Exodus 13:16

16 and it hath been for a token on thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes, for by strength of hand hath Jehovah 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 hath been, when thy son asketh thee hereafter, saying, What [is] this? that thou hast said unto him, By strength of hand hath Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from a house of servants;
15 yea, it cometh to pass, when Pharaoh hath been pained to send us away, that Jehovah doth slay every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of man even unto the first-born of beast; therefore I am sacrificing to Jehovah all opening a womb who [are] males, and every first-born of my sons I ransom;
16 and it hath been for a token on thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes, for by strength of hand hath Jehovah brought us out of Egypt.'
17 And it cometh to pass in Pharaoh's sending the people away, that God hath not led them the way of the land of the Philistines, for it [is] near; for God said, `Lest the people repent in their seeing war, and have turned back towards Egypt;'
18 and God turneth round the people the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and by fifties have the sons of Israel gone up from the land of Egypt.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.