Latest / The Bible Study Podcast / #973 - Exodus 13 – Consecration of the Firstborn

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#973 - Exodus 13 – Consecration of the Firstborn · The Bible Study Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode nine seventy three. Today,
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  Speaker 1: The Bible Study Podcast continues the study of the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Exodus with chapter thirteen. Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast.
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  Speaker 1: We've got the people of Israel out of Egypt. There's
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  Speaker 1: still going to be some conflict involved, but first we're
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  Speaker 1: going to have the consecration of the firstborn. But first
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  Speaker 1: a word from this sponsor. Exodus thirteen, Consecration of the Firstborn.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord said to Moses, consecrate to me every firstborn male,
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  Speaker 1: the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites, belongs
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  Speaker 1: to me, whether human or animal. Then Moses said to
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  Speaker 1: the people, commemorate this day, the day you came out
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the
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  Speaker 1: Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.
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  Speaker 1: Eat nothing containing yeast. Today, in the month of Aviv,
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  Speaker 1: you are leaving when the Lord brings you into the
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  Speaker 1: land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, the
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  Speaker 1: land he swore to your ancestors to give you a
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  Speaker 1: land flowing with milk and honey. You are to observe
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  Speaker 1: this ceremony in this month, for seven days, eat bread
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  Speaker 1: made without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a
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  Speaker 1: festival to the Lord. Eat unleavened bread. During those seven days,
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  Speaker 1: nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you,
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  Speaker 1: nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders
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  Speaker 1: on that day. Tell your son, I do this because
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  Speaker 1: of what the Lord did for me when I came
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  Speaker 1: out of Egypt. This observance will be for you like
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  Speaker 1: a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead,
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  Speaker 1: that this law of the Lord is to be on
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  Speaker 1: your lips, for the Lord brought you out of Egypt
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  Speaker 1: with his mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at
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  Speaker 1: the appointed time, year after year. This kind of is
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  Speaker 1: a duplicate of what we just had in the last
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  Speaker 1: chapter here, so I'm not going to spend a lot
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  Speaker 1: of time, But basically they're sporced to remember pass Over
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  Speaker 1: and celebrate it annually, as the Jewish people do to
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  Speaker 1: this day, although did not historically in the time of
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  Speaker 1: the Kings, for instance, in the Old Testament. Do it
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  Speaker 1: faithfully after the Lord brings you into the land of
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  Speaker 1: the Canaanites and gives it to you as he promised
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  Speaker 1: an on oath to you and your ancestors. You were
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  Speaker 1: to give over to the Lord the firstborn of every womb,
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  Speaker 1: All the first born males of your livestock belong to
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey. But
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  Speaker 1: if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: redeem every firstborn among your sons. In days to come,
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  Speaker 1: when your son asks you what does this mean, say
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  Speaker 1: to him with a mighty hand. The Lord brought us
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  Speaker 1: out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed
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  Speaker 1: the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This
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  Speaker 1: is why I sacrificed to the Lord the first male
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  Speaker 1: offspring of every womb, and redeem each of my firstborn sons.
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  Speaker 1: And it will be like a sign on your hand
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  Speaker 1: and as symbol on your forehead, that the Lord brought
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  Speaker 1: us out of Egypt with his mighty hand. So at
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  Speaker 1: the Passover they sacrificed the lambs and the goats so
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  Speaker 1: that the firstborn would not die. The redemption of the
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  Speaker 1: firstborn is basically carrying that into the future, so that
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  Speaker 1: every firstborn would have the same thing, the same sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: given for them, so that we would remember this day
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  Speaker 1: crossing the sea. When Pharaoh let the people go, God
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  Speaker 1: did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country,
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  Speaker 1: though that was shorter, for God said if they face war,
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  Speaker 1: they might change their mind and return to Egypt. So
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  Speaker 1: God led the people around the desert road toward the
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  Speaker 1: Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready
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  Speaker 1: for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him
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  Speaker 1: because Joseph had made the Israelites swear and oath. He
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  Speaker 1: had said, God will surely come to your aid, and
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  Speaker 1: then you must carry my bones up with you from
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  Speaker 1: this place. So they're heading out towards the promised land.
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  Speaker 1: They're not going the most direct route, which would be
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  Speaker 1: along the Mediterranean Sea, but they're heading towards the Red Sea,
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  Speaker 1: which would seem to be a problem because there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of water there and it's going to be traditionally
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  Speaker 1: hard to cross with six hundred thousand men plus women
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  Speaker 1: and children. So we don't know what they had in mind.
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  Speaker 1: So we don't know what they said. Now. Some versions
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  Speaker 1: of Exodus thirteen eighteen say the Sea of Reeds instead
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  Speaker 1: of the Red Sea. That is a different way to
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  Speaker 1: trans that. And some people wonder if this is a
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  Speaker 1: shallower part of the Red Sea. I will not debate
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  Speaker 1: that I do not know. And then it continues. After
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  Speaker 1: leaving Sukkoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them
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  Speaker 1: in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way,
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  Speaker 1: and by night in a pillar of fire to give
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  Speaker 1: them light so they could travel by day or night.
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  Speaker 1: Neither the pillar of cloud nor the pillar of fire
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  Speaker 1: by night left its place in front of the people.
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  Speaker 1: So this is something we will see on the road
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  Speaker 1: on the rest of this journey, is this pillar of
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  Speaker 1: cloud and this pillar of fire. But imagine if you
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  Speaker 1: were the Israelites and you're coming out of Egypt, and
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  Speaker 1: you were slaves in Egypt, and you didn't really have
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  Speaker 1: your own religion per se at that point, right, the
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  Speaker 1: people believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: but there wasn't a lot of formal ceremonies, and there
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  Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of things like that at the time.
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  Speaker 1: And you come out and one of the first things
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  Speaker 1: that happened is you see that this sign that the
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  Speaker 1: God who performed all these wonders in Egypt is coming
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  Speaker 1: with you. You see this pillar of cloud that moves
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  Speaker 1: in front of you. You see this pillar of fire
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  Speaker 1: that is there at night. I would think that would
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  Speaker 1: be both very frightening and very comforting in maybe equal measures.
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  Speaker 1: You know that the God who is bringing you out
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt is leading you to somewhere new. Now, later on,
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  Speaker 1: we'll read in this story here that sometimes the pillar
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  Speaker 1: of cloud wouldn't rise from the tabernacle, which will be
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  Speaker 1: built in a bit, and so that would mean they stay.
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  Speaker 1: And so they're literally being told today we go today,
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow we don't by this physical presence of God here
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  Speaker 1: in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
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  Speaker 1: And then Joseph, Remember Joseph was someone who who was
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  Speaker 1: given by God the ability to see the future, and
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  Speaker 1: he was able to predict through dreams the famine that
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  Speaker 1: was coming to Egypt. You could find this all at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the book of Genesis. And so he
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  Speaker 1: was raised up from a slave into the second in
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  Speaker 1: command in Egypt under Pharaoh. Well, when he is restored
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  Speaker 1: to his family, when they all come and they move
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  Speaker 1: into the land of Goshen, and they get fruitful and multiply,
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  Speaker 1: and they become the six hundred thousand men plus women
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  Speaker 1: and children now who are leaving Egypt. Joseph sees that
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  Speaker 1: the day will come where they become slaves and where
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  Speaker 1: they need to flee and seize that God will provide,
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  Speaker 1: and so he says, when that day comes, bring along
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  Speaker 1: my bones. I don't want to be buried forever in Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: And so they bring the bones of Joseph with them
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  Speaker 1: as they go into the Promised Land. The bones of
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  Speaker 1: their father Israel, as I recall there, already took back
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  Speaker 1: and buried in what would become the Promised Land. But
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  Speaker 1: Joseph is coming with them on this journey. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to end that there, because next week's chapter is going
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  Speaker 1: to be fairly eventful as the Pharaoh follows them on
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  Speaker 1: this trip. But if you have any questions, send an
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  Speaker 1: email to Chris two x at gmail dot com, or
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  Speaker 1: better yet, leave a comment on this episode at the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Study podcast dot com. And as always, thanks so
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  Speaker 1: much for listening. I want to take just a second
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  Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
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  Speaker 1: with us on this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio
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  Speaker 1: dot com, you'll find dozens of other faith centered podcasts
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