XIII. SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN, AND LAW OF REDEMPTION. (2) SANCTIFY UNTO ME ALL THE FIRSTBORN. — It was a reasonable demand that the existing firstborn of Israel, spared by God when the Egyptian firstborn were destroyed, should be regarded thenceforth as His, and set apart for His service. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THIS DAY. — Remembrance was secured in four ways: — (1) By the month being made to commence the ecclesiastical year; (2) by the institution of the Passover; (3) by the seven days of unleavened bread; and (4) by the redemption, and the inquiries it would necessitate (Exodus 13:14).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MONTH ABIB. — Abib means “green ears of corn,” or “greenness;” and the month of Abib was that in which the wheat came into ear, and the earth generally renewed its verdure. It was a “vague,” or shifting month, since it properly began with the day of the full moon that followed next after the ver... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CANAANITES, AND THE HITTITES... — The full number of the Canaanitish nations was seven, five of which are here enumerated. The other two were the Perizzites and the Girgashites, which seem to have been the least important. The most important were the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites; and these... [ Continue Reading ]
A FEAST TO THE LORD. — Comp. Exodus 12:16, where a “holy convocation” is ordered for the seventh day. The Jews regard this day — the twenty-first of Ahib — as the anniversary of the passage of the Red Sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
(_9_) IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN UNTO THEE UPON THINE HAND, AND FOR A MEMORIAL BETWEEN THINE EYES. — The practice of wearing _tephillin,_ or “phylacteries,” is referred by the Jews themselves to the time of the Exodus, and regarded by them as resting on the present passage, together with Deuteronomy 6:8... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES. — Either their superior importance or their genealogical position (Genesis 10:15) caused the term “Canaanites” to be used inclusively of all the Palestinian nations. The land is always “the land of Canaan” (Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:5; Genesis 13:12, &c).... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT SET APART — i.e., separate off from the rest of the flock or herd, that it might not be mixed up with those which were not “sanctified.”... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY FIRSTLING OF AN ASS. — It is observable that nothing is said of the Israelites possessing horses. Horses were well known in Egypt at the time, but were kept only by the kings and the great men. The Hebrews had not been in a position ever to have possessed any. Asses, on the contrary, were exce... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL _BE_ FOR A TOKEN. — See the comment on Exodus 13:9. The “frontlets” (_totaphôth_) of this passage, and of Deuteronomy 6:8, were called _tephillin_ in Chaldee, both words signifying properly “bands” or “circlets.” The injunctions on the subject which are here given might undoubtedly be expla... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DIRECTION OF THE MARCH. (17) GOD LED THEM NOT THROUGH THE WAY OF THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES. — In Exodus 13:17 the writer interposes some parenthetic remarks, which are not a continuation of the narrative interrupted (Exodus 12:42), but rather reflections that occur to him. The starting point o... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD LED THE PEOPLE ABOUT. — Or, _led the people a circuit_ — took them, not by the direct route, through Pelusium, past Lake Serbônis, to Rhinocolura and Gaza, but led them by the most circuitous route possible — the way of the Red Sea and the wilderness of Sinai to the Transjordanic region, the... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES TOOK THE BONES OF JOSEPH. — Joseph’s body had been embalmed according to the Egyptian fashion (Genesis 1:26). He had ordered it to be conveyed to Canaan when the Israelites went there (Genesis 1:25).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JOURNEY RESUMED. (20) THEY TOOK THEIR JOURNEY FROM SUCCOTH, AND ENCAMPED IN ETHAM. — The exact positions of both Succoth and Etham are uncertain, and can only be conjectured; but they probably lay to the southeast of Tanis, between that city and the Bitter Lakes. Succoth may have been at or nea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD WENT BEFORE THEM. — In Exodus 13:17, the writer has declared that “God led the people;” he now explains how. from Succoth certainly, probably from Rameses, He moved in front of the host in the form of a pillar, which had the appearance of smoke by day and of fire by night. The Israelites ma... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK NOT AWAY. — Comp. Exodus 40:38; Numbers 9:16; Numbers 10:34. The cloud probably disappeared at Abel-shittim (Numbers 33:49).... [ Continue Reading ]