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.