Exodus 13:9–16

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).

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 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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

"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."

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.

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?

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.