Dedication of the Firstborn

December 20, 2015 Background Scripture: Exodus 13:11 – 16; Leviticus 12:1 – 8; Numbers 3:5 – 13; Luke 2:21 – 39 Lesson Passage: Exodus 13:13b – 15; Luke 2:22 – 32 The dedication of the firstborn of Israel was one of several memorials the Lord established to be a teaching tool from generation to generation throughout Israel’s history. This memorial was to be used to teach future generation about the final plague God used in Egypt to deliver their ancestors from bondage. God sent a death angel throughout Egypt to kill the firstborn of mankind and beasts but He protected the firstborn of Israel under the blood of the Passover lamb. Since God delivered Israel’s firstborn from destruction by the death angel, He claims all of Israel’s firstborn as His own, forever. Initially, Israel was commanded to acknowledge God’s claim to the firstborn by setting them apart for God’s service at the time of birth. The firstborn males of animals were to be offered as a sacrifice to God or redeemed. This commemoration by setting apart or redemption of the firstborn of animals and children at the time of birth in Israel was to be practiced throughout Israel’s generations after they were delivered from Egyptian bondage. However, during the wilderness years before Israel entered into Canaan, God changed the redemption process for firstborn children. God chose to separate the tribe of Levi as holy unto Him to serve as priests of the Lord rather than the firstborn from each family. All of the Levites were taken, instead of the firstborn, and set apart for the Lord’s service. (This was in keeping with the blessings Jacob pronounced on his sons before he died. Jacob declared that Levi and Simeon would not both inherit because of the brutal way in which the two brothers massacred an entire village to defend the honor of their sister who had been violated by one of the villagers. When their father Jacob learned of their deed, he was in awe of it and concerned as to how it would appear to the neighbors seeing that the Israelites were foreigners in Canaan at the time it occurred. Jacob remembered the incident as he blessed each of his sons prior to his death.) Not only were the firstborn children required to be set aside for the Lord and redeemed, but the mother who had given birth had to follow a purification process prescribed by God. Although the Levites were charged with serving the Lord as priests all of their days instead of the firstborn of Israel, the firstborn were still required to be presented before the Lord after the days of purification of the mother. After the process was completed, she had to bring an offering to the priest to be presented to God to atone for her. All mothers in Israel were required to comply with the purification process but the offering to be sacrificed afterwards varied depending on the family’s ability based on their substance. No one was exempt because of poverty or lack. It is this provision of the Law that gives us some insight into the financial status of Jesus’ earthly parents. Mary’s offering after her days of purification is an indication that she was a poor person but yet obedient to the Law. It was this obedience that led her to dedicate her firstborn, Jesus. Robert C. Hudson November 16, 2015