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Set Apart — The Traditions That Shape God’s People
Lesson 3, Part 1 — The Redemption Price  ·  June 17, 2026  ·  ▶ Watch

Opening Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank You, Lord, for this day and for the many blessings You have given us. We thank You for this time to be here together, to share in fellowship and study. Lord, we are so grateful for the many blessings You have given us, and we ask that You be with us this evening. Give us the strength and courage we need to learn, grow, and shape our lives after the image of Christ, that we might strive to be more like Him in everything we do.Lord, we lift up to You those who were mentioned here this evening. We ask for Your blessing and healing and for Your watchful care over them. You know each one of them, and You know what is best in every situation. We entrust them into Your care, knowing that You will do what is right and good.Lord, we thank You for Your church and for all those who call upon Your name throughout the world. Help us stand strong in this cold and dark world. Help us continue to live for You. In Jesus’ most holy name, amen.

Class: The Redemption Price

Exodus 13

All right, guys. Exodus 13. We have been talking about traditions that shaped God’s people. Last time, we talked about the Sabbath and how it shaped not only Israel’s understanding of God, but also how God wanted them to understand themselves, their lives, their time, and their effort.Tonight we are moving into the redemption price. This is connected to Passover and the Exodus. We are going to consider what the redemption of the firstborn taught in the Old Testament and what it teaches us in the New Testament. The firstborn carried a great deal of weight in that culture. Even in our culture, there is something about the first child. With the first child, we tend to be a little more cautious. By the second child, we are getting the hang of it. By the third child, speaking from experience, you are just a little less worried about every tiny thing. It is not that you love them any less. It is simply different.

The Place of the Firstborn

In the Old Testament world, the hopes of the family often rested on the firstborn child, especially the firstborn son. He held a place of honor. Consider the inheritance rights of the firstborn. What made him special?

Class member: He received a double portion of the inheritance.

Right. The inheritance was divided among the children, but the eldest son received twice what everyone else received. What else did he receive?

Class member: The father’s blessing.

Yes. The birthright included two things especially: the double portion and the right to act as priest for the rest of the family. The eldest son took the place of the father. He offered sacrifices and acted as an intercessor between the family and God. It came with rights, freedoms, and serious responsibilities.Think about Abraham. Ishmael was the firstborn, but Isaac received the rights of the firstborn. Similar questions arise with Cain and Abel. The point is that the firstborn occupied a significant place. So when God says that the firstborn is set apart, special, and different, it carries real weight.

Deuteronomy 21:17

“But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.”

This passage addresses the inheritance rights of the firstborn. Even if the firstborn was the son of the less-loved wife, he still received the double portion and the birthright. He was set apart, first in line.So when God gives commands about the firstborn, why is that important? We all know the Passover story. The firstborn in Egypt died, except for those in Israel whose homes were covered by the blood of the lamb. When God says the firstborn must be redeemed, what is He teaching?

Exodus 13:13

“Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.”

The Value of the Firstborn

When God gives rules about the firstborn, He is talking about what was most valuable, most important, and most special among the people and animals Israel possessed. There is certainly a spiritual aspect to it, but think physically for a moment. How valuable was a firstborn animal? It was the promise of another generation. It had financial value. It represented the future of the herd.And the firstborn child mattered for more than emotional reasons. The lineage was counted through the firstborn son. The family line continued through him. Without him, in a very real sense, the family story ended with the father. There is a family link, a lineage aspect, and so much tied up in this one idea of the firstborn.

Exodus 13:11–13

“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD’s. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.”

Before Israel ever entered the Promised Land, God told them how this would work: every firstborn male, animal or child, belonged to Him in a special way. The firstborn of a clean animal, such as a lamb, could be sacrificed. An unclean animal could not be sacrificed, so a substitute had to be provided.The point is that God values the firstborn. In a literal sense, He says, “If you want to keep it, a price must be paid, because it is Mine.” God says that all creation belongs to Him, the cattle on a thousand hills are His, and we are His. But this command brings the point into everyday family life in a special way.

What Does It Mean to Redeem?

Class member: To reclaim it, to buy it back.

Exactly. To redeem is to buy back. There is a lesson in that. One class member mentioned hearing someone talk about children. We often say, “They are our children,” as though we own them. But God is the One who knew them before they were given to us. In Jeremiah, when God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, He said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”Everything has a price. Everything has value. But the firstborn had a value beyond everything else. Think about a pawn shop. You take something in, they give you far less than it is worth, and then you have to pay more to get it back. They are holding it for a price. To reclaim it, you pay the ransom price. God says that the firstborn has value beyond everything else, not only literally for Israel but spiritually as well.Israel knew the history behind this command. They knew about Passover, the Exodus, and the death of the firstborn in Egypt. God was saying, “Because I took their firstborn, your firstborn belongs to Me. If you want to keep him, you must buy him back.”

Class member: Was this only for the firstborn male?

Yes, the firstborn male. If the firstborn was female, this command did not apply until a male firstborn was born.The firstborn son became a constant, living reminder that a price had been paid, not only for that child but for life itself.

Remembering Redemption

What keeps redemption in front of us today? The first and most obvious answer is the Lord’s Supper. It keeps before our minds and hearts that a price has been paid, and it was the most valuable thing God had: His firstborn. What are some other things that keep the truth of redemption in front of us?

Class member: Baptism.

Yes. Baptism is described in Scripture in many ways: for the forgiveness of sins, as death, burial, and resurrection. But it is also a mark of belonging. It says that I have died to sin, followed Christ into the grave, and have been raised in the same way He was raised. It teaches us about the price paid for us and our new status in the eyes of God. We are those redeemed at the cost of the Firstborn.The goal is to keep reminding ourselves of redemption, what was paid for us, and how valuable we are to God. How many times have we struggled with feeling good enough? How many times have we felt like failures, or wondered whether we are truly saved? We all struggle with those thoughts. There is some truth in saying that we are not good enough. We never will be good enough on our own. But when we think about the price paid for us, what is God saying? You are valuable enough that He was willing to redeem you at the price of the Firstborn.

Sometimes we define our value by success or failure. If we had a car that would not start every time we turned the key, we might call it a piece of junk and want to get rid of it. We can begin to think of ourselves that way: “I messed it up again. I am not worth much.” But redemption says otherwise. No matter how badly we have failed or how many times we have failed, we remain valuable in God’s eyes. We are not disposable. We were redeemed at the price of the very best God had. God wanted Israel to learn from the beginning that redemption comes at a price, value comes at a price, and God was willing to pay that price for us.

Telling the Story to the Next Generation

Exodus 13:14–15

“And when in time to come your son asks you, “What does this mean?” you shall say to him, “By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.””

Notice what God does not do. He does not simply hand Israel a rule and say, “This is how it goes.” He gives the command a purpose. When children ask, “Why are you doing this?” the parents are to tell the story.God knew children would be watching, listening, and asking questions. A boy would see his parents sacrifice for a firstborn animal or pay the redemption price for his baby brother, and eventually he would ask why. God says that is the opportunity to tell the story. They needed to tell it so they would not forget and so their children would learn the lesson and pass it on to the next generation.

Ensuring the next generation understands God is more than teaching with words. Actions have to come first. God says the parents must be doing it. Then, when children notice and ask, tell the story. We often reverse that. We keep telling the story but leave our example out of it. God says it begins with the example, with what we are doing, and then that behavior opens the door to the story.The strong hand of God, the house of slavery, the night everything changed, Pharaoh’s refusal, and the death of Egypt’s firstborn: that is the history behind the command. On Passover night, God’s judgment went through Egypt and every firstborn died, from the palace to the lowest household, except in homes marked by blood. From then on, redeeming the firstborn became a way of remembering.Every time a firstborn animal or child was born, the family was saying, “This is who we are. This is what God did. This is how valuable we are in God’s eyes.”

How Do We Teach It Today?

Do we need that constant reminder today, that this is how valuable we are to God? I think we do. We spend so much time focused on what God wants, what He expects, what is sin and what is not, that we can forget the family reality: God is our Father. He loves us, and we are valuable in His eyes.We do not live under the command to redeem the firstborn son or sacrifice for the firstborn. But how do we bring the lesson into our homes, families, and lives today?

Class member: By the example we live.

That makes me think of Deuteronomy 6:6.

Deuteronomy 6:6–9

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

God’s point is that everywhere you go and in everything you do, tell the story. Modern Jews still wear what are called frontlets, little boxes containing Scripture tied to the head. Often they contain Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The point is not merely the box. God’s point is that everything we do, everywhere we go, and everything we say teaches our children something. They learn whether being a child of God matters or does not matter. That is hard to hear.What are some things we do that teach our children that God, faith, and church matter?

Class member: Making God and church a priority. Making sure they are here with you and explaining what they see, such as baptism and why it matters.

Exactly. The lessons taught by our behavior say more than anything we could say. What we are willing to miss church for says a great deal about how we value church and our faith. Praying before a meal teaches something too. At our house, Melinda’s mom had to adjust because we pray before we eat. Now she waits until we say amen. She is learning that this is something we value.Another lesson we do not consider enough is how we handle the bad things in life. How we react when everything goes wrong, when we are frustrated, or when we are having an off day teaches the people around us about our faith. There are days when we wake up grumpy for no obvious reason. How we handle those days says a lot about whether faith is real to us.

Closing Application

When we step back and look at what God built into the life of His people, whether the Sabbath, redemption, or the inheritance of the firstborn, all of it teaches us something about how God wanted Israel to see Him and how He wanted them to see themselves. It also teaches us how to see normal, everyday events. Even then, I am still redeemed by the Lord. I am still His child. I am still valuable. No matter how badly I mess it up, I am still His.That is why Paul could say in Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God. That does not mean universal salvation, or that rebellion does not matter. It means that nothing we do changes the fact that God loves us. If we are doing our best and still messing it up badly, God loves us. If we are rebelling against Him, God loves us. That does not mean He will save every person regardless of response, but it does mean that His love is not erased.In normal, everyday, mundane things, redemption teaches us to remember who we are, what was paid for us, and how valuable we are. It teaches us to think of ourselves a little better. Next week, we will consider the redemption of the firstborn more closely, Christ and His sacrifice, and what all of this teaches us about ourselves. These were traditions and practices that shaped God’s people. If we learn from them, they can shape us as well and help us become the people of God.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in heaven, You are a God who loves and rescues. You spared Your people, and You taught them to remember that in everything they did. You have taught us the same thing through the Lord’s Supper, through baptism, through our salvation, and through everything we do. You teach us just how valuable we are and how much our redemption cost.Help us, Lord, to remember that every day, to write that story on our hearts and minds, and to instill it in those around us, that they might come to appreciate and understand just how loved and valuable they are in Your eyes.Lord, as we leave here tonight, we lift up to You once again all those who were mentioned here. We ask for Your blessing and healing and for Your watchful care over them. We are so thankful for all that You do for us. In Jesus’ holy name, amen.