1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2  Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, [ Amongst the ancient Hebrews, the firstborn was also consecrated or dedicated to the service of God. This is to say that the firstborn righteous son belonged to God his life was to be a life of complete consecration dedication or devotion to God in other words upon his father’s death and by right of birth the firstborn righteous son inherited his father’s role as the civil(temporal) and spiritual leader of the people. ] whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.

3 ¶ And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, [ The results of the Exodus and the results of the Passover. Number one, Israel is delivered from death and delivered from Egyptians, the bondage of the Egyptian leaders, largely because of the last plague, Pharaoh's sacrifice, if you will, of the firstborn males. And again, we are delivered from all different kinds of bondage as a result of our heavenly Father's sacrifice of his firstborn. It's kind of what the Lord is saying here is pass this down, pass this story down to your children. We have an obligation to tell our children, grandchildren, even great- grandchildren if we see them, what the Lord has done for us.] in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.

5 ¶ And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with 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 shew 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, [ Special clothing that are markers or symbols of the covenant and markers or symbols of the great and mighty acts of God in not only the lives of the Israelites then but Israelites later on. And thus by extension, the great things that God has done for us in our lives. There are actually three words that are used to describe the same thing in verses 9 and 16. The Hebrew word is totafot, the Aramaic word is tefillin, and the Greek word is phylacteries. And these are small boxes that have leather straps attached to them and they're fastened to the forehead and to the left arm, the arm that's closest to the heart. What's in these little boxes are very carefully, precisely written passages of scripture. They have to be written very small because the boxes are only about an inch or an inch and a half square. And what are the passages that are contained in these phylacteries? Exodus 13:1-10, so where we're at right now, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the Sh'ma, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy chapter 11. So two passages from Exodus. Exodus 13:1-10, Exodus 13:11-16. They're broken, they're separated into two separate passages. So four passages of scripture in these little phylacteries or in these boxes and they all have to do with the mighty acts of God, the greatness of God, and how we must remember and teach that to our children, pretty significant. See also verse 16. ] 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.

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 firstborn 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 LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

16 And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, a [ Notice where the token is placed? The hand. ] and for frontlets between thine eyes: [ Special clothing that are markers or symbols of the covenant and markers or symbols of the great and mighty acts of God in not only the lives of the Israelites then but Israelites later on. And thus by extension, the great things that God has done for us in our lives. There are actually three words that are used to describe the same thing in verses 9 and 16. The Hebrew word is totafot, the Aramaic word is tefillin, and the Greek word is phylacteries. And these are small boxes that have leather straps attached to them and they're fastened to the forehead and to the left arm, the arm that's closest to the heart. What's in these little boxes are very carefully, precisely written passages of scripture. They have to be written very small because the boxes are only about an inch or an inch and a half square. And what are the passages that are contained in these phylacteries? Exodus 13:1-10, so where we're at right now, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the Sh'ma, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy chapter 11. So two passages from Exodus. Exodus 13:1-10, Exodus 13:11-16. They're broken, they're separated into two separate passages. So four passages of scripture in these little phylacteries or in these boxes and they all have to do with the mighty acts of God, the greatness of God, and how we must remember and teach that to our children, pretty significant. See also verse 9. ] for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.

17 ¶ And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: [ sometimes God takes us on a coarse that is maybe not the easiest one. He does this not to punish us; although we may think that is what he is doning ofr our previous sins maybe. But no as we see here he does it to protect us, to allow us time to build trust in him. That takes time, and if we do not develop trust in him then when things get tough again we will return to our old ways. I think this is what God is trying to say here. I did not take you one the easy path because you would have seen the armies of the Philistines and gone back. I need you to move forward if I am going to bring you closer to me. "Keep going. Keep going. The Lord's going to help you cross the Red Sea. He's going to get you to where he wants you to be, if you will trust him. He'll guide you. Let the old go, become new, let the new take hold. ]

18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: [ A special route for the Exodus is outlined. Notice that the Lord does not take the Israelites to the land of promise by way of the Philistines, the coastal highway, because it's too dangerous. He has them go by way of the Red Sea or what's in Hebrew called the Yam Suph, the Reed Sea. Even though it's easier to go the other way, the Lord wants to protect his people, and there's got to be a life's lesson in that. God guides us away from things that we may not be able to handle. And if we listen to him, then we can enjoy his blessings. If we don't listen to him, then we have no promise. I'm weak enough that I don't need to not heed the Lord and step into places or circumstances where I frankly don't have the ability to resist. I think we see that as an underlying theme here. I have a real appreciation for the Exodus story. It increases, I think, our appreciation for Moses as well as for Jesus Christ. ] and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

19  And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: f [ When the Israelites left Egypt in the middle of the chaos of the plagues, they didn't just grab their dough and their gold. They went to the garden of the old Syrian palace, opened the pyramid tomb of their ancestor, and honored their oath. Then they carried the bones of the dreamer Joseph out of Egypt and took them home to the promised land. This tomb has been found in TELL EL DABA. This is where the investigation moves from linguistics to hard evidence, specifically at the archaeological site of "TELL EL DABA", the ancient city of Avaris, capital of the Hyksos. For years, this site was just a mound of dirt in the delta. But starting in the 1960s, the Austrian Archaeological Institute, led by Manfred Beak, began to dig. It's important to note that Bitak is a secular archaeologist, not trying to prove the Bible. He's simply recording what he finds in the ground, which is the best type of archaeologist in my opinion. What he found in Stratum D2, the layer dating to the late 12th and early 13th dynasty, shouldn't exist in Egypt, at least not according to the official story. He uncovered the foundations of a massive residential complex, but it wasn't an Egyptian house. It was a palace built in the style of Assyrian Mitel Sal. It's the middle house style. This is the kind of mansion you would find in a Canaan or Syrian or northern Mesopotamian area. A Semitic architectural design planted right in the middle of the Egyptian delta. And who lives in a house like that? Well, it belonged to a high-ranking official who was incredibly wealthy and powerful yet refused to fully assimilate. He didn't want to live like an Egyptian noble. He wanted to live like a Hebrew patriarch. He was a man who walked into the halls of Pharaoh, but when he went home at night, he wanted to feel like he was back in his hill country of Canaan. But the house isn't the only thing that matches the Bible. It's the backyard, too. In the garden behind this massive villa, archaeologists found a private family cemetery containing exactly 12 main tombs arranged around the central courtyard. Now, stop and think about that for a moment. Who is the famous Hebrew patriarch with 12 sons? It's Jacob. The archaeology shows us a massive Semitic clan living in the best land of Egypt governed by a single family of 12 leaders. Among these 12 tombs, however, one was different. 11 of them were standard monumental graves. But the 12th was a small pyramid tomb. In the Middle Kingdom, you don't give a pyramid tomb to a foreigner or a shepherd. You give that to a pharaoh or a queen. This is a royal honor reserved for someone with the highest status in the land. Inside that tomb chapel in TELL EL DABA, they found the fragments of a colossal limestone statue. Although it had been smashed in antiquity by someone wanting to erase this man's memory, enough of the fragments remained for archaeologists to reconstruct the figure. The statue depicts a man sitting on a throne with three distinct features. First, his skin is pale yellow. the specific Egyptian art code for Asiatics or Semites as opposed to the reddish brown Egyptians. Second, his hair is styled in a massive red mushroom qua, a distinctively non-Egyptian style typical of the northern Semitic tribes. Third, resting against his shoulder in his right hand is a throw stick, not a scepter or a weapon of war, but the tool of a shepherd used to guide sheep. We're looking at a Semitic ruler living in a Syrian palace in the Delta, surrounded by 12 family tombs, buried with royal honors, and holding a shepherd's staff. But the detail that seals it is the paint. Faint traces of paint cling to the statue's shoulder revealed that he wasn't wearing white linen, which would have been typical for royals. He was wearing a striped multicolored coat of black, red, white, and blue. We're looking at the face of Joseph here. We are looking at the Shallit. But the mystery doesn't end with the statue. It ends with the body. When the archaeologists opened the burial chamber beneath the pyramid, they expected to find a mummy, gold, and maybe some jewelry. Instead, the tomb was empty. You might think it was grave robbers, which is a fair guess in Egypt. But grave robbers are predictable. They take the gold and leave the bones because bones are worthless. In fact, they usually trashed the mummy looking for amulets. In this tomb, it was the opposite. There was no gold left. Sure, but there was no bones either. The sarcophagus was clean. Why would a thief steal a skeleton? Well, they wouldn't is the truth. But a family would. Turn to Exodus 13:1 19. ] for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

20 ¶ And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.

21 And the ^aLORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.