Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter 13. Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands the firstborn of men and of cattle to be offered to Him. Secondly, verse 17, God leads out the Hebrews not through Philistia, but by the way of the desert. The Hebrews carry with them the bones of Joseph. Thirdly, verse 21, the pillar of fire and cloud is described, which was the guide of the journey.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of beasts: for they are all mine. 3. And Moses said to the people: Remember this day, in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place: that you eat no leavened bread. 4. This day you go forth in the month of new corn. 5. And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers that he would give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, thou shalt celebrate this manner of sacred rites in this month. 6. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be the solemnity of the Lord. 7. Unleavened bread shall you eat seven days: there shall not be seen any thing leavened with thee, nor in all thy coasts. 8. And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt. 9. And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thy eyes: and that the law of the Lord be always in thy mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 10. Thou shalt keep such a worship at the set time from days to days. 11. And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, as he swore to thee and thy fathers, and shall have given it thee: 12. Thou shalt set apart all that openeth the womb for the Lord, and all that is firstborn of thy cattle: whatsoever thou shalt have of the male sex, thou shalt consecrate to the Lord. 13. The firstborn of an ass thou shalt change for a sheep: and if thou do not redeem it, thou shalt kill it. And every firstborn of men thou shalt redeem with a price. 14. And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What is this? thou shalt answer him: With a strong hand did the Lord bring us forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 15. For when Pharao was hardened, and would not let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beasts: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the womb of the male sex, and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. 16. And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a thing hung between thy eyes, for a remembrance: because the Lord hath brought us forth out of Egypt by a strong hand. 17. And when Pharao had sent out the people, the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, which is near: thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt. 18. But he led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. 19. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying: God shall visit you, carry out my bones from hence with you. 20. And they set forward from Socoth, and encamped in Etham, in the utmost coasts of the wilderness. 21. And the Lord went before them to shew the way, by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; that he might be the guide of their journey at both times. 22. Never did the pillar of the cloud fail by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people.
2. SANCTIFY UNTO ME EVERY FIRSTBORN,—as if to say: Separate from common use every firstborn, that it may be dedicated and offered to me. Note: God does not command that this be done at this time, when all were occupied in the departure, but that it be done afterwards, when opportune, namely when they shall possess the land of Chanaan, as is plain from verse 11; God subjoins, however, this law to the precept concerning the lamb, because, as the immolation of the lamb, so also the offering of the firstborn ought continually to renew for the Hebrews the memory of their deliverance from Egypt: for this God effected and brought about by the slaughter of the firstborn of all Egypt; since, therefore, God then slew the firstborn of Egypt to deliver the Hebrews, as His firstborn, thence, and because He then preserved untouched the firstborn of the Hebrews dwelling in Egypt, hence by this law He required the same to be offered to Him, and, as His own and preserved by Him, to be rendered to Him. Hence this offering of the lamb, and equally of the firstborn, are the first ceremonies of the old or Mosaic law.
EVERY FIRSTBORN THAT OPENETH THE WOMB,—that which, first unlocking the womb of its mother, comes forth by the natural way into this light, and which is the beginning of the mother’s generation. Hence Cyril of Jerusalem, homily On the Meeting of the Lord, denies that this applies to Christ: for Christ in being born did not unlock the womb of His mother, but, passing through the closed womb of His virgin mother, came forth into the light; and therefore He was not bound by this law, although of His own accord He subjected Himself to it and kept it. So Cyril and Pope Hormisdas, epistle 1, chap. 3, although Rupert, Abulensis and Jansenius teach the contrary, who think that to open the womb signifies nothing else than to be first born, and so that Christ also opened the womb of His mother. But the opening of the womb signifies more, as is plain from the terms. Thirdly, quite on the contrary, Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, Theophylact, Euthymius on Luke 2, think that by this law Christ alone is comprehended, because He alone was born of a virgin, and therefore alone in birth opened His mother’s womb, that is, came forth from it hitherto closed; for in other women the womb is opened first not in birth but in marital union before conception. But this sense is too subtle, and seems to overturn the letter. For it is commanded here to the Hebrews that each offer his firstborn to God: this law, therefore, does not regard Christ alone, but rather excludes Him.
I say, therefore, that “that openeth the womb” is added here to “firstborn”: first, that Christ may be excluded from this law; secondly, lest anyone should think that only the firstborn of the father were to be offered: for in cattle it is manifest that the firstborn of the mother, not of the father, ought to be regarded and offered: the same is so in men. Hence St. Augustine notes, Question 23, that firstborn is here called by the Septuagint prototokos from the first birth of the mother, but not protogonos from the first generation of the father. Here, conversely, Scripture, when it speaks of the eternal and uncreated generation of the Son from the Father, calls Him not prototokos but monogenes, that is, only-begotten. Wherefore by this law he was not a firstborn, if a father who was a virgin had married a widow already having children from elsewhere, and begotten his first son by her; for this first son of his would not have first opened the womb of the mother, since others had already come forth from it. On the other hand, he who had several wives ought by this law to offer to God the firstborn of each. Whence the Hebrew, the Chaldee and the Septuagint have, opening every womb; and Luke chap. 2, verse 23: “Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.” Hence also Christ, as the firstborn of His mother, was offered to God; although by this law He was not bound, as I said.
Again, the firstborn who opened the womb of the mother, to be consecrated to God, had to be a male, as is plain from verse 12, who was first born of her; for if a female had been first born of her, and then a male, that male was not reckoned the firstborn by this law, because he did not first open the womb of the mother, since it had already been opened by his sister, a female.