Scripture Daily

Context No. 4058 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 13:11-16: in context

11“It shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and will give it to you, 12that you shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the womb, and every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have. The males shall be the LORD’s. 13Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons. 14It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. 15When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of livestock. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16It shall be for a sign on your hand, and for symbols between your eyes; for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

As God gives instructions about consecrating the firstborn, he builds in something for the future: when your son asks you in time to come, what does this mean? you shall tell him the story, how by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The rituals were designed to prompt the children's questions, and the parents' answers were to pass on the story of God's redemption.

There is a beautiful pattern here for handing down faith across generations. God intended the practices of his people to raise questions in the children, what is this? why do we do this? and those questions were opportunities for the parents to tell the story of what God had done. Faith was to be passed on not by mere command but through the retelling of God's saving acts, from one generation to the next. The children's natural questions are openings, invitations to tell them the story of God's grace and redemption, both in the history of his people and in our own lives. When a child asks what this means, it is an opportunity to say, let me tell you what God has done.

When those coming after me ask what my faith means and why, do I seize the opportunity to tell them the story of God's redemption, both in Scripture and in my own life, passing the faith on to the next generation?

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