Wesley Corpus

Any stranger that was circumcised might eat of the passover, even servants. Here is an indication of favour to the poor Gentiles, that the stranger, if circumcised, stands upon the same level with the home - born Israelite; one law for both. This was a mortification to the Jews, and taught them that it was their dedication to God, not their descent from Abraham, that entitled them to their privileges. Chapter XIII In this chapter we have, The commands God gave to Israel, To sanctify all their first - born to him, ver. 1, 2. To remember their deliverance out of Egypt, ver. 3, 4. and in remembrance of it to keep the feast of unleavened bread, ver. 5 - 8. To transmit the knowledge of it to their children, ver. 8 - 10. To set apart to God the firstlings of their cattle, ver. 11 - 13. and to explain that also to their children, ver. 14 - 16. The care God took of Israel when he had brought them out of Egypt. Chusing their way for them, ver. 17, 18 Guiding them in the way, ver. 20 - 22. And their care of Joseph's bones, ver. 19. Sanctify to me all the first - born - The parents were not to look upon themselves as interested in their first - born, till they had first solemnly presented them to God, and received them back from him again. It is mine - By a special right, being by my singular favour preserved from the common destruction. When the lord shall bring you into the land, thou shalt keep this service - 'Till then they were not obliged to keep the passover, without a particular command from God. There shall no leavened bread be seen in all thy quarters - Accordingly the Jews usage was, before the feast of the passover, to cast all the leavened bread out of their houses; either they burnt it, or buried it, or broke it small, and threw it into the wind; they searched diligently with lighted candles in all the corners of their houses, lest any leaven should remain. The strictness enjoined in this matter was designed,