Redeeming the Firstborn

Exodus 13:13: "Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons."

One of the very first instructions that God gave to Moses and the Israelites when He delivered them from bondage in Egypt was to sacrifice each firstborn male of their livestock to the Lord as an offering of remembrance and thanksgiving. God wanted the Israelites to remember that His wrath passed over them because they were protected by a perfect (without blemish) lamb's blood that had been placed on the sides and tops of the door frames of their houses in Egypt (see Exodus 12). All of those who did not have a lamb's blood on the door frames saw God strike dead the firstborn of both man and livestock.

Now that God had brought deliverance to the Israelites, He wanted them to know that the firstborn of both man and animal now belonged to Him. These firstborn had been bought with a price . . . the price of the sacrificed lamb in Egypt. Now, these firstborn were to be sacrificed on an altar to the Lord.

It is very interesting that the firstborn male donkeys and the firstborn sons of man were mentioned as the exceptions to sacrifice. The donkey's exception most likely was due to the importance of the animal for transportation through the wilderness. For the firstborn man made in God's image (Genesis 9:6), God decreed that his life would be saved as well.

What is ironic are the similarities between the donkey and man. Both are selfish, obstinate, unclean beings that have to be broken to accomplish the will of their masters. Whereas the donkey is bridled into submission, we too must surrender to the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:29-30). We must renounce our obstinacy of disobedience to God and surrender to Him as Lord and Savior.

We can see the imagery of our salvation in the exception decree above. Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) has been offered as the payment for our sins. He is the One through whom we find deliverance from the bondage of sin. Still, we must submit ourselves to Him and renounce the obstinate rebellion that we have had against His Lordship. For those who choose to surrender to His yoke, the blessing of His substitutionary sacrifice brings us deliverance from the wrath of God. But for those who do not yield to Him as Lord, no redemption from the Lamb is provided. As just as with the unredeemed donkey that was taken aside and killed by the breaking of its neck, so too the unyielding, unregenerate one will find that God's wrath will break his outstretched neck of rebellion through judgment (e.g. eternal damnation).

This is why Psalm 75 is a good word of encouragement for all of us to surrender to the Lord and a word of warning for the defiant ones against the Lord: "Do not lift up your horns. Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak with outstretched neck . . . . I (God) will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up."