The Firstborn are Sanctified to God part 3

by John Thomas Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

part 3
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,... That is, of males, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, for those, and not females, were only either sacrificed or redeemed, see Exodus 13:12, and this sanctification of them to the Lord signifies the separation or devoting of them to the service of God; if the firstborn of clean creatures they were to be sacrificed, if unclean to be redeemed with a price, and so the firstborn of men because it was not lawful to sacrifice them; and the money for the redemption of them was given to the priests, the ministers of the Lord, and so to him; who these first, born were is further explained:
Whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast; that is, if a male; for, if a female, though it openeth the womb, was not reckoned a firstborn, because not to be offered; nor even a male after the birth of a female, because that openeth not the womb; and so if a man married a widow, and she had had children by her former husband, though she should bring him a son, which was his firstborn, yet not being her's, and not opening the womb, was not subject to this law; but if a man married several wives one after another, or together, who had never been married before, or had had no children; if each of them brought him a son at first birth, they were all of them firstborn, and to be sanctified to the Lord; but the Jews say , if a woman at her first birth brought forth a male and a female, the father was free from this law of the redemption of the firstborn, because the female might come forth first: this phrase, "among the children of Israel", shows that this law only belonged to them, and not to the Gentiles; wherefore the Jewish doctors say, if a man buys cattle of an Heathen, and sells to him, or is in partnership with him, and gives and takes of him, he is free from the law of the firstborn; for it is said "among the Israelites", and not among others: it is mine: all creatures, man and beast, are the Lord's by creation; but these firstborn peculiarly were his, and which he reserved to himself, to his use and service; and the people of Israel were under great obligation to devote them to him since he had spared all their firstborn, when all the firstborn of the Egyptians, both man and beast, were destroyed: this may denote the special and peculiar interest the Lord has in the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, through the special, particular, and eternal choice of them in Christ, and the redemption of them to him by the price of his blood; and who, on account both of their election of God, and redemption by Christ, are laid under obligation to give up themselves to God, a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice, which is but their reasonable service.
Geneva Study Bible
Kiel 20:26†. The law is cited (but not verbally) in Luke 2:23.


Pulpit Commentary
Verse 2. - Sanctify unto me. Not by any festive ceremony, but by regarding it as "set apart unto the Lord" (verse 12) - made over to him, that is, as his own. All the firstborns. The Hebrew word used is masculine and, by its moral force, limits the command to the firstborn males, who alone had been in danger from the tenth plague. Whatever openeth the womb. This clause added definiteness, showing that "firstborn" did not contain any reference to any later Birth and that it shall be mine." I claim it. Exodus 13:2
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
Every firstborn of man and beast was to be sanctified to Jehovah, i.e., given up to Him for His service. As the expression, "all the firstborn," applied to both man and beast, the explanation is added, "everything that opens the womb among the Israelites, of man and beast." כּל־רחם פּטר for רחם כּל־פּטת (Exodus 13:12): כּל is placed like an adjective after the noun, as in Numbers 8:16, כּל בּכור for בּכור־כּל, διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν for πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν (Exodus 13:12, lxx). הוּא לי: "it is Mine," it belongs to Me. This right to the first-born was not founded upon the fact that "Jehovah was the Lord and Creator of all things, and as every created object owed its life to Him, to Him should its life be entirely devoted," as Kurtz maintains, though without scriptural proof; but in Numbers 3:13 and Numbers 8:17 the ground of the claim is expressly mentioned, viz., that on the day when Jehovah smote all the firstborn of Egypt, He sanctified to Himself all the first-born of the Israelites, both of man and beast. Hence the sanctification of the firstborn rested not upon the deliverance of the first-born sons from the stroke of the destroyer through the atoning blood of the paschal lamb but upon the fact that God sanctified them for Himself at that time and therefore delivered them. However, Jehovah sanctified the firstborn of Israel to Himself by adopting Israel as His first-born son (Exodus 4:22) or as His possession. Because Israel had been chosen as the nation of Jehovah, its firstborn of man and beast were spared, and for that reason, they were henceforth to be sanctified to Jehovah. In what way is more clearly defined in Numbers 8:12?