SUBSTITUTING THE FIRSTBORNS (EX.13)
Then YAHUSHA said to Moses, “Dedicate and set-aside every firstborn among Yisharal to Me. The firstborn child and offspring to be born of both man and beast now belongs to Me.”
FIRSTBORNS IN SCRIPTURE ALWAYS REFER TO MALES. LATER THE LEVITE TRIBE (SONS OF LEVI) WOULD REPLACE THESE FIRSTBORNS AS A ROUNDABOUT SUBSTITUTE AND A PRIESTHOOD SET-APART TO SERVE YAHUSHA AND HIS TABERNACLE.
So Moses said to the people, “Remember this day forever throughout all your generations for it’s the day that you finally left Egypt, out of the torture of your slavery. Today Yahuah your Alahim has brought you out by the power of His mighty hand upon you. And don’t forget to eat no food containing leaven (yeast). On this day in early spring, in the month of Abib (March/April), you have been set free by Yahuah and you must celebrate this event at this appointed time every year, even after Yahuah brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Kittites, Amorites, Kuis and Jebusites, which He swore to your ancestors that He would give you, a land owing with milk and honey. For seven days the bread you eat must not have leaven in it, then on the seventh day, we celebrate a feast to Yahuah. Eat bread without yeast during those seven days. In fact, there must be no leavened bread or any yeast at all found within the borders of your land during this time.
And you must explain to your children that you are observing this festival because of what Yahuah did for you when you left Egypt. And it shall be a sign, seen in the way you live, in your behavior and a constant reminder to you so that the Instructions of Yahuah stay guarded on your mind and in your mouth, for with a strong hand your deliverer Yahuah has brought you out of Egypt. So you shall guard these instructions at its appointed time from year to year.
And this is what you must do when Yahuah fulfills the promise He swore to you and to your fathers before you. When He gives you the land where the Canaanites now live, YOU MUST HAND OVER ALL THE FIRSTBORN SONS AND FIRSTBORN MALE ANIMALS TO HIM, FOR THEY NOW OFFICIALLY BELONG TO YAHUAH. A firstborn donkey may be bought back from Yahuah by ransoming a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, YOU MUST BUY BACK EVERY FIRSTBORN SON.
And in the future, when your children ask, ‘What does all this mean?’ You will tell them, ‘With the power of His mighty hand, Yahuah brought us out of Egypt, that hideous place of our slavery and bondage. The wicked Pharaoh’s rock-hard heart stubbornly refused to let us go, so Yahuah killed all the rstborn males throughout all the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to Yahuah, except the rstborn sons which are always bought back. And this feast is to be sign and a reminder through all our lifestyles and behavior, that the power of Yahuah’s mighty hand brought us all out of Egypt.”
THE DETOUR
When the Pharaoh finally let Yisharal go, YAHUSHA didn’t lead them along the main pathway that runs through Philistine territory (even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land) for YAHUSHA said, “If the people are instantly faced with a battle, they might freak out, change their minds and run back to Egypt.”
So He led the nation of Yisharal around through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the children of Yisharal left Egypt fully armed from their plundering of Egypt and travelled in military formation, tribe by tribe, like an army ready for battle. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Yisharal swear to do this, saying, “Yahuah will certainly come to help you, and when He does, please take my body and bury it in the promised land with my fathers”.
So Yisharal left Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness, and YAHUSHA went before them, guiding and sheltering them from the heat of the day with a great column of cloud, and He provided light and warmth at night with a mammoth pillar of fire, and this allowed them to travel through both day and night.
REMEMBER WHEN YAHUSHA RAISED UP HIS ETERNAL BLOOD-COVENANT WITH AN UNCIRCUMCISED ABRAM? YAHUSHA MOVED THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE ANIMALS HIMSELF, APPEARING AS A SMOKING FURNACE AND A LAMP OF FIRE, CUTTING THE COVENANT AND INFORMING ABRAM THAT HIS DESCENDANTS WOULD BE SLAVES IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS BUT THAT HE WOULD BRING THEM BACK HOME TO HIS PROMISED LAND. AND HERE WE SEE THE BEGINNING OF YAHUSHA’S FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROMISE HE MADE WITH ABRAM, APPEARING AND LEADING THEM HIMSELF AS SMOKE AND FIRE . . . LEADING A MIXED MULTITUDE (GUYIM/ NATIONS) JUST AS ABRAM WAS BEFORE HIS CIRCUMCISION. THAT IS WHY THIS PROMISE WAS MADE WITH ABRAM AND NOT ABRAHAM, FOR THERE WOULD BE A MIXED MULTITUDE WHO WOULD GRAFT INTO THE BLOOD COVENANT PROMISES.
And YAHUSHA did not remove the column of cloud or pillar of fire from in front of His people, in order to reassure them and remind them of His deliverance and protection. And He spoke to Moses: “Tell Yisharal to camp by Pi Hakiroth between Migdol and the sea, along the shore, across from Baal-Zephon. Then the Pharaoh will think that Yisharal is confused and trapped in the wilderness. And once again I will harden the Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. But be encouraged my son, for I have planned all this to display My power and esteem through the Pharaoh and his whole army. After this last event, the Egyptians will know without a shadow of a doubt that I am the only, one true living Alahim Yahuah!”
So Yisharal camped there as they were told.