Commentary - Exodus 13:3-10

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, the people of God have just been born. They have come through the bloody doorposts of the Passover and are now on the other side of their deliverance from Egypt. But God does not simply save them and then leave them to their own devices. He immediately begins to shape them into a people, and He does this through liturgy, through commanded remembrance. This is not a matter of sentimental recollection, but rather a structured, annual, and physical re-enactment of their salvation. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a national catechism lesson, designed to stamp the reality of their redemption onto their hands, between their eyes, and into the mouths of their children for all subsequent generations. It is a declaration that salvation is not just a past event, but a present reality that must be purged of all the old leaven of slavery and sin.

Outline

Context In Exodus

This passage comes immediately on the heels of the tenth and final plague, the death of the firstborn, and the institution of the Passover in chapter 12. The Israelites have just been thrust out of Egypt. They are a brand new nation, redeemed by blood and power. Before they have even taken more than a few steps into the wilderness, God establishes their foundational worship practices. The Passover remembers the bloody atonement that protected them from judgment, and this Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is inextricably linked to it, teaches them the meaning of sanctification, the need to separate from the corruption of the world they just left. This is God laying the groundwork for a holy culture.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Exodus 13:3

And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a strong hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.”

The command is to remember. In the Bible, remembrance is never a passive mental exercise. It is an active, liturgical re-presentation of the event. They are to remember their point of origin: Egypt, the house of slavery. You cannot appreciate grace until you know the bondage from which you were delivered. And how were they delivered? Not by their own ingenuity, not by their negotiating skills, but by a strong hand Yahweh brought you out. God is the sole agent of their salvation. This is monergistic redemption. The practical outworking of this remembrance is immediate and tangible: nothing leavened shall be eaten. Leaven in Scripture is a consistent symbol of sin, of corruption that puffs up and spreads quietly until it permeates the whole lump (1 Cor. 5:6-8). To eat unleavened bread is to enact their separation from the sin of Egypt. It is a physical expression of sanctification.

Exodus 13:4

This day, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

God is the Lord of history. He is not the author of some timeless, abstract philosophy. He acts in real time, on a specific day, in a specific month. This anchors their salvation to a historical, verifiable event. Their deliverance is not a myth; it is a fact of history. The month of Abib, the month of "fresh, young ears of barley," marks a new beginning, the springtime of their national life. Their calendar is now reoriented around this great act of redemption.

Exodus 13:5

And it shall be when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall do this service in this month.

This command is given in the wilderness, but it looks forward to the inheritance. Their worship is tied to the promise of the land. This is an act of faith. They are to practice this memorial of deliverance while still on the journey, in anticipation of the final rest God has promised. The listing of the pagan nations is a reminder that the inheritance must be taken; it is a conquest. And the land itself, flowing with milk and honey, is a picture of God's abundant goodness. They are to perform this service, this worship, as a response to God's faithfulness both in delivering them from Egypt and in fulfilling His promise to the fathers.

Exodus 13:6-7

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to Yahweh. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.

The duration is seven days, the biblical number of completion and perfection. This is a total, complete separation from the old life. On the seventh day, there is a feast, a celebration of their new life in the Lord. The command in verse 7 intensifies the requirement. It is not enough to refrain from eating leaven. No leaven is even to be seen among you. This is a call for a thorough house-cleaning. It must be searched for and removed from all your borders. This is a corporate responsibility. The holiness of the camp depends on every household purging the old corruption. This is a powerful picture of the Church's call to purity.

Exodus 13:8

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

Here is the central purpose of the liturgy: catechesis. The strange practice of eating this cracker-like bread for a week is designed to provoke questions from the children. And the father has a God-given script. He is to tell his son. The faith is to be passed down from one generation to the next through fathers explaining the meaning of their worship. And notice the personal nature of the testimony: "what Yahweh did for me." Each generation must personally own the salvation story. It is not something that happened to distant ancestors; it is our story. We were in the loins of our fathers, and God saved us.

Exodus 13:9

And it will be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out of Egypt.

The physical act of eating unleavened bread is to function as a sign on your hand, representing your actions, and a memorial between your eyes, representing your thoughts and worldview. This is the Old Testament equivalent of being transformed by the renewing of your mind. The goal of right thinking (forehead) and right acting (hand) is right speaking: that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth. Liturgy fills the mind and directs the hands so that the mouth can overflow with the Word of God. The basis for all of it, repeated again for emphasis, is God's sovereign power in redemption: with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out.

Exodus 13:10

Therefore, you shall keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

This is not a one-time suggestion. It is a perpetual statute. It is to be woven into the fabric of their lives, year after year. This annual rhythm is God's gracious provision to prevent spiritual amnesia. Every year, the people are brought back to the foundation of their existence: God's mighty deliverance. This rhythm shapes a culture, a people whose identity is grounded in redemption.

Application

For the Christian, Christ is our Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7). We have been delivered from a far greater bondage than Egypt, which is our slavery to sin and death. Therefore, Paul applies this very text to us when he says, "Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:8).

The principle of purging the leaven is our call to ongoing sanctification. We are to be ruthless with our sin, searching it out and removing it from our lives, our homes, and our churches. The principle of catechesis remains central. We celebrate our redemption in the Lord's Supper, and we must be diligent to explain to our children what it means, telling them what the Lord has done for us. Our worship should be a sign on our hands and a memorial between our eyes, shaping everything we think, do, and say, all so that the law of God, which is the gospel of grace, might be in our mouths.