1And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a house. 4And if the house is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls; according to each man's eating you shall reckon it for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be whole, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it within the evening. 7And they shall take some of the blood and put it upon the two doorposts and upon the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night; roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat it raw, nor cooked with boiling in water, but roasted with fire; its head with its legs and its entrails. 10And you shall let none of it remain until morning; and whatever remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11And thus you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is Passover unto Jehovah. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am Jehovah. 13And the blood shall be a sign unto you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14And this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast unto Jehovah throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by a perpetual ordinance. 15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; except for each soul for eating; that only may be done by you. 17And you shall observe Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. 18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month, at evening. 19For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. 21Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, Draw out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover. 22And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23For Jehovah will pass through to strike Egypt; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Jehovah will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24And you shall observe this matter as an ordinance for you and your sons perpetually. 25And it shall come to pass when you come to the land which Jehovah shall give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26And it shall be, when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? 27that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck Egypt and delivered our houses. So the people bowed down and prostrated themselves. 28And the sons of Israel departed and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. 29And it came to pass at midnight that Jehovah struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison house, and every firstborn of livestock. 30And Pharaoh arose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one who died. 31And he summoned Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Arise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve Jehovah as you have said. 32Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33And the Egyptians prevailed upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they thought, We shall all die! 34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36And Jehovah had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they granted their requests. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. 37And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38And a mixed multitude also went up with them, and flocks and herds; exceedingly many cattle. 39And they baked unleavened cakes from the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared food for themselves. 40Now the time the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt remained there was four hundred and thirty years. 41And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on the same day it came to pass, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt. 42It is a night of observance unto Jehovah for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of Jehovah, an observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. 43And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: No son of a foreigner shall eat of it. 44But every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. 45A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break any of its bones. 47All the congregation of Israel shall observe it. 48And when a sojourner stays with you and wishes to keep the Passover unto Jehovah, let every male of his be circumcised, and then let him draw near to observe it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. 49One law shall be for the native, and for the sojourner who stays among you. 50Thus all the children of Israel did; as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51And it came to pass on the same day, that Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
Matthew Henry - Concise Commentary 1 The Lord makes all things new to those whom he delivers from the bondage of Satan, and takes to himself to be his people. The time when he does this is to them the beginning of a new life. God appointed that, on the night wherein they were to go out of Egypt, each family should kill a lamb, or that two or three families, if small, should kill one lamb. This lamb was to be eaten in the manner here directed, and the blood to be sprinkled on the door-posts, to mark the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians. The angel of the Lord, when destroying the first-born of the Egyptians, would pass over the houses marked by the blood of the lamb: hence the name of this holy feast or ordinance. The passover was to be kept every year, both as a remembrance of Israel's preservation and deliverance out of Egypt, and as a remarkable type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not a reward of their own righteousness, but the gift of mercy. Of this they were reminded, and by this ordinance they were taught, that all blessings came to them through the shedding and sprinkling of blood. Observe, 1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our passover,
1Cor 5:7. Christ is the Lamb of God,
John 1:29; often in the Revelation he is called the Lamb. It was to be in its prime; Christ offered up himself in the midst of his days, not when a babe at Bethlehem. It was to be without blemish; the Lord Jesus was a Lamb without spot: the judge who condemned Christ declared him innocent. It was to be set apart four days before, denoting the marking out of the Lord Jesus to be a Saviour, both in the purpose and in the promise. It was to be slain, and roasted with fire, denoting the painful sufferings of the Lord Jesus, even unto death, the death of the cross. The wrath of God is as fire, and Christ was made a curse for us. Not a bone of it must be broken, which was fulfilled in Christ,
John 19:33, denoting the unbroken strength of the Lord Jesus. 2. The sprinkling of the blood was typical. The blood of the lamb must be sprinkled, denoting the applying of the merits of Christ's death to our souls; we must receive the atonement,
Roma 5:11. Faith is the bunch of hyssop, by which we apply the promises, and the benefits of the blood of Christ laid up in them, to ourselves. It was to be sprinkled on the door-posts, denoting the open profession we are to make of faith in Christ. It was not to be sprinkled upon the threshold; which cautions us to take heed of trampling under foot the blood of the covenant. It is precious blood, and must be precious to us. The blood, thus sprinkled, was a means of preserving the Israelites from the destroying angel, who had nothing to do where the blood was. The blood of Christ is the believer's protection from the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the damnation of hell,
Roma 8:1. 3. The solemn eating of the lamb was typical of our gospel duty to Christ. The paschal lamb was not to be looked upon only, but to be fed upon. So we must by faith make Christ our own; and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our food, see
John 6:53,
John 6:55. It was all to be eaten; those who by faith feed upon Christ, must feed upon a whole Christ; they must take Christ and his yoke, Christ and his cross, as well as Christ and his crown. It was to be eaten at once, not put by till morning. To-day Christ is offered, and is to be accepted while it is called to-day, before we sleep the sleep of death. It was to be eaten with bitter herbs, in remembrance of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt; we must feed upon Christ with sorrow and brokenness of heart, in remembrance of sin. Christ will be sweet to us, if sin be bitter. It was to be eaten standing, with their staves in their hands, as being ready to depart. When we feed upon Christ by faith, we must forsake the rule and the dominion of sin; sit loose to the world, and every thing in it; forsake all for Christ, and reckon it no bad bargain,
Hebre 13:13,
Hebre 13:14. 4. The feast of unleavened bread was typical of the Christian life,
1Cor 5:7,
1Cor 5:8. Having received Christ Jesus the Lord, we must continually delight ourselves in Christ Jesus. No manner of work must be done, that is, no care admitted and indulged, which does not agree with, or would lessen this holy joy. The Jews were very strict as to the passover, so that no leaven should be found in their houses. It must be a feast kept in charity, without the leaven of malice; and in sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy. It was by an ordinance for ever; so long as we live we must continue feeding upon Christ, rejoicing in him always, with thankful mention of the great things he has done for us.
21 That night, when the first-born were to be destroyed, no Israelite must stir out of doors till called to march out of Egypt. Their safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling. If they put themselves from under the protection of that, it was at their peril. They must stay within, to wait for the salvation of the Lord; it is good to do so. In after-times they should carefully teach their children the meaning of this service. It is good for children to ask about the things of God; they that ask for the way will find it. The keeping of this solemnity every year was, 1. To look backward, that they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. Old mercies, to ourselves, or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, that God may be praised, and our faith in him encouraged. 2. It was designed to look forward, as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time. Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; his death was our life.
29 The Egyptians had been for three days and nights kept in anxiety and horror by the darkness; now their rest is broken by a far more terrible calamity. The plague struck their first-born, the joy and hope of their families. They had slain the Hebrews' children, now God slew theirs. It reached from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level before God's judgments. The destroying angel entered every dwelling unmarked with blood, as the messenger of woe. He did his dreadful errand, leaving not a house in which there was not one dead. Imagine then the cry that rang through the land of Egypt, the long, loud shriek of agony that burst from every dwelling. It will be thus in that dreadful hour when the Son of man shall visit sinners with the last judgment. God's sons, his first-born, were now released. Men had better come to God's terms at first, for he will never come to theirs. Now Pharaoh's pride is abased, and he yields. God's word will stand; we get nothing by disputing, or delaying to submit. In this terror the Egyptians would purchase the favour and the speedy departure of Israel. Thus the Lord took care that their hard-earned wages should be paid, and the people provided for their journey.
37 The children of Israel set forward without delay. A mixed multitude went with them. Some, perhaps, willing to leave their country, laid waste by plagues; others, out of curiosity; perhaps a few out of love to them and their religion. But there were always those among the Israelites who were not Israelites. Thus there are still hypocrites in the church. This great event was 430 years from the promise made to Abraham: see
Galat 3:17. So long the promise of a settlement was unfulfilled. But though God's promises are not performed quickly, they will be, in their season. This is that night of the Lord, that remarkable night, to be celebrated in all generations. The great things God does for his people, are to be not only a few days' wonder, but to be remembered throughout all ages; especially the work of our redemption by Christ. This first passover-night was a night of the Lord, much to be observed; but the last passover-night, in which Christ was betrayed and in which the first passover, with the rest of the Jewish ceremonies, was done away, was a night of the Lord, much more to be observed. Then a yoke, heavier than that of Egypt, was broken from off our necks, and a land, better than that of Canaan, set before us. It was a redemption to be celebrated in heaven, for ever and ever.
43 In times to come, all the congregation of Israel must keep the passover. All that share in God's mercies should join in thankful praises for them. The New Testament passover, the Lord's supper, ought not to be neglected by any. Strangers, if circumcised, might eat of the passover. Here is an early indication of favour to the gentiles. This taught the Jews that their being a nation favoured by God, entitled them to their privileges, not their descent from Abraham. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us,
1Cor 5:7; his blood is the only ransom for our souls; without the shedding of it there is no remission; without the sprinkling of it there can be no salvation. Have we, by faith in him, sheltered our souls from deserved vengeance under the protection of his atoning blood? Do we keep close to him, constantly depending upon him? Do we so profess our faith in the Redeemer, and our obligations to him, that all who pass by may know to whom we belong? Do we stand prepared for his service, ready to walk in his ways, and to separate ourselves from his enemies? These are questions of vast importance to the soul; may the Lord direct our consciences honestly to answer them.
