Women of the Word

Exodus 13:1-16

The Passover

            In the last chapter, the Priestly writer gave his readers instructions on keeping the feast of the Passover (12:1-20).  At the start of chapter 13, a new writer takes over, known as the Deuteronomist.  Unlike the other three scribes, who are distinguished by the word they use as the term for God, the D writer pulls together the story of Israel’s founding based on a compendium or retelling of the laws.  In this story of the Passover, the significance of the festival is impressed on the reader, and the symbolism of each part is described in detail.  Each father is to tell his son that “this commemorates what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt” (vs. 9).  It is a reminder that a high price was paid for Israel’s freedom (the slaughter of all of Egypt’s first-born).

            The next section describes the ceremony of Pidyon Haben or Redemption of the First-Born Male.  (If the first-born is a female or is stillborn, the ceremony is not required, and subsequent males need not undergo it either.)  To redeem a son from the Lord required a payment of five silver shekels from the parents thirty days after birth.  The silver was taken to the temple where it was accepted by the priest which completed the ceremony.  (Joseph and Mary were following the law of redemption when they brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem “to present him to the Lord . . . and to make the offering as stated in the law: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons” [Luke 2:22-24].)

            In essence, it was “constantly impressed upon the Israelites that they were a people belonging to Jehovah . . . that he had redeemed them from bondage. . . . Therefore all Israel owed service to God, and were to be priests unto the Most High.  But Levi and his descendants being set apart for the service of the sanctuary, all others were to be redeemed in the person of the firstborn both of man and beast.  The firstborn sons [were to be] redeemed for five shekels. . . . The firstlings of oxen, sheep, and goats were to be brought to the sanctuary within a year [of their birth] and sacrificed.” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p. 915)

            In the New Testament, Jesus’ death is a metaphor for the ancient five shekels; He redeems the broken relationship between God and man (“the atoning work of Christ as the price paid for human redemption” [cf. Unger]).

Submitted by Karilyn Jaap