First Born Sacrifice - Exodus 13:1-16

13:1-16 - Moses here begins to expand on what the Passover ordinance will look like in the future because in verse 5 it clearly states that this ordinance and all these requirements are not meant to be strictly instituted until “the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites… 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.” I’m pretty sure that while traveling in the wilderness the Israelites were supposed to keep the minimalist version of the Passover, but all these other things are to be added once they are settled in the promised land. I have to ask myself this question when reading this though, when getting all these extra instructions for when they are settled, do they think “perfect then I’ll be ready for this when we’re settled in Canaan next year?” I wonder this because I know that the people will wander in the wilderness for 40 years before getting there, but surely they don’t.

As a remembrance of God bringing the people of Israel our of bondage in Egypt, there will be no eating of leaven for 7 days during the Passover, ut also “there shall no leaven bread be seen with theel neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.” So they have to get rid of all the leaven in their homes, and in all the home in all the territories in which the Hebrews live, which begs the question, when the Passover is done for that year, how will they get their leaven back? Do they have to bury it? Do they have to leave the country to buy some more? An interesting logistic consideration.

There is also further emphasis on the first born males, both human and animal, and what is to happen to the baby “whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.” Basically, when there is the first born baby boy in a family, the father has to go an pay the priest a “ransom” in order to “redeem” the baby. This is basically what I’ve understood from TB explaining it. This ransom payment is required for all Israelites, there is no option. However, there is an option when it comes to the first born animal. Instead of it being required, there is the option to either sacrifice a ram in the place of the first born animal, or to actually sacrifice the first born animal itself.

How TB described it was in the instance of a donkey, you could either sacrifice the first born donkey itself or you could sacrifice a ram in it’s place. There’s the question of why would you sacrifice the donkey instead of the ram, and as God says specifically “thou shalt break his neck”? TB points out that if the donkey is born weak or sickly or the ram is more important to the family, then the donkey can be sacrificed instead, apparently by breaking it’s neck, which seems excessive, but I’m not the boss here.

Ultimately, the point is that God values every single human life and requires that each on be redeemed. Interestingly, TB points out that while each first born in Egypt was marked for death, each first born in Israel is marked for life and service to God. That doesn’t mean that Egyptian life isn’t just as important to God because God loves all His people, but the plan can seem complex and there is going to have to be a lot of work done on the back end to make all this craziness and injustice and inequality and suffering alright on the back end.