1And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2This month shall be the chief of months for you. It shall be the first of the months of the year for you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, they shall each man take for themselves an animal of the flock for a father’s house, a flock animal for a house. 4And if the house is too small for a flock animal, he and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of souls, each man according to the mouth of his eating, you shall count concerning the flock animal. 5A flock animal, a male without blemish, a son of a year, shall be to you. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats. 6And it shall be for you to keep until the fourteenth day of this month. And all the assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the evenings. 7And they shall take from the blood, and put it on the two side doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in this night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9Do not eat it raw, or boiling, boiled in water, but roasted with fire; its head with its legs and with its inward parts. 10And you shall not leave any of it until morning. And you shall burn with fire that left from it until morning. 11And you shall eat it this way: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover to Jehovah. 12And I will pass through in the land of Egypt in this night. And I will strike every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even to livestock. And I will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah! 13And the blood shall be a sign to you, on the houses where you are. And I will see the blood, and I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be on you to destroy, when I strike in the land of Egypt. 14And the day shall be a memorial for you. And you shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah, for your generations. You shall celebrate it as a law forever. 15You shall eat unleavened bread seven days. Indeed, on the first day you shall cause leaven to cease from your houses. For anyone eating any leaven, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day. 16And on the first day shall be a holy gathering, and in the seventh day a holy gathering shall be to you. Not any work may be done on them. Only what must be eaten by your soul, that alone may be done by you. 17And you shall observe the unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought out your armies from the land of Egypt. And you shall observe this day for your generations, a statute forever. 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 anyone eating any leaven, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, among the aliens, and among the natives of the land. 20You shall eat no leaven, not any. You shall eat unleavened bread in all your dwellings. 21And Moses called to all the elders of Israel and said to them, Draw out and take of the flock for you and for your families, and kill the passover. 22And take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood in the basin. And touch some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and on the two doorposts. And you shall not go out, anyone from the door of his house until morning. 23And Jehovah will pass through to strike Egypt. And He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Jehovah will pass over the door. And He will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24And you shall observe this Word for an ordinance for you, and for your sons forever. 25And it shall be, when you come into the land which Jehovah shall give to you, as He has spoken, you shall observe this service. 26And it shall be, when your sons say to you, What is this service to you? 27Then you shall say, A sacrifice of a passover of Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck Egypt. And He delivered our houses. And the people bowed and worshiped. 28And the sons of Israel went out and did as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. 29And it happened at midnight. Jehovah struck every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh, the one sitting on the throne, to the first-born of the captive who was in the prison house, and every first-born of animals. 30And Pharaoh arose by night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one who had died. 31And he called to Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Arise, go out from the midst of my people, both you and the sons of Israel. And go serve Jehovah according to your word. 32Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said, and go. And bless me also. 33And the Egyptians were strong on the people, to hasten to send them away from the land. For they said, All of us are about to die. 34And the people took up their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothing on their shoulders. 35And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they asked from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing. 36And Jehovah gave favor to the people in the eyes of the Egyptians. And they granted their requests. And they plundered Egypt. 37And the sons of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones. 38And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks, and herds, very many livestock. 39And they baked the dough which they brought out from Egypt into unleavened cakes. For it was not leavened, because they were driven out from Egypt, and they were not able to delay. And also they had not prepared food for a journey for themselves. 40And the time of the dwelling of the sons of Israel, which they dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41And it happened, from the end of four hundred and thirty years; it was on this very day, all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt. 42It is a night of celebration to Jehovah, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This night is a celebration for all the sons of Israel to their generations. 43And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. No stranger may eat of it. 44And every man’s slave, a purchase of silver, you shall circumcise him, then he may eat of it. 45A foreigner and a hired servant may not eat of it. 46It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the flesh outside from the house. And you shall not break a bone in it. 47All the congregation of Israel shall prepare it. 48And when a sojourner shall stay with you, and will do the Passover to Jehovah, let every male to him be circumcised, and then he may come near to prepare it. And he shall be like a native of the land. But any uncircumcised one may not eat of it. 49One law shall be to the native, and to the sojourner, the one staying in your midst. 50And all the sons of Israel did as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. 51And it happened on this day, Jehovah brought out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by 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.
