Instructions about the firstborn
13
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Sanctify for me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both man and animal. It is mine”.3 📚And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for the LORD brought you out from this place by the strength of his hand. No bread made with yeast is to be eaten. 4 📚You came out this day in the month of 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 to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you are to observe this ceremony in this month. 6 📚For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a feast to the LORD. 7 📚Bread made without yeast is to be eaten for seven days, and no bread with yeast is be seen with you, nor is yeast to be seen among you within all your borders.
8 📚And on that day you are to tell your son, saying, ‘This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 📚And it will be for you like a sign on your hand, and like a reminder between your eyes, so that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand. 10 📚So you are to keep this ordinance in its time from year to year.
11 📚“And it will be like this: when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 📚you are to set apart for the LORD the all of the first offspring of the womb, and every firstborn that comes of any animal you have. The males are to belong to the LORD. 13 📚And every firstborn of a donkey you are to redeem with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, then you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of man among your children you are to redeem.
13:13 Redeem here means to release by offering a sacrifice to the Lord. The Lord Jesus redeemed His people, released them from their sins, by the sacrifice of Himself (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:12; 1 Pet 1:18; Rev 5:9).⚜
14 📚“And in time to come, it will be like this: when your son asks you, saying, ‘What is this?’ you are to say to him, ‘The LORD by the strength of his hand brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 15 📚And it happened that when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of animal. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem the firstborn of all my children. 16 📚And it is to be like a sign on your hand, and as a symbol between your eyes. For the LORD brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.’ ”
17 📚And it came about that when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “The people should not change their minds by seeing war, and return to Egypt”. 18 📚But God led the people around by the way of the desert of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up from the land of Egypt, armed for battle.
13:17-18 God knew how weak, unbelieving, and unstable the people of Israel were and led them in His wisdom by the best possible way. Compare Deut 32:9-12; Ps 23:2; John 10:2-4, 14.⚜
19 📚And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the children of Israel swear a solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you must carry my bones away from here with you”.
Pillars of cloud and fire
20 📚And they set out from Succoth, and camped in Etham, at the edge of the desert. 21 📚And by day the LORD went before them in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, so that they could travel by day and night.
22 📚The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, were not taken away from their place in front of the people.