Exodus 13:16

16 "So 1it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead *, for with a powerful hand the LORD brought 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 "And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is this?' then you shall say to him, 'With a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
15 'It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore , I sacrifice to the LORD the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.'
16 "So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead , for with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."
17 Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt."
18 Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 13:9; Deuteronomy 6:8

Footnotes 4

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