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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 13:1 - 13:10
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Concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 2. Sanctify unto Me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast; it is Mine. This is not said of the general sanctification of the people as God's own nation, but of the consecrating, of the setting apart, of the first-born, both of men and of animals, for the specific service of Jehovah. They were the Lord's not only by virtue of creation, but because He spared them in the great slaughter in Egypt. The first-born sons were to serve the Lord as priests, until this right was vested in the descendants of Levi, when they were obliged to redeem themselves by payment of a sacrifice of exemption; the first-born beasts were to be sacrificed to the Lord.
v. 3. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The Lord here repeats His ordinance respecting the Feast of Unleavened Bread with impressive solemnity, His name for Egypt being "house of slaves"; for that was the relation in which they had stood to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians, that of practical slavery. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. The expression is more emphatic than the usual "by a strong hand. " There shall no leavened bread be eaten, not only during the present days, but also at every anniversary of the occasion.
v. 4. This day came ye out, in the month Abib, the fifteenth day of the first month of the church-year.
v. 5. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 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. Thus the Lord formally instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the usual detailed description of the Land of Promise and the corresponding reference to the fruitfulness of this country.
v. 6. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Cf Exodus 12, 16. on the seventh day there was to be a special assembly for the purpose of worship.
v. 7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. All foods in whose preparation leaven was used were prohibited so strictly that their very presence in the house was not tolerated.
v. 8. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. The use of the singular here places the duty upon every individual father and parent, for the children were not only to take part in the public services, but also to be instructed at home concerning the great miracles of the Lord.
v. 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. These are proverbial expressions denoting that the Israelites should keep the facts of their deliverance in their memories always, as the people of many nations wore bracelets and frontlets to remind them of certain religious duties. The redemption of the Lord and His ordinance concerning it was to be accepted with believing hearts and to be fulfilled with faithful hearts, with hearts conscious of the debt of gratitude which all Israelites owed to the Lord.
v. 10. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year, as often as these days recurred. Thus we Christians are ever mindful of the fact that we have been delivered from sin's and Satan's house of slavery through the redemption of Jesus, and that our debt of gratitude toward Him demands our purging out the old leaven of sinfulness and consecrating our lives to Him.