Exodus 13

v1-2: “In memory of that special favour and out of gratitude for it, the firstborn in all ages were to be consecrated to God as belonging to him and to be redeemed.” Christ is the firstborn, and because we have been united to Him by faith, we “are reckoned as firstborn” and belonging to God.

v3-7: The Israelites were to remember the day they were rescued from slavery and left Egypt. “In the same way, the day of Christ’s resurrection is to be remembered, for we were raised up on it with Christ out of death’s house of bondage.”

v8-10: We should make it priority “to instruct children early in the knowledge of God: the old art of catechising.” It is important to “teach children the stories of Scriptures early in their lives,” so that they are “familiar with them.”

v11-16: The duties God requires us to do for him are to be done intelligently, meaning, that we know “what we do and why we do it.”

v17-22: Christ was with Israel in the wilderness. He “will not leave or lose” them there, “but will take care to lead them through it.” If we “make the glory of God [our] aim, the word of God [our] rule, the Spirit of God the guide of [our] senses, and the providence of God the guide of [our] lives,” we may be confident that the Lord will go before us.

Exodus 14

v1-9: Some of the difficulties we experience are because God has put them “in the way of the salvation of his people, that he may have the glory of subduing them and helping his people through them.” At other times it is because of “Satan’s temptations and terrors” as “he will not feebly part with any from his service.”

v10-14: “God brings us into difficulties that he may bring us to our knees.” The right response to fear is to cry out to the Lord, and trust that having brought us into difficulties, “he will himself find a way to bring [us] out again.”

v15-20: Like He allocated the light to the day and the darkness to the night in the beginning, so God “allocated darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites.” This points forward to “the inheritance of the saints in light” and the “complete darkness which will forever be what” those who oppose Him will receive. “God will separate what is valuable and what is shameful.”

v21-29: If “God can bring his people through the greatest difficulties and force a way where he does not find one… then what is there that he cannot do… for those who fear and love him?”

v30-31: The sight of the Egyptians dead on the shore “greatly moved” the Israelites, and “they feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses,” but it won’t be long before “they will forget his works and insult him.” If would be good if when we “see God’s works and feel their benefits,” so that we “fear him and trust in him,” we aren’t those who forget what He has done.