Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. (Exodus 13:3 NASB1995)
This is the first time the word “slavery” is used in the NASB1995. In it, like most every other times the word “slavery” appears, it is about who God is. God is the God who zealously desires and made a way to deliver the people who commit to trusting Him daily from bondage and slavery in all its forms.
According to Jesus, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Lies put people in bondage or slavery, a miserable existence full of stress, depression, hopelessness, toiling, striving, and hardship in their bondage.
Jesus, who is a perfect representation of what God the Father is like, came to set the captives free. Some people are content to remain slaves, as they passively reject the knowledge or truth that can make them free and/or more successful. See John 8:31ff; Isaiah 61:1ff; Luke 4:17-19; 2 Peter 2:18-20; Isaiah 5:13; Hosea 4:6.
In Galveston, Texas, after the Emancipation Proclamation officially set all the captives in America free, that message did not get to some who were still living as slaves in that city in the far-South.
Legally speaking, those slaves could have left their life of slavery and moved on to freedom. However, lack of information kept them in a slavery mindset, for they did not hear, believe, or receive the good news or truth that could have made them free until a couple years later. (1)
Many people today are bound to mediocre lives and stay put in their misery, for they do not believe the good news that can make them free from fear of rejection, depression, shame, guilt, anxiety, worry, slander, condemnation, victim mindsets, “orphan mindsets,” rejection and abandonment mindsets, etc.
Many believe that God is an oppressive slave-driver, because they listen to the “father of lies” and are consequently enslaved to their lusts, addictions, and the lesser gods they serve through their fear of people, low vision for their lives, negative view of themselves, and lack of knowledge about God’s heart for them.
Often due to pride and feeling offended, we may be too afraid or ashamed to seek God, because we get stuck in old mindsets and are bitter against people because we’ve been hurt in the past and can’t seem to move on from that.
Many years ago, I once heard the story of a white horse that stood out in a blizzard (probably told or written by Max Lucado). Its warm stable was lit up and ready for the horse to come in and find comfort, but the stubborn horse chose to remain outside, standing against the cold, bitter, and snowy wind.
In the same way, God the Father longs for us to enjoy His love and acceptance, but mindsets of bitterness, unforgiveness, shame, unworthiness, religious striving to earn affection, fear, pride, etc. keep us out in the cold, listening to the cold, harsh winds instead of to God the Father’s voice telling us who we really are.
The second time the word “slavery” is used in the New American Standard Bible (1995) occurs eleven verses later (v.14):
But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ (Exodus 13:13-15 NASB1995)
What is going on in this passage? What is up with the donkey’s first offspring being redeemed with a lamb? What do donkeys represent? What are the characteristics of donkeys? Donkeys can represent various things in different ancient writings; they were like the ancient version of automobiles as far as their practical function went in the ancient Hebrew world.
In this passage, it mentions Pharaoh’s stubbornness, a characteristic commonly associated with donkeys. That is why in the 2001 Dreamworks feature-length motion picture Shrek, the ogre protagonist at one time refers to his supporting character, Donkey (who is, in fact, a donkey), as a “stubborn jacka**.”
What then is this passage saying? It is comparing Pharaoh’s stubborn attitude to that of a donkey. Throughout the ancient writings of Scripture, selfish or carnal stubbornness is described as being “stiff-necked.” It says in Proverbs 29:1 NASB that “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.”
In the story of the Jewish nation’s Exodus from 400 years of oppressive slavery or bondage in Egypt, the Pharaoh (Egyptian king) often stiffened his neck in stubborn rebellion by refusing to let the Hebrews go free.
Pharaoh did so in spite of the numerous warnings and plagues that came upon Egypt every time the Pharaoh refused to submit to God’s commandment to let His people go. God is not a God of slavery, but of freedom.
He sent His Son to set the captives free, and His identity has always been that of a liberator to those who submit to His loving leadership. Why then do so many people think like slaves and live as slaves in all types of bondage to addictions, poverty, disease, dysfunctional relationships, unhealthy relational patterns, slander, etc?
Why did Egypt and the Pharaoh experience ten plagues which brought disease, poverty, lack, hardship, and misery to their lives? It was because of Pharaoh’s proud, stubborn mindset that was unwilling to let go of his own empire in order to let God have His way.
Pharaoh believed that if he let the Hebrews go free, then his empire built upon slave-labor would be destroyed and he would be a disgrace, laughingstock, and humiliation to his generational legacy of a powerful empire.
Thousands of years later, Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23b-25 NASB1995)
The Pharaoh tried to “save his life” and to preserve his own honor by keeping the Hebrews in slavery. However, to do so was a stubborn refusal to submit to God’s loving leadership over his life.
The same God who commanded Pharaoh to give up what was near and dear to him was the same God who had the power and desire to bless him and to prosper him if he obeyed in trust. However, Pharaoh relied on his own understanding and did not believe that God had his best interests in mind.
Consequently, he refused to let the Hebrews go and experienced the very losses that he was trying to prevent. For what if Pharaoh simply let the Hebrews go by listening to God’s commandments and obeying Him sooner?
Although the loss of slave labor would have been a temporary setback for the Egyptian economy, his economy would not have to have been further destroyed by ten plagues. In other words, by trying to save his life and finances his own way, he ended up losing everything and it turned out to be much worse for him than if he had humbled himself, submitted to God’s leadership, and obeyed Him. Pharaoh tried to “gain the whole world, but lost his own soul.”
Some believe that because God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in some of these passages throughout the ten plagues of Exodus, that this implies that Pharaoh had no free will in the matter of letting the Israelites go.
As the NASB1995 footnotes regarding the term “hardened” clarify, in the literal Hebrew, many of those times the word “hardened” means “made strong.” In other words, Pharaoh did still have his free will to make decisions.
What God did was to strengthen (or encourage or make bold) Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh would have the mental strength and energy to continue in his stubborn self-will as opposed to getting so discouraged that he might have let the Israelites go sooner.
Since God knew how Pharaoh would would act in every situation because he could see those entrenched mindsets within the Pharaoh, God could keep Pharaoh’s spirits a bit, while Pharaoh would nevertheless choose to listen to the voices of the lesser Egyptian gods.
The Bible personifies those top evil spirits, stubborn attitudes, and proud mindsets as “Rahab” and “Leviathan” in other passages. Under the influence of a stubborn, proud mindset, Pharaoh chose to remain in his stubborn refusal to let the Hebrews go.
Knowing that Pharaoh wouldn’t listen to Him, why did God strengthen Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh could keep digging himself and his economy into a hole? For one thing, God is a loving God who desires to speak life and encouragement into us, even if we’re being naughty and stubborn as we continue listening to lies.
For another, God would gain honor as a result of the Pharaoh’s stubbornness, because Pharaoh’s rebellion opened up opportunities for God to show His power to do miracles and to set His people free. Then the Israelites and even the other nations of the world could see and remember how God had the power to split the ocean (or Red Sea) in two, to exercise authority over all nature and lesser gods, to humiliate those who act in arrogant pride against His leadership, and to set His people free from slavery.
Does this mean that we should be rebellious and sinful so that God can demonstrate His power and grace more? In short, that may not be such a good idea, because like the Pharaoh, it won’t work out for us so well if we adopt that attitude (because a person reaps what s/he sows, and the wages of sin is death, disease, poverty, addictions, unfulfilling and dysfunctional relationships, etc.) Study the book of Romans, particularly chapters 6-9 for more information, as that topic is further addressed in such chapters.
Coming full circle on the Exodus 13 passage, why was the firstborn offspring of a donkey to be redeemed with a lamb? Those familiar with the biblical metanarrative recognize that the “Passover Lamb” described in Exodus 12 is a prophetic picture of the atoning sacrifice of the coming Messiah. In this chapter, the Hebrews had to slay a pure, spotless, innocent lamb without blemish and to apply its blood (using the hyssop plant) upon the doorposts of their home.
Then the “angel of death” would pass over that home and not kill the firstborn of each family dwelling within that house. However, if a family did not heed God’s instructions, but believed that God’s instructions were a load of hogwash that did not apply to them, and did not put the blood of a spotless lamb upon the doorposts of their house, then the angel or spirit of death would have the legal right to kill the firstborn of every family within that house. That is precisely what happened.
What then does it mean to redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb? Practically, in the culture of that day, it meant to sacrifice a lamb in exchange for the life of the donkey. Unless one gave a lamb to a priest to kill it upon an altar, then the firstborn donkey was to be killed by breaking its neck.
What did that symbolize or represent? Jesus is described as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The “sins of the world” refers to our stubborn refusal to submit to God’s loving leadership and commandments, the ways that we don’t trust Him and reject the authentic, committed relationship that He is offering us.
However, like a stubborn donkey, we may not want to give up our stubborn self-will where it contradicts the nature, qualities, perspectives, and attitudes of God. Donkeys were very valuable to the ancient Hebrews, for they provided transportation and enabled them to get work done. To submit one’s life to Jesus, the Lamb of God, accepting His life in exchange for our own, we have to lay down our human works, efforts, striving, and stubborn ways.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We cannot earn a relationship with God through our good deeds or other spiritual accomplishments. Rather, we freely enter into a reconciled relationship with God the Father by trusting in Jesus. That is, we believe that Jesus lived the sinless, innocent, perfect life that we failed at living, and that Jesus is the only God.
When Jesus died on the cross, he fulfilled prophecy as the Passover Lamb being sacrificed in exchange for ours so that we don’t have to die for our moral crimes against God’s leadership. Then, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that the price he paid with his life in exchange for ours is legitimate and firmly established by God.
When Jesus defeated death, he proved that the eternal life he offers to us is legitimate. No other religious leader rose from the dead to prove that their message was true and trustworthy of our total allegiance. Only Jesus’ words are thus completely reliable and true, as only He was risen from the dead into a resurrection body that is never to die again. (2)
A relationship with God is only possible by acknowledging that Jesus alone is the way to God the Father and that His qualities are perfect, spotless, and without fault. Any of our own ideas or opinions that disagree with what Jesus said and did, we must renounce as we humbly submit ourselves to Jesus’ loving leadership, allowing Him to teach us and to make us into the kind of person He wants us to be.
For more information on knowing God personally, see “The New Breed of Samurai.”
- https://houstonfamilymagazine.com/featured/galveston-a-city-of-firsts-exploring-juneteenths-galveston-origin/
- Many other people have been raised from the dead, but later they die again, and their resuscitations from the realm of death have nothing to do with submitting our allegiance to them as deity. It just means that their spirits have come back to their bodies for a time to do whatever they have left to do. Jesus was the first to rise from the dead into his new immortal resurrection body that no one else has yet received at this point in history. When other people receive the miracle of being brought back from the dead, they simply re-enter their old physical body that will only die again. God’s people who have died currently have their spirits and souls in the third heaven, but will receive their new resurrection bodies in the future when Jesus returns to earth to set up his thousand year reign in Jerusalem. See 1 Corinthians 15:50ff; Revelation 19-20; Zechariah 14.