SANCTIFY UNTO ME ALL THE FIRSTBORN

Jehovah had a righteous claim upon Israel’s firstborn, for this reason. When giving instructions for the night of the Passover and the salvation of His people, He explicitly declared, ‘I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt’, Exod. 12.12-13. When the firstborn of Egypt per­ished, the firstborn of Israel were preserved by the blood of the lamb, and He who had ordered everything now had a right to Israel’s firstborn. They were His.

To sanctify means to set apart, to separate, to consecrate, especially for a sacred use. As a memorial to this preservation of the firstborn of Israel when the firstborn of the Egyptians perished, all the firstborn males of man and beast were to be devoted to the Lord. The male children were all redeemed. The firstborn of unclean beasts, like the ass, were to be redeemed or slain, while the firstborn of clean beasts were to be offered in sac­rifice, and when certain specified parts had been burned, then what remained belonged to the priests.

In days to come the children would ask questions about the sanctifying of the firstborn and this was anticipated; ‘And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, “What is this?” that thou shalt say unto him, “By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem”’, vv. 14-15.

Believers are called ‘the ‘church of the firstborn’, Heb. 12. 23. We have been redeemed and we belong to our Redeemer. ‘Ye are bought with a price:, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s’, 1 Cor. 6. 20.