Exodus 13:13 1-2 God spoke to Moses, saying, “Set apart every firstborn to me—the first one to come from the womb among the Israelites, whether person or animal, is mine.”
3 Moses said to the people, “Always remember this day. This is the day when you came out of Egypt from a house of slavery. God brought you out of here with a powerful hand. Don’t eat any raised bread.
4-5 “You are leaving in the spring month of Abib. When God brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he promised to your fathers to give you, a land lavish with milk and honey, you are to observe this service during this month:
6 “You are to eat unraised bread for seven days; on the seventh day there is a festival celebration to God.
7 “Only unraised bread is to be eaten for seven days. There is not to be a trace of anything fermented—no yeast anywhere.
8 “Tell your child on that day: ‘This is because of what God did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
9-10 “The day of observance will be like a sign on your hand, a memorial between your eyes, and the teaching of God in your mouth. It was with a powerful hand that God brought you out of Egypt. Follow these instructions at the set time, year after year after year.4
God is continuing to lay out the rules for observing Passover. Why are these rules so important? God knows that His people will spend 40 years in the wilderness before they reach the Promised Land and that they will adapt the pagan religions of the tribes there. Furthermore, God knows that many of His people will be carried off as exiles and that His people will eventually find their way into every country and every kingdom. God is ordaining Passover so that no matter where the Israelites/Jews are, they will continue to observe it. The observance of Passover and the other feasts God will order will help the Jews retain their cultural identity wherever they are throughout the centuries. Jewish children will continue to praise God for the miraculous deliverance from Egyptian slavery forever.
11-13 “When God brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he promised you and your fathers, and turns it over to you, you are to set aside the first birth out of every womb to God. Every first birth from your livestock belongs to God. You can redeem every first birth of a donkey if you want to by substituting a lamb; if you decide not to redeem it, you must break its neck.
First-born animals are to be dedicated to the Lord. Donkeys can be redeemed because they are not generally sacrificed; however, a lamb must be sacrificed as a blood offering to redeem a first-born donkey. If someone fails to redeem a first-born donkey, they must kill it by breaking its neck.
13-16 “Redeem every firstborn child among your sons. When the time comes and your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you tell him, ‘God brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, God killed every firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of both humans and animals. That’s why I make a sacrifice for every first male birth from the womb to God and redeem every firstborn son.’ The observance functions like a sign on your hands or a symbol on the middle of your forehead: God brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand.”
Once more, God is laying out practices that will help the Israelites remember and celebrate their escape from losing their firstborn children. Interestingly, there is no mention of blood sacrifices being necessary to redeem firstborn daughters, only firstborn sons. Perhaps a blood sacrifice for a daughter is unnecessary because women menstruate, shedding their own blood monthly for many years. And women giving birth also shed blood.
It is wrong to assume that God thinks less of women than He does of men; after all, God sent the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary first. God only informed Joseph in a dream after Mary had consented for the Holy Spirit to impregnate her. Throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament, there are stories of godly women such as Rahab, Ruth, and Deborah.
The need for blood sacrifices stopped the day Jesus Christ was crucified. In Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, there was an enormous curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. As Jesus was dying, that curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, indicating that God was tearing open the way to the holiest place because of the blood Jesus was shedding. Now we don’t need to sacrifice lambs; instead, we come to belief in Jesus and what he has done for us. When we confess our sins and call on God to forgive us and to clean us up, Jesus’ blood sacrifice takes care of our sins.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, thank You for sending your Lamb, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life and to die for our sins. We confess that we are sinners and that we cannot free ourselves. We praise You for giving us the way of salvation through Jesus’ blood sacrifice. It’s in the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus that we pray. Amen.
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