milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. 6. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. 7. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days: and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee; neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. 8. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. 9. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes; that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. 10. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.
Care is here taken to perpetuate the remembrance,
I. Of the preservation of Israel's first-born, when the first-born of the Egyptians were slain. In memory of that distinguishing favour, and in gratitude for it, the first-born, in all ages, were to be consecrated to God, as his peculiars, (v. 2.) and to be redeemed, v. 13. God, who, by the right of creation, is Proprietor and Sovereign of all the creatures, here lays claim in particular to the first-born of the Israelites, by right of protection; Sanctify to me all the first-born. The parents were not to look upon themselves as interested in their first-born, till they had first solemnly presented them to God, recognized his title to them, and received them back, at a certain rate, from him again. Note, 1. That which is, by special distinguishing mercy, spared to us, should be, in a peculiar manner, dedicated to God's honour; at least, some grateful acknowledgment, in works of piety and charity, should be made, when our lives have been given us for a prey, or the lives of our children. 2. God, who is the First and Best, should have the first and best, and to him we should resign that which is most dear to us, and most valuable. The first-born were the joy and hope of their families; Therefore they shall be mine, says God. By this it will appear that we love God best, (as we ought,) if we are willing to part with that to him, which we love best in this world. 3. It is the church of the first-born, that is sanctified to God, Heb. 12. 23. Christ is the First-born among many brethren; (Rom. 8. 29.) and by virtue of their union with him, all that are born again, and born from above, are accounted as first-born. There is an excellency of dignity and power belonging to them; and, if children, then heirs.
II. The remembrance of their coming out of Egypt must also be perpetuated; (v. 3.) "Remember this day. Remember it by a good token, as the most remarkable day of your lives, the birth-day of your nation, or the day of its coming of age, to be no longer under the rod." Thus the day of Christ's resurrection is to be remembered, for in it we were raised up with Christ out of death's house of bondage. The scripture tells us not expressly, what day of the year Christ rose, (as Moses told the Israelites what day of the year they were brought out of Egypt, that they might remember it yearly) but very particularly, what day of the week it was; plainly intimating, that, as the more valuable deliverance, and of greater importance, it should be remembered weekly. Remember it, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out. Note, The more of God and his power appears in any deliverance, the more memorable it is. Now, that it might be remembered,
1. They must be sure to keep the feast of unleavened bread, v. 5..7. It was not enough that they remembered it, but they must celebrate the memorial of it in that way which God had appointed, and use the instituted means of preserving the remembrance of it. So, under the gospel, we must not only remember Christ, but do this in remembrance of him. Observe how strict the prohibition of leaven is; (v. 7.) not only, no leaven must be eaten, but none must be seen, no not in all their quarters. Accordingly, the Jews' usage was, before the feast of the passover, to cast all the leavened bread out of their houses: they either burnt it, or buried it, or broke it small, and scattered it in the wind; they searched diligently with lighted candles in all the corners of their houses, lest any leaven should remain. The care and strictness enjoined in this matter were designed, (1.) To make the feast the more solemn, and consequently the more taken notice of by their children, who would ask, "Why is so much ado made?" (2.) To teach us how solicitous we should be to put away from us all sin, 1 Cor. 5. 7.
2. They must instruct their children in the meaning of it, and relate to them the story of their deliverance out of Egypt, v. 8. Note, (1.) Care must be taken betimes to instruct children in the knowledge of God. Here is an ancient law for catechising. (2.) It is particularly of great use to acquaint children betimes with the stones of the scripture, and to make them familiar to them. (3.) It is a debt we owe to the honour of God, and to the benefit of our children's souls, to tell them of the great works God has done for his church, both those which we have seen with our eyes done in our day, and which we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us: Thou shalt show thy son in that day, the day of the feast, these things. When they were celebrating the ordinance, they must explain it. Every thing is beautiful in its season. The passover is appointed for a sign, and for a memorial, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. Note, We must retain the remembrance of God's works, that we may remain under the influence of God's law. And those that have God's law in their heart, should have it in their mouth, and be often speaking of it, the more to affect themselves, and to instruct others.
11. And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, 12. That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord's. 13. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the first-born of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. 14. And it shall be, when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the
