Exodus 13:13

13 Every firstborn from a donkey, you are to redeem with a lamb; but if you choose not to redeem it, you must break its neck. But from people, you are to redeem every firstborn son.

Exodus 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.

Exodus 13:13 In-Context

11 When ADONAI brings you into the land of the Kena'ani, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,

12 you are to set apart for ADONAI everything that is first from the womb. Every firstborn male animal will belong to ADONAI.

13 Every firstborn from a donkey, you are to redeem with a lamb; but if you choose not to redeem it, you must break its neck. But from people, you are to redeem every firstborn son.

14 When, at some future time, your son asks you, 'What is this?' then say to him, 'With a strong hand ADONAI brought us out of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.

15 When Pharaoh was unwilling to let us go, ADONAI killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of animals. This is why I sacrifice to ADONAI any male that is first from the womb of an animal, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.'