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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:3-11
Remember this day. The exhortation in these verses may very well be applied to Christians. They are to remember the fact add the might of their redemption. They are to commemorate it by observance of appointed ordinance…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:3-16
How to declare God's salvation. I. BY THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIS MERCIES. 1. "Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt." 2. The celebration of the Passover awoke inquiry among those who had not witnessed God's deed…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:4
In the month Abib. The name of the month had not been previously mentioned. Some have derived it from the Egyptian Epiphi. As, however, ab means "greenness" in Hebrew, and abib "green ears of corn," while ibba meant "fr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:5
The land of the Canaanites, etc. Compare Exodus 3:8, Exodus 3:17. The six nations of these passages are reduced here to five by the omission of the Perizzites, one of the less important tribes. Which he sware unto thy f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:6
Seven days. Compare Exodus 12:15. In the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. The feast lasted during the whole of the seven days, but the first day and the last were to be kept especially holy. (See Exodus 12:16;…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:7
Here again the injunctions are mere repetitious of commands already given in Exodus 12:1-51. (See Exodus 12:15 and Exodus 12:19.) Repetition was no doubt had recourse to in order to deepen the impression.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:8
And thou shalt shew thy son. Repeated from Exodus 12:26, Exodus 12:27.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:9
And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes. There can be no doubt that the Jewish system of tephillin, or "phylacteries," grew mainly out of this passage, and was intended…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:10
Remember. Utmost pains taken that the day should be honoured and remembered. I. REASON OF OBSERVANCE. It commemorated: 1. A great judgment. Nine plagues had passed; the members of each successive trial following one ano…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:10
This ordinance. The ordinance of unleavened bread. See Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:24.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:12
Set apart. The expression is especially appropriate to the case of first-born animals, which would have to be separated off from the rest of the flock, or of the herd, and "put aside" for Jehovah, so as not to be mixed…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:13
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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:14
When thy son asketh thee. Compare Exodus 12:26, and the comment ad loc.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:15
When Pharaoh would hardly let us go. Bather, "when Pharaoh hardened himself against letting us go." At his last interview with Moses, Pharaoh had absolutely refused to let them go with their cattle (Exodus 10:24-27), an…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:16
A sign … frontlets. See the comment on Exodus 13:9. It is the custom among the Jews to write this entire passage—Exodus 13:1-16—on two of the four strips of parchment contained in the tephillin. The others have inscribe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:17-22
Fire and cloud. "And the Lord went before them," etc. (Exodus 13:21). Israel might have been in Canaan within ten days. Reason why not is given Exodus 13:17. This however, not a reason for the forty years wandering: but…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:17-20
EXPOSITION THE DIRECTION OF THE JOURNEY.—The direct road from Tanis to Palestine—a road much frequented under the nineteenth dynasty—lay along the coast of the Mediterranean, and conducted to Philistia. If we look at th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:17
Although that was near. Rather "because it was near" ( ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἧν, LXX.)—i.e.; "God did not, because it was near, lead them this way, but a longer one." Lest peradveature the people repeat when they see war. The…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:17-21
The way of the wilderness by the Red Sea. The direct road to Canaan lay through the land of the Philistines. God, however, did not lead the people by this way, but round by the Red Sea. "For God said, Lest peradventure…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:17-22
Israel's journey the emblem of the Christian's pilgrimage. I. GOD'S TENDER CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. 1. Trials and temptations are proportioned to their ability to-bear them. "He led them not through the way of the land of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:18
God led the people about. Or "led the people a circuit," i.e; made them take a circuitous route to Canaan, the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea—i.e; by the southern wilderness, or what is now called "the wilderness…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:18-21
It is the method of the Divine action to accomplish ends by circuitous means. God "led the Israelites about." Instead of conducting them straight from Tanis to Canaan in the course of six or seven days, he carried them…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:19
It is a Christian duty to carry with us on the path of life the bones of our dead. Joseph had sworn the Israelites to carry his bones with them out of Egypt at their departure; and they were thus in a special way bound…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:19
Moses took the bones of Joseph—i.e; his body, which had been embalmed, and deposited in a mummy case (Genesis 50:26), most probably at Tanis, which was the capital of the Shepherd kings, no less than of Menephthah. He h…