom.
Exodus 13 turns the lessons of Passover night into lasting practice: God claims every firstborn, and every firstborn needs a redeemer. Verse 13 adds a strange exception — a donkey, standing in the middle of a law about firstborn sons.
The law of clean and unclean decided which animals people could bring to God. The donkey failed that test.
To begin with, it fell into the class of unclean animals. To be counted clean, an animal had to have a divided hoof and chew the cud (Leviticus 11:26). The donkey does not belong to that class. Is man a clean creature in the eyes of God, or an unclean one? … Let us not deceive ourselves. In the eye of God, man, with all his boasted light and learning, is as unclean as the donkey he despises.
Uncleanness is only half the picture. Scripture gives the animal a second trait.
In the Word of God the donkey is not only pictured as unclean; it is also the very synonym for self-will. And what is sin? 1 John 3:4 defines it correctly: "sin is lawlessness." In other words, sin is doing our own will and neglecting the will of God. Who can claim exemption here? Who among us does not love to have his own way, whatever the cost? … Genesis 16:12, correctly translated, says of Ishmael, "He shall be a wild donkey of a man."
The verse puts the donkey and the son in the same breath, and both need a redeemer. One commentator traces that parallel back to Passover night.
It is striking that the law joins the firstling of a donkey to the firstborn of man. It is more striking still that both alike needed redemption. There is also another thing. A lamb had to redeem the firstling of the donkey. A lamb had redeemed the firstborn of Israel on Passover night. Add one more thing. If no one redeemed the donkey, it had to die. Israel would have died too when the Lord struck the Egyptians. The parallel is complete. What then do we learn from it? We learn this: God places man, as he comes into the world, in the same class as the firstling of a donkey. Both are unclean. Both are doomed to destruction unless a lamb redeems them.
Why a lamb, and not some other animal?
For both the firstborn of the donkey and the firstborn of man a lamb had to be sacrificed in Israel. The lamb pictured Christ. "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). In its characteristics the lamb is the very opposite of the donkey. It is clean, so it pictures Him. Though born of a sinful mother, as we all are, He entered the world unstained in nature. All His ways too were holy. His own judge had to say of Him, "I find no guilt in this man." The lamb is also the symbol of meekness. How fitting, then, that Isaiah 53:7 says of the Lord Jesus: "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth."
The wording allows no middle path — redeem it, or break its neck. One writer puts the choice as an answer to a man who has no lamb.
"Then go, buy one, and come back, or the donkey's neck must surely be broken. The lamb must die, or the donkey must die."
The broken neck matches the animal's nature, and ours.
We belong to that race with a neck that refuses to bear a yoke. So the wild-donkey nature shows itself as something God cannot own. Yet in sovereign grace He has provided the Lamb that gave up its life for our redemption — for us, who were stiff-necked and stubborn in our rebellion against God. … as rebellious sinners we fully deserved death. Our escape from it, and our possession of a life that death cannot touch, rest on one ground alone: the ransom price has been paid in the shed blood of Him, the spotless Lamb of God's providing.
The verse ends with the sons, and redemption carries a consequence.
If God spared the firstborn because of the Passover Lamb, He then claimed them as His own. It is so now. We belong to Him who has redeemed us, because He took our place and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. It is well to ask ourselves often: are we recognizing His claim — His claim on us, on all that we are, and on all that we have?
- Unclean. No one could offer a donkey to God. Scripture puts man in the same class.
- Stiff-necked. The animal stands for self-will, a neck that refuses the yoke; sin is doing our own will instead of God's.
- Doomed. The law leaves no third choice: the lamb dies, or the donkey dies.
- Redeemed. A lamb — clean and meek, the opposite of the donkey — dies in its place, pointing to Christ, the Lamb of God.
- Owned. God spared the firstborn, then claimed them. Those Christ has redeemed no longer belong to themselves.
And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say to him, With a powerful hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
A child in an Israelite home sees his family do something other families do not, and he asks what it means. The answer God gives the father starts with God Himself: a strong hand brought them out of slavery.
The question starts at home. Commentators say the child asks because his parents live so differently from the world.
This great truth the father was to impress upon the son (Ex. 13:14-16). It is very searching to observe that this is a household matter. How gratifying to the heart of the Lord if, as parents, our ways are so distinct from the world, that it raises the question with our children as to why this should be so.
The manner of keeping the memorial decided whether a child would ever be curious. Warmth invited the question; routine killed it.
So much would depend upon the way in which the Israelites looked forward to the Passover; if they were eager for it, and celebrated it with reverence and warmth the children would most surely be interested and ask, Why? If it were treated with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, they would not. But when the interest was aroused, what a gripping story the parents would have to tell of God's care for them, and how He delivered them from slavery and made them a free people.
The answer fixes two things in the child's memory: a day, and the hand that acted.
It was to be connected for ever with the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." The Lord always wants His people to remember the day of their deliverance. It was the day He brought them out of darkness into light. It was the day He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Second, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place."
after fix: To Him alone had they been indebted. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor. No one else could have protected them from the destroyer and set them free.
The father's answer moves from the death of Egypt's firstborn to the sacrifices he now makes. Commentators show what ties the two together.
Israel was spared on that dreadful night only because of the sprinkled blood of the slain lamb — because another had died. So it rested on the principle of substitution, and that is the ground of God's claim in this chapter. If God spared the firstborn because of the Passover Lamb, He afterwards claimed them as His own. It is so now. We belong to Him who has redeemed us, because He took our place, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
A firstborn donkey had to be bought back with a lamb, or else killed. Commentators see our own case in that rule.
The firstling of a donkey was to be redeemed with a lamb. The firstborn of Israel were redeemed with a lamb on the Passover night. The donkey was to be destroyed if it was not redeemed, as the Israelites would surely have been when the Lord struck the Egyptians. So man, as he is born into the world, is classed with the firstling of a donkey. Both alike are unclean, and both are doomed to destruction, unless redeemed with a lamb.
In the father's answer God acts first, and the family's own offerings come after. Writers make that order the rule for everything we do.
All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him. Struggling to win life and peace shows that we are still strangers to the power of the blood. But the pure fruit of a redemption we have really tasted brings praise to Him who has redeemed us.
God expected the children to ask, and He had them in mind too. That places a duty on parents now.
The children of the Israelites came into the divine thought also. Parents were to teach them what the Passover feast meant… Today let us make sure of two things. We ourselves must be under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, and our children must be in that same place of God-given safety.
- Blood. Israel lived through that night only because a lamb died in the firstborn's place. Their rescue rested on the death of another.
- Strength. The answer to the child credits no human effort. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor.
- Claim. Because God spared the firstborn, He owns them; the redeemed belong to the One who took their place.
- Order. Everything we do afterwards is because of what the Lord has done, never to get something from Him.
- Household. This is a family matter. Live so differently that your children ask, and bring them under the same shelter of the blood.
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of men and the firstborn of cattle therefore I sacrifice to Jehovah all that breaketh open the womb -- being males; and every firstborn of my children I ransom.
In this verse a father answers his child's question. Why give every firstborn male animal to God, and why buy back every firstborn son? The answer reaches back to one night in Egypt. It raises a sharp question: who owns a life that God spared when others died?
Pharaoh had long treated Israel's firstborn as his own property. God now claims the same lives.
Exodus 13 begins with God asserting His claim on the firstborn, who had been sheltered from death. They were now to be "sanctified" — that is, set apart for God, as belonging to Him. Of each firstborn God said, "It is Mine." But for many years Pharaoh had been saying of them and of all Israel, "They are mine; slaves to do my pleasure." Among men, when two parties claim the same object, conflict is bound to follow.
The verse ties God's ownership to the death of Egypt's firstborn. Why should that night give God a claim on Israel's sons?
It is important to notice the ground on which God claimed the firstborn. It links directly to the destruction of the firstborn in the land of Egypt (v. 15). As we have seen, God spared Israel on that dreadful night only because of the sprinkled blood of the slain lamb — only because another died in their place. It rested therefore on the principle of substitution; and this in fact is the ground of God's claim in this chapter. If God spared the firstborn because of the Passover Lamb, He then claimed them as His own. It is so now. We belong to Him who has redeemed us, because He took our place and bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
"All the firstborn of my sons I redeem" points to a price paid. What was that price worth next to ours?
They knew, and so do we, that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Their fathers had been redeemed with silver and gold — a redemption under Jewish law that pictured something greater. Sometimes they paid actual money, as in Exodus 30:11-16 and Numbers 3:44-51. Sometimes it was by sacrifice, as in Exodus 13:13-15. Even then silver and gold came into it, because they were needed to buy the animal for the sacrifice. Silver and gold are the least corruptible of metals, yet they are corruptible. The price of our redemption was incorruptible and precious.
Notice the order in the verse. God acted first. Only then does the Israelite say "therefore I sacrifice." Reverse the order and the effort is hopeless.
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we do so, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless labour possible. All our doing must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not in order to get something from Him. Struggling to get life and peace proves that we are still strangers to the power of the blood. The pure fruits of a redemption we have known, by contrast, are to the praise of Him who has redeemed us.
The claim did not stop with the sons. It reaches everything a redeemed person owns.
Whatever I have is the Lord's, and if I cannot devote it, I judge it — and others can see this. If your ways are changed, that is plainly seen by those around you. Many young Christians lose a great deal of blessing because they do not take a decided, bold stand for Christ when they are converted. If you confess Christ out and out, it will save you a great deal of trouble. If you stay quiet, you escape persecution, but you lose the Lord's support and the comfort the Holy Spirit wants to give you.
A father speaks this verse to his son. Children who never saw Egypt still had to know what happened there.
Again (vv. 14-15) the people must impress on their children the full strength of the Lord's hand in delivering Israel out of Egypt. In that deliverance the Lord killed the firstborn in Egypt, both of men and animals. "Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem." They were not merely to tell their sons about God's deliverance. By keeping up the sacrifice they were to impress on them how real and important that deliverance was.
- Claimed. Pharaoh had called Israel's firstborn his own. God answers, "It is Mine." Two owners of one life must end in conflict.
- Spared. A lamb died in their place, so the firstborn lived. That is substitution, and it is why they became God's.
- Bought. Silver and gold bought Israel's sons back, and both metals corrupt. Christ's precious blood bought us, and it cannot corrupt.
- Given. "Therefore I sacrifice" comes after deliverance, never before. Devotion is the fruit of redemption, not a way to get it.
- Told. Each father hands all of this to his children. Words alone are not enough; the sacrifice they watch teaches them too.
And it shall be for a sign on thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes, for with a powerful hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt.
Israel's escape from Egypt was never meant to fade into the past. God tied a lasting mark to it, worn on the hand and kept before the eyes, because His own strong hand had set them free.
One writer reads the two places named — hand and eyes — as covering what a person does and what a person thinks:
This redemption of the firstborn was to be a sign in two ways. First, on their hand: it was to have an effect on the works of their hands. Second, as frontlets between their eyes: it was always to be kept before their minds. In the same way, our redemption by the sacrifice of Christ should always affect the way we act and the way we think.
The instruction was later treated as a literal dress code. Commentators note that this misses the point, since the same passages ask for the words to be kept somewhere else:
A frontlet is something worn on the forehead — as the passages say, between the eyes. Israel was to keep two things always before them: their deliverance from Egypt, and the law. These were to be a token on their hand and frontlets between their eyes. They were also told to lay the words up in their hearts. So it seems clear that wearing them as frontlets was meant in a figurative sense. They were to keep it always before them that they were a redeemed people. In the New Testament we find that it was taken literally, and the things worn were called phylacteries.
One writer describes the practice that grew out of this verse, and judges it:
The Hebrews have built their rule of the phylacteries on verses 9 and 16, and on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21. They use leather strips with Scripture verses contained in a small box. At certain times when they pray, they put these on their hand and forehead. In this way they try to fulfil these words literally. It is only an outward ceremony... They were to keep those commandments in their hearts and practise them as well.
The verse ends by naming the cause of the whole exodus. One writer lists what no other power could have done:
They were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They were indebted to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor. No one else could have protected them from the destroyer and given them deliverance. He alone could have ransomed them from the hand of the enemy.
The sign follows the rescue; it does not earn it. That order shapes everything a redeemed person does:
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption will prove the most hopeless labour possible. All our doings must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him.
In this passage a child asks a question and a parent answers. One writer draws out what that asks of parents:
This great truth the father was to impress on the son. It is very searching to notice that this is a household matter. How pleasing to the heart of the Lord if, as parents, our ways are so different from the world's! Then our children will ask why this should be so. We ought to carry ourselves as those who are "the ransomed of the LORD." We should hold ourselves as set apart for God, and as belonging to a heavenly inheritance.
A mark on the hand and forehead is a mark others can see. One writer draws the practical cost of hiding it:
Whatever I have is the Lord's. If I cannot devote it to Him, I judge it, and others can see this. When your ways change, the people around you see it. Many young Christians lose a great deal of blessing because they do not take a decided, bold stand for Christ when they are converted... By our cowardice we may save ourselves a good deal of what we do not like. But at the same time we rob ourselves of the triumphs and victories God would lead us to, if we were faithful.
- Cause. "By a strong hand" names the source. Israel was indebted to God alone; no other arm could have broken their chains.
- Sign. The mark on hand and eyes is figurative. It touches the works of the hands and what we keep before our minds.
- Heart. Taken literally, the sign becomes phylacteries, an outward ceremony. God asked for words held in the heart and put into practice.
- Order. Devotedness follows redemption and never produces it. We act because of what the Lord has done, not to get something from Him.
- Reach. A remembered redemption shows: children ask why our ways differ, and the world sees a changed life.