Exodus 13:1-16

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” ³ Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. ⁵ And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, 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 for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ⁸ You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. ¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ¹² you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ¹⁴ And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

 

Flannery O’Connor once said this about writing:

When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs as you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock, to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures.

That’s an interesting insight, and a true one.  “Making our vision apparent by shock” is something we all must do for those unaccustomed or unprepared to receive what we need to say and what they need to hear.  This may be especially true in the raising of children!  It is most certainly true in the way that the Lord God teaches us.  We are the hard of hearing who need a shout.  We are the almost-blind who need startling images drawn.

That is true of us and it was true of Israel as well.  Coming out of Egypt, the Lord needed to impress certain truths upon His children.  These truths were identity-forming and salvation-bringing insofar as they prepared the hearts of the people of God for the eventual coming of  the incarnate Christ.  They were truths that had to do with the reality of sin, forgiveness, deliverance, salvation, holiness, consecration, and community.

We have looked already at the institution of the rites of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In our text tonight we see another expression of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well as instructions on the consecration of the firstborn sons of Israel.

I. The Divine Counterpart to the Divine Curse: The Firstborn of Israel (v.1-2,11-16)

Provocatively, our text begins and ends with instructions concerning the firstborn sons of Israel.

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

I say this is provocative because it clearly stands as a counterpart to the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt.  The firstborn sons of Egypt were killed whereas the firstborn sons of Israel would live lives consecrated to God.  The firstborn sons of Egypt were under a curse.  The firstborn sons of Israel were under the promise of salvation.

To consecrate is to set aside as holy.  Israel is told to consecrate to the Lord “all the firstborn” and “the first to open the womb…both man and beast.”  “They are mine!” declares the Lord.  The firstborn of Egypt were the Lord’s too, and were the objects of His wrath.  The firstborn of Israel were the Lord’s and were the objects of His special affection.  In truth, all the children of Israel were the Lord’s, set apart by Him and for Him.  In a general sense, of course, all the peoples of earth belong to the Lord insofar as He creates us all and we bear His image, marred by the Fall though it is.

This consecration of the firstborn sons of Israel was unique, though.  It highlighted the salvation that was Israel’s.  The consecration of the firstborn of Israel was a symbol of all of Israel’s consecration to God.  Speaking of the consecration of the livestock of Israel, Honeycutt suggests that “by the principle of ‘pars pro toto,’ the part may stand for the whole.  Offering the firstborn symbolized the effectual giving of the entire future offspring for man’s consumption.”[1]  The same principle would apply to the consecration of the firstborn child.  The firstborn stand for all.  Verse 11 and following revisits this consecration.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ¹² you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

In giving these instructions, the Lord is making His vision apparent by shock, to return to O’Connor’s phrase.  Essentially, the consecration of the firstborn went like this.  All the firstborn sons of the people and the firstborn of the animals were to be consecrated.  Those animals deemed clean were to be sacrificed to the Lord.  Unclean animals, of which the donkey is specified in our text, were to be redeemed.  That is, they were to be consecrated, but could be redeemed, bought back, for a price.  In this way, they would not be killed, and could be used again.  Thus, the unclean donkey would be consecrated, but not sacrificed.  The options for the donkey, as well as for all unclean animals, were two:  (a) they could be redeemed for a price or (b) they could be killed.  These were the only two options for unclean animals.  Thus, the consecrated donkey could be bought back or its neck could be broken.  In this way, God’s rights over the firstborn were acknowledged, either through the sacrifice of the consecrated clean animals, the redemption of the consecrated unclean animals, or the death of the consecrated unredeemed animals.  In any case, God’s sovereign rights were acknowledged.  The firstborn, in place of all, belonged to God.

Most interestingly, the Lord says that “every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.”  This is as fascinating as it is telling.  In practice, the firstborn sons are placed in the same category as the donkey:  consecrated, unclean, and in need of redemption.  Child sacrifice was forbidden by the Lord, of course.  The Lord would not have His people kill their sons like they may have to kill their unredeemed donkeys.  No, the firstborn sons of Israel were to be redeemed.  The price of redeeming the firstborn son was five shekels.  We see Joseph and Mary honoring this law with Jesus in Luke 2.

²² And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)

Now, the Lord Jesus was without sin, but it was still important that He not be in violation of the Law.  So He was presented to the Lord.  But all the other firstborn sons of Israel needed to be redeemed because, like they donkey, they were unclean…which is to say – and this is key – we are unclean.

In other words, we see in these instructions the truth of human depravity.  We are unclean and in need of purification.  We are sinners in need of salvation.  Remember:  the firstborn sons of Israel stood for the whole of Israel, indeed, for the whole of humanity.  The theological importance of this will be immediately evident:  we are all unclean and we are all in need of redemption.  The options available to us are the same as the options available to unclean animals:  death or redemption.

Do you see the deep, ancient, theological seeds that were sown into the consciousness of these early Jews in order to prepare Israel and the world for the coming of Christ?  Lost, unclean man needs to be redeemed.  If he is not redeemed, he is condemned.  But who could pay the price of redemption for the sins of the world?  Who could offer redemption to all?  Is there a sacrifice that could accomplish this?  Is there a payment large enough for this price?

Praise God, church!  There is!  Jesus is the payment for our redemption, the perfect Lamb whose death and resurrection makes us unclean sons and daughters clean again.  We need not die!  We need not be judged!  We need not be condemned!  Our Jesus has paid the price for us!  For you!  For me!

Have you trusted in the Lamb who paid the redemption price for you?  Have you called on His name?  Can you say that you are His?

These truths we now know in full were previously presented in the startling image of consecration and redemption.  Israel was instructed to do these things so that their faith could be passed down.  We see this beginning in verse 14.

¹⁴ And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

Do you see?  The consecration of the firstborn was established as an instrument by and through which the successive generations of Israel would learn of the events of the Exodus, particularly the events of the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt in the tenth plague.  They would learn of this tragedy by viewing its glorious counterpart:  the consecration and redemption of the firstborn sons of Israel.  So deliberate was this passing down of the faith that it was to be written upon their very lives.

¹⁶ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

These are highly-disputed words.  Were they intended literally or figuratively?  It is likely that this was a figurative expression intended to denote such intimate awareness with the truths of God that it is as if they were written on their very lives.  In time, the Jews came to take this literally, strapping phylacteries to their heads and to their hands.  Phylacteries are sacred little containers holding words from Scripture.  In Matthew 23, Jesus condemned the self-righteous use of such things by some of the Jews.

⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

No, the truth of God’s sovereign rule and His deliverance of Israel from bondage was to be passed down in purity and in truth, not with ostentation.  Why?  Because this truth was preparing Israel for the greater truth to which it pointed:  the coming of Christ.  The consecration of the firstborn sons was intended to point to the coming of the true firstborn Son, the only begotten Son, Jesus the Chrtist.  The church father Tertullian put it like this:

For who is really holy but the Son of God?  Who properly opened the womb but he who opened a closed one?  But it is marriage which opens the womb in all cases.  The Virgin’s womb, therefore, was especially opened, because it was especially closed.[2]

Christ was the firstborn Son for which the world was waiting.  The consecration of the firstborn sons of Israel was intended to prepare the people for and point them to Jesus.

II. The Symbols and the Passing Down of the Faith: Unleavened Bread (v.3-10)

In the middle of our text, in verses 3-10, we find another description of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

The month of Abib “correspond[s] to our late March and early April.”[3]  Douglas Stuart says that “just as modern Westerners learn as little children that Christmas come only in the month of December, ancient Israelites learned early on, from this point in history forward, that the Feast of Unleavened Bread comes only in Abib.”[4]  This was to be a continual remembrance in Israel, a yearly reminder of Israel’s hasty exit from Egypt once the Lord opened the door of deliverance.

⁵ And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, 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 for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ⁸ You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

We have discussed the Feast of Unleavened bread already and how the absence of leaven spoke of the purity and holiness of God’s people.  It was itself a symbol of consecration, a reminder that Israel belongs to God and not to Egypt or any other power.  In fact, it reminded Israel that they did not belong even to themselves.  They were God’s, and they were to walk in a pure love and relationship with their Deliverer God.

What is most interesting in our text is the repeated call for Israel to hold to these rites and symbols – Passover, Unleavened Bread, the consecration of the firstborn – as intentional efforts at faith transmission.  Terence Fretheim put it well when he said this about our verses:

            The basic rhythm of the text is thus not that of memory and hope but of memory and liturgical responsibility…As with passover (see 12:1-28), the concrete and replicative nature of each of the rituals indicates that they are vehicles in and through which God effects salvation for each new generation…The concern is not that God be properly thanked but that the redemptive experience be a living reality for each Israelite in every age.[5]

Yes, the redemptive experience does need to be a living reality for God’s people in every age.  That is why God gave Israel these remembrances.  This is also why you and I are to bring our children into consistent contact with the sacred remembrances of the church:  the preaching of the gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.

The sacred remembrances the Lord gave to Israel were intended to prepare God’s people for the actualization of that to which they pointed:  the coming of the Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the second and greater Moses who would lead His people out of sin, death, and Hell.  They were constant reminders that Israel had been liberated, freed from bondage in Egypt.  It was a reminder that they did not have to stay in Egypt.

The Lord Jesus stands today to say that we do not have to stay in the Egypt of sin, death, and Hell.  We can be free.  Israel’s hope is now our living and present reality.  Christ has come.  Christ reigns.  He has come to set us free.

Do not stay in Egypt.

You do not have to stay in Egypt.

The Savior, Jesus, has come to lead you home.

The Lamb of God has paid the redemption price for you.

Trust in Him and live.