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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Exodus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God’s Identity and Power
Redemption and Deliverance
The Covenant
Mediators and the Priesthood
Summary
Analysis
The LORD tells Moses to consecrate to God all the Israelites’ firstborn, among both humans and animals. Moses instructs the people to remember this day, in the month of Abib, that God brought them out of slavery in Egypt. God will bring them into the land of the Canaanites, the land he promised to their ancestors, one flowing with milk and honey. The Israelites should tell their children that they do this because of what the LORD did for their people, and that it should be an annual observance and reminder.
“Consecrate” means “to make holy.” To do so involves sacrificing firstborn animals and sacrificing an animal on behalf of a firstborn child. This ceremony is a reminder that when God struck down the Egyptian firstborn, he spared the Israelites. God also reminds the Israelites to continue observing the Passover in remembrance of the exodus, God’s faithfulness to the covenant he made with their ancestors, and the plentiful provisions he provides (symbolized by milk and honey).
Themes
After Pharaoh released the Israelites, God leads them in a roundabout way so that they won’t face war with the nearby Philistines and become disheartened. Instead God leads them through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. As they go, Moses carries Joseph’s bones, since Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath to that effect. After leaving Succoth, the Israelites camp at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The LORD leads the people by traveling before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
God shows the Israelites his kindness right away, by sparing them having to fight immediately after setting out on their journey. By leading them toward the Red Sea, however, he’s leading the people into a different challenge, as the next chapter will show. By directing the people’s path and leading them in the form of a pillar, God oversees each step of the journey, not only ensuring their survival, but leading them into experiences that shape their identity as a people. In Genesis 50, Joseph had his offspring promise to carry his remains back to Canaan, and the promise is kept here.
Themes
