Exodus 13:9

_AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN UNTO THEE UPON THINE HAND, AND FOR A MEMORIAL BETWEEN THINE EYES, THAT THE LORD'S LAW MAY BE IN THY MOUTH: FOR WITH A STRONG HAND HATH THE LORD BROUGHT THEE OUT OF EGYPT._ IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN UNTO THEE UPON THINE HAND, AND FOR A MEMORIAL BETWEEN THINE EYES. These words point not, as some suppose, to the Oriental tatooing which is so common among the Arabs, and of which there are evidences that it also prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, but to the practice of wearing memorial signs-such as a bracelet upon the wrist or a band upon the front, as remembrancers of particular events (cf. Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18). 'If Moses appropriated this custom to sacred purposes, the patterns may have been so devised as to commemorate the deliverance of th

1-10 In remembrance of the destruction of the first-born of Egypt, both of man and of beast, and the deliverance of the Israelites out of bondage, the first-born males of the Israelites were set apart to the Lord. By this was set before them, that their lives were preserved through the ransom of the atonement, which in due time was to be made for sin. They were also to consider their lives, thus ransomed from death, as now to be consecrated to the service of God. The parents were not to look upon themselves as having any right in their first-born, till they solemnly presented them to God, and allowed his title to them. That which is, by special mercy, spared to us, should be applied to God's honour; at least, some grateful acknowledgment, in works of piety and charity, should be made. The remembrance of their coming out of Egypt must be kept up every year. The day of Christ's resurrecti...

Verse Exodus 13:9. _AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN - UPON THINE HAND_] This direction, repeated and enlarged Exodus 13:16, gave rise to _phylacteries_ or _tephillin_, and this is one of the passages which the Jews write upon them to the present day. The manner in which the Jews understood and kept these commands may appear in their practice. They wrote the following four portions of the law upon slips of parchment or vellum: _Sanctify unto me the first-born_, Exod. xiii., from verse Exodus 13:2 to 10 Exodus 13:2 inclusive. _And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land_, Exod. xiii., from verse...

Hebrew writers have generally regarded this as a formal injunction to write the precepts on slips of parchment, and to fasten them on the wrists and forehead; but other commentators are generally agreed that it is to be understood metaphorically. The words appear to be put into the mouths of the parents. They were to keep all the facts of the Passover constantly in mind, and, referring to a custom prevalent ages before Moses in Egypt, to have them present as though they were inscribed on papyrus or parchment fastened on the wrists, or on the face between the eyes. If, as may be inferred from Deuteronomy 6:7, Moses adopted this custom, he would take care to warn the people against the Egyptian superstition of amulets. Modern Israelites generally allege this precept as a justification for the use of phylacteries....

EXPOSITION SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN. In connection with the deliverance from death of the Israelite first-born by the blood of the lamb, and still further to fix the remembrance of the historical facts in the mind of the nation, Moses was commissioned to declare all the firstborn of Israel for all future time, and all the firstborn of their domesticated animals "holy to the Lord." There was, perhaps, already in the minds of men a feeling that peculiar dignity attached to the first-born in each family; and this feeling was now strengthened by the assignment to them of a sacred character. God claimed them, and also the first-born of beasts, as His own. The clean beasts became his by sacrifice; but the unclean ones could not he similarly treated, and therefore had to be "redeemed" (Exodus 13:13) by the sac

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 memory with what God did for his people of old, as the tying of a thing on the hand, or placing it before the eye, is to a person to bring anything to his remembrance, to which the allusion is; the like figurative phrases may be observed in Proverbs 1:9, the Jews understand this literally, and hence the use of phylacteries among them, which they bind upon their left hand, and place upon their foreheads between their eyes, of which Matthew 23:5, but such a practice could be of no use to answer the end ne

CHAPTER 13:1-16 THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN _ 1. The separation commanded (Exodus 13:1)_ 2. Remember this day: the memorial (Exodus 13:3) 3. The separation of the firstborn (Exodus 13:11) The firstborn had been delivered in a special manner in Egypt and because Jehovah had delivered them they were to be sanctified unto Him. There is an inseparable connection between redemption and holiness. What the Lord has redeemed He claims for Himself. Here we have a definition of sanctification; it is separation unto God. But let us notice that salvation out of the house of bondage is the foundation of all. The same order is more fully revealed in the New Testament. In Romans 3-5:11 we read of our

LAWS ABOUT FIRSTBORN AND MAZZOTH: EXODUS 13:1 F. P. LAW OF FIRSTBORN. Here all are sacred to Yahweh; in J (Exodus 13:12 f., Exodus 34:19 f.) and E (Exodus 22:29 f.) all males, the ass to be redeemed with a lamb; in D male firstlings of herd and flock, to constitute a sacrificial feast for the owner and his family at the sanctuary; in P (Numbers 18:15, _cf._ Leviticus 27:26 f. P s) the firstborn of men and unclean beasts to be redeemed, of clean beasts to b

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 13 AND JE-HO-VAH SPAKE UNTO MO-SES, SAYING, (2) SANCITFY UNTO ME ALL THE FIRST-BORN, WHATSOEVER OPENETH THE WOMB AMONG THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL, BOTH OF MAN AND OF BEAST: IT IS MINE. (3) And Mo-ses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from E-gypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Je-ho-vah brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. (4) This day ye go forth in the month A-bib. (5) And it shall be, when Je-ho-vah shall bring thee into the land of the Ca-naan-ite, and the Hit-tite, and the Am-or-ite, and the Hi-vite, and the Jeb-u-site, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. (6) Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to Je-ho-vah. (7) Unleavened bread...

THE CONSECRATION OF THE FIRSTBORN. THE MARCH TO ETHAM 1-16. The Consecration of the Firstborn. All Israel was holy unto the Lord: see on Exodus 19:5; Exodus 19:6. But the firstborn of man and beast were specially consecrated to Him, as the part representing the whole. There was a special fitness in the consecration of the firstborn, seeing they had been spared in the destruction which overtook the Egyptians. The firstborn of mankind were to be consecrated to the service of Jehovah as priests; the firstborn of animals were to be offered in sacrifice, if clean animals; if not, they were to be redeemed at a price. Afterwards the whole tribe of Levi was consecrated to the priestly service in lieu of the firstborn: see Numbers