Numbers 3:13

Num 3:13 Because all the firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 13. Because all the firstborn.] So they were from the beginning: but here is noted a continuance of this ordinance, when it is said that he sanctified the first born to himself, what time he smote every firstborn in Egypt. Now the firstborn are said to be God’s by a singular right, {Exo 13:2} and so they were types, (1.) Of Christ, {Rom 8:29} to whom therefore we must give the honour of his first birthright; all our sheaves must vail and bow to his sheaf: (2.) Of Christians; those "firstborn whose names are written in heaven," {Heb 12:23} who are dear to God, as his firstborn, {Exo 4:22} and so "higher than the kings of the earth," {Psa 89:27} for they are "kings and priests unto God," {Rev 1:6} to "serve him day and night in his temple." {Rev 7:15}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(13) On the day that I smote all the firstborn.—The command given to Moses respecting the sanctification or separation of the firstborn, both of man and of beast, is recorded immediately after the account of the exodus and of the institution of the Passover (Exo_13:1-2). It does not clearly appear, however, from the terms employed whether the sanctification or separation applied to the firstborn then in existence—which appears to be by far the more probable supposition—or whether, as some suppose, the command was simply prospective. The whole nation of Israel is described in Exo_4:22 as the Lord’s firstborn son, and the firstborn sons appear to have been regarded in the light of representatives of the entire nation.

Mine shall they be: I am the Lord.—Or, They shall be (i.e., belong) to me, (even) to me, Jehovah. (Comp. Gen_4:26 : “And to Seth, to him also.” Literally, And to Seth, even him.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. on the day, &c.] A reference to Exo_13:1 f. (P ).

I am Jehovah] A solemn formula emphasizing the importance of a command or statement. It occurs occasionally in P (i.e. Num_3:41, Exo_6:8; Exo_12:12), but is specially characteristic of the ‘Holiness’ laws in Leviticus 17-26. See Chapman, Introd. p. 112.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because all the firstborn are mine,.... Not merely in a general way, as all creatures are his, but in a special manner as his own, and that for the following reason:

for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,

I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast; that is, sanctified or set them apart as his own special property, or ordered the people of Israel so to do, Exo 13:2; for as when he destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians, he saved the firstborn of Israel, he had a special claim upon them as his; and though it was in the night when he destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, yet it was the night which preceded that day, and was a part of that day, even the fifteenth of Nisan, when the instructions were given to sanctify all the firstborn; though, as Aben Ezra observes, "day" signifies "time", so that it was at or about the same time that the one and the other were done:

mine they shall be; this was declared when they were ordered to be sanctified to him, but now they were to be exchanged for the Levites:

I am the Lord; who have sovereign power to do as he would in claiming the firstborn, and then in exchanging them for the Levites, and appointing the Levites to minister to the priests, and serve in the tabernacle.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The concluding words are better expressed thus: “Mine shall they be, Mine, the Lord’s.” On the subject of the firstborn see the notes at Num 3:43-51.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Who may appoint whom I please for my service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. All the firstborn are mine — This is a claim founded on the sovereignty of Jehovah, as is seen by the declaration, I am the Lord. As he had chosen Israel to be his firstborn (Exo_4:22, note) by a sovereign national election to certain earthly privileges — not to life everlasting — so he exercised the prerogative of selecting a certain class in Israel to be devoted to his especial service. The intimation in this verse is, that the firstborn were saved from the destroyer because they were set apart or hallowed into Jehovah, and not that they were hallowed because they were spared. Hallowed — Hebrew, kadash; Greek, αγιαζω; Vulgate, sanctifico. The two senses of these words are: — 1.) To set apart from secular to holy uses. 2.) To cleanse, to purify: of things, a physical cleansing; of persons, a spiritual as well as a physical purification is signified. When the Levites took the place of the firstborn they were not only set apart, but they were washed also. See Num_8:6-7. Hence the figures of the physical and spiritual cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit enjoined by St. Paul in 2Co_7:1, and by James in Num_4:8. “Hallowed,” in this verse, signifies set apart. The firstborn were never ceremonially washed and initiated into the service of the tabernacle, because of the almost immediate substitution of the Levites.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because all the first-born are mine. (see Exo_13:2, and below on verse 43) That the powers of heaven had a special claim upon the firstling of man or beast was probably one of the oldest religious ideas in the world, which it would be difficult to trace to any origin but in some primeval revelation. It branched out into many superstitions, of which the cruel cultus of Moloch was the worst. Among the tribes which preserved the patriarchal faith, it retained more or less of its primitive meaning in the assignment of sacrificial duties to the eldest son. According to the Targums, the "young men of the children of Israel" sent by Moses to offer sacrifices before the consecration of Aaron (Exo_24:5) were firstborn. Whatever ancient and latent claims, however, God may have had upon the firstborn of Israel, they are here superseded by a special and recent claim founded upon their miraculous preservation when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain. All the firstborn in that day became "anathema," devoted to God, for evil or for good, for death or for life. He, to whom belongs the whole harvest of human souls, came and claimed his first-fruits from the fields of Egypt. He took unto himself by death the firstborn of the Egyptians; he left for himself in life the first-born of the Israelites. For the convenience, however, of the people, and for the better and more regular discharge of the ministry, he was content to take the single small tribe of Levi in lieu of the first-born of all.

Mine shall they be: I am the Lord. Rather, "mine shall they be, mine, the Lord"s."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.