Exodus 13. The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Consecration of the Firstborn

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.”

• This command sets up the later role of the Levites. Because God spared Israel’s firstborn during Passover, He claimed them as His own. Later, rather than taking every family’s firstborn son into His service, God takes the entire tribe of Levi “instead of all the firstborn” (Numbers 3:11-13; 8:16-18).

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. 

• Did God give them the name “Abib (Aviv)” for this new first month?

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. 

• So the seven-day schedule looks like:
  • Nisan/Abib 15 Day 1: Holy assembly, no ordinary work
  • Nisan/Abib 16-20 Days 2-6: Continue eating unleavened bread
  • Nisan/Abib 21 Day 7: Holy assembly, no ordinary work

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.

• Israel is told to remember this day, keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and tell this story to their children

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. 

• Animals that could be sacrificed: The firstborn belonged to YHWH and could be offered to Him.
• Animals that could NOT be sacrificed: A donkey was ceremonially unclean and therefore couldn’t be offered as a sacrifice. So Israel had two choices:
  • donkey -> substitute a lamb -> donkey lives
  • no substitute -> donkey dies
• Numbers 18:15-16 says that firstborn sons were to be redeemed when they were one month old, for a redemption price of: five shekels of silver
• Later God says: “I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.” (Numbers 8:18)

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.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

• I went through like 20 maps of what this exodus would look like. No one knows the exact route or where some of the exact locations were (or even the true part of the sea of reeds crossing!) I included a map below I liked and that was simple and kind of averaged out the other maps I looked at (https://www.realclearbible.com/exodus/_13-15a/)

And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 

• Genesis 50: 25  And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

²⁰ And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

• This isn’t the first or last time God appears as fire – we have seen Him through the burning bush, now the pillar of fire, and later He will descend like fire on Mount Sinai and through flaming tongues of fire as the Holy Spirit.