1And Jehovah will say to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2This month is to you the beginning of months: this to you the first month of the year. 3Speak ye to all the assembly of Israel, saying, In the tenth of this month and they shall take to them each a sheep, according to the house of the fathers; a sheep for a house. 4And if the house shall be little from being for a sheep, and he taking, and his neighbor drawing nigh his house according to the number of souls; each according to the mouth of his eating shall ye reckon for the sheep. 5A perfect sheep, a male, the son of a year, shall be to you from the he-lambs and from the goats ye shall take. 6And it shall be to you for a preservation till the fourteenth day of this month; and they shall slaughter it, all the convocation of the assembly of Israel, between the two evenings. 7And they took from the blood and gave upon the two door-posts, and upon the lintel within the houses which they shall eat it in them. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night roasted with fire and unleavened; upon bitter herbs shall they eat it 9Ye shall not eat from it raw and boiled from boiling with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs with its inner part 10Ye shall not leave from it till morning: and that remaining from it till morning, ye shall burn with fire. 11And so shall ye eat it, your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand: and ye ate it in hasty flight; a passing over to Jehovah. 12And I passed over in the land of Egypt in this night, and I struck every first-born in the land of Egypt from man even to quadruped: and against all the gods of Egypt I will do judgments: I Jehovah. 13And the blood was to you for a sign upon the houses where you are there: and I saw the blood and I passed over you, and the blow shall not be upon you to destroy, in my striking upon the land of Egypt 14And this day shall be to you for a remembrance; and ye kept it a festival to Jehovah for your generations: ye shall keep a festival a law forever. 15Seven days ye shall eat unleavened; wholly in the first day shall ye turn away leaven in your houses; for all eating leavened and that soul was destroyed from Israel from the first day even to the seventh day. 16And in the first day a calling of holiness, and in the seventh day a calling of holiness shall be to you; every service shall not be done in them only what shall be eaten by every soul; this only shall be done by you. 17And ye watched the unleavened; for in this self-same day I brought forth your armies out of the land of Egypt and watch ye this day for your generations a law forever. 18In the first, in the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye shall eat unleavened till the one and twentieth day of the month in the evening. 19Seven days leaven shall not be found in your houses; for all eating from the leavened, that soul shall be destroyed from the assembly of Israel, for the sojourner or for the native of the land. 20All leavened ye shall not eat: in all your dwellings ye shall eat unleavened. 21And Moses will call for all the old men of Israel and he will say to them, Draw out and take to yourselves a sheep according to your tribes, and slaughter the passing over. 22And take ye a bundle of hyssop, and dip in the blood that is upon the threshhold, and touch upon the lintel, and upon the two door-posts from the blood which is upon the threshhold and ye shall not come forth each from the door of his house till morning. 23And Jehovah passed over to strike the Egyptians; and he saw the blood upon the lintel, and upon the two doorposts, and Jehovah passed by the door and will not give him destroying to come in to your houses to strike. 24And watch ye this word for a law to thee and to thy sons forever. 25And it shall be when ye shall come to the land. which Jehovah will give to you, as he spake, watch ye this service. 26And it shall be when your sons shall say to you, What this service to you? 27And they said, This the sacrifice of the passing over to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt in his striking the Egyptians, and he delivered our houses. And the people will bow down and will worship. 28And the sons of Israel will go, and will do as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron; thus did they. 29And it will be in the middle of the night, and Jehovah struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting upon his throne, to the first-born of the captive which is in the house of the pit; and every first-born of the cattle. 30And Pharaoh will rise up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there will be a great cry in Egypt: for not a house where there was not the dead there. 31And he will call for Moses and for Aaron by night, and he will say, Arise, go forth from the midst of my people, also ye, also the sons of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah as ye spake. 32Also your sheep, also your oxen take as ye spake, and go and bless also me. 33And Egypt will be strong upon the people to hasten to send them forth out of the land; for they said, We are all dying. 34And the people will take up their dough before it will be leavened, their kneading-bowls bound in their garments upon their shoulders. 35And the sons of Israel did as Moses spake: and they will ask of the Egyptians, silver vessels and gold vessels,' and garments. 36And Jehovah gave favor to the people in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they will lend them; and they will strip the Egyptians. 37And the sons of Israel will remove from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand footmen; men apart from the little ones. 38And also a great mixture went up with them; and sheep and oxen, very much cattle. 39And they will cook the dough which they brought out of Egypt unleavened cakes, for it was not leavened; for they were driven out of Egypt, for they could not linger, and also they made not for themselves food. 40And the dwelling of the sons of Israel which they dwelt in Egypt, was thirty years and four hundred years. 41And it will be from the end of thirty years and four hundred years, in this self-same day all the armies of Jehovah will go forth out of the land of Egypt 42This a night of watchings to Jehovah, for bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt: it is this night to Jehovah of watching to all the sons of Israel for their generations. 43And Jehovah will say to Moses and Aaron, This the law of the passing over: every son of a stranger shall not eat of it. 44And every servant of a man bought with silver, and thou hast circumcised him, then he shall eat of it 45The sojourner and the hireling shall not eat of it 46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not bring forth out of the house from the flesh without, and ye shall not break a bone of it 47All the assembly of Israel shall do it. 48And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and do the passing over to Jehovah, all the males to him being circumcised, and then he shall draw near to do it; and he was as a native of the land: and every one uncircumcised shall not eat of it. 49One law shall be to the native and to the stranger sojourning in the midst of you. 50And all the sons of Israel will do as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 51And it will be in this self-same day, Jehovah brought forth the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their armies.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. (
Exod 12:1-
Exod 12:10)
the Lord spake unto Moses--rather, "had spoken unto Moses and Aaron"; for it is evident that the communication here described must have been made to them on or before the tenth of the month.
2 this month shall be unto you the beginning of months--the first not only in order but in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh according to the reckoning of the civil year, which began in September, and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand first in the national religious year which began in March, April.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel--The recent events had prepared the Israelitish people for a crisis in their affairs, and they seem to have yielded implicit obedience at this time to Moses. It is observable that, amid all the hurry and bustle of such a departure, their serious attention was to be given to a solemn act of religion.
a lamb for an house--a kid might be taken (
Exod 12:5). The service was to be a domestic one, for the deliverance was to be from an evil threatened to every house in Egypt.
4 if the household be too little for the lamb, &c.--It appears from JOSEPHUS that ten persons were required to make up the proper paschal communion.
every man according to his eating--It is said that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb, by each individual, was about the size of an olive.
5 lamb . . . without blemish--The smallest deformity or defect made a lamb unfit for sacrifice--a type of Christ (
Heb 7:26;
1Pet 1:19).
a male of the first year--Christ in the prime of life.
6 keep it up until the fourteenth day, &c.--Being selected from the rest of the flock, it was to be separated four days before sacrifice; and for the same length of time was Christ under examination and His spotless innocence declared before the world.
kill it in the evening--that is, the interval between the sun's beginning to decline, and sunset, corresponding to our three o'clock in the afternoon.
7 take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, &c.--as a sign of safety to those within. The posts must be considered of tents, in which the Israelites generally lived, though some might be in houses. Though the Israelites were sinners as well as the Egyptians, God was pleased to accept the substitution of a lamb--the blood of which, being seen sprinkled on the doorposts, procured them mercy. It was to be on the sideposts and upper doorposts, where it might be looked to, not on the threshold, where it might be trodden under foot. This was an emblem of the blood of sprinkling (
Heb 12:24;
Heb 10:29).
8 roast with fire--for the sake of expedition; and this difference was always observed between the cooking of the paschal lamb and the other offerings (
2Chr 35:13).
unleavened bread--also for the sake of despatch (
Deut 16:3), but as a kind of corruption (
Luke 12:1) there seems to have been a typical meaning under it (
1Cor 5:8).
bitter herbs--literally, "bitters"--to remind the Israelites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to which God's people are subject on account of sin.
9 Eat not of it raw--that is, with any blood remaining; a caveat against conformity to idolatrous practices. It was to be roasted whole, not a bone to be broken, and this pointed to Christ (
John 19:36).
10 let nothing of it remain until the morning--which might be applied in a superstitious manner, or allowed to putrefy, which in a hot climate would speedily have ensued; and which was not becoming in what had been offered to God.
11 THE RITE OF THE PASSOVER. (
Exod 12:11-
Exod 12:14)
thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet--as prepared for a journey. The first was done by the skirts of the loose outer cloth being drawn up and fastened in the girdle, so as to leave the leg and knee free for motion. As to the other, the Orientals never wear shoes indoors, and the ancient Egyptians, as appears from the monuments, did not usually wear either shoes or sandals. These injunctions seem to have applied chiefly to the first celebration of the rite.
it is the Lord's passover--called by this name from the blood-marked dwellings of the Israelites being passed over figuratively by the destroying angel.
12 smite . . . gods of Egypt--perhaps used here for princes and grandees. But, according to Jewish tradition, the idols of Egypt were all on that night broken in pieces (see
Num 33:4;
Isa 19:1).
14 for a memorial, &c.--The close analogy traceable in all points between the Jewish and Christian passovers is seen also in the circumstance that both festivals were instituted before the events they were to commemorate had transpired.
15 UNLEAVENED BREAD. (Exo. 12:15-51)
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread, &c.--This was to commemorate another circumstance in the departure of the Israelites, who were urged to leave so hurriedly that their dough was unleavened (
Exod 12:39), and they had to eat unleavened cakes (
Deut 16:3). The greatest care was always taken by the Jews to free their houses from leaven--the owner searching every corner of his dwelling with a lighted candle. A figurative allusion to this is made (
1Cor 5:7). The exclusion of leaven for seven days would not be attended with inconvenience in the East, where the usual leaven is dough kept till it becomes sour, and it is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserving leaven in readiness. Thus even were there none in all the country, it could be got within twenty-four hours [HARMER].
that soul shall be cut off--excommunicated from the community and privileges of the chosen people.
16 there shall be an holy convocation--literally, calling of the people, which was done by sound of trumpets (
Num 10:2), a sacred assembly--for these days were to be regarded as Sabbaths--excepting only that meat might be cooked on them (
Exod 16:23).
17 ye shall observe, &c.--The seven days of this feast were to commence the day after the passover. It was a distinct festival following that feast; but although this feast was instituted like the passover before the departure, the observance of it did not take place till after.
19 stranger--No foreigner could partake of the passover, unless circumcised; the "stranger" specified as admissible to the privilege must, therefore, be considered a Gentile proselyte.
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, &c.--Here are given special directions for the observance.
22 hyssop--a small red moss [HASSELQUIST]; the caper-plant [ROYLE]. It was used in the sprinkling, being well adapted for such purposes, as it grows in bushes--putting out plenty of suckers from a single root. And it is remarkable that it was ordained in the arrangements of an all-wise Providence that the Roman soldiers should undesignedly, on their part, make use of this symbolical plant to Christ when, as our Passover, He was sacrificed for us [
John 19:29].
none . . . shall go out at the door of his house until the morning--This regulation was peculiar to the first celebration, and intended, as some think, to prevent any suspicion attaching to them of being agents in the impending destruction of the Egyptians; there is an allusion to it (
Isa 26:20).
26 when your children shall say, . . . What mean ye by this service--Independently of some observances which were not afterwards repeated, the usages practised at this yearly commemorative feast were so peculiar that the curiosity of the young would be stimulated, and thus parents had an excellent opportunity, which they were enjoined to embrace, for instructing each rising generation in the origin and leading facts of the national faith.
27 the people bowed the head, and worshipped--All the preceding directions were communicated through the elders, and the Israelites, being deeply solemnized by the influence of past and prospective events, gave prompt and faithful obedience.
29 at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt--At the moment when the Israelites were observing the newly instituted feast in the singular manner described, the threatened calamity overtook the Egyptians. It is more easy to imagine than describe the confusion and terror of that people suddenly roused from sleep and enveloped in darkness--none could assist their neighbors when the groans of the dying and the wild shrieks of mourners were heard everywhere around. The hope of every family was destroyed at a stroke. This judgment, terrible though it was, evinced the equity of divine retribution. For eighty years the Egyptians had caused the male children of the Israelites to be cast into the river [
Exod 1:16], and now all their own first-born fell under the stroke of the destroying angel. They were made, in the justice of God, to feel something of what they had made His people feel. Many a time have the hands of sinners made the snares in which they have themselves been entangled, and fallen into the pit which they have dug for the righteous [
Pro 28:10]. "Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth" [
Ps 58:11].
30 there was not a house where there was not one dead--Perhaps this statement is not to be taken absolutely. The Scriptures frequently use the words "all," "none," in a comparative sense--and so in this case. There would be many a house in which there would be no child, and many in which the first-born might be already dead. What is to be understood is, that almost every house in Egypt had a death in it.
31 called for Moses and Aaron--a striking fulfilment of the words of Moses (
Exod 11:8), and showing that they were spoken under divine suggestion.
32 also take your flocks, &c.--All the terms the king had formerly insisted on were now departed from; his pride had been effectually humbled. Appalling judgments in such rapid succession showed plainly that the hand of God was against him. His own family bereavement had so crushed him to the earth that he not only showed impatience to rid his kingdom of such formidable neighbors, but even begged an interest in their prayers.
34 people took . . . their kneading-troughs--Having lived so long in Egypt, they must have been in the habit of using the utensils common in that country. The Egyptian kneading-trough was a bowl of wicker or rush work, and it admitted of being hastily wrapped up with the dough in it and slung over the shoulder in their hykes or loose upper garments.
35 children of Israel borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver--When the Orientals go to their sacred festivals, they always put on their best jewels. The Israelites themselves thought they were only going three days' journey to hold a feast unto the Lord, and in these circumstances it would be easy for them to borrow what was necessary for a sacred festival. But borrow conveys a wrong meaning. The word rendered borrow signifies properly to ask, demand, require. The Israelites had been kept in great poverty, having received little or no wages. They now insisted on full remuneration for all their labor, and it was paid in light and valuable articles adapted for convenient carriage.
36 the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians--Such a dread of them was inspired into the universal minds of the Egyptians, that whatever they asked was readily given.
spoiled the Egyptians--The accumulated earnings of many years being paid them at this moment, the Israelites were suddenly enriched, according to the promise made to Abraham (
Gen 15:14), and they left the country like a victorious army laden with spoil (
Ps 105:37;
Ezek 39:10).
37 The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses--now generally identified with the ancient Heroopolis, and fixed at the modern Abu-Keisheid. This position agrees with the statement that the scene of the miraculous judgments against Pharaoh was "in the field of Zoan" [
Ps 78:12,
Ps 78:43]. And it is probable that, in expectation of their departure, which the king on one pretext or another delayed, the Israelites had been assembled there as a general rendezvous. In journeying from Rameses to Palestine, there was a choice of two routes--the one along the shores of the Mediterranean to El-Arish, the other more circuitous round the head of the Red Sea and the desert of Sinai. The latter Moses was directed to take (
Exod 13:17).
to Succoth--that is, booths, probably nothing more than a place of temporary encampment. The Hebrew word signifies a covering or shelter formed by the boughs of trees; and hence, in memory of this lodgment, the Israelites kept the feast of tabernacles yearly in this manner.
six hundred thousand . . . men--It appears from
Num 1:3 that the enumeration is of men above twenty years of age. Assuming, what is now ascertained by statistical tables, that the number of males above that age is as nearly as possible the half of the total number of males, the whole male population of Israel, on this computation, would amount to 1,200,000; and adding an equal number for women and children, the aggregate number of Israelites who left Egypt would be 2,400,000.
38 a mixed multitude went with them--literally, "a great rabble" (see also
Num 11:4;
Deut 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity to escape in the crowd. (Compare
Zech 8:23).
40 the sojourning of the children of Israel . . . four hundred and thirty years--The Septuagint renders it thus: "The sojourning of the children and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt." These additions are important, for the period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed two hundred fifteen years; but if we reckon from the time that Abraham entered Canaan and the promise was made in which the sojourn of his posterity in Egypt was announced, this makes up the time to four hundred thirty years.
41 even the selfsame day--implying an exact and literal fulfilment of the predicted period.
49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger--This regulation displays the liberal spirit of the Hebrew institutions. Any foreigner might obtain admission to the privileges of the nation on complying with their sacred ordinances. In the Mosaic equally as in the Christian dispensation, privilege and duty were inseparably conjoined.