Keluaran 12:25-27

12:25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe ¹  this ceremony. 12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²  – 12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice ³  of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck ⁴  Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low ⁵  to the ground,

Keluaran 13:8-9

13:8 You are to tell your son ⁶  on that day, ⁷  ‘It is ⁸  because of what ⁹  the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 13:9 ¹⁰  It ¹¹  will be a sign ¹²  for you on your hand and a memorial ¹³  on your forehead, ¹⁴  so that the law of the Lord may be ¹⁵  in your mouth, ¹⁶  for ¹⁷  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

Keluaran 13:14-16

13:14 ¹⁸ In the future, ¹⁹  when your son asks you ²⁰  ‘What is this?’ ²¹  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ²²  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ²³  13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused ²⁴  to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. ²⁵  That is why I am sacrificing ²⁶  to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’ 13:16 It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets ²⁷  on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” ²⁸ 

[12:25]  ¹ tn The verb used here and at the beginning of v. 24 is שָׁמַר (shamar); it can be translated “watch, keep, protect,” but in this context the point is to “observe” the religious customs and practices set forth in these instructions.

[12:26]  ² tn Heb “what is this service to you?”

[12:27]  ³ sn This expression “the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover” occurs only here. The word זֶבַח (zevakh) means “slaughtering” and so a blood sacrifice. The fact that this word is used in Lev 3 for the peace offering has linked the Passover as a kind of peace offering, and both the Passover and the peace offerings were eaten as communal meals.

[12:27]  ⁴ tn The verb means “to strike, smite, plague”; it is the same verb that has been used throughout this section (נָגַף, nagaf). Here the construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause.

[12:27]  ⁵ tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “and the people bowed down and they worshiped.” The words are synonymous, and so one is taken as the adverb for the other.

[13:8]  ⁶ tn The form is the Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence forward: “and you will declare to your son.”

[13:8]  sn A very important part of the teaching here is the manner in which the memory of the deliverance will be retained in Israel – they were to teach their children the reasons for the feast, as a binding law forever. This will remind the nation of its duties to Yahweh in gratitude for the great deliverance.

[13:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “day, saying.” “Tell…saying” is redundant, so “saying” has not been included in the translation here.

[13:8]  ⁸ tn “it is” has been supplied.

[13:8]  ⁹ tn The text uses זֶה (zeh), which Gesenius classifies as the use of the pronoun to introduce a relative clause after the preposition (GKC 447 §138.h) – but he thinks the form is corrupt. B. S. Childs, however, sees no reason to posit a corruption in this form (Exodus [OTL], 184).

[13:9]  ¹⁰ sn This passage has, of course, been taken literally by many devout Jews, and portions of the text have been encased in phylacteries and bound on the arm and forehead. B. Jacob (Exodus, 368), weighing the pros and cons of the literal or the figurative meaning, says that those who took it literally should not be looked down on for their symbolic work. In many cases, he continues, it is the spirit that kills and the letter makes alive – because people who argue against a literal usage do so to excuse lack of action. This is a rather interesting twist in the discussion. The point of the teaching was obviously meant to keep the Law of Yahweh in the minds of the people, to remind them of their duties.

[13:9]  ¹¹ tn That is, this ceremony.

[13:9]  ¹² tn Heb “for a sign.”

[13:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “for a memorial.”

[13:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “between your eyes” (KJV and ASV both similar); the same expression occurs in v. 16.

[13:9]  sn That these festivals and consecrations were to be signs and memorials is akin to the expressions used in the book of Proverbs (Prov 3:3, “bind them around your neck…write them on your heart”). The people were to use the festivals as outward and visible tokens to remind them to obey what the Law required.

[13:9]  ¹⁵ tn The purpose of using this ceremony as a sign and a memorial is that the Law might be in their mouth. The imperfect tense, then, receives the classification of final imperfect in the purpose clause.

[13:9]  ¹⁶ sn “Mouth” is a metonymy of cause; the point is that they should be ever talking about the Law as their guide as they go about their duties (see Deut 6:7; 11:19; Josh 1:8).

[13:9]  ¹⁷ tn This causal clause gives the reason for what has just been instructed. Because Yahweh delivered them from bondage, he has the strongest claims on their life.

[13:14]  ¹⁸ sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.

[13:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “tomorrow.”

[13:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”

[13:14]  ²¹ tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”

[13:14]  ²² tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.

[13:14]  ²³ tn Heb “house of slaves.”

[13:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “dealt hardly in letting us go” or “made it hard to let us go” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). The verb is the simple Hiphil perfect הִקְשָׁה (hiqshah, “he made hard”); the infinitive construct לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ (lÿshallÿkhenu, “to release us”) could be taken epexegetically, meaning “he made releasing us hard.” But the infinitive more likely gives the purpose or the result after the verb “hardened himself.” The verb is figurative for “be stubborn” or “stubbornly refuse.”

[13:15]  ²⁵ tn The text uses “man” and “beast.”

[13:15]  ²⁶ tn The form is the active participle.

[13:16]  ²⁷ tn The word is טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “frontlets”). The etymology is uncertain, but the word denotes a sign or an object placed on the forehead (see m. Shabbat 6:1). The Gemara interprets it as a band that goes from ear to ear. In the Targum to 2 Sam 1:10 it is an armlet worn by Saul (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). These bands may have resembled the Egyptian practice of wearing as amulets “forms of words written on folds of papyrus tightly rolled up and sewn in linen” (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:384).

[13:16]  ²⁸ sn The pattern of the passage now emerges more clearly; it concerns the grateful debt of the redeemed. In the first part eating the unleavened bread recalls the night of deliverance in Egypt, and it calls for purity. In the second part the dedication of the firstborn was an acknowledgment of the deliverance of the firstborn from bondage. They were to remember the deliverance and choose purity; they were to remember the deliverance and choose dedication. The NT will also say, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, therefore, glorify God” (1 Cor 6:20). Here too the truths of God’s great redemption must be learned well and retained well from generation to generation.