Daily Lectionary | Exodus 13 & Matthew 15:29-16:12

Exodus 13

Summary

Israel is God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). So they are to remember “Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine” (Ex. 13:2). The LORD will bring his firstborn child into the land of promise, in which place Israel shall set apart the firstborn. Every male firstborn should be redeemed by some sort of sacrificial offering. This all recalls the Passover when the Lord redeemed his firstborn Son with a sacrificial offering. This consecraton and redemption of the firstborn is meant to keep the Exodus before Israel; when Israel’s children ask about the rite they are to explain the Lord’s strong hand in redeeming them out of Egypt. 

In between the Law of the Firstborn, Moses calls the people toe remember the day of the exodus with the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. For seven days they are to eat unleavened bread to remember the haste with which they were rescued from Egypt and on the seventh day they are to hold feast. This feast “shall be s ign on your hand as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth” (Ex. 13:9). 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Consecration of the Firstborn, along with the Passover, will all serve as memorial signs for Israel to recall the Lord’s action by his mighty hand in the Exodus. 

The narrative picks back up in verse 17. God led Israel away from the Philistines to avoid war with them and to the wilderness before the Red Sea. The people of Israel went out of Egypt equipped for battle. Moses carries the bones of Joseph out of Egypt so he could be buried at his ancestral tomb. Joseph was the first to go into Egypt and now he comes out of Egypt. 

They camped at Etham. We read, “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Ex. 13:21). This is the glory cloud of Yaweh and will feature importantly throughout the rest of Israel's history. 

Reflection

In chapters 12-13, we not only have the historical events of the exodus, but also weaved into the narrative the Institution of the Passover, the Law of the Firstborn, and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Why are these rites part of the story? 

Matthew 15:21-16:12

Summary

Having just healed a Gentile woman, Jesus withdraws by the Sea of Galilee and goes up a mountain. Crowds come to him and heals them. And then we have a story of the miraculous feeding of the 4000. We’ve seen something like this before. In Matthew 14, Jesus withdraws to a sea in a boat and crowds come there also for healing. And then we have the miraculous feeding of the 5000. 

Jesus has come to the lost sheep of Israel, but that’s not all. He comes for the Gentiles, too. In the feeding of the 5000, there are 12 baskets of leftover. Twelve is the number of Israel. Jesus comes to feed Israel. Before the feeding of the 4000, Jesus has just commended the faith of Canaanite woman and healed her daughter. The number 4 in scripture refers to the 4 corners of the earth. Perhaps in the feeding of the 4000 we can see Jesus giving food to the Gentiles. Jesus brings bread for Israel and even bread crumbs for the world.

The Pharisees and Sadducees keep demanding signs from Jesus. But Jesus rebukes them for not being able to “interpret the sign of the times.” They don’t recognize what’s happening right in front of them. Jesus only promises again to give them the “sign of Jonah” as he did in Matthew 12:38-42.

Jesus warns his disciples about the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6). The disciples take this literally and our worried that they forget to bring bread. Jesus of course can easily take care of that. He’s referring to the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Sadducees’ teaching. Israel celebrated the Feast of the Unleavened Bread as they came out of Egypt in haste. They ate bread without the Egyptian leaven. Leaven works its way in a through the whole is subtle ways. Jesus wants the disciples to understand how the Pharisees and Sadducess teaching has been baked in to the bread of Israel. 

Reflection

How can false teaching be like leaven? What sorts of leaven do we need to be aware of today--teaching, beliefs that are taken for granted but that obscure the Gospel and teachings of Christ?