Exodus 13:5

My Notes

What Does Exodus 13:5 Mean?

"And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land... which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month." God instructs Israel to celebrate Passover not just once in Egypt but annually — even after they enter the promised land. The memorial isn't temporary. The deliverance from slavery is to be remembered and re-experienced every year, in every generation, in the land of abundance, not just in the land of affliction.

The phrase "a land flowing with milk and honey" describes agricultural abundance — milk from livestock and honey from bees or dates. The instruction to keep Passover in the land of plenty is significant: don't forget where you came from once you arrive where you're going. Prosperity has a way of erasing memory.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What deliverance in your life are you at risk of forgetting because things are good now?
• 2.How do you 'keep Passover' — intentionally remembering what God rescued you from?
• 3.Why does God insist on remembrance even in the land of plenty?
• 4.What story of deliverance do your children or community need to hear from you?

Devotional

When you get there — when you're finally in the land of milk and honey, when the slavery is a distant memory, when the abundance is your new normal — keep this service. Don't forget. Don't let prosperity erase the story of your deliverance.

God knows what abundance does to memory. He's seen it happen: the blessings arrive, the pain fades, and gradually the story of how you got here gets replaced by the story of how good things are now. You stop telling your children about the Egypt you came from because the Canaan you're in is so much more pleasant to discuss.

Passover is God's antidote to spiritual amnesia. Once a year, sit down, retell the story, taste the bitter herbs, eat the unleavened bread. Remember what it felt like to be a slave. Remember the night the angel passed over. Remember the blood on the doorpost and the haste of departure and the sea that split. Do this when you're rich. Do this when you're comfortable. Especially then.

Whatever God has delivered you from — addiction, abuse, despair, spiritual death — the instruction is the same. When you arrive in the good land, keep the memorial. Tell the story. Not because you should live in the past, but because forgetting where God brought you from is the fastest way to lose where he's brought you to.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture