Exodus 13:1-2

PROMULGATION OF THE LAW OF THE FIRSTBORN, AND OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, Exodus 13:1-16.

1, 2. In these verses Jehovah announces to Moses the law concerning the firstborn, and in Exodus 13:3-16 Moses repeats this law to Israel, and also repeats to them the law concerning the feast of unleavened bread which had been given to Moses before they started upon their march, as recorded in Exodus 12:15-20. The great importance of these two feasts, and of the law respecting the firstborn, which was so blended with the passover, led to the double mention of each once as announced by Jehovah to Moses, and again as proclaimed by him to the people . The readers of Homer are familiar with such repetitions as characteristic of an early and simple style of narrative .

The firstborn males of man and beast were to be forever consecrated to Jehovah as a memorial through all generations of the final judgment-stroke which gave Israel freedom. Thus in their homes and in their daily toils were they to be perpetually reminded of the providence of Jehovah. The flower of the Egyptians were cut down for their deliverance, and the flower of their families, flocks, and herds, were to be devoted to God.

So the “Firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15) was sacrificed for our deliverance, “bruised for our iniquities,” by the judgment-strokes which a guilty world invokes, and which he caught upon his own heart; and, in return, our firstborn, the choice of our homes, our substance, and our powers, are to be consecrated to God .