Exodus 13:13

And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Every firstling of an ass.—It is observable that nothing is said of the Israelites possessing horses. Horses were well known in Egypt at the time, but were kept only by the kings and the great men. The Hebrews had not been in a position ever to have possessed any. Asses, on the contrary, were exceedingly common, and formed the ordinary beasts of burden in the country. In default of camels, which they seem not to have owned, the Israelites must have carried their tents and other baggage on asses.

Thou shalt redeem.—Since the ass was unclean. In Egypt he is said to have been “Typhonian;” and Set, the Evil Principle, is represented with long ears, which may be those of an ass, cropped towards the upper extremity. The redeeming of an ass with a lamb (or kid) was favourable to the owner, since the ass colt must have been of considerably more value.

If thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.—There will always be in every nation those who grudge to make any offering to God, and who will seek to evade every requisition for a gift. To check such stubbornness, the present law was made. It would be effectual without requiring to be put in force.

All the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.—This was declared in anticipation of the arrangement afterwards to be made, whereby the tribe of Levi was taken in lieu of the firstborn for the service Of the sanctuary (Numbers 3:40-45), and an obligation was imposed on Israelites of other tribes to “redeem” their sons by a payment of five shekels for each to the priests (Numbers 18:15-16).

Benson Commentary

Exodus 13:13. Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb — Or kid, Exodus 12:3; and the same is to be understood of all unclean beasts in general, see Numbers 18:15. The ass seems to be particularly mentioned, because those animals were more numerous among them than other beasts of burden. If a man had not a lamb, he was to give the price of one. This lamb was to be given to the Lord; that is, to his priest.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:11-16 The firstlings of beast not used in sacrifice, were to be changed for others so used, or they were to be destroyed. Our souls are forfeited to God's justice, and unless ransomed by the sacrifice of Christ, will certainly perish. These institutions would continually remind them of their duty, to love and serve the Lord. In like manner, baptism and the Lord's supper, if explained and attended to, would remind us, and give us occasion to remind one another of our profession and duty.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An ass - The ass could not be offered in sacrifice, being an unclean animal: possibly the only unclean animal domesticated among the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. This principle was extended to every unclean beast; see Numbers 18:15.

Thou shalt redeem - The lamb, or sheep, was given to the priest for the service of the sanctuary.

Firstborn of man - The price of redemption was fixed at five shekels of the sanctuary: Numbers 3:47, where see the note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12, 13. every firstling, &c.—the injunction respecting the consecration of the first-born, as here repeated, with some additional circumstances. The firstlings of clean beasts, such as lambs, kids, and calves, if males, were to be devoted to God and employed in sacrifice. Those unclean beasts, as the ass's colt, being unfit for sacrifice, were to be redeemed (Nu 18:15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The ass was an unclean creature, and therefore this rule was to be observed in all other unclean creatures, as appears,

1. Because the reason of this law is common to all such.

2. By comparing this place with Numbers 18:15.

3. Because the first-born of all beasts were appropriated to God; and because many of them were unclean, and so could not be sacrificed, there was no other way of offering them to God, but by redemption, or a price paid for them. And the single exception of the price of a dog in this case, Deu 23:18, doth sufficiently intimate that the price of all other unclean creatures was allowed and required. The ass alone is here named for all the rest, because this creature was most common, and most useful, and yet was not to be spared; whence it was easy to infer, that this course was much rather to be observed in other creatures which were of less use.

Thou shalt break his neck; or, cut off his neck, or head, as the word is used, Deu 21:4 Isaiah 66:3; because being consecrated. to God, it was not to be applied to any profane or common use.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb,.... Which was given to the priest for it; and according to the Jewish canon (f), it might be redeemed with that only;"not with a calf, nor with an animal (a goat or a ram, as Bartenora interprets it), nor with a lamb slain, or torn to pieces.''Jarchi thinks the ass only was to be redeemed, and not the firstling of any other unclean creature, but his reasons are insufficient; all unclean creatures, as horses, camels, dogs, swine, &c. are included in it, as should seem from Numbers 18:15 and this is the rather particularly mentioned, because there was a greater plenty of them than of horses and camels, and because they were very useful creatures; and if these were to be redeemed, then much more those of less value, and less useful. Hence might arise the story and calumny, as some have thought, of the Jews worshipping an ass's head:

and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shall break its neck; cut off its head on the back of the neck with a knife or cleaver, such as butchers use, as the Misnah (g), and its commentators, interpret it, so that the owner should have no profit by it:

and all the firstborn of man amongst thy children shall thou redeem; with the price of five shekels of the sanctuary, and within thirty days of the birth of it, Numbers 18:16 and these being to be redeemed as the unclean beasts were, shows that men are by nature unclean, and even the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, the elect of God, and need redemption by the blood of the Lamb.

(f) Misn. Becorot, sect. 1. sect. 5. (g) lbid. sect. 7. Maimon & Bartenora in ib.

Geneva Study Bible

And every firstling of an {g} ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou {h} redeem.

(g) This is also understood about the horse and other beasts which were not offered in sacrifice.

(h) By offering a clean beast in sacrifice; Le 12:6.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. The ass, not less than the ox and sheep, was a common domestic animal (Exodus 20:17, Exodus 22:9-10, &c.): but it was regarded as ‘unclean’ (the terms of Leviticus 11:3 P exclude it from the ‘clean’ animals), and could not consequently be either eaten, or offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 1:2; Leviticus 22:19). Nevertheless its firstling was claimed by Jehovah, and could only be retained for its owner’s use by being redeemed with a lamb. ‘The present law must date from a time when the ass was the only unclean domestic animal: the later, but juristically more exact P, puts for it (Leviticus 27:27, Numbers 18:15) unclean beast generally’ (Di.). The lamb would be of less value than the ass: the provision of Leviticus 27:27, which prescribes that the firstling of an unclean animal, unless it is sold, is to be valued, and redeemed at 11/5 of its valuation, is more favourable to the priests.

redeem] Heb. pâdâh (not gâ’al, as Exodus 6:6), the word used regularly of redeeming a person, or animal, from death or servitude (cf. Exodus 21:8, and, as here, Numbers 18:15-17, Leviticus 27:27 a; also Exo 1 Samuel 14:45, Psalm 49:7; Psalm 49:15).

lamb] marg. Or, kid: see on Exodus 12:3.

break its neck] Unless redeemed, it could not be retained for use by its owner. It was not to be killed by shedding of blood, because in old Israel ‘the slaughter of an animal in the ordinary way implied a sacrifice, which was impossible in the case of an ass’ (Bä.).

all the firstborn of man, &c.] The price of their redemption is not fixed: perhaps in early times it varied (as offerings also did, Deuteronomy 16:10; Deuteronomy 16:16 f.), according to the position and circumstances of the father. In a later age, the price was fixed definitely at 5 shekels a head (Numbers 18:15, cf. Numbers 3:12; Numbers 8:18,—all P).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Every firstling of an ass. The ass was the sole beast of burthen taken by the Israelites out of Egypt. (See Exodus 20:17.) Neither the horse nor the camel was among their possessions in the wilderness. This is agreeable to the Egyptian monuments, by which the camel appears to have been rare in Egypt at this time, and the horse as yet mainly used for war and by the nobles in their chariots. With a lamb. A lamb or a kid. The word used is the generic one. (See the comment on Exodus 12:3.) If thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. This enactment was evidently made to prevent a refusal to redeem. It would not require to be put in force, since by refusing under such a penalty a man would suffer pecuniary loss. All the first-born of men among thy children. Rather "among thy sons." Shalt thou redeem. Later on, the amount of the redemption money was fixed at five shekels of the sanctuary for each. (Numbers 3:47.) Exodus 13:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Exodus 13:11-16, Moses communicated to the people the law briefly noticed in Exodus 13:2, respecting the sanctification of the first-born. This law was to come into force when Israel had taken possession of the promised land. Then everything which opened the womb was to be given up to the Lord. ליהוה העביר: to cause to pass over to Jehovah, to consecrate or give up to Him as a sacrifice (cf. Leviticus 18:21). In "all that openeth the womb" the first-born of both man and beast are included (Exodus 13:2). This general expression is then particularized in three clauses, commencing with וכל: (a) בּהמה cattle, i.e., oxen, sheep, and goats, as clean domestic animals, but only the males; (b) asses, as the most common of the unclean domestic animals, instead of the whole of these animals, Numbers 18:15; (c) the first-born of the children of Israel. The female first-born of man and beast were exempted from consecration. Of the clean animals the first-born male (פּטר abbreviated from רחם פּטר, and שׁגר from the Chaldee שׁגר to throw, the dropped young one) was to belong to Jehovah, i.e., to be sacrificed to Him (Exodus 13:15, and Numbers 18:17). This law is still further explained in Exodus 22:29, where it is stated that the sacrificing was not to take place till the eighth day after the birth; and in Deuteronomy 15:21-22, it is still further modified by the command, that an animal which had any fault, and was either blind or lame, was not to be sacrificed, but to be slain and eaten at home, like other edible animals. These two rules sprang out of the general instructions concerning the sacrificial animals. The first-born of the ass was to be redeemed with a male lamb or kid (שׂה, as at Exodus 12:3); and if not redeemed, it was to be killed. ערף: from ערף the nape, to break the neck (Deuteronomy 21:4, Deuteronomy 21:6). The first-born sons of Israel were also to be consecrated to Jehovah as a sacrifice; not indeed in the manner of the heathen, by slaying and burning upon the altar, but by presenting them to the Lord as living sacrifices, devoting all their powers of body and mind to His service. Inasmuch as the first birth represented all the births, the whole nation was to consecrate itself to Jehovah, and present itself as a priestly nation in the consecration of the first-born. But since this consecration had its foundation, not in nature, but in the grace of its call, the sanctification of the first birth cannot be deduced from the separation of the first-born to the priesthood. This view, which was very prevalent among early writers, has been thoroughly overthrown by Outram (de Sacrif. 1, c. 4) and Vitringa (observv. ii. c. 2, pp. 272ff.). As the priestly character of the nation did not give a title in itself to the administration of the priesthood within the theocracy, so the first-born were not eo ipso chosen as priests through their consecration to Jehovah. In what way they were to consecrate their life to the Lord, depended upon the appointment of the Lord, which was, that they were to perform the non-priestly work of the sanctuary, to be servants of the priests in their holy service. Even this work was afterwards transferred to the Levites (Numbers 3). At the same time the obligation was imposed upon the people to redeem their first-born sons from the service which was binding upon them, but was now transferred to the Levites, who were substituted for them; in other words, to pay five shekels of silver per head to the priesthood (Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16). In anticipation of this arrangement, which was to be introduced afterwards, the redemption (פּדה) of the male first-born is already established here. - On Exodus 13:14, see Exodus 12:26. מחר: to-morrow, for the future generally, as in Genesis 30:33. מה־זאת: what does this mean? quid sibi vult hoc praeceptum ac primogenitura (Jonathan).