Exodus 13:11-16

¹¹ “When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he solemnly promised to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ¹² you are to set apart for the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD’s. ¹³ Every firstborn of a donkey you will redeem with a lamb, or if you choose not to redeem it you will break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you will redeem. ¹⁴ And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you should say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵ Because when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to send us away, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. For this reason I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It will be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, because by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

the LORD brought us out of Egypt

More instructions regarding the testimony of faith are found here. One key to getting free is testifying to the freedom that you now have because of the LORD’s intervention. Fathers were to tell their sons about the bondage they were in when they resided in Egypt. The Israelites were to redeem their firstborn animals and children – not just because the LORD instructed them to, but as a testimony of their rescue.

Here is how Doug Stuart puts it: “Our identity is that of God’s chosen people who were rescued from slavery in Egypt and rescued from the death of the firstborn by faith in Yahweh. We keep showing that faith by dedicating all firstborn children and all firstborn male livestock to God.”[1]

The Israelites were required to buy back their children who were devoted to God, and this practice would cause the children some curiosity. That curiosity was to be a link to bringing them to the faith that their parents shared. The parents could then explain to the children the principle of the substitute. The lamb substituted for them was to be part of the testimony of their deliverance. It was to be a sign that they were brought out of Egypt as well.

LORD, thank you for the Lamb, sacrificed in our place, to redeem us from our bondage. May we faithfully proclaim this truth to each generation.

[1] Doug Stuart, New American Commentary, vol. 2 (Exodus).