Exodus 13:16

16 So this [festival] will be [like] a mark on your hand and [like] a band on your forehead, because the LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt."

Exodus 13:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 13:16

And it shall be for a token upon thine head, and for frontlets
between thine eyes
These laws observed concerning the setting apart the firstlings of their beasts, the redemption of the firstborn of unclean ones, and of the firstborn of men, will bring the reason of it, the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and the preservation of the firstborn of Israel, as fresh to remembrance as any token upon the hand, put there to bring things to mind; and it will be as easily and as clearly discerned as anything upon a man's forehead may be seen by another: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt:
which is often mentioned, that it might be observed; it being the signs and wonders which the omnipotent hand of God wrought, especially the last, which worked upon Pharaoh, to let the people of Israel go; and their posterity, in all succeeding ages, would speak of this affair as if personally concerned in it, they being then in the loins of their ancestors, and represented by them, as well as they reaped and enjoyed all the benefits of that wonderful deliverance, the possession of the land of Canaan, and the blessings of it, as well as many other privileges both of a civil and religious kind. And so Maimonides F11 says,

``in every age a man is obliged to consider himself as if he in himself now went out of the bondage of Egypt, as it is said, "and he brought us forth from thence"''

FOOTNOTES:

F11 Hilchot Chametz Umetzah, c. 7. sect. 6.

Exodus 13:16 In-Context

14 "In the future when your children ask you what this means, tell them, 'The LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of slavery in Egypt.
15 When Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn male in Egypt--human and animal. This is why we sacrifice every firstborn male to the LORD and buy every firstborn son back from the LORD.'
16 So this [festival] will be [like] a mark on your hand and [like] a band on your forehead, because the LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt."
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn't lead them on the road through Philistine territory, although that was the shortest route. God said, "If they see that they have to fight a war, they may change their minds and go back to Egypt."
18 So God led the people around the other way, on the road through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were ready for battle when they left Egypt.
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