The Book of Exodus

Explanation

The first word after the deliverance is a claim of ownership. Because God spared the firstborn of Israel when He slew the firstborn of Egypt, those spared lives now belong to Him: "Sanctify unto me all the firstborn ... it is mine." Then Moses tells the people to "remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage," and to keep the feast of unleavened bread each year in the month Abib. It is to 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." Redemption was not to be a single night's memory but a mark on the whole life, on the hand that works, the eyes that look, and the mouth that speaks. And the story was to be told to the children: "This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt."

Gospel Focus

"It is mine." The lives God spares, He owns. Israel's firstborn belonged to God by right of redemption, and so do we. Paul presses exactly this: "ye are not your own ... ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The blood that shelters us also claims us; we are not saved to live for ourselves but sanctified, set apart, to the God who redeemed us. Believers are called the "church of the firstborn" (Hebrews 12:23), spared by the Lamb and now wholly His. And see how thoroughly redemption was to shape life, a sign on the hand, a memorial between the eyes, the law in the mouth. God's deliverance was meant to govern what His people did, what they looked at, and what they said, the whole of the life brought under the memory of grace. Redemption that touches only a corner of the heart is not the redemption of Exodus. God spared us to own us, and to fill hand, eye, and mouth with Himself.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God explains how the firstborn are set apart. Clean firstling beasts were sacrificed to the LORD. But an ass was an unclean animal that could not be offered, so its firstling had to be "redeemed with a lamb," a clean substitute dying in its place; and if the owner would not redeem it, its neck was to be broken, for it could not simply be kept as though it owed nothing. Most striking of all, "all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem." Even Israel's own sons, though spared at the Passover, had to be bought back, because they too belonged to God and could not be offered on an altar. When the children ask, "What is this?", the parents are to tell them the whole story: the LORD slew Egypt's firstborn but spared ours, "therefore I sacrifice to the LORD ... but all the firstborn of my children I redeem."

Gospel Focus

This law of the firstborn preaches redemption by substitution. The unclean ass could not be given to God as it was; it was under sentence, and only the death of a lamb in its place could redeem it. That is the picture of every one of us. We are the unclean, unable to offer ourselves to God as we are, under the sentence of death, and there is no keeping us as though nothing were owed. Either a substitute dies, or the sentence falls. And God provided the Lamb. We were "redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19), a clean substitute dying in the place of the unclean. This is the heart of the gospel: not that God overlooked our debt, but that it was paid by the death of another. The firstborn son, spared by blood, still had to be redeemed, and so we, spared from wrath, are bought back at the price of the Lamb. We owe our very lives to a substitute, and that debt of love is meant to hold us to Him forever.

Explanation

God's leading is wise and tender. The shortest road to Canaan ran through Philistine country, but it was lined with war, and God knew a people fresh out of slavery would lose heart at the sight of battle and want to go back to Egypt. So "God led them not" that way, but "led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea." The long road was the merciful road. They "went up harnessed," marching out in orderly array, not as a fleeing rabble but as the marshaled hosts of the LORD. And Moses "took the bones of Joseph with him," for Joseph had made Israel swear centuries before, "God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you." The promise Joseph believed by faith was now coming true, and his bones went home toward the land of promise.

Gospel Focus

"God led them not ... although that was near." The nearest way is not always God's way. He led Israel the long road because He knew their weakness and would not put them to a trial they were not ready to bear. There is deep comfort here: God's guidance takes account of what we can handle. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able" (1 Corinthians 10:13). When our path seems long, roundabout, or harder than it needs to be, we may trust that our Shepherd is sparing us something we could not yet face, or preparing us for what lies ahead. The wilderness road was not a detour from God's plan; it was God's plan. And notice the bones of Joseph, carried out at last. Joseph had died in Egypt trusting a promise he would not see fulfilled in his lifetime, and "gave commandment concerning his bones" (Hebrews 11:22). Now, four centuries later, God kept the word. What God promises, He performs, even if it waits for generations. The faith that trusts God's slow-kept promises is never disappointed.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

God did not send Israel into the wilderness to find their own way; He went before them Himself. By day a pillar of cloud led them and shaded them from the desert sun; by night a pillar of fire lit their path and warmed the camp. The same presence gave shade in the heat and light in the dark, guiding them "by day and night." And the promise is emphatic: "He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." The guidance never failed and never departed. Whatever else changed in the long journey ahead, the presence of God before them was constant. This pillar was the visible sign that the LORD Himself was leading His redeemed people home.

Gospel Focus

The pillar of cloud and fire is a picture of the abiding presence of God with His people. He does not redeem us and then leave us to find our own way; He goes before us. "The LORD shall guide thee continually" (Isaiah 58:11), by day and by night, in the bright times and the dark. The same presence that shaded them in the heat gave them light in the blackness, for God is sufficient for every condition of the journey. And the sweetest word is that "he took not away" the pillar. God's presence with His people is not occasional but constant; He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). Under the new covenant that guiding presence dwells within us by His Spirit, leading us into all truth and lighting the path home. The believer need never wander in the dark or press through the heat alone. The God who brought us out of Egypt goes before us still, cloud and fire, and He will not take His presence away until we are home.