The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 13:3-16)

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. [All of this was God’s doing.] No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib [literally “ears of grain,” loosely “spring,” the month that later becomes known as Nisan, meaning “other than Toyota” in Japanese], 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 [first person statements] of Egypt.’ [The community of faith in all generations and of all ages are to identify fully with the original exodus just as we are to identify fully with the work of the cross. Look at Eucharistic language.] 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 a culture of illiterate people, something being in one’s mouth meant to talk about it frequently. Also, think about writing a message on your hand to remember something important that you do not want to forget or a tattoo marking on a forehead that shows possessions.] 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 [making the wilderness years an exception], 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 [non-firstborn] lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. [Killing the animal because it was not needed, allowed for individuals to alleviate the priests from ritual sacrifices. The animal was to be killed because every firstborn not dedicated to the Lord was to be destroyed.] 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 ultimate purpose of these instructions was to prepare the Israelites for the death of Christ on their behalf. Though most generations could anticipate the Christ-event only vaguely, they certainly could grasp the basic concepts: if a life is to be restored, it must be redeemed by a payment. That payment is often the substitutionary death of something for something else. When Paul writes, “You were bought at a price,” he follows the OT logic of the redemption system that foreshadows the redemption price paid by Christ with his own blood.]