Read Exodus 12:29 to 13:16 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 12:29-36 {p} Final plague: death of the firstborn
Exo 12:37-42 {p} Israel ceased their sojourn in Egypt
Exo 12:43-50 {s} The ordinance of the Passover
Exo 12:51 {p} YHVH brought Israel out of Egypt
Exo 13:1-10 {p} Ordinance of the firstborn + Unleavened Bread
Exo 13:11-16 {p} Ordinance of the firstborn a sign to future generations
Exo 12:29-13:16 chiastic structure
The 1B pair: the children of Israel did not stay in Egypt for 430 years from the time that Jacob came down when Joseph was governor of the land. The 430 years is from the day that Abraham came into the land of Canaan, to the day, the exact day, according to the Scripture, that YHVH brought them up; that span of years was the sum total of the years of Israel’s (i.e., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s children, Israel’s tribes) sojourning, which he did in Canaan, in Philistia, in Padan-Aram, and in Egypt. From the day they came up they were no longer sojourners but possessors of what YHVH had promised them and given them; they only needed to receive it (proof from Scripture and history, also here).
But what I find most interesting about this structure, is the sign on the hand and the forehead in the 2A pair. First keeping the service of Unleavened Bread is a sign on the hand and the forehead (Exo 13:3d-7 and Exo 13:9a matching pairs), then setting apart the firstborn is a sign on the hand and the forehead (Exo 13:14a and Exo 13:16a matching pairs).
Certain things the Lord commands us to do, for signs, because it marks us as His. See marked on the hand and forehead, parts one through four.
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