Exodus 13:1-16
The Firstborn Consecrated
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14–20)
3 And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. 5 And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. 8 And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ 9 It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
The Law of the Firstborn
11 “And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 that you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD’s. 13 But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
After the firstborn of Israel had been spared in the tenth plague which took all the firstborn of Egypt, the LORD called Moses to consecrate (sanctify, set apart) the firstborn of both people and livestock to Him. This was to remind them they owed their lives to God who delivered them and let the unbelieving Egyptians suffer the judgment of death. This is also as a foreshadowing of the lives we are to lead after being delivered from the final judgment in Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb of God. Since we have been so saved by God’s grace and mercy, we now are to live in the direction of holiness because we have been made holy as our calling and desire should be to do. We are to live in love (Ephesians 5:1-2), light (Ephesians 5:8-9), and wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-17) as we live loves set apart to live no longer for ourselves but for Him who died for us (2 Corinthians 5:15, Galatians 2:20), just as the people of the LORD were called to through dedication of their firstborn. We are His people and are to be holy because and like He is (1 Peter 1:15-16) in responsive living in light of our salvation from His judgment on our sin. We are His, (Romans 14:7-8, 1 Corinthians 6:19) no longer our own! May we therefore live in light of this redemption as we follow the Lord out of our own bondage of the world’s sin as Israel did from Egypt then. It is notable that the LORD also commanded the people of God leaving the land of their enslavement to have a day of remembrance with unleavened bread symbolizing removing the sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, 8, Galatians 5:9) from their spiritual diet as symbolized in their physical exercise of this action. The unleavened bread was eaten on the night of their passing over before being led out of the captivity of bondage as a picture of deliverance from sin and its enslavement apart from God’s mighty hand of deliverance. It was to be a continual reminder to them as we should remind ourselves we were bought at such a price out of the slavery of sin and into liberty (Luke 4:18, Romans 8:21, 2 Corinthians 3:17) in Him that we might grow into the sanctifying (2 Corinthians 3:18) image of His holiness as we follow out of that place and imitate Him. We are to offer the sacrifices of praise for our deliverance as the people then did when arriving in the promised land while looking back at the grace that saved those firstborn and therefore their posterity through them. It is by His strength that His hand set us free by grace and not of our (John 1:12-13) will, heritage, or effort. It is all by grace that we have been delivered to follow and worship Him outside of the land of bondage to sin in which we were born in. His firstborn follow in holiness.
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