Redeeming the First Born (Ex. 13:1-16)

4/30/2008 8:11 AM

SPIRITUAL DAIRY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Redeeming the firstborn

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 13:1-16

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2  "Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me."  3  Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.  4  "On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go forth.  5  "It shall be when the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this rite in this month.  6  "For 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 throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.  8  "You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’  9  "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.  10  "Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.

11 ¶  "Now when the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, 12  you shall devote to the LORD the first offspring of every womb, and the first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the LORD.  13  "But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.  14  "And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.  15  ‘It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’  16  "So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.’”

There are a lot of verses to go over in this SD but some of the verses pertain to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which I have written about in an earlier SD.  The SD of 04/21 & 22 is about this feast and the verses are Exodus 12:14-20. I want to focus in on the redeeming of the firstborn in this SD.

When the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt the last plague was the killing of the firstborn of all of the Egyptians, both people and animals.  With this plague Pharaoh let the children of Israel go.  Now God tells Moses that Israel is to redeem the firstborn males, both man and beast, to the Lord.  The animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord with the exception of the donkey, which was to be redeemed by a lamb or the breaking of the neck of the donkey for this was a beast of burden and therefore was more useful to the children of Israel.  There are more details of this in Lev. Chapter twelve, and also in Num. 18:14-19.  As far as the redeeming of the firstborn male children there was a sacrifice that was to be given to the Lord after a male was born first to a woman.  There were different sacrifices to be given depending on the wealth of the parents.  When Jesus’ family was giving the sacrifice for Him they gave a turtledove for they were very poor.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The significance of this ritual was to remind the children who were born after the Exodus that Israel was redeemed from slavery in Egypt by the strong hand of God so that they could go and conquer the Promised Land, and that the last plague given to the Egyptians was the killing of there firstborn both children and animals.

God’s only Son who was firstborn to Mary was given as a sacrifice for me on the cross of Calvary almost 2000 years ago so that I could be redeemed from the slave market of sin and have eternal life with Him and I am to tell this story to as many as the Lord brings to me.  Some will listen and be saved, and some will listen and think this is not true and therefore will not be saved.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  God has promised to never leave me nor forsake me, He has promised to open my eyes to see wonderful things out of His Law so that I can be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  He has not promised to make me rich in material things, but in spiritual things.  I must concur with the writer of the proverb which states that he does not want to be rich so that he does not depend upon the Lord or to poor so that he may be tempted to steal, and this to me is a great balance.  I pray that if it is in the sovereign will of God that He will cause Andrew Lech to return the money that took me 35 years to earn and set aside to help us in retirement will be returned to us.  I will not be rich with this nor will I be poor and by God’s grace I will still depend upon the Lord and not the money that He has provided for me.