One would think that after a long discussion of plagues, involving boils, gnats, and frogs, I would have a little bit thicker skin than I do. When I read Exodus 13:13, which talked about how Israelites were to break the neck of a donkey that’s not redeemed to God though, I’ll admit, I squirmed a little.
It’s a jarring moment, especially for a non-country boy like me. But this whole scene is actually highly symbolic of a greater moment that’s developed later in Scripture.
Let’s back up a little. In Exodus 13, God is talking about the dedication of the Firstborn. This includes animals, who have a near-equal set of standards given to them. Their firstborns were killed in the tenth plague, just like the Egyptians, and their firstborns must be dedicated, just like the Israelites.
But the tone hits a snag when you think about unclean animals, who are not acceptable sacrifices to God (Leviticus 27:9-13). How do you sacrifice an un-sacrificeable animal?
Exodus 13 gives the workaround. Normally, when a donkey gives birth, you would give its firstborn in sacrifice to God. But, since it’s an unclean animal, you can’t offer it. Instead, you would offer a lamb in its place.
If, for some reason, you valued the lamb more than the donkey, you would “redeem” the donkey by breaking its neck. You keep the lamb, and the donkey is consecrated.
That seems brutal, but if you think about it, it’s actually a really great image of what Jesus did for us. We are valuable to God, so in the Crucifixion, God allowed the Lamb to be slain so that we could be consecrated. He didn’t “break our necks,” in other words. He allowed Jesus to be “broken” for us.
We may be a bunch of donkeys (according to this metaphor), but that doesn’t mean we’re worthless. God loved us so much and valued us so highly, that He sent His Son, the Lamb, to die in our place. May we ever be worthy of such a sacrifice.
