INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 13 This chapter begins with an order to sanctify or set apart the firstborn of man and beast to the Lord, Exodus 13:1 and the people of Israel are charged to keep the feast of unleavened bread in its season, from year to year, when they came into the land of Canaan, the reaso... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,.... When he and the Israelites were at Succoth: SAYING; as follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY UNTO ME ALL THE FIRSTBORN,.... That is, of males, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, for those, and not females, were only either sacrificed or redeemed, see Exodus 13:12, and this sanctification of them to the Lord signifies the separation or devoting of them to the service of God; if the fir... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... After the Lord had spoken to him, and said the above things: REMEMBER THIS DAY IN WHICH YE CAME OUT OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE; or "of servants" x where they had been servants to the Egyptians, by whom they had been made to serve with rigour, and their... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS DAY CAME YE OUT,.... Out of Egypt, on the fifteenth of Nisan, as the Targum of Jonathan: IN THE MONTH ABIB; which signifies an ear of corn, because in this month barley was in the ear, see Exodus 9:31, the Syriac version renders it, "in the month of flowers"; when the flowers were rising up ou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE WHEN THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE INTO THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES,.... Though the whole land was called the land of Canaan, yet there was one tribe or nation of them particularly so called as here, distinct from those that follow: AND THE HITTITES, AND THE AMORITES, AND THE HIVITES, AN... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN DAYS SHALT THOU EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD,.... The Jews y gather from this place, and from Deuteronomy 16:8, that the obligation to eat unleavened bread lasted no longer than the first night of the seven days, but on the rest it was enough if they abstained from leavened bread, and it was lawful fo... [ Continue Reading ]
UNLEAVENED BREAD SHALL BE EATEN SEVEN DAYS,.... From the evening of the fourteenth day, to the evening of the twenty first, Exodus 12:18, this is very express as before, that not only they were to abstain from leaven, but that they were obliged to eat unleavened bread; and as for the cakes of eggs... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALL SHOW THY SON IN THAT DAY,.... On the first of the days of the feast of unleavened bread, the reason of eating it; and this is to be shown not to a son or single child only, but by parents to all their children, sons and daughters, and even unasked, as Maimonides b interprets it; and s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN UNTO THEE UPON THINE HAND, AND FOR A MEMORIAL BETWEEN THINE EYES,.... These are not the words of God or of Moses to the children of Israel, but of an lsraelitish parent to his son, telling him that this feast of unleavened bread would serve the same purpose to refresh his... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL THEREFORE KEEP THE ORDINANCE IN HIS SEASON,.... Not the ordinance of the phylacteries, as the Targum of Jonathan, but the ordinance of unleavened bread: FROM YEAR TO YEAR; every year successively, so long as in force, even unto the coming of the Messiah. It is in the Hebrew text, "from d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE WHEN THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE INTO THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES,.... Put for all the rest of the nations: AS HE SWARE UNTO THEE, AND TO THY FATHERS, AND SHALL GIVE IT THEE; to them as they were in their loins, and from thence might certainly conclude it would be given them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU SHALT SET APART UNTO THE LORD ALL THAT OPENETH THE MATRIX,.... Or "the womb", as in Exodus 13:2, and this phrase, "set apart", explains the word "sanctify" there, and shows that it signifies the separating of such to the use and service of God, causing it to "pass", as the word d here used... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVERY FIRSTLING OF AN ASS THOU SHALT REDEEM WITH A LAMB,.... Which was given to the priest for it; and according to the Jewish canon f, it might be redeemed with that only; "not with a calf, nor with an animal (a goat or a ram, as Bartenora interprets it), nor with a lamb slain, or torn to piec... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE WHEN THY SON ASKETH THEE IN TIME TO COME,.... Or "on the morrow" h, the day following such a separation of the firstborn of clean creatures, or such a redemption of the firstborn of unclean ones, and of man, or in any later time: SAYING, WHAT IS THIS? what is the meaning of this? fo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN PHARAOH WOULD HARDLY LET US GO,.... Showed great reluctance to it, and with difficulty was prevailed upon to dismiss them: THAT THE LORD SLEW ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, BOTH THE FIRSTBORN OF MEN, AND THE FIRSTBORN OF BEAST: which he did in one night, making us... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE FOR A TOKEN UPON THINE HEAD, AND FOR FRONTLETS BETWEEN THINE EYES,.... These laws observed concerning the setting apart the firstlings of their beasts, the redemption of the firstborn of unclean ones, and of the firstborn of men, will bring the reason of it, the destruction of the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN PHARAOH HAD LET THE PEOPLE GO,.... Gave them leave to depart out of Egypt, and even urged them to be gone in haste upon the death of his firstborn: THAT GOD LED THEM NOT THROUGH THE WAY OF THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES, ALTHOUGH THAT WAS NEAR; the land of the Philistines was... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD LED THE PEOPLE ABOUT,.... Instead of their going to the west, or northwest, towards Gaza, c. and the Mediterranean sea, the Lord going before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, as after related, directed them to turn off to the right, between the east and south, to the southeast: THROUGH T... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES TOOK THE BONES OF JOSEPH WITH HIM,.... And his remains might well be called bones, since at such a distance from his death the flesh must be gone, and nothing but bones left; of the place where Joseph's coffin was laid, Genesis 50:26. The Jews pretend, that Moses was informed where Joseph... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY TOOK THEIR JOURNEY FROM SUCCOTH,.... On the second day, as Jarchi observes, from their coming out of Egypt, which was the sixteenth of Nisan: AND ENCAMPED IN ETHAM, in the edge of the wilderness which had its name from it, and was called the wilderness of Etham, Numbers 33:8. Etham is said... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD WENT BEFORE THEM,.... Who is called the Angel of the Lord, Exodus 14:19, not a created but the uncreated Angel, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, in whom his name, nature, and perfections were, even the Word and Son of God, the Lord Christ, see 1 Corinthians 10:9 who went before the armi... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK NOT AWAY THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD BY DAY,.... It always appeared in the daytime, and was a guide and shelter: NOR THE PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT, [FROM] BEFORE THE PEOPLE; this continued till they came through the wilderness to the borders of the land of Canaan, when they needed it no longer, a... [ Continue Reading ]