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Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14
Maundy Thursday (First Reading) April 8, 1998
Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, [2] "This month is to be for you the first
month, the first month of your year. [3] Tell the whole community of Israel that on the
tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
[4] If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest
neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine
the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. [5] The animals
you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or
the goats. [6] Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the
people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. [7] Then they are to
take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses
where they eat the lambs. [8] That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the
fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. [9] Do not eat the meat raw
or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire--head, legs and inner parts. [10] Do not
leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. [11] This is
how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet
and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover.
[12] "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every
firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am
the Lord. [13] The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike
Egypt.
[14] "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall
celebrate it as a festival to the Lord--a lasting ordinance.
(NIV)
Exodus 12:1-20 (The beginning of the year changed, The passover instituted)
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, Romans 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, Romans 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, 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, Hebrews 13:13-14. 4. The feast of unleavened bread was typical of the Christian life, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. 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.
(Matthew Henry Concise Commentary)