Lesson #16

EXODUS 13
Lesson #16
REMEMBER THE COST OF REDEMPTION

• Memory verse: Psalms 32:8

• We have discussed over the past few lessons of Chapter 12 how God put the pattern of redemption in the Passover when He freed His people by blood and by power:
• Through faith in the substitution of a lamb.
• Through faith in the blood of the lamb.
• Through faith in a personal identification with the lamb.
• Through faith in the power of God to remove sin (leaven) by the application of the blood.
• In Chapter 13, we continue to see more aspects of the pattern of redemption in the Passover.
• One aspect of redemption that we see in Chapter 13 was first introduced to us in Lesson 14. That was the aspect of the payment of a price. Remember that the very nature of the word, redeem, has within its meaning, the payment of a price.
• It is this aspect of the payment of a price that we see in Chapter 13.
• Read Exo 13:1-10

• “…Sanctify unto me all the firstborn…”

(1)

• In Exo 11, we discussed in detail the importance of the firstborn (Lesson #11). We saw how the firstborn was:
• Chosen for a purpose in service to God.
• Given a double inheritance.
• Given spiritual blessings.
• Given authority to govern.
• After the death of the firstborn of Egypt brought freedom to the Israelites, God says that the firstborn of Israel belong to Him. What does God mean?
• The Israelite could argue, “I thought I was free, and now you tell me I belong to God! What kind of freedom is that?
• The word, “sanctify”, means = to set apart for a specific purpose.
• God is setting apart the firstborn males of Israel for a specific purpose now that they are free from bondage in Egypt.
• The firstborn son was to spend his life serving God.
• Because God accepted the sacrifices of thousands of lambs all over Egypt, all the firstborn of Israel were set free by the payment of a price. That price was one lamb for each household.
• Therefore, we could say that God bought the firstborn of Israel when He passed over them in the judgment, a judgment that He brought on all the Egyptians who had no faith in a sacrifice.
• Since the firstborn belonged to God and were set apart for the specific purpose of serving God, we need to see how that affects us today. Remember that believers are also the firstborn set apart (sanctified) for the purpose of serving God.
• What does it mean when we say that the New Testament believer is “sanctified”?
• Read Heb 10:10, 14
• Read 2Tim 2:19-21
• According to these passages, God set him apart for:
• Forgiveness by God through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.
• The convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Gradually the Spirit sanctifies (makes holy) the believer by making him mature in Jesus Christ, and freeing him from the power of sin.

• “…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)

• God brought Israel out from bondage in the household (or kingdom) of Satan by blood and by power and into the kingdom of God. Therefore, because the Israelites were bought with a price, they belonged to God.
• Since they belonged to God, they should not eat bread with leaven.
• God had a right to tell the Israelites what He required of them now that they were free.
• Remember that leaven spiritually represents sin or evil.
• Therefore, the firstborn who were bought with a price and belonged to God should not pollute themselves with sin.
• They should live the way God wanted them to live, a morally pure life.
• Summary and New Testament Parallel:

The Israelites in Exodus	The New Testament Believer	New Testament Scriptures
The firstborn was bought with the blood of a lamb	The believer in Christ is bought with the blood of Christ	1Cor 6:20 1Cor 7:23
The firstborn was redeemed from bondage in Egypt	The believer in Christ is redeemed from bondage to sin and the world system	1Cor 6:19-20 1Pet 1:18-19
The firstborn was set apart (sanctified) for God	The believer in Christ is set apart (sanctified) for God	1Cor 1:2 1Cor 6:11
The firstborn belonged to God	The believer in Christ is God’s purchased possession	Eph 1:14
The firstborn was not to eat leavened bread	The believer in Christ is to feed on the teachings of a sinless redeemer and live without sin	Joh 6:51 1Joh 3:5,9
The unclean firstborn animals were redeemed (bought back) by the substitution of a lamb	The believer in Jesus Christ was bought back from the kingdom of Satan because he was unclean and spiritually dead in trespasses and sin	Eph 2:1
All Israel was God’s firstborn (Exo 4:22)	All believers are God’s firstborn (Heb 12:23)

• Therefore, the message for us today is this:
• Because we were bought with the price of Christ’s blood, our lives belong to Christ.
• God’s plan is to set us apart for the Holy Spirit to work the sanctification process whereby we learn to live free from sin.
• With the final purpose that we serve and glorify God through our lives.
• Why did God repeat the instructions regarding the firstborn and the unleavened bread?
• If it is important, God repeats it. Therefore, God is saying that this is important.
• The instructions are for a free people who soon will be surrounded by a multitude of other tribes who bring with them new sins and new temptations.
• They are challenged to remember the Passover annually.
• Therefore, the fathers are to tell their children about the Passover. (8)
• The families are to celebrate the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread every year at the same time, in the month of Abib (Nisan). (10)
• To insure that the people remembered the Passover, they were to bind the scriptures to their minds and their actions.

• “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…”

(9)

• Devout Jews interpreted this scripture literally and devised an intricate object called a tephillin or phylactery. (Mat 23:5) You can still see orthodox Jews wear them today. It consists of two tiny boxes (1/2 to 1 ½ inches square) made from the skins of a clean animal.
• One box is for the head.
• It is divided into 4 small compartments. Each compartment contains a hand written scripture:
• Exo 13:1-10
• Exo 13:11-16
• Deu 6:4-9
• Deu 11:13-21
• The box for the head is attached by black leather straps so that the box rests in the middle of the forehead.
• The other box is for the left hand.
• This box has no divided compartments. The box contains all the previous 4 scriptures hand written on parchment.
• The box for hand is attached by an intricate weaving of black leather straps.
• The New Testament believer is to study the Word of God and put it in his mind so that it affects the actions of his hands.

• Read Exo 13:11-16 Details of the Aspects of Redemption
• Buying back firstborn animals: “…every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb…” (13)
• When the Israelites came into the promised land, they were to set apart (sanctify) every firstborn male animal for God.
• However, there were some animals that God did not want to be used for a sacrifice. For example, instead of setting apart the firstborn donkey for God, they would buy it back from God with a lamb as payment (the lamb was an acceptable sacrifice).
• Animals that were acceptable as a sacrifice were not redeemed (bought back), but the animal’s neck was broken, and it was sacrificed to God.
• Buying back the firstborn son: “…all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.” (13)
• When the Israelites came into the promised land, they were to set apart (sanctify) every firstborn son.
• Instead of setting apart the firstborn male child for a sacrifice to God (like the animals), the Israelites were obligated to buy back the child with silver.
• God did not want human sacrifice as was performed by many cultures to appease pagan gods.
• Why did God begin the system of buying back the firstborn either with a lamb or with silver?
• God wanted the people to remember the high cost of redemption.
• God’s purpose for the sanctifying (setting apart) the firstborn of man and beast was to teach the children about the meaning and cost of redemption that brought them out of Egypt.
• What does this teach us?
• In the first Passover we see all the details of the meaning of the word, the redemption, and the cost of that redemption.
• The New Testament gives us the full meaning of Christ’s redemption and the cost He paid for our redemption.
• Again God tells the Israelites to remember these things about redemption by the use of the phylacteries. (16)

• Read Exo 13:17-22

• “…God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines…”

(17)

• The shortest route to the promised land was the route taken by Joseph when he was first taken to Egypt as a slave.
• This route was a trade route near the coast and monitored by Egyptian guards. This route would have led the Israelites into the promised land directly into the hands of the Philistines who controlled the area of what is now Gaza.
• The Israelites were not warriors even though God called them an army. They were not prepared for battle. They had never handled weapons of war.
• Instead God would train them to be an army during the 40 years in the desert.
• The Israelites were not prepared spiritually to possess the promised land. They must first meet with God at Mt. Sinai.
• The Israelites first had to learn government, faith, unity, and how to live with God.
• God said the Israelites would RETURN to Egypt if they immediately came face to face with the Philistines.
• The Philistines were Israel’s strongest enemy through the Old Testament. They were not totally defeated until the time of King David.
• “…God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea…

” (18)

• What exactly was the route that the Israelites took out of Egypt?
• Unfortunately we do not know exactly.
• The confusion comes from the translation and location of “the Red sea”.
• In Hebrew the words translated, Red sea, literally mean = the sea of reeds.
• The route that the majority of Bible maps display has no archeological evidence to support it, but it is based on tradition. How was that route chosen as the route of the exodus?
• It was chosen by Emperor Constantine’s mother who decided on specific locations of Biblical events in order to promote Christian unity throughout the empire. She chose the mountain Jebel Musa on the Sinai Peninsula. A Catholic monastery, St. Catherines, was built to commemorate the mountain as the location of Mt. Sinai.
• There are at least 5 other suggested routes and locations for Mt. Sinai.
• The route we will use for this study fulfills the requirements mentioned in scripture and supplies us with sufficient archaeological evidence. However, it is not totally accepted because of the long accepted tradition of Jebel Musa and the variety of other suggested locations.
• In our next lesson we will consider the most likely route and the archaeological evidence to prove it.
• “…the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.”

(18)

• The word, “harnessed” means = equipped and in order, marching 5 abreast like an army. It sometimes means armed. However, the probability is slim that the Israelites actually had weapons.
• “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him…”

(19)

• Why did Moses take the bones of Joseph with him?
• Gen 50:25 says, “And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”
• This is the fulfillment of a promise given to Joseph hundreds of years before.
• From the beginning of the promise of a land given to Abraham, the Israelites developed the idea that the blessings of God including the resurrection were specifically tied to the promised land.
• “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light…”

(21)

• What does the cloud by day and the fire by night symbolize?
• The cloud or pillar was God physical presence with His people.
• This manner of God’s guidance symbolizes the guidance of the Holy Spirit that God gives to the New Testament believer after he has been born again. We do not have God’s physical presence, but we have the reality of His presence living inside of us by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• The cloud by day protected the Israelites from the burning hot sun of the desert. The temperatures in the desert can reach 134 degress in the daytime.
• The Holy Spirit protects the believer in his walk with the Lord.
• The fire by night gave the Israelites light and warmth at night. The temperatures in the desert at night can reach freezing.
• The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus who is the Light in this dark world.
• The Holy Spirit reveals the Word of God to the believer.
• Application:
• If the believer is to remember the redemption, he must first understand all we have learned in the book of Exodus about the different aspects of redemption.
• A vicarious substitution.
• Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the substitute who took on Himself our sins and paid the price in our place.
• The shedding of blood.
• The blood of Christ was necessary because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Heb 9:22)
• Personal identification.
• The believer must personally identify himself with Christ.
• The forgiveness of sin.
• The believer is redeemed from the punishment that sins brings and is given forgiveness.
• The payment of a price.
• Jesus Christ paid the redemption price with His life on the cross.
• How does the believer “remember” redemption?
• The participation in Holy Communion is the means by which the believer should remember Christ’s act of redemption.

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 14
This is a Self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Exo 13
• When you partake of Holy Communion, what should you think about?
• In your walk with the Lord, in what ways have you experienced His guidance?
• How could you describe His guidance to a non-believer?
• Preparation for Exo 14
• Read Exo 14:1-9
• Why does God continue to harden Pharaoh’s heart? (4)
• Read Exo 14:10-20
• What was the attitude of the Israelites when they saw the Egyptians following them?
• What do verses 11 and 12 tell you about their spiritual level of faith?
• Who is the angel of God? (19)
• Read Exo 14:21-31
• What miraculous events do you find in this scripture?
• Memory Verse: Exo 14:14