Exodus 13:11

Like the Passover celebration, the dedication of the firstborn helped the people remember what God did during the Passover. God spared the firstborn sons of Israel. Because of this, those firstborn sons belonged to him and had to be redeemed (bought back with a price).

Each year, the people sacrificed and ate a lamb. This act pointed forward to what God would do by giving his Son, Jesus Christ, as a substitute. All people deserve death because of sin. But God redeems them through a price, the life of his Son.

it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, &c.--There is no reason to believe that the Oriental tattooing--the custom of staining the hands with the powder of Hennah, as Eastern females now do--is here referred to. Nor is it probable that either this practice or the phylacteries of the Pharisees--parchment scrolls, which were worn on their wrists and foreheads--had so early an existence. The words are to be considered only as a figurative mode of expression.

that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth, &c.--that is, that it may be the subject of frequent conversation and familiar knowledge among the people.

Here we have,
I. Further directions concerning the dedicating of their firstborn to God. 1. The firstlings of their cattle were to be dedicated to God, as part of their possessions. Those of clean beasts - calves, lambs, and kids - if males, were to be sacrificed, Exo 22:30; Num 18:17, Num 18:18. Those of unclean beasts, as colts, were to be redeemed with a lamb, or knocked on the head. For whatsoever is unclean (as we all are by nature), if it be not redeemed, will be destroyed, Exo 13:11, Exo 13:13. 2. The firstborn of their children were to be redeemed, and by no means sacrificed, as the Gentiles sacrificed their children to Moloch. The price of the redemption of the firstborn was fixed by the law (Num 18:16) at five sheckles. We were all obnoxious to the wrath and curse of God; by the blood of Christ we are redeemed, that we may be joined to the church of the firstborn. They were to redeem their children, as well as the firstlings of the unclean beasts, for our children are by nature polluted. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
II. Further directions concerning the catechising of their children, and all those of the rising generation, from time to time, in this matter. It is supposed that, when they saw all the firstlings thus devoted, they would ask the meaning of it, and their parents and teachers must tell them (Exo 13:14-16) that God's special propriety in their firstborn, and all their firstlings, was founded in his special preservation of them from the sword of the destroying angel. Being thus delivered, they must serve him. Note, 1. Children should be directed and encouraged to ask their parents questions concerning the things of God, a practice which would be perhaps of all others the most profitable way of catechising; and parents must furnish themselves with useful knowledge, that they may be ready always to give an answer to their enquiries. If ever the knowledge of God cover the earth, as the waters do the sea, the fountains of family-instruction must first be broken up. 2. We should all be able to show cause for what we do in religion. As sacraments are sanctified by the word, so they must be explained and understood by it. God's service is reasonable, and it is then acceptable when we perform it intelligently, knowing what we do and why we do it. 3. It must be observed how often it is said in this chapter that by strength of hand (Exo 13:3, Exo 13:14, Exo 13:16), with a strong hand (Exo 13:9), the Lord brought them out of Egypt. The more opposition is given to the accomplishment of God's purposes the more is his power magnified therein. It is a strong hand that conquers hard hearts. Sometimes God is said to work deliverance not by might nor power (Zac 4:6), not by such visible displays of his power as that recorded here. 4. Their posterity that should be born in Canaan are directed to say, The Lord brought us out of Egypt, Exo 13:14, Exo 13:16. Mercies to our fathers are mercies to us; we reap the benefit of them, and therefore must keep up a grateful remembrance of them. We stand upon the bottom of former deliverances, and were in the loins of our ancestors when they were delivered. Much more reason have we to say that in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we were redeemed.

Exodus 13:3-10

3. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

3. Tune dixit Moses ad populum, Memento diei hujus quo egressi estis ex Aegypto, e domo servorum: quia in fortitudine manus eduxit vos hinc Jehova: neque comedatur fermentatum.

4. This day came ye out, in the month Abib.

4. Hodie vos egredimini mense Abib.

5. And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 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.

5. Quum to introduxerit Jehova in terram Chananaei, Hittaei, Amorrhaei, et Hivaei, et Jebusaei, de qua juravit patribus tuis se daturum tibi, terram fluentem lacte et melle, tum coles cultum istum in meuse isto.

6. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.

6. Septem diebus comedes infermentata, die autem septimo solemnitas erit Jehovae.

7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days: and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee; neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

7. Infermentata comedentur septem diebus: nec conspicietur apud to fermentatum, neque apparebit apud to fermentum in universo termino tuo.

8. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

8. Annuntiabisque filio tuo eo die, dicendo, Propter hoc quod fecit (vel, propterea quod hoe fecit) Jehova mihi quum exirem ex Aegypto.

9. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.

9. Et erit tibi in signum super manum tuam, et in memoriale inter oculos tuos, ut sit lex Jehovae in ore tuo, quia in manu forti eduxit to Jehova ex Egypto.

10. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

10. Observabisque statutum hoc in tempore suo quotannis.

3. And Moses said unto the people. He repeats what he had said more at length in the foregoing chapter, respecting the unleavened bread, not so much to instruct as to exhort them; for he had already expressed the matter with so much clearness, that there was no need of further explanation; but it was useful to stimulate them, that they might devote themselves with greater zeal to their duty, and especially lest, after a longer lapse of time, their ardor should, as usual, gradually abate. He therefore exhorts them, that after they cane into the land, they should diligently observe what he had before commanded. And from the context here, it is plain that the two commands as to the sanctifying the first-born, and celebrating the passover, had the same object, viz., that their deliverance should retain the elect people in the special service of the true God.

4. This day came ye out. He compares the day of their coming out with the whole time of their sojourning in the land of Canaan; as if he had said that they were redeemed not to enjoy a mere transient joy, but that they might be mindful of their blessing throughout all ages. He proceeds to eulogize the extent and the fertility of the land again, principally for two reasons. The first is, lest after such glorious victories pride should possess their minds, and in the abundance of their good things their eyes should be closed by fatness;the second, that by the very multitude of their possessions they might be the more incited to the duty of gratitude, and to the service of God. For it might be that the conquerors of so many nations, and the lords of so rich and extensive a territory would wax wanton, so as to be less devoted to God's service, unless they had been reminded that they owed it to God alone that they had conquered so many peoples, and had obtained dominion over them. But Moses shews them that, in proportion to God's goodness to them, so would they be the more inexcusable, if they did not earnestly labor to testify heir gratitude. With this object he repeats the names of the nations, by the destruction of which they were to become inheritors of the land; and then adds, "a land flowing with milk and honey," in order to arouse them still more and more to piety by the great profusion of the blessings which would be ever before their eyes. Those are entirely mistaken who suppose that the month Abib [322] is the same as Ab, which corresponds with our July. For it is evident that the Israelites came out of Egypt in the month Nisan, about the vernal equinox; of which circumstance, the keeping of Easter, handed down by tradition from our forefathers, is an unquestionable proof. Now, since the Hebrews borrowed from the Chaldeans all the names of their months, which were in use two thousand years after, it would be absurd in this place to regard Abib as a proper name, especially when, in Scripture, we nowhere find the months designated by proper names. Since, then, reason demonstrates that this word is applied appellatively, we must inquire why it is applied to March or the beginning of April. Those who translate A bib "ripening fruits," have no ground for it, since the word simply means "anything which grows;" hence it is applied to the stalks of corn; and because in those warm climates the corn rises to its height about the vernal equinox, from this fact, Nisan is called the month of stalks. It is also a probable conjecture, (as we have already said,) that the beginning of the year was changed, in order that the nativity of the Church might receive more distinction; as if the world were then renewed. The opinion of some that Noah came out of the ark in the same month, so that the temperature of spring might receive him in his new birth, as well as the other animals, I leave undecided as I have done on Genesis 8. But if this opinion be accepted, there will be an anticipation (prolepsis) in the name of the months; and in this there will be an absurdity, because it was useful for the people to be accustomed to the rites of the Law. But I do not enter into controversy about uncertainties.

8. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day. He repeats what we have already remarked, viz., an injunction to parents to teach their children, that they may thus transmit the service of God to their descendants. In the preceding chapter it was said, "when your children shall say unto you," etc.; and now he more briefly commands that God's goodness should be proclaimed, although none should make inquiry respecting it; because parents ought to be voluntarily disposed to educate their children in the fear of God. He also repeats, as we have seen above, that the memory of their deliverance should be annually renewed lest it should ever fade away, since religion is easily neglected unless men are diligently exercised in its study, tie uses a comparison when he says, "it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes;" as though it had been said that their redemption should be set before their eyes in the passover, just as the ring which is on the finger, or the ornament which is bound upon the forehead are constantly seen. For which purpose also he had before desired that the precepts of the Law should be inscribed both on the head, and on the hands, and fringes of their garments. The sum is, that in the passover a monument of God's grace should exist, so that it might never sink into oblivion; just as ornaments which appear on the forehead and on the fingers awaken the attention by their being constantly beheld. But, if any should rather be of opinion that Moses alludes to those who, conscious of their own faithlessness, contrive means to assist their memory, [323] I offer them no opposition; as if he had said that, since they were disposed to forgetfulness, they should use this remedy, to awaken themselves to gratitude. He will soon afterwards repeat the same injunction, in connection with the offering of the first-born. The following words, "that the Lord's Law may be in thy mouth," confirm the opinion that the passover has reference to the First Commandment. They intimate that it is not enough to perform the external rite, unless it be associated with its proper object, viz., that they should devote themselves to God and to His doctrine. He mentions the mouth, not because the main thing is, to speak or discourse of the Law, for if piety lay in the tongue, hypocrites would be the best worshippers of God; but he expressly requires that, when each one shall have privately applied himself to the study of the Law, they shall also mutually teach and exhort each other.

Footnotes:

[322] 'vyv C. has copied the Hebrew in his text, writing it Abib, as a proper name; but in the V. it is translated "mensis novarum frugum," and in S.M., "mensis maturescentis frugis." The name for July is 'v, which exists in Chaldee as a general name for the fleshy fruit of trees. David Levi says, in his Lingua Sacra, that one of their Rabbis had observed that Ab or Av is not to be found in Scripture, and that all the names of the Jewish months, as Sivan, Nisan, etc., are not Hebrew but Chaldee; for which reason we do not meet with them but in the books of Zechariah, Daniel, Ezra, and Esther, which were written during the captivity; and in these four books mention is made of seven of the months, but in the Jerusalem Targum of Esther they all follow regularly. This is also the opinion of Aben-Ezra; but adds, "we find three of the months named in Hebrew, viz., Zif, in 1 Kings 6:1; Bul, in same chapter, verse 38, and Ethanira in 8:2; which plainly shews that they had names for all the months in Hebrew; but during the captivity they adopted those of their masters." -- W.

[323] "Et pourtant font des neuds a leurs ceintures, ou quelque marque a leur bonnet;" and therefore make knots in their girdles, or some mark in their cap. -- Fr.

And it shall be for a sign - upon thine hand - This direction, repeated and enlarged Exo 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 these commands may appear in their practice. They wrote the following four portions of the law upon slips of parchment or vellum: Sanctify unto me the first-born, Exodus 13, from Exo 13:2-10 inclusive. And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land, Exodus 13, from Exo 13:11-16 inclusive. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Deuteronomy 6, from Deu 6:4-9 inclusive. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently, Deuteronomy 11, from Deu 11:13-21 inclusive. These four portions, making in all 30 verses, written as mentioned above, and covered with leather, they tied to the forehead and to the hand or arm.
Those which were for the Head (the frontlets) they wrote on four slips of parchment, and rolled up each by itself, and placed them in four compartments, joined together in one piece of skin or leather. Those which were designed for the hand were formed of one piece of parchment, the four portions being written upon it in four columns, and rolled up from one end to the other. These were all correct transcripts from the Mosaic text, without one redundant or deficient letter, otherwise they were not lawful to be worn. Those for the head were tied on so as to rest on the forehead. Those for the hand or arm were usually tied on the left arm, a little above the elbow, on the inside, that they might be near the heart, according to the command, Deu 6:6 : And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. These phylacteries formed no inconsiderable part of a Jew's religion; they wore them as a sign of their obligation to God, and as representing some future blessedness. Hence they did not wear them on feast days nor on the Sabbath, because these things were in themselves signs; but they wore them always when they read the law, or when they prayed, and hence they called them תפלין tephillin, prayer, ornaments, oratories, or incitements to prayer. In process of time the spirit of this law was lost in the letter, and when the word was not in their mouth, nor the law in their heart, they had their phylacteries on their heads and on their hands. And the Pharisees, who in our Lord's time affected extraordinary piety, made their phylacteries very broad, that they might have many sentences written upon them, or the ordinary portions in very large and observable letters.
It appears that the Jews wore these for three different purposes: -
1. As signs or remembrancers. This was the original design, as the institution itself sufficiently proves.
2. To procure reverence and respect in the sight of the heathen. This reason is given in the Gemara, Berachoth, chapter i: "Whence is it proved that the phylacteries or tephillin are the strength of Israel? Ans. From what is written, Deu 28:10 : All the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord (יהוה Yehovah) and they shall be afraid of thee."
3. They used them as amulets or charms, to drive away evil spirits. This appears from the Targum on Sol 8:3 : His left hand is under my head, etc. "The congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all people, because I bind my phylacteries on my left hand and on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my gate, the third part of which looks to my bed-chamber, that demons may not be permitted to injure me.
One of the original phylacteries or תפלין tephillin now lies before me; it is a piece of fine vellum, about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter broad. It is divided into four unequal compartments; the letters are very well formed, but written with many apices, after the manner of the German Jews. In the first compartment is written the portion taken from Exo 13:2-10; in the second, Exo 13:11-16; in the third, Deu 6:4-9; in the fourth, Deu 11:13-21, as before related. This had originally served for the hand or arm.
These passages seem to be chosen in vindication of the use of the phylactery itself, as the reader may see on consulting them at large. Bind them for a Sign upon thy Hand; and for Frontlets between thy Eyes; write them upon the Posts of thy House and upon thy Gates; all which commands the Jews take in the most literal sense. To acquire the reputation of extraordinary sanctity they wore the fringes of their garments of an uncommon length. Moses had commanded them, Num 15:38, Num 15:39, to put fringes to the borders of their garments, that when they looked upon even these distinct threads they might remember, not only the law in general but also the very minutiae or smaller parts of all the precepts, rites, and ceremonies belonging to it. As those hypocrites (for such our Lord proves them to be) were destitute of all the life and power of religion within, they endeavored to supply its place with phylacteries and fringes without. The same principles distinguish hypocrites every where, and multitudes of them may be found among those termed Christians as well as among the Jews. It is probably to this institution relative to the phylactery that the words, Rev 14:1, allude: And I looked, and, lo, a hundred and forty-four thousand having his Father's name written on their foreheads. "That is," says Mr. Ainsworth, "as a sign of the profession of God's law; for That which in the Gospel is called his Name, (Mat 12:21), in the prophets is called his Law, (Isa 42:4)." So again antichrist exacts the obedience to his precepts by a mark on men's right hands or on their foreheads, Rev 13:16.

And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites,.... Put for all the rest of the nations:

as he sware unto thee, and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee; to them as they were in their loins, and from thence might certainly conclude it would be given them.

The land of the Canaanites, under which general name all the other nations are contained, as being all the children of Canaan.

Sanctification of the first-born, and Promulgation of the Law for the Feast of Mazzoth. - Exo 13:1, Exo 13:2. The sanctification of the first-born was closely connected with the Passover. By this the deliverance of the Israelitish first-born was effected, and the object of this deliverance was their sanctification. Because Jehovah had delivered the first-born of Israel, they were to be sanctified to Him. If the Israelites completed their communion with Jehovah in the Passover, and celebrated the commencement of their divine standing in the feast of unleavened bread, they gave uninterrupted effect to their divine sonship in the sanctification of the first-born. For this reason, probably, the sanctification of the first-born was commanded by Jehovah at Succoth, immediately after the exodus, and contemporaneously with the institution of the seven days' feast of Mazzoth (cf. Exo 2:15), so that the place assigned it in the historical record is the correct one; whereas the divine appointment of the feast of Mazzoth had been mentioned before (Exo 12:15.), and the communication of that appointment to the people was all that remained to be mentioned here.
Exo 13:2
Every first-born of man and beast was to be sanctified to Jehovah, i.e., given up to Him for His service. As the expression, "all the first-born," applied to both man and beast, the explanation is added, "everything that opens the womb among the Israelites, of man and beast." כּל־רחם פּטר for רחם כּל־פּטת (Exo 13:12): כּל is placed like an adjective after the noun, as in Num 8:16, כּל בּכור for בּכור־כּל, διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν for πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν (Exo 13:12, lxx). הוּא לי: "it is Mine," it belongs to Me. This right to the first-born was not founded upon the fact, that "Jehovah was the Lord and Creator of all things, and as every created object owed its life to Him, to Him should its life be entirely devoted," as Kurtz maintains, though without scriptural proof; but in Num 3:13 and Num 8:17 the ground of the claim is expressly mentioned, viz., that on the day when Jehovah smote all the first-born of Egypt, He sanctified to Himself all the first-born of the Israelites, both of man and beast. Hence the sanctification of the first-born rested not upon the deliverance of the first-born sons from the stroke of the destroyer through the atoning blood of the paschal lamb, but upon the fact that God sanctified them for Himself at that time, and therefore delivered them. But Jehovah sanctified the first-born of Israel to Himself by adopting Israel as His first-born son (Exo 4:22), or as His possession. Because Israel had been chosen as the nation of Jehovah, its first-born of man and beast were spared, and for that reason they were henceforth to be sanctified to Jehovah. In what way, is more clearly defined in Num 8:12.
Exo 13:3-7
The directions as to the seven days' feast of unleavened bread (Exo 12:15-20) were made known by Moses to the people on the day of the exodus, at the first station, namely, Succoth; but in the account of this, only the most important points are repeated, and the yearly commemoration is enjoined. In Exo 13:3, Egypt is called a "slave-house," inasmuch as Israel was employed in slave-labour there, and treated as a slave population (cf. Exo 20:2; Deu 5:6; Deu 6:12, etc.). יד הזק "strength of hand," in Exo 13:3, Exo 13:14, and Exo 13:16, is more emphatic than the more usual חזקה יד (Exo 3:19, etc.). - On Exo 13:5, see Exo 3:8, and Exo 12:25. In Exo 13:6, the term "feast to Jehovah" points to the keeping of the seventh day by a holy convocation and the suspension of work (Exo 12:16). It is only of the seventh day that this is expressly stated, because it was understood as a matter of course, that the first was a feast of Jehovah.
Exo 13:8
"because of that which Jehovah did to me" (זה in a relative sense, is qui, for אשׁר, see Ewald, 331): sc., "I eat unleavened bread," or, "I observe this service." This completion of the imperfect sentence follows readily from the context, and the whole verse may be explained from Exo 12:26-27.
Exo 13:9
The festival prescribed was to be to Israel "for a sign upon its hand, and for a memorial between the eyes." These words presuppose the custom of wearing mnemonic signs upon the hand and forehead; but they are not to be traced to the heathen custom of branding soldiers and slaves with marks upon the hand and forehead. For the parallel passages in Deu 6:8 and Deu 11:18, "bind them for a sign upon your hand," are proofs that the allusion is neither to branding nor writing on the hand. Hence the sign upon the hand probably consisted of a bracelet round the wrist, and the ziccaron between the eyes, of a band worn upon the forehead. The words are then used figuratively, as a proverbial expression employed to give emphasis to the injunction to bear this precept continually in mind, to be always mindful to observe it. This is still more apparent from the reason assigned, "that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth." For it was not by mnemonic slips upon the hand and forehead that a law was so placed in the mouth as to be talked of continually (Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19), but by the reception of it into the heart and its continual fulfilment. (See also Exo 13:16.) As the origin and meaning of the festival were to be talked of in connection with the eating of unleavened bread, so conversation about the law of Jehovah was introduced at the same time, and the obligation to keep it renewed and brought vividly to mind.
Exo 13:10
This ordinance the Israelites were to keep למועדהּ, "at its appointed time" (i.e., from the 15th to the 21st Abib), - "from days to days," i.e., as often as the days returned, therefore from year to year (cf. Jdg 11:40; Jdg 21:19; Sa1 1:3; Sa1 2:19).
Exo 13:11-14
In Exo 13:11-16, Moses communicated to the people the law briefly noticed in Exo 13:2, respecting the sanctification of the first-born. This law was to come into force when Israel had taken possession of the promised land. Then everything which opened the womb was to be given up to the Lord. ליהוה העביר: to cause to pass over to Jehovah, to consecrate or give up to Him as a sacrifice (cf. Lev 18:21). In "all that openeth the womb" the first-born of both man and beast are included (Exo 13:2). This general expression is then particularized in three clauses, commencing with וכל: (a) בּהמה cattle, i.e., oxen, sheep, and goats, as clean domestic animals, but only the males; (b) asses, as the most common of the unclean domestic animals, instead of the whole of these animals, Num 18:15; (c) the first-born of the children of Israel. The female first-born of man and beast were exempted from consecration. Of the clean animals the first-born male (פּטר abbreviated from רחם פּטר, and שׁגר from the Chaldee שׁגר to throw, the dropped young one) was to belong to Jehovah, i.e., to be sacrificed to Him (Exo 13:15, and Num 18:17). This law is still further explained in Exo 22:29, where it is stated that the sacrificing was not to take place till the eighth day after the birth; and in Deu 15:21-22, it is still further modified by the command, that an animal which had any fault, and was either blind or lame, was not to be sacrificed, but to be slain and eaten at home, like other edible animals. These two rules sprang out of the general instructions concerning the sacrificial animals. The first-born of the ass was to be redeemed with a male lamb or kid (שׂה, as at Exo 12:3); and if not redeemed, it was to be killed. ערף: from ערף the nape, to break the neck (Deu 21:4, Deu 21:6). The first-born sons of Israel were also to be consecrated to Jehovah as a sacrifice; not indeed in the manner of the heathen, by slaying and burning upon the altar, but by presenting them to the Lord as living sacrifices, devoting all their powers of body and mind to His service. Inasmuch as the first birth represented all the births, the whole nation was to consecrate itself to Jehovah, and present itself as a priestly nation in the consecration of the first-born. But since this consecration had its foundation, not in nature, but in the grace of its call, the sanctification of the first birth cannot be deduced from the separation of the first-born to the priesthood. This view, which was very prevalent among early writers, has been thoroughly overthrown by Outram (de Sacrif. 1, c. 4) and Vitringa (observv. ii. c. 2, pp. 272ff.). As the priestly character of the nation did not give a title in itself to the administration of the priesthood within the theocracy, so the first-born were not eo ipso chosen as priests through their consecration to Jehovah. In what way they were to consecrate their life to the Lord, depended upon the appointment of the Lord, which was, that they were to perform the non-priestly work of the sanctuary, to be servants of the priests in their holy service. Even this work was afterwards transferred to the Levites (Num 3). At the same time the obligation was imposed upon the people to redeem their first-born sons from the service which was binding upon them, but was now transferred to the Levites, who were substituted for them; in other words, to pay five shekels of silver per head to the priesthood (Num 3:47; Num 18:16). In anticipation of this arrangement, which was to be introduced afterwards, the redemption (פּדה) of the male first-born is already established here. - On Exo 13:14, see Exo 12:26. מחר: to-morrow, for the future generally, as in Gen 30:33. מה־זאת: what does this mean? quid sibi vult hoc praeceptum ac primogenitura (Jonathan).
Exo 13:15-16
לשׁלּחנוּ הקשׁה: "he made hard" (sc., his heart, cf. Exo 7:3) "to let us go." The sanctification of the first-born is enforced in Exo 13:16 in the same terms as the keeping of the feast of Mazzoth in Exo 13:9, with this exception, that instead of לזכרון we have לטוטפת, as in Deu 6:8, and Deu 11:18. The word טוטפת signifies neither amulet nor στίγματα, but "binding" or headbands, as is evident from the Chaldee טוטפא armlet (Sa2 1:10), טוטפתּא tiara (Est 8:15; Eze 24:17, Eze 24:23). This command was interpreted literally by the Talmudists, and the use of tephillim, phylacteries (Mat 23:5), founded upon it;
(Note: Possibly these scrolls were originally nothing more than a literal compliance with the figurative expression, or a change of the figure into a symbol, so that the custom did not arise from a pure misunderstanding; though at a later period the symbolical character gave place more and more to the casual misinterpretation. On the phylacteries generally, see my Archologie and Herzog's Cycl.)
the Caraites, on the contrary, interpreted it figuratively, as a proverbial expression for constant reflection upon, and fulfilment of, the divine commands. The correctness of the latter is obvious from the words themselves, which do not say that the commands are to be written upon scrolls, but only that they are to be to the Israelites for signs upon the hand, and for bands between the eyes, i.e., they are to be kept in view like memorials upon the forehead and the hand. The expression in Deu 6:8, "Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes," does not point at all to the symbolizing of the divine commands by an outward sign to be worn upon the hand, or to bands with passages of the law inscribed upon them, to be worn on the forehead between the eyes; nor does the "advance in Deu 6:8 from heart to word, and from word to hand or act," necessarily lead to the peculiar notion of Schultz, that "the sleeve and turban were to be used as reminders of the divine commands, the former by being fastened to the hand in a peculiar way, the latter by an end being brought down upon the forehead." The line of thought referred to merely expresses the idea, that the Israelites were not only to retain the commands of God in their hearts, and to confess them with the mouth, but to fulfil them with the hand, or in act and deed, and thus to show themselves in their whole bearing as the guardians and observers of the law. As the hand is the medium of action, and carrying in the hand represents handling, so the space between the eyes, or the forehead, is that part of the body which is generally visible, and what is worn there is worn to be seen. This figurative interpretation is confirmed and placed beyond doubt by such parallel passages as Pro 3:3, "Bind them (the commandments) about thy neck; write them upon the tables of thine heart" (cf. Pro 3:21, Pro 3:22, Exo 4:21; Exo 6:21-22; Exo 7:3).