Exodus 13

Exodus 13:2

Luke (2:21-24): And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord) [Exodus 13:2] And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Origen of Alexandria: Therefore let us draw together from the divine Scriptures instances in which we find “holy” used, and discover not only persons but also mute animals that are called “holy,” and also find both “the vessels” of the ministry that are called “holy,” and the garments which are said to be “holy,” and even the places which were located in cities and suburbs and counted as priestly. Indeed, among the brute animals it is commanded through the law that “the firstborn” of calves or cattle be sacrificed to the Lord, and it says, You will not do any work with them because they have been consecrated to the Lord. — HOMILIES ON Leviticus 11.1.2

Origen of Alexandria: Males were sacred because they opened their mothers’ wombs. They were offered before the altar of the Lord. Scripture says, “Every male that opens the womb.…” This phrase has a spiritual meaning. For you might say that “every male is brought forth from the womb” but does not open the womb of his mother in the way that the Lord Jesus did. In the case of every other woman, it is not the birth of an infant but intercourse with a man that opens the womb. But the womb of the Lord’s mother was opened at the time when her offspring was brought forth, because before the birth of Christ a male did not even touch her womb, holy as it was and deserving of all respect. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 14:7-8

Richard Challoner: Sanctify unto me every firstborn: Sanctification in this place means that the firstborn males of the Hebrews should be deputed to the ministry in the divine worship; and the firstborn of beasts to be given for a sacrifice.

Tertullian: For who is really holy but the Son of God? Who properly opened the womb but he who opened a closed one? But it is marriage which opens the womb in all cases. The Virgin’s womb, therefore, was especially opened, because it was especially closed. — ON THE FLESH OF CHRIST 23.4-5

Exodus 13:4

Pseudo-Macarius: But if man groans and cries out to God, he sends him the spiritual Moses, who redeems him from the slavery of the Egyptians. But man first cries out and groans and then he receives the beginning of deliverance. And he is delivered in the month of new flowers, in the springtime when the ground of the soul is able to shoot forth the beautiful and flowering branches of justification. The bitter winter storms of the ignorance of darkness have passed, as well as the great blindness that was born of sordid deeds and sins. — HOMILY 47.7

Exodus 13:13

Ambrose of Milan: The law has established that an unclean animal shall not be a part of a sacrifice but in its place a clean animal be offered. The law orders that the offspring of an ass, which is unclean, should be changed for a sheep, which is a clean animal and suitable for sacrifice. This is the literal meaning. If one were to pursue this matter further and seek for the spiritual sense of this passage, he will discover that the ass is a laborious animal, whereas the sheep is productive. This may be interpreted to mean that labor should be exchanged for produce, since the final results of work is the produce thereof. Or we may interpret the passage in this manner: Every action or labor of yours you can make commendable by the pure and simple manner in which you perform it. — CAIN AND ABEL 2.2.8

Exodus 13:18

Cassiodorus: Just as the Jews were saved and extricated through the waters of the Red Sea, so we are delivered from the land of Egypt, that is, from the sins of the flesh, and reborn through regeneration by the sacred water. The very name of the Red Sea is not superfluous. Just as it is known as Red, so the baptismal water can be labeled red, for it came forth mixed with blood from the Lord Savior’s side. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 80.6

Exodus 13:21

Augustine of Hippo: Who can doubt that here too God appeared to the eyes of mortal men by a corporeal creature made subject to him and not by his own substance? But it is also not apparent whether it was the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, or the Trinity itself, the one God. Nor, as far as I can judge, has this distinction been made in that place where it is written: “And the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.’ ” — THE TRINITY 2.14.24

Bede: The freeing of the children of Israel and their being brought out into the fatherland once promised them is also linked with the mystery of our redemption. By means of it we make our way to the light of the dwelling place on high with the grace of Christ lighting our way and guiding us. That cloud and column of fire that both protected them throughout the whole of their journey from the darkness of the nights and led them by a sure path to the promised homes of the fatherland also prefigured the light of this grace. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 1 Peter 2:9

Gregory the Dialogist: It was also fitting that a pillar of fire preceded the Israelites as they progressed through the desert during the night and a pillar of a cloud during the day. There is dread in fire but a gentle soothing quality in the sight of a cloud. “Day” is understood to point toward the life of the righteous and “night” that of the sinner. Hence Paul said to sinners who had been converted, “You were once darkness but are now light in the Lord.” The pillar was revealed as a cloud during the day and as a fire during the night since almighty God will appear soothing to the righteous and dreadful to the unrighteous. When he comes at the judgment, he will reassure the former by his gentleness and mildness and cause dread in the latter by the strictness of his justice. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 21

Peter Chrysologus: At one time he appears all aglow in a bush. For you are cold with the perfidy of infidelity, and he wants to enkindle you with the heat of faith. At another time he glows like fire in a pillar extending toward heaven, that the darkness of your ignorance may be removed and that you can follow the way of saving knowledge through the wilderness of this world. At yet another time he is changed for you into a pillar of cloud, in order to restrain the burning ebullience of your passions. — SERMON 170