“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
2. Sanctify unto me all the first-born. This also refers to the First Commandment, because God asserts His right over the first-born, lest the recollection of their redemption should ever be lost. For thus were the Israelites admonished that they must honor that God by whose grace they had escaped in safety from the common destruction of Egypt, and, moreover, that they were rescued by...
Care is here taken to perpetuate the remembrance, I. Of the preservation of Israel's firstborn, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain. In memory of that distinguishing favour, and in gratitude for it, the firstborn, in all ages, were to be consecrated to God, as his peculiars (Exo 13:2), and to be redeemed, Exo 13:13.
Commenting on Exodus 13:1-10
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 Exo 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...