_A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491._ In this chapter we have, (1,) The commands God gave to Israel, 1, To sanctify all their firstborn to him, Exodus 13:1; Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:2, To remember their deliverance out of Egypt, Exodus 13:3; Exodus 13:4, and in remembrance of it to keep the feast of unleavened bre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sanctify_ That is, command all the people to sanctify; _unto me _ To my use and service, in a manner I shall hereafter explain; _all the firstborn_ That are males, as the command is limited, Exodus 13:12; _whatsoever openeth the womb_ That is, every child which is the firstborn of his mother: so th... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the Lord shall bring you into the land, thou shalt keep this service_ Until then they were not obliged to keep the passover, without a particular command from God. _There shall no leavened bread be seen in all thy quarters_ Accordingly the Jews' usage was, before the feast of the passover, to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt show thy son_ When you shall be come into the land of Canaan, you shall instruct your children in the meaning of your killing the lamb, and abstaining from leaven, that so you and they may be excited to gratitude to God for his goodness. This was evidently the design of the institution.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon thy hand, between thine eyes_ Proverbial expressions, denoting that these things were never to be out of their minds. The Jews, however, understood this literally, and hence the use of phylacteries among them, pieces of parchment inscribed with sentences of their law, which they bound upon the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every firstling of a beast shall be the Lord's_ That is, every firstling male of a clean beast, as of the cow, sheep, or goat kind, was to be offered in sacrifice; and the blood being sprinkled, and the fat burned on the altar, the flesh of them was to be given to the priests, Numbers 18:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb_ Or _kid, Exodus 12:3_; and the same is to be understood of all unclean beasts in general, see Numbers 18:15. The ass seems to be particularly mentioned, because those animals were more numerous among them than other beasts of burden. If a man... [ Continue Reading ]
_For frontlets between thine eyes_ As conspicuous as any thing fixed to thy forehead, or between thine eyes. That is, they were constantly to retain such a sense of their deliverance as if they had it before their eyes.... [ Continue Reading ]
There were various reasons why God _led them through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea._ The Egyptians were to be drowned in the Red sea, the Israelites were to be humbled and proved in the wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2. God had given it to Moses for a sign, Exodus 3:12, _Ye shall serve God in... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord went before them in a pillar_ In the first two stages, it was enough that God directed Moses whither to march; he knew the country, and the road; but now they are come _to the edge of the wilderness_, they would have occasion for a guide, and a very good guide they had, infinitely wise... [ Continue Reading ]
_He took not away the pillar of the cloud_ No, not when they seemed to have less occasion for it: it never left them until it brought them to the borders of Canaan. It was a cloud which the wind could not scatter. There was something spiritual in this pillar of cloud and fire. 1st, The children of I... [ Continue Reading ]