CHAPTER XIII _God establishes the law concerning the_ first-born, _and_ _commands that all such, both of man and beast, should be_ _sanctified unto him_, 1, 2. _Orders them to remember the day in which they were brought_ _out of Egypt, when they should be brought to the land of_ _Canaan; and t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:2. _SANCTIFY UNTO ME ALL THE FIRST-BORN_] To sanctify, קדש _kadash_, signifies to _consecrate, separate_, and _set apart_ a thing or person from all secular purposes to some religious use; and exactly answers to the import of the Greek αγιαζω, from _a,_ _privative_, and γη, _the eart... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:5. _WHEN THE LORD SHALL BRING THEE INTO THE LAND_] Hence it is pretty evident that the Israelites were not obliged to celebrate the Passover, or keep the feast of unleavened bread, till they were brought into the promised land.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:6. _UNLEAVENED BREAD_] Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:15; and _"_Exodus 12:16_"_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:9. _AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN - UPON THINE HAND_] This direction, repeated and enlarged Exodus 13:16, gave rise to _phylacteries_ or _tephillin_, and this is one of the passages which the Jews write upon them to the present day. The manner in which the Jews understood and kept thes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:13. _EVERY FIRSTLING OF AN ASS THOU SHALT REDEEM WITH A_ _LAMB_] Or a _kid_, as in the margin. In Numbers 18:15, it is said: "The first-born of man shalt thou surely redeem; and the firstling of an unclean beast shalt thou redeem." Hence we may infer that _ass_ is put here for any _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:16. _IT SHALL BE FOR A TOKEN, C._] Exodus 13:9, Exodus 13:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:17. _GOD LED THEM NOT_ THROUGH _THE WAY OF THE LAND OF THE_ _PHILISTINES, C._] Had the Israelites been obliged to commence their journey to the promised land by a _military campaign_, there is little room to doubt that they would have been discouraged, have rebelled against Moses an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:18. _BUT GOD LED THE PEOPLE ABOUT_] Dr. Shaw has shown that there were two roads from Egypt to Canaan, one through the valleys of Jendilly, Rumeleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower _Thebais_; the other lies higher, having the northern range of the mou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:19. _MOSES TOOK THE BONES OF JOSEPH_] Genesis 50:25, Genesis 50:25. It is supposed that the Israelites carried with them the bones or remains of _all the twelve sons of Jacob_, each tribe taking care of the bones of its own patriarch, while Moses took care of the bones of Joseph. St... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:20. _ENCAMPED IN ETHAM._] As for the reasons assigned on Exodus 13:17, God would not lead the Israelites by the way of the Philistines' country, he directed them towards the wilderness of _Shur_, Exodus 15:22, upon the edge or extremity of which, next to Egypt, at the bottom of the A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:21. _THE LORD WENT BEFORE THEM_] That by _the_ LORD here is meant the Lord Jesus, we have the authority of St. Paul to believe, 1 Corinthians 10:9: it was he whose Spirit they tempted in the wilderness, for it was he who led them through the desert to the promised rest. _PILLAR OF... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 13:22. _HE TOOK NOT AWAY THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD_] Neither Jews nor Gentiles are agreed how long the cloud continued with the Israelites. It is very probable that it first visited them at _Succoth_, if it did not accompany them from Rameses; and that it continued with them till they ca... [ Continue Reading ]