The first sixteen verses of Exodus 13 belong to the framework that begins in Exodus 12. They return to the themes of unleavened bread and the firstborn, completing the braided work of 12:1–13:16 (see an outline of this structure in §13). The observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (B′) in verses 2–10, with Moses speaking the message to the people, mirrors God’s words to Moses in (B), 12:14–20. The law of the firstborn redemption in verses 11–16 (A′) mirrors the killing of the firstborn in Egypt and the protection of Israel’s firstborn in 12:1–13 (A). The structure is thus A, B, B′, A′. The remainder of Exodus 13 (vv. 17–22) begins the next stage in the story of the exodus. It gives us basic notes about their first travels in the wilderness before crossing the sea.

The rhetorically rem…