Exodus 13
McGeeCHAPTER 13THEME: Israel’s firstborn sanctified to God; journey to Etham by divine guidance
Exodus 13:1
ISRAEL’S FIRSTBORN SANCTIFIED TO GODThe children of Israel are leaving the land of Egypt and moving toward the Red Sea. The firstborn in Egypt had died. The gods of Egypt had always claimed the firstborn as their own, and now God claims the firstborn of Israel as His own. He wants the first from believers today, also. Many Christians do not give Him the first place. God claims our best, our very best; God claims the first in everything. Even though He wants first place in our lives, many believers put Him last, and that creates a problem. If we have time, we work for the Lord, but most of our time is spent on personal interests and amusements. We usually give the Lord what is left over. I remember hearing Billy Sunday tell a story years ago. He was riding across the country with William Wrigley, the chewing gum man. Mr. Wrigley was a Christian, and as they rode on the train he told Billy Sunday that he had made it a practice in his life to give the Lord one-tenth of everything that he made, and he added that it was not the last tenth he made that he gave to the Lord. William Wrigley gave the Lord the first tenth of his earnings. It is quite interesting how the Lord blessed him and prospered him. Now God doesn’t guarantee material prosperity to anyone, but it is interesting how He has blessed men and women who put Him first. And to put Him first means no half truth in saying we put Him firstno compromising. The children of Israel have just come out of Egypt where they served for years as slaves. Then God immediately requires of them their firstborn. Many of them probably said, “Look, Lord, you have just delivered us out of slavery and now you are claiming our firstborn for your own!” The Lord Jesus Christ does the same thing for you and me. He saves us out of the bondage of sin, delivers us, and sets us free. God says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh_8:36). The Lord is also saying that He wants us to give ourselves to Him. You say, “I’m free!” Are you really free? You have been bought with a pricethe precious blood of Jesus Christ. The blessing comes when you give yourself to Him voluntarily and put Him first.
Exodus 13:5
In other words, the Israelites were to observe the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 13:6
When the Israelites left Egypt, they took on their journey their kneading troughs and the dough that was in them. This was unleavened dough and God says, “I want you to get rid of leaven. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee nor in thy house.”
Exodus 13:8
This observance was to be passed from one generation to the other so that the people would always remember that God delivered them out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 13:9
The firstborn of all the stock that belonged to the children of Israel belonged to the Lord.
Exodus 13:13
Every firstling of an ass was to be redeemed with a lamb. God did not want one of these long-eared animals as an offering. The offering had to be a lamb. The firstborn of man among their children were to be redeemed, as we shall see later on, by silver. Silver was the redemption money.
Exodus 13:14
This observance was to remind the Israelites that God delivered them out of the land of Egypt. The firstborn of their sons had to be redeemed by silver. We are told in 1Pe_1:18-19 that, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Exodus 13:17
The Israelites had just come out of slavery, and they were not prepared for warfare. The shortest way for them to go to the land which God had given them was up the sea coast. During the 1967 Six-Day War in the land of Palestine, the Israelites moved right down the sea coast and moved the Egyptians right out. Of course, the Israelites had tanks and planes to do it. They were prepared. The Israelites coming out of Egyptian slavery had no weapons to fight with; so God graciously took them through the wilderness. It was a longer route to the land, but it would spare any warfare. They would not have to face an enemy until they entered the land. It took them forty years to get through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. By then they would have an army and be equipped, as we shall see. Someone might say, “But God could have delivered them by some miracle.” This is true, but this kind of an attitude makes me sick. Some Christians think that God should perform a miracle for them every minute. They feel that they have the right to command the Lord to intervene for them if they are sick or in trouble. It is not a question of His ability; He certainly can do it. Rather, it is a question of the way God wants to do it. He is following a plan. And when it is necessary, God will perform a miracle for usbut only to accomplish His will and way in our lives. God could have brought the Israelites through the land of the Philistines by a miracle. Had they been attacked, God could have delivered them. When it is necessary, God is prepared to perform miracles but only to accomplish His will.
Exodus 13:18
The word “harnessed” is an interesting word. It means that the children of Israel left Egypt in an orderly manner. They did not come out of the land like a mob but in an organized way. They did not have an army but they lined up five in a row. If you had seen them going through the wilderness, you would have observed a most orderly group.
Exodus 13:19
When the Israelites left Egypt, Moses took the bones of Joseph. There is an interesting passage in Gen_50:24 which says, “And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Gen_50:25 continues by saying, “And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” At least two hundred years had elapsed since Joseph had spoken these words, but now the time had come. When he died, he was a national hero and would have to be buried in Egypt. But eventually a Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Since Joseph was no longer a national hero, his bones could be removed from Egypt without protest. Joseph wanted to be buried in the Promised Land. But why remove his body and bury it in the land? If Joseph knew he would be raised from the dead someday and taken up to heaven, what difference would it make if his launching pad was in Egypt or in the land of Israel? Well, the fact of the matter is that he was not expecting to go to heaven. He expected to be raised in the resurrection of his people in that land for the Millenniumand then for eternity. This will be heaven for them. This was the hope of Joseph, and it is also the hope of Moses. By faith Moses takes the bones of Joseph to the Promised Land.
Exodus 13:20
JOURNEY TO ETHAM BY DIVINE GUIDANCEThe children of Israel are moving toward the hot, burning desert that even Moses called a great and terrible wilderness. They went through it and did not even get sunburned because they had a pillar of cloud over them by day. This nation had something that no other nation has ever had: the Glory, the visible presence of God. When Paul was defining his kinsman, he said, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory …” (Rom_9:4). These people had the glory, the visible presence of God. Not even the church has the visible presence of God with it. Nothing visible has been given to the church. Eph_1:3 tells us that God “…hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” They were looking forward to the coming of Christ, and we look back to an historical event. We do not need the visible presence of God in order to walk by faith. They needed the “glory” because the redemption had not yet been worked out in history as it has now. God made every preparation for every eventuality in order to bring His people safely through the wilderness.