1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
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. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 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. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. 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. You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 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 with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
Comment: A week ago when we were going through Exodus the people had just been set free from slavery in Egypt by God. Unforgettably, the remarkable sign of killing the first born sons of all the non Israelis and protecting the Israelis was given. The Israelis were protected from this great tragedy by them painting the blood of a lamb on the top and sides of their door posts. It is appropriate that as a frequent reminder of that release, the firstborn of all Israel humans and animals should be consecrated to the Lord!
Here the land to which they are to go is described as flowing with milk and honey. When centuries later, ultimately the Jews were driven from the land and became under Arab control it was a barren ‘desert’. It is described as being like that by many authorities! When the Jews began to go back there in the mid 1900’s it was like that. By God’s goodness today it is an oasis in the surrounding desert! The feast which they ate to protect them is to be replicated year by year. The Passover is kept annually in Israel, although it appears to many without a real remembrance of its true meaning.
Prayer: Please aid me so that my worship of You is not form or habit but, in Spirit and Truth!
As I read it! 