Exodus 13:1
“Sanctification of the Firstborn”Exodus 13:1–2
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- וַיְדַבֵּרvay·da·Berand he spokeH1696Conj-w ¦ V-Piel-ConsecImperf-3msVerb Piel Consecutive Imperfect 3rd Singular Masculineוַandיְדַבֵּרhe spoke
- יְהוָהYah·wehYahwehH3068N-properNoun Proper Title
- אֶל'eltoH413PrepPreposition
- מֹשֶׁהmo·ShehMosesH4872N-proper-mNoun Proper Masculine
- לֵּאמֹרle·Mor[to] sayingH559Prep-l ¦ V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Constructלֵּ[to]אמֹרsaying
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Exodus 13:1–10. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
Care is here taken to perpetuate the remembrance,
I.Of the preservation of Israel's firstborn, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain.
In memory of that distinguishing favour, and in gratitude for it, the firstborn, in all ages, were to be consecrated to God, as his peculiars (Exodus 13:2), and to be redeemed, Exodus 13:13. God, who by the right of creation is proprietor and sovereign of all the creatures, here lays claim in particular to the firstborn of the Israelites, by right of protection: Sanctify to me all the firstborn. The parents were not to look upon themselves as interested in their firstborn, till they had first solemnly presented them to God, recognized his title to them, and received them back, at a certain rate, from him again. Note,
1.That which is by special distinguishing mercy spared to us should be in a peculiar manner dedicated to God's honour; at least some grateful acknowledgment, in works of piety and charity, should be made, when our lives, or the lives of our children, have been given us for a prey.
2.God, who is the first and best, should have the first and best, and to him we should resign that which is most dear to us, and most valuable. The firstborn were the joy and hope of their families. Therefore they shall be mine, says God. By this is will appear that we love God best (as we ought) if we are willing to part with that to him which we love best in this world.
3.It is the church of the firstborn that is sanctified to God, Hebrews 12:23. Christ it the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29), and, by virtue of their union with him, all that are born again, and born from above, are accounted as firstborn. There is an excellency of dignity and power belonging to them; and, if children, then heirs.
II.The remembrance of their coming out of Egypt must also be perpetuated:
"Remember this day, Exodus 13:3. Remember it by a good token, as the most remarkable day of your lives, the birthday of your nation, or the day of its coming of age, to be no longer under the rod." Thus the day of Christ's resurrection is to be remembered, for in it we were raised up with Christ out of death's house of bondage. The scripture tells us not expressly what day of the year Christ rose (as Moses told the Israelites what day of the year they were brought out of Egypt, that they might remember it yearly), but very particularly what day of the week it was, plainly intimating that, as the more valuable deliverance, and of greater importance, it should be remembered weekly. Remember it, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out. Note, The more of God and his power appears in any deliverance, the more memorable it is. Now, that it might be remembered,
1.They must be sure to keep the feast of unleavened bread, Exodus 13:5-7. It was not enough that they remembered it, but they must celebrate the memorial of it in that way which God had appointed, and use the instituted means of preserving the remembrance of it. So, under the gospel, we must not only remember Christ, but do this in remembrance of him. Observe, How strict the prohibition of leaven is (Exodus 13:7); not only no leaven must be eaten, but none must be seen, no, not in all their quarters. Accordingly, the Jews' usage was, before the feast of the passover, to cast all the leavened bread out of their houses: they burnt it, or buried it, or broke it small and scattered it in the wind; they searched diligently with lighted candles in all the corners of their houses, lest any leaven should remain. The care and strictness enjoined in this matter were designed, (1.) To make the feast the more solemn, and consequently the more taken notice of by their children, who would ask, "Why is so much ado made?" (2.) To teach us how solicitous we should be to put away from us all sin, 1 Corinthians 5:7.
2.They must instruct their children in the meaning of it, and relate to them the story of their deliverance out of Egypt, Exodus 13:8. Note,
(1.)Care must be taken betimes to instruct children in the knowledge of God. Here is an ancient law for catechising.
(2.)It is particularly of great use to acquaint children betimes with the stories of the scripture, and to make them familiar to them.
(3.)It is a debt we owe to the honour of God, and to the benefit of our children's souls, to tell them of the great works God has done for his church, both those which we have seen with our eyes done in our day and which we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told us: Thou shalt show thy son in that day (the day of the feast) these things. When they were celebrating the ordinance, they must explain it. Every thing is beautiful in its season. The passover is appointed for a sign, and for a memorial, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. Note, We must retain the remembrance of God's works, that we may remain under the influence of God's law. And those that have God's law in their heart should have it in their mouth, and be often speaking of it, the more to affect themselves and to instruct others.
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This verse
The LORD himself speaks to Moses, so the command about the firstborn that follows comes from God and carries his authority.
“And the LORD spake”
The speaker is Yᵉhôvâh, the self-existent God who made himself known to Moses at the burning bush and has just brought Israel out. The verb is dâbar, to speak or tell. The command that follows begins with God.
“unto Moses,”
Môsheh, the one “drawn out” of the water, receives God’s word for the whole people. God speaks to him directly, “mouth to mouth” as Numbers 12:8 puts it.
“saying,”
This small word opens the speech itself. What follows in verse 2 is given as the LORD’s own words.
Passage studyExodus 13:1–2
Every Firstborn Belongs to the LORD
Summary
Israel has just been brought out of Egypt, and the first thing the LORD says to Moses afterwards is a claim: every firstborn in Israel, of people and of animals, is to be set apart for him. The claim rests on the night of the Passover, when he struck the firstborn of Egypt and spared the firstborn of Israel. In two short verses we learn that God speaks to the people he saves, and that those he redeems belong to him.
Why the LORD claims the firstborn
The command comes straight after the Passover and the tenth plague (Exodus 12). At midnight the LORD struck every firstborn in Egypt, and the firstborn of Israel lived because of the blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:29–30). Pharaoh then urged Israel to leave (Exodus 12:31). So when God says of the firstborn “it is mine”, he is speaking of lives he has just spared. They are his by creation, as all life is, and now they are his a second time by redemption.
In Israel the firstborn son held a place of great weight. He received a double portion of the family’s inheritance and its leadership, and he stood for the strength and future of the household, as the first young of an animal stood for the future of the flock. When God claims the firstborn he is claiming the first and the best, and with it the family’s whole future. Other nations also gave firstfruits and firstborn animals to their gods as worship. Israel’s dedication has a ground of its own, because it remembers one night in history when God passed over their houses in mercy and judged Egypt in justice.
The claim was meant to be remembered and explained. The verses that follow tie it to the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 13:3–16), and a father is told to explain these things to his son (Exodus 13:8). Every first birth in a home or a herd became an occasion to tell again what the LORD did in Egypt. God had already called the whole nation by this name when he said that Israel is his firstborn son (Exodus 4:22).
What it means to sanctify the firstborn
“Sanctify” translates qâdash, a root that means to be clean, ceremonially or morally, and so to make or pronounce something clean. Here it means to set apart as holy, to dedicate for God’s use. A sanctified thing is taken out of ordinary use and kept for the LORD. The words “unto me” say whose it becomes.
The firstborn, bᵉkôwr, is the eldest, and so the chief. God then says exactly whom he means: “whatsoever openeth the womb”. The word behind “openeth” is peṭer, which means an opening and so a firstling, the first life to come from its mother. The command reaches “both of man and of beast”, so it covers Israel’s families and Israel’s property alike. It is given “among the children of Israel”, to the people God had redeemed and bound to himself.
The same principle runs through the rest of Scripture as the giving of firstfruits. “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits” is the counsel of Proverbs (Proverbs 3:9). The law later says that a firstborn animal is the LORD’s already, so that nobody could dedicate it to him as a fresh gift of their own (Leviticus 27:26).
Does this command mean child sacrifice?
The firstborn sons of Israel were redeemed, which means they were bought back, and they lived. The verses that follow and the later law make this clear. A payment could be made for a firstborn son, and above all the LORD took the tribe of Levi to serve him in place of all the firstborn sons of Israel (Numbers 3:12–13). Firstborn animals were sacrificed or redeemed. The manner differed for a child and for an animal, while the principle was one: each belonged to God.
God forbids child sacrifice, a practice of the pagan nations which he calls an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:10). His claim on Israel’s firstborn sons is a claim on their lives lived for him. In the provision of a substitute, a Levite or a price given in the son’s place, Scripture also begins to teach us about redemption by substitution, which points ahead to a greater deliverance.
The LORD spake unto Moses
Verse 1 is one of the shortest in the chapter, and it tells us where the command comes from. The name “the LORD” is Yᵉhôvâh, God’s personal name, which means the self-existent or eternal one. It is the name he declared to Moses at the burning bush, where he called him to lead Israel out (Exodus 3:1–10) and said “I AM” (Exodus 3:14–15). The God who speaks here is the same God who kept his word and brought Israel out of slavery.
The verb “spake” is dâbar, the ordinary Hebrew word for speaking and telling. The words “the LORD spake unto Moses, saying” return again and again through the books of Moses, and each time they mark what follows as God’s own instruction. The story of the plagues and the departure gives way to commands, and Israel is to know that these commands come from the LORD and from Moses only as his messenger.
Moses, Môsheh, bears a name that means “drawing out”, because he was drawn out of the water as a child. He was the man God had called, the one who stood before Pharaoh, and the one through whom God gave Israel its law. God speaks to chosen servants for the good of his people throughout Scripture. He spoke to Abram when he called him (Genesis 12:1), and Moses in turn taught Israel the commandments he had been given, so that it would go well with them in the land (Deuteronomy 6:1–3).
Did Moses hear a voice?
Scripture tells us that God spoke to Moses clearly and directly. At Sinai the LORD spoke to him from a thick cloud so that the people could hear (Exodus 19:9), and God himself says that he spoke with Moses “mouth to mouth” and plainly (Numbers 12:8). This verse leaves the manner unstated. What it stresses is that the message was the LORD’s and that Moses understood it well enough to pass it on faithfully.
Christ, the Firstborn
God, who spoke in earlier times through Moses and the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–2). Jesus is the Word made flesh, the full revelation of God (John 1:1–18), and he is the prophet like Moses whom Moses himself foretold (Deuteronomy 18:15–19). Moses delivered the law, and Jesus fulfils it. The Holy Spirit now brings Christ’s teaching home to his people (John 14:26).
The New Testament also gives Jesus the title this passage is about. He is “the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15), first in rank over all creation, through whom all things were made. He is “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5), the first to rise to a life that death can never touch again, and his rising guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in him.
Israel’s firstborn lived because a lamb died, and afterwards they were bought back by a substitute. Both point to Jesus. He is our Passover, sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7), God’s own Firstborn given so that we might be redeemed from sin and death. He set himself apart for the Father’s will, saying that he sanctified himself for his disciples’ sake (John 17:19). Those who trust him become in their turn “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18), and they have the firstfruits of the Spirit while they wait for the redemption of the body (Romans 8:23).
Redeemed, and therefore his
“It is mine” is the heart of this passage, and it is good news. God says it over people he has just rescued from death. If you belong to Christ, the same words stand over you, because you were bought with the blood of God’s own Firstborn Son and are his treasured possession. Your life is held by the one who paid for it.
This is why Scripture calls all believers to holiness: “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16). To be sanctified is to be set apart for God’s purposes, as the firstborn were. Giving God the first and best of our time, abilities and goods is the old principle of the firstfruits, and it says with our hands what this verse says in words, that everything we have came from him. Israel kept the memory of its rescue alive in each new generation, and gratitude grows in us the same way, by remembering what the LORD has done.
Exodus 13:1 This verse
“And the LORD spake”
The speaker is Yᵉhôvâh, the self-existent God who made himself known to Moses at the burning bush and has just brought Israel out. The verb is dâbar, to speak or tell. The command that follows begins with God.
“unto Moses,”
Môsheh, the one “drawn out” of the water, receives God’s word for the whole people. God speaks to him directly, “mouth to mouth” as Numbers 12:8 puts it.
“saying,”
This small word opens the speech itself. What follows in verse 2 is given as the LORD’s own words.
Exodus 13:2
“Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,”
A direct command. Qâdash means to set apart as holy, and “unto me” names the owner. The bᵉkôwr is the eldest, the chief of the family or flock.
“whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel,”
Peṭer is the firstling, the one that opens the womb. Every first birth is included, and the command is given to God’s covenant people.
“both of man and of beast:”
God’s claim covers Israel’s children and Israel’s animals. Sons were later redeemed by a payment or by the Levites taken in their place, and animals were sacrificed or redeemed.
“it is mine.”
The reason for the whole command. The firstborn whom God spared on the Passover night belong to him.
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