It is a remarkable thing that the very first instruction God gives Israel after bringing them out of Egypt is not about warfare, or strategy, or nation building. It is not about how to set up a government or how to defend themselves. The first thing God does is claim them. He tells them that the firstborn belongs to him. He tells them to remember his rescue. And then he tells them to teach their children that everything they are comes from the strong hand of the Lord.

Friends this already pushes into our modern assumptions. We are conditioned to think that freedom means autonomy, independence, self-rule. But here, in the very first steps of Israel’s new life, God teaches them the opposite. Freedom is belonging. Salvation creates devotion. Rescue leads to remembrance, obedience, and worship.

And what God does here tells us something vital about ourselves. If you have been saved by God, then your life is no longer yours. You belong to him. And that is not oppressive, it is freeing.

So let’s walk through this passage together.

Exodus 13:1–16 (ESV)
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” 3 Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. 6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to 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 shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The passage begins abruptly. God says, consecrate to me all the firstborn. Consecrate means set apart, give over, dedicate. This is not a suggestion. It is a claim. God is saying, they are mine.

Now why does God do this. Because the only reason Israel has any firstborn left is because God spared them on Passover night. Their boys lived because a lamb died. Their safety came at the cost of another’s life. And so now God says, remember the cost. Remember the mercy. Remember that you live because something died in your place.

Friends this runs straight against our pride. We want to think of ourselves as self-made, self-owned, self-directed. But God says, if you are spared by my grace, you belong to me. You are mine. Not enslaved, but rescued. Not oppressed, but redeemed. But make no mistake, salvation always comes with a claim.

The Christian who says, “Jesus saved me but my life is my own,” has not grasped the gospel.

Moses tells the people, remember this day. Do not forget it. Why. Because we forget almost everything God does for us as soon as life gets busy.

Israel was about to walk into the wilderness. Hard years were ahead. And God knows the human heart. When things get hard, we forget his kindness. We doubt his goodness. We grumble against him.

So God gives them a rhythm, a yearly pattern. Eat unleavened bread. Do it for a full week. Clean out all the old leaven. Why. Because God wants them to remember the night they left Egypt so quickly there was no time for the dough to rise. He wants their children to ask questions. He wants families telling the next generation, this is what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

Notice the language. Not what the Lord did for us, but for me. Personal. Direct. Immediate. Every Israelite was to see themselves as someone who personally experienced God’s rescue.

Friends this hits home for us too. If salvation becomes a vague theological idea rather than a personal rescue, then obedience becomes optional. But when you know that the strong hand of the Lord saved you, you obey with joy.

This is why God builds remembrance into the Christian life. The Lord’s Supper, gathering with God’s people, reading the Scriptures. All of it is meant to remind us that we were saved from slavery. We were rescued from judgement. We live because the Lamb died.

The final section of the passage goes deeper. God says, when you enter the land, set apart every firstborn animal. Redeem every firstborn son. And if your child asks why, you tell him the truth. Tell him about the night judgement fell. Tell him about the stubbornness of Pharaoh. Tell him that the firstborn of Egypt died. And then tell him why yours lived. Because the Lord made a distinction. Because the blood of the lamb covered your home.

This is God teaching Israel the logic of redemption. Redemption always involves a cost. Something dies so that another may live. Something is given so that another is spared.

And God wants every Israelite child to grow up asking, why do we sacrifice these animals. Why do we redeem the firstborn. Why do we do this every single year. And God wants every parent to say, because God saved us. Because God passed over us. Because our lives belong to him.

Friends this should shape how we speak to our children. We do not raise them to be good citizens or productive members of society. We raise them to know that their lives belong to God because they were bought with a price. We raise them to know that salvation is costly, and that grace is never cheap.

Prayer

Father, thank you that you brought us out of slavery with a strong hand. Thank you that you spared us through the blood of your Son. Help us remember your rescue. Help us live as people who belong to you. Shape our hearts so that we give you the first and the best of our lives, not the leftovers. And help us teach the next generation that they were bought with a price. Amen.