And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.
God claims the firstborn by right of protection, as He claimed them when He spared them in Egypt. We must present what is dearest to us to Him first, and receive it back only by His mercy; the firstborn are the joy of families, yet they belong to God before they belong to us. By this dedication we show that we love Him better than we love ourselves.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 13:1-10
And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites,.... Though the whole land was called the land of Canaan, yet there was one tribe or nation of them particularly so called as here, distinct from those that follow: and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites; there were seven nations in all, but two...
That day gave Israel a national existence and freedom worth remembering with devout gratitude forever. God wrung their liberty from Egypt's tyrant by fearful judgment; it was never merely granted, but taken by His strength of hand. The haste of their deliverance left no time for leavened bread.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 13:3-10