12.45 Bound…servant, more likely a transient “resident” cf. a similar distinction in Lev 22.10–11.
12.46 Outside. See note on 12.22. Bones. See Num 9.12; cf. Jn 19.36.
12.48 Alien. See note on 12.19. All his males…circumcised, like Abraham and the males of his household (Gen 17.10–14, 23–27).
12.49 Law, lit. “instruction” (Hebrew torah). Cf. Lev 24.22.
12.51 A repetition of v. 41, enclosing the codicil. Company. See note on 6.26.
EXODUS 13
1The LORD said to Moses: 2Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread
3Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten. 4Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this observance in this month. 6Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to the LORD. 7Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen in your possession, and no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory. 8You shall tell your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9It shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the LORD may be on your lips; for with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. 10You shall keep this ordinance at its proper time from year to year.
The Consecration of the Firstborn
11“When the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and has given it to you, 12you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your livestock that are males shall be the LORD’s. 13But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem. 14When in the future your child asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall answer, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborn to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16It shall serve as a sign on your hand and as an emblema on your forehead that by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
The Pillars of Cloud and Fire
17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.b The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle. 19And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.” 20They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. 22Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
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a Or as a frontlet; meaning of Heb uncertain
b Or Sea of Reeds
13.1–2 The law to consecrate Israel’s human and animal firstborn is juxtaposed with the slaying of Egypt’s firstborn, as in 34.18–20; Deut 15.19–16.8; see note on 11.1–10. It is assumed on the basis of vv. 12, 15 and all parallel passages that only males are meant (cf. 11.5; 12.29). The elaboration in vv. 11–26 is paralleled by 34.19–20; Num 18.15–18. The parallel law in 22.29–30 does not elaborate a method of consecration. Cf. the practices in Num 18; Deut 15.19–23 (which does not relate to firstborn humans) and the motive in Num 3.11–13, 41, 45; 8.17.
13.3–10 Cf. 12.14–20; differences suggest diverse traditions.
13.3 Cf. 12.14. House of slavery. Cf. 20.2. Strength of hand. See vv. 9, 14, 16; cf. mighty hand (6.1, from the same root) and 3.19. No leavened bread. Cf. 12.15.
13.4 Abib. See note on 12.2.
13.5 Cf. 3.17; see note on 12.25.
13.6 Seventh day. See 12.16.
13.7 In Hebrew in your possession and among you are expressed identically, creating a parallelism (see note on 3.15).
13.8 Cf. 12.26.
13.9 Hand, forehead, places where people would string identifying seals or ornaments; as in v. 16 a metaphor for a reminder (cf. Deut 6.8; Song 8.6).
13.11–16 An elaboration of vv. 1–2. Firstborn redemption, like the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v. 6), is to be interpreted to the next generations in connection with the exodus (v. 14). The theme of redemption links this chapter with Passover. The paschal offering defends against harm (see notes on 12.1–28; 12.8; 12.11; 12.22; 12.42); the similar but more general Islamic sacrifice called fidya, cognate to Hebrew padah, “redeem” (vv. 13, 15) substitutes an animal for a person whose life is threatened. Redemption has an overtone of protection.
13.11 Cf. v. 5.
13.12 Males. See note on 13.1–2.
13.13 The donkey is ritually tainted (Lev 11.3); the sheep is pure. Break its neck, to kill the animal without ritually slaughtering it since it is tainted; the animal is rightfully God’s and may not be used. Lev 27.27 stipulates that the tainted animal must be redeemed at 120 percent its value, which favors the priests, who suffer a loss here because a sheep is worth less than a donkey. Children, lit. “sons” (see note on 13.1–2). Redeem. The sum is not fixed; Num 18.16 specifies 5 shekels.
13.14 Cf. v. 8. Strength of hand. Cf. vv. 3, 9, 16.
13.15 Stubbornly refused, lit. “made hard” (see note on 4.21). Therefore, a formula introducing an explanation of origins (etiology). Sacrifice. See note on 3.18. Every male, of the pure animals (see v. 13).
13.16 Emblem, a pendant or headband, interpreted in Judaism as phylacteries; see note on 13.9.
13.17 Philistines, apparently anachronistic; the Philistines would only have begun to settle the coast of Canaan at the time of the exodus; yet a Philistine presence there is taken for granted (see 15.14; cf. Gen 21.34; 26.1). Thought, lit. “said” the apprehension anticipates 14.10–11. Change their minds, or “repent,” a pun in Hebrew on lead them. From a historical perspective, the northern route out of Egypt was heavily fortified and therefore impassable.
13.18 Led…roundabout, lit. “had go around” (Hebrew wayyasev) plays on “Sea of Reeds” (yam suf); see note on 10.19. Prepared for battle, or “armed” (Judg 7.11).
13.19 See Gen 50.25.
13.20 Succoth. See note on 12.37, whose narrative is resumed here. Etham. The site is uncertain; Num 33.8 places the Etham wilderness on the far side of the water Israel will cross; see 14.2.
13.21 The Lord, depicted as a storm god (see chs. 15, 19), radiates light from within a cover of cloud (cf. Ps 18.9–13). The two pillars are one (see 14.24): by day only the cloud is visible, by night only the light; cf. 24.15–17; 40.34–38.
The geographical setting of the narratives in Exodus and Numbers.
EXODUS 14
Crossing the Red Sea
1Then the LORD said to Moses: 2Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. 3Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.” 4I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pha
raoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
5When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” 6So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; 7he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. 9The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 11They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
15Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”
19The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24At the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25He cloggeda their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
The Pursuers Drowned
26Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
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a Sam Gk Syr: MT removed
14.1–31 Following the pattern of contrasts developed through the plagues (see note on 8.22), Israel, whose sons had been marked for drowning by Pharaoh (1.22), is kept alive on dry land as Egypt is dealt a death blow in the water (vv. 27–30).
14.2 Turn back. Although the Israelites seem to have reached beyond the sea (see 13.20), they are instructed to double back in order to bait and entrap the Egyptians. Pi-hahiroth, possibly a temple site in the region of Succoth (13.20). Migdol, “Tower” in Hebrew, probably a fortification against Assyria north of the Bitter Lakes built in the seventh century BCE (cf. Jer 44.1). If Baal-zephon is the Zeus Casius temple that juts into Lake Sarbonis, the other sites too are located along the northern Sinai coast, and Lake Sarbonis is the sea. Baal is the Canaanite storm god; “Zaphon” is known as his home on the north Syrian coast, probably Mount Casius.
14.3 Closed in on, or “enclosed” (cf. Josh 6.1).
14.4 Harden, “stiffen” (see note on 4.21), a strong link with the plagues narratives. Gain glory for myself, lit. “prove heavy” see v. 18; note on 4.10. Know. See note on 5.2; cf. also Josh 4.24.
14.5 The people…fled, as if Egypt had not pressed them to leave (12.31–33); or it has dawned on the Egyptians that the Israelites had left for more than three days (5.3).
14.6 He had…made ready, lit. “he (himself) harnessed” see also note on 14.25. Army, lit. “people” (cf. Num 21.23); Pharaoh musters his “people” to head off the fleeing Hebrew people (v. 5). With him, Hebrew ’immo, a wordplay on “his people (’ammo).”
14.7 Officers, not the officials of v. 5 but military captains.
14.8 Hardened. See v. 4. Boldly, lit. “with hand (held) high,” defiantly (Num 15.30); see Num 33.3.
14.9 In the Hebrew all Pharaoh’s horses…army is placed awkwardly following camped by the sea; similar phrases read smoothly in v. 23. On the anachronistic use of cavalry, see note on 15.1.
14.10 Pharaoh. The king is in focus even though the entire army is in pursuit; cf. v. 6. There were, “here:…” see note on 2.6. Advancing. In the Hebrew the verb is singular, suggesting that the Egyptian army is perceived as a single horde. In great fear. Cf. Moses’ reply in v. 13. Cried out to the LORD. Cf. 2.23, where the prayer is undirected, and 5.15, where appeal is made to Pharaoh.
14.11–12 Egypt is used five times in two verses.
14.11 Cf. Num 11.18–20; 14.2–4.
14.12 The very thing, not exactly; see 5.20–21.
14.13 Deliverance, in Hebrew cognate to came to their defense in 2.17 and saved in 14.30; it anticipates 15.2, where it is rendered salvation. Never see again echoes 10.28–29.
14.14 Will fight anticipates the cognate warrior in 15.3. God’s fighting on Israel’s behalf (see Deut 1.30; 3.22; 20.4) is developed in Joshua (10.14, 42; 23.3, 10).
14.15 It is presupposed that, beside responding to the people’s complaint (vv. 13–14), Moses appealed to the Lord, as in 5.22–23.
14.16 Staff (see note on 7.8–13) and stretch out your hand (see note on 7.5) recall the plagues (e.g., 10.12–13). Divide. Splitting the sea evokes an Israelite creation myth in which the Lord cuts through the primeval sea monster (Isa 51.9; Job 26.13); Isa 51.10 in fact compares the exodus to creation. The nature myth in which the Lord cleaves the hostile sea monster, a tale shared with other Near Eastern cultures, is here transformed into a historical drama in which the Lord divides an inanimate sea and slays his enemies in it. Dry ground, an allusion to a version of the creation myth in which the Lord dries up the primeval sea (Ps 74.13–15; Isa 50.2; 51.10; Nah 1.4).
14.17 Gain glory. See note on 14.4.
14.19 Angel, a divine manifestation in the cloud and fire, the LORD in v. 24; see note on 3.4. Army, lit. “camp” here and in vv. 20, 24.
14.20 It…it, apparently the angel. The divine presence, glowing within the cloud, blocks the oncoming Egyptians; see note on 13.21; cf. Josh 24.7. One…the other, the Israelite and Egyptian camps.
14.21 See note on 14.16. Strong anticipates my strength in 15.2. East wind. See 10.13. Dry land, different from the Hebrew term rendered dry ground in vv. 16, 22; used in Gen 7.22; Josh 3.17; 4.1
8.
14.23 The Hebrew defers into the sea to the verse’s end.
14.24 The LORD. See note on 14.19. Looked down. The Lord’s radiant face, no longer veiled by cloud, “panics” the Egyptians, who recognize him (v. 25). Mesopotamian kings boasted that the mere sight of their divine auras would terrify the enemy.
14.25 Clogged, lit. “removed” or “turned aside.” Greek and other manuscript traditions read lit. “he bound,” thus having the Lord mirror Pharaoh, who “binds” or “harnesses,” preparing his chariot in v. 6 (see note on 14.6). Difficulty, lit. “heaviness” in vv. 4, 17 the Lord says he will “prove heavy” for Pharaoh’s army (see note on 14.4). Fighting. See note on 14.14.
14.27 Normal depth, lit. “full strength.” Egyptians. This word, lit. “Egypt,” which occurs twice mid-verse, is enclosed by sea, twice before and once after, as the Egyptians are enveloped by the water.
14.28 Not one…remained, an echo of the plagues (see note on 10.19).
14.29 Walked. The Hebrew syntax may be better understood as “had walked” see v. 22, whose echo here frames the episode of drowning; the frame highlights Israel’s salvation.
14.30 Saved. See note on 14.13. From the Egyptians, lit. “from Egypt’s hand,” contrasting with the Lord’s marvelous “hand,” rendered work in v. 31.
14.31 The Egyptians, lit. “Egypt,” referring perhaps to the wonders the Lord performed there. Believed. See note on 4.1.
EXODUS 15
The Song of Moses
1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2The LORD is my strength and my might,a
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
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