Êxodo 13:13

13 Mas todo primogênito de jumenta resgatarás com um cordeiro; e, se o não quiseres resgatar, quebrar-lhe-ás a cerviz:; e todo primogênito do homem entre teus filhos resgatarás.

Êxodo 13:13 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 13:13

And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb,
&c.] Which was given to the priest for it; and according to the Jewish canon ^F6, 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 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 ^F7, 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Misn. Becorot, sect. 1. sect. 5.
F7 lbid. sect. 7. Maimon & Bartenora in ib.

Êxodo 13:13 In-Context

11 Também quando o Senhor te houver introduzido na terra dos cananeus, como jurou a ti e a teus pais, quando ta houver dado,

12 separarás para o Senhor tudo o que abrir a madre, até mesmo todo primogênito dos teus animais; os machos serão do Senhor.

13 Mas todo primogênito de jumenta resgatarás com um cordeiro; e, se o não quiseres resgatar, quebrar-lhe-ás a cerviz:; e todo primogênito do homem entre teus filhos resgatarás.

14 E quando teu filho te perguntar no futuro, dizendo: Que é isto? responder-lhe-ás: O Senhor, com mão forte, nos tirou do Egito, da casa da servidão.

15 Porque sucedeu que, endurecendo-se Faraó, para não nos deixar ir, o Senhor matou todos os primogênitos na terra do Egito, tanto os primogênitos dos homens como os primogênitos dos animais; por isso eu sacrifico ao Senhor todos os primogênitos, sendo machos; mas a todo primogênito de meus filhos eu resgato.