The Elders Are Instructed How To Observe the First Passover And Yahweh Passes Over Egypt and Slays The Firstborn ( Exo 12:21-30 ).

a Moses calls on the elders of Israel that all families shall take lambs/kids and kill the Passover and put blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses and not go out until the morning (Exo 12:21-22).

b For Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians and when He sees the blood He will pass over them and not allow the Destroyer to enter their houses to smite them (Exo 12:23).

c And they will observe this for an ordinance for themselves and their sons for ever (Exo 12:24).

d And when they come to the land which He has given them as He promised they will keep this service, and when their children ask ‘what does this service mean?’ (Exo 12:25-26).

d Their children will be told that it is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered Israel’s houses (Exo 12:27).

c And the people bowed their heads and worshipped, and the children of Israel went and did all that Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron (Exo 12:28).

b And at midnight Yahweh smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the lowest (Exo 12:29).

a And Pharaoh rose in the night, and all his grandees, and all the people of Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, and there was not a house where there was not one dead (Exo 12:30).

This is a passage of contrasts. In ‘a’ the children of Israel are safe in their houses, for they are protected by the blood on doorpost and lintel and by staying within their houses until morning, in the parallel is the contrast with Pharaoh and his people where there is a great cry and there is no house where there is not one dead. In ‘b’ Yahweh passes through and smites the Egyptians while the houses of the Israelites are safe because of the blood so that the Destroyer does not enter their houses, while in the parallel Yahweh smites all the firstborn in the land of Egypt regardless of status, and none are delivered. In ‘c’ there is the requirement for the perpetual keeping of the ordinance, an act of obedience and solemn worship, while in the parallel the people bow their heads and worship and do all that Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron. Here there is the parallel of future obedience and worship and present worship and obedience. In ‘d’ there is the contrast of the future blessing when they are safely settled in the land which Yahweh has given them with the present deliverance, and we have the question put by the son of the family about what this service means, paralleled by the explanation of what it does mean, that it is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover when He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt and smote the Egyptians, delivering the households of Israel.

The Call To Prepare for the Passover ( Exo 12:21-23 ).

Exo 12:21

‘Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Draw out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover.” ’

That these instructions result from Moses having already explained what is in the previous verses comes out in that he speaks of ‘the passover’ as though they will understand it. Now he tells them to carry them into effect. There is thus a period of four to five days between the ‘drawing’ and the ‘killing’ in which they can begin to prepare for their deliverance.

“The elders of Israel.” The lay rulers, heads of tribes and sub-tribes and their advisers.

Exo 12:22

“And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you will go out of his house until the morning. For Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two side posts, Yahweh will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.”

They are to put blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses using hyssop dipped in the blood from the slain lamb gathered in a basin, and striking the doorposts and lintel. They are then to remain in their houses, for Yahweh will go through the land of Egypt to smite the Egyptians (in the Hebrew ‘pass through’ has no stem connection with ‘pass over’). And when He sees the blood on the lintel and doorposts He will ‘pass over’ (the thought is of protection by hovering or circling over – see Exo 12:11 and Isa 31:5) and prevent destruction because He will know them as those who are in the covenant community and under His protection, and as those who have made the offering of the lamb, with whom He is well pleased.

“A bunch of hyssop.” This plant is generally considered to be a species of marjoram, a common, fragrant grey-leaved, wiry stemmed perennial herb 20-30 centimetres (about 1 foot) high having white flowers in small heads and growing in dry, rocky places.

“The blood which is in the basin.” The lamb’s blood is to be collected in a basin, and the hyssop then dipped in, and the blood put on the lintels and doorposts of their houses. Comparison with Exo 24:6-8 suggests that by this the house and those within it are seen as included in Yahweh’s covenant. (There it was sprinkled on pillars representing the people and on the people themselves, here it is put on the lintel and doorposts of the houses where they are, which symbolise the whole household). This application of the blood confirms the sacrificial significance of the slaying of the lamb. It had to be applied in accordance with ritual, and the blood must not be touched.

“None of you will go out of his house until the morning.” The house has been made holy to Yahweh by the application of the blood and those who are within it share that holiness and so must not go out into the mundane world. They are thus invulnerable and seen as under His protection. They are His. (To suggest that it meant that they must not go out because of some demon destroyer is to overlook the fact that only the firstborn were in danger from such a destroyer).

“For Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians.” It is made quite clear that it is Yahweh Himself Who smites the Egyptians. The blood is not for protection to divert demons nor a marker to identify the houses, but as a token to Yahweh that those within the house are within the covenant.

“Will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses.” It is Yahweh Who is the Destroyer and it is Yahweh Who is the Protector. We can compare how sometimes He distinguished Himself as ‘the angel of Yahweh’, almost as another self (Genesis chapters 16 and 22 and often, see also Gen 48:16; Isa 63:9). He is thus depicted as acting to prevent Himself from destroying.

Because blood applied to the entrance into dwellings, whether houses or tents, was elsewhere at other times used for the purpose of diverting demons and evil spirits, some have sought to apply that here (what are called ‘apotropaic’ rites to divert evil influences or bad luck). But this can only be done by totally ignoring the context. As with all ceremonies the meaning of actions changes depending on belief. We ourselves engage in traditions whose meaning has been transformed (such as the use of mistletoe). And this applies here. Here the blood is stated specifically to be to guarantee the protection of Yahweh Who is outside as Protector, not to prevent Yahweh or anything else entering. The children of Israel have been freed (at least theoretically) from the idea of other gods and demons affecting their lives for they are within Yahweh’s covenant.

This Feast Was To Become An Ordinance For The Future And Their Children Instructed In Its Significance ( Exo 12:24-28 ).

Exo 12:24-27 a

“And each of you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons for ever. And it shall happen that, when your children will say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’, you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s passover who hovered over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.”

It is constantly emphasised that what is to happen is so stupendous that it will act for ever as a reminder of the faithfulness of Yahweh to His covenant (compare Exo 12:17). And this is spelt out in the form of someone asking, ‘Why do you serve God in this way?’ And the reply is, ‘This is the sacrifice to do with Yahweh’s protective watch over His people when He smote the Egyptians’. The change to a singular verb indicates ‘each and all of you’.

Here the killing of the Passover lamb is specifically described as ‘zebach’. This would later be the name for the ‘peace offering’ (Leviticus 3, 4) but here it more generally means sacrifices other than the whole burnt offering of which they could partake (see Exo 10:25 compare Gen 31:54; Gen 46:1; Exo 18:12; Exo 24:5). Later the stipulation would be made that it should only be offered ‘in the place that Yahweh your God shall choose’ (Deu 16:5-6). Note again the emphasis on Yahweh’s protective watch, and that it is He Himself Who will smite the Egyptians.

Exo 12:27-28

‘And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went and did so. As Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.’

The people respond in obedience and worship and do what they have been commanded through Moses and Aaron. Thus are they ready when Yahweh acts. Note that they no longer grumble or disagree with what Moses says. What has previously occurred has filled them with awe and they have recognised that Yahweh is acting for them.

The Judgment of The Passover ( Exo 12:29-30 ).

Exo 12:29

‘And it came about at midnight that Yahweh smote all the 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 dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.’

In the middle of the night ‘all’ the firstborn in the land of Egypt were smitten from the highest to the lowest. The maidservant behind the mill of Exo 11:5 has been replaced here by the captive in the dungeon. Both were seen as on a similar level.

It is difficult to comment on this awe-inspiring and dreadful statement. A terrible epidemic passes through a whole nation so that on one night the vast multiplicity of deaths strikes terror in the minds of the people, and yet not one household of the children of Israel is affected. And the firstborn seem particularly to have been affected in a widespread way. We put it this way because no one could have checked that every single firstborn died, and it is possible that others died too. But outstanding examples were certainly known such as the firstborn of the house of Pharaoh and the firstborn of prisoners in dungeons. All classes were affected.

And this was at the hand of Yahweh. Whatever the secondary cause, the primary directing was His, for He controls all things. The judgment may seem appalling, and it truly was. But we may also see in it an act of mercy. Only the firstborn died, whereas God could have smitten the whole of Egypt. However it was sufficient for its purpose. The whole of Egypt wanted to get rid of the Israelites.

(While not detracting in any way from the huge significance of the event, we must remember that such general statements are not always to be applied absolutely literally. The wording would be satisfied if the large majority of the firstborn died sufficient to give the impression of universality (indeed we know that no one in a protected house died). ‘All’ can often mean ‘most’ or ‘the vast majority’ compare Gen 12:3; Gen 14:11; Gen 20:8; Gen 24:1; Gen 24:36 with Gen 25:5-6; Gen 29:22; Gen 31:1; Gen 31:6; Gen 34:29; Gen 41:56-57; Gen 47:14-15; Exo 1:14; Exo 1:22; Exo 9:25; Exo 18:1; Exo 18:8; Exo 18:14; Exo 33:19; Num 14:2; Deu 2:32 and often, including 2Sa 11:18; 1Ki 4:29-30; 1Ki 4:34).

“The firstborn of Pharaoh.” A potential god in the making but his father, or grandfather, Pharaoh, incarnation of the god Horus, could do nothing to prevent it. Clearly the ‘firstborn of Pharaoh’ means of those present in the land. Thus if Pharaoh’s actual firstborn was away on a military expedition then the next in line would presumably be affected, possibly his son if he had one.

But it would not be the first time in history that a detrimental fact was covered up. If Pharaoh’s first born son did die in this ignominious way, it could well have been ‘covered up’ and not written into the histories. He could have become a non-person. Histories were on the whole written to bring glory to those about whom the history was written, not in order to tell the truth. Israel were exceptional in recording all their bad points and failures, probably because their histories were written by prophets.

Exo 12:30

‘And Pharaoh rose up in the night, 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 dead.’

The greatness of the tragedy is stressed. It is significant that whatever killed the firstborn did so in such a way as to waken each household. This may suggest some dreadful illness which caused first suffering and misery, and finally death. It may have arisen from the effects of previous plagues leaving bacteria which were stirred up by the wind or simply had a delayed effect, but it occurred when needed and in the way required. We may theorise about what it was but it affected both man and cattle, and especially affected the firstborn, and all in one night. And in the end we are clearly told that it was the hand of God.

“Pharaoh — all his servants — all the Egyptians.” Again we have the depiction of the different classes in Egypt, Pharaoh, his high officials and bureaucrats, and the common people. And all were affected. From every house came the cry of mourning. But again the ‘all’ is not necessarily to be taken literally. It means the Egyptians on the whole. Some houses would not contain a firstborn son. Others would contain more than one firstborn. Although it may be that the deaths were more widespread than the firstborn.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The People Accept the Ordinances

v. 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, as the representatives of the children of Israel who transmitted the will of God to them, Draw out, select, take out from the flock, and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover; for the name of the festival was applied to the lamb or kid as the chief sacrifice.

v. 22. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, a plant to which cleansing properties were ascribed, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, which was caught when the animal was slaughtered, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin, thus applying the blood as a paint. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning, as a measure of safety, for they were protected only inside the house, behind the blood of sacrifice.

v. 23. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. With the blood on their door, destruction would not strike them, not because the blood in itself had such extraordinary powers, but because it was the type of the perfect, holy blood of propitiation, that of Christ.

v. 24. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. This precept concerning the Passover in its essential features was to be a fixed rule in their midst in their new home, an observance to be transmitted from generation to generation.

v. 25. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

v. 26. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

v. 27. that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses. Note that religious observances should not be performed in a mechanical manner, but with a proper understanding of their origin and their meaning. And the people bowed the head and worshiped. They accepted the words of the Lord in grateful adoration.

v. 28. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. This section is of more than usual interest to us Christians, because the Passover Iamb is a type of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Christ was a true man, born of the Virgin Mary. But He was, at the same time, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He is the Lamb which was sacrificed for the deliverance of all mankind. The blood of Jesus Christ protects us against wrath, against death and destruction; it reconciles us with God, it makes us members of His Church. This Lamb we should eat, we should receive Christ into our hearts as our Redeemer, therefore also purge out the old leaven, and be His own in sincerity and truth. Thus we obtain strength for our pathway through the wilderness of this world to the true Canaan above.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE FIRST PASSOVER. Having received the Divine directions as to the new rite, if not with all the fulness ultimately given them, yet with sufficient fulness for the immediate purpose, Moses proceeded to communicate the Divine Will to the people under his protection. Having already aroused the jealousy and hatred of Pharaoh, he could not summon a general assembly of the people, but he ventured to call a meeting of the elders, or heads of principal families, and through them communicated the orders which he had received to the entire nation. We find, in the directions which he gave, two small points which are not comprised in the record of God’s words to him.

1. The designation of the “hyssop,” as the instrument, by which the blood was to be placed on the side-posts and lintel (Exo 12:22); and,

2. The injunction not to quit the house “until the morning.” These points may have been contained in the original directions, though omitted from the record for brevity; or they may have been added by Moses of his own authority. On the other hand, several very main points of the original directions are not repeated in the injunctions given to the elders, though there can be no doubt that they were communicated.

Exo 12:21

Draw outi.e; “Withdraw from the flock.” (See Exo 12:3.) A lamb. The word used is generic, and would not exclude the offering of a goat.

Exo 12:22

A bunch of hyssop. The hyssop was regarded as having purging or purifying qualities, and was used in the cleansing of the leper (Le Exo 14:4), and of the leprous house (ibid. 51-52), and also formed an element in the “water of separation” (Num 19:6). It was a species of plant which grew on walls, and was generally low and insignificant (1Ki 4:33), yet which could furnish a stick or stalk of some length (Joh 19:29). It must also have been a common plant in Egypt, the wilderness, and Palestine. Two suggestions are made with respect to it. One, that it was a species of marjoram (Origanum Aegyptiacum, or O. Syriacum ) common in both Egypt and Syria; the other that it was the caper plant (Capparis spinosa), which abounds especially in the Desert. It is in favour of this latter identification, that the modern Arabic name for the caper plant is asaf or asuf, which excellently represents the Hebrew ezob, the word uniformly rendered in our version by “hyssop” The blood that is in the basin. The Septuagint and Vulgate render”that is on the threshold.“ Saphthe word translated “basin” has the double meaning. None of you shall go out. Moses may well have given this advice on his own authority, without any Divine command. (See introductory paragraph.) He would feel that beyond the protection of the blood of the lamb, there was no assurance of safety.

Exo 12:23

Compare Exo 12:12, Exo 12:13 which are closely followed. The only important difference is, the new expression, “The Lord will not suffer the destroyer to come in,” which has generally been regarded as implying, that the actual agent in the killing of the first-born was a “destroying angel.” But it is to be noted that elsewhere Jehovah himself is everywhere spoken of as the sole agent; and that in the present passage the word used has the meaning of “destruction” no less than that of “destroyer.” Bishop Lowth’s idea of an opposition between God and the destroying angel (Comment on Isa 31:1-9.5) is scarcely tenable.

Exo 12:24

To thee and to thy children. The change from the plural to the singular is curious, Perhaps, we are to understand that Moses insisted on the perpetuity of the ordinance to each of the elders severally.

Exo 12:25

The land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised. See above, Exo 3:8-17; Exo 6:4; and compare Gen 17:8; Gen 28:4, etc.

Exo 12:26

When your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this service. Apparently, Moses adds these injunctions by his own sole authority. He assumes that curiosity will be aroused by the strange and peculiar features of the Paschal ceremony, and that each generation in succession will wish to know its meaning and origin.

Exo 12:27

It is the sacrifice. It has been denied that the Paschal lamb was, in the true sense of the word, a sacrifice (Carpzov and others). But this passage alone is decisive on the question, and proves that it was. Moreover, it was offered in the holy place (Deu 16:5, Deu 16:6 ); the blood of it was sprinkled upon the altar, and the fat was burnt (2Ch 30:16; 2Ch 35:11). Compare also Exo 23:18; Num 9:7; Deu 16:2. The people bowed the head and worshipped. Rather, “and made obeisance.” Compare Exo 4:31. By “the people” seems to be meant “the elders of the people.” (See Exo 4:21.)

Exo 12:28

So did they. The long series of miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron had so impressed the people, that they yielded an undoubting and ready obedience.

HOMILETICS

Exo 12:22

No safety for man beyond the limits protected by the Lamb’s atoning blood.

No Israelite was to pass beyond the door of his house until the morning, lest he should be destroyed by the destroyer. Within the precincts, protected by the blood of the lamb, he was safe. Let Christians beware of stepping beyond the limits whereto the atoning blood extends. Those step beyond the limits

I. WHO TEMPT GOD BY DALLYING WITH SIN. Atonement has been made for us, we feel We have had moments of assurance that atonement and forgiveness are ours. We have had an impression that we were safe. At once the Evil One begins to whisper to our hearts that there is no longer any need of our walking warily, of our being afraid to put ourselves in temptation’s way, of our flying all contact with evil; and we are too apt to listen to his suggestions, to regard the danger of falling from grace as past, and to allow ourselves a liberty in which there is too often awful peril. We draw near the confines of sin, confident that we shall sin no more; and lo! we are entangled in the meshes. And why? Because we have gone beyond the limits protected by the atoning blood. We have opened the door and stepped out. We have turned our backs upon the redeeming marks and put them behind us. We have been over-trustful in our own strength.

II. WHO ARE PUFFED UP BY THE THOUGHT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENTS AND PRIVILEGES. “Pride goeth before a fall.” Pride was the great temptation of the Jew, who felt himself one of God’s peculiar people, to whom pertained “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises” (Rom 9:4). And pride often tempts the Christian, who has realised the work of Christ on his behalf, and the greatness of the salvation wrought for him. But pride is one of the deadly sins, and at once severs the soul from Christ. The blood of the covenant does not extend its protection over the paths which are trodden by the foot of pride. He who enters on them has wandered beyond the door which bears the redemption-marks, and is open to the assaults of the destroyer.

III. WHO FOLD THEIR HANDS AND CEASE TO BE ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS, AS THOUGH THEY HAD ALREADY ATTAINED. Though we cannot, by anything that we can do, merit our own salvation, or redeem ourselves or others (Psa 49:7), yet God will have us “work while it is day,” and the atoning blood of Christ atones for those only who are “careful to maintain good works” (Tit 3:8). Idleness, apathy, sloth, are contrary to his will and his word; and the man who indulges in them has strayed beyond the prescribed limits and lost the needful protection. Well for him if he discovers his mistake in time to return, and ,6 do again the first works” (Rev 2:5), and so regain the lost shelter! It is needless to say that the atoning blood can avail none who

(1) reject the atonement; or,

(2) despise it, by giving it no thought; or,

(3) trample it under foot by leading an immoral and ungodly life. These are as far removed from its protection as were the Egyptians.

Exo 12:26, Exo 12:27

The obligation of men to teach the true meaning of rites and ceremonies to their children.

The rites and ceremonies of a religion are liable to be misunderstood in two ways.

1. They may be regarded as unimportant, trifling, nay, even as superstitiousa weight and an encumbrance on true vital religion. Or,

2. They may be assigned more importance than is their due; considered to be that in which religion mainly consists, believed to have an inherent power and efficacy which is far from belonging to them. Men are prone to extremes; and most persons are naturally inclined either unduly to exalt, or unduly to depreciate religious ceremonies. Of the two evils, undue depreciation would seem to be the worse, for the following reason:

I. UNDUE DEPRECIATION OF CEREMONIES

(a) tends to make them of little service to men when they actually take part in them, since they neither prepare themselves properly beforehand, so as to derive from them the benefit they might, nor enter into them with much heart at the time of their occurrence, nor help their effect by devout meditation upon them afterwards.

(b) It causes an infrequent participation in the ceremonies by the depreciators, who, expecting but little benefit in the future, and being conscious of but little benefit in the past, allow small obstacles to prevent their attendance at services which they do not value.

(c) In extreme cases, it produces either complete abstention from, or sometimes actual abrogation of the rite, whereby advantages are forfeited on the part of whole sections of believers which would otherwise have been enjoyed by them. Thus the Society of Friends loses the benefit of both sacraments, with sad results to the spiritual life of numbers.

II. UNDUE EXALTATION OF CEREMONIES has the advantage of at any rate retaining them in use, so that their benefit is not wholly lost. It often, however, greatly lessens the benefit

(a) by exaggerated and superstitious views of its nature, and

(b) by the attribution of the benefit to the mere formal participation in the rite irrespective of the participator’s preparation, attention, and devoutness at the time. Further, it is apt to produce such a reliance on the ceremonies as is unfavourable to practical efforts at improving the moral character and making advances towards Christian perfection. Careful instruction in the true nature and value of ceremonial observances is thus of the highest importance; and parents should perhaps scarcely wait till their children “ask the meaning” of public worship, baptism, confirmation, the Lord’s supper, etc; before enlightening them on the true nature and value of each. In so doing, it will always be of use to set forth the historical origin of each usage, to show when and how it arose, and to draw attention to what Scripture says on the subject. Men’s private views are various, and may be mistaken, but the Scriptures cannot but be true; and a knowledge of what is contained in the Bible with respect to each Christian rite or ceremony will be an excellent basis for the formation of a sound and healthy opinion on the subject when, in the course of time, the different views of different sections of believers come to be known.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 12:21-29

Christ our Passover.

The Passover was an eminent type of Christ. It was probably to it the Baptist referred when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John L 29). Paul gives a decisive utterance on the question in the words: “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:7).

I. POINTS OF ANALOGY BETWEEN THE TRUE PASSOVER AND ITS TYPE.

1. In both the death of a blameless victim. The lamb, physically blameless (Exo 12:5); Christ, morally faultless. A sinful world needs a sinless Saviour. It has one in Christ. The sinlessness of Christ, a moral miracle. Proofs of this sinlessness.

(1) Christ asserts his own freedom from sin (Joh 8:29-46; Joh 14:30).

(2) In no part of his conduct does he betray the least consciousness of guilt. Yet it is admitted that Jesus possessed the finest moral insight of any man who has ever lived.

(3) His apostles, one and all, believed him to be sinless (2Co 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1Pe 2:22; 1Jn 3:5).

(4) His enemies could find no fault in him (Mat 26:60; Mat 27:23, Mat 27:24).

(5) The very traitor confessed the innocence of Christ (Mat 27:4).

(6) The delineation of his character in the gospels bears out the averment of his moral blamelessness.

(7) The captious efforts which have been made, by fixing on a few paltry points in the gospel narratives to impeach Christ’s sinlessness, indirectly prove it. “As if sin could ever need to be made out against a real sinner in this small way of special pleading; or as if it were ever the way of sin to err in single particles, or homoeopathic quantities of wrong’ (Bushnell).

2. In both, the design is to secure redemption from a dreadful evil. In the one case, from the wrath of God revealed against Egypt in the smiting of its first-born. In the other, from the yet more terrible wrath of God revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). “Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1Th 1:10). “Saved from wrath through him” (Rom 5:9).

3. In both, the principle of the deliverance is that of vicarious sacrifice. The lamb was substituted for the first-born. It protected the house, on whose door-posts the blood was sprinkled, from the stroke of the avenger. The substitutionary character of the death of Christ is, in like manner, affirmed in innumerable Scriptures. Jesus “died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). He “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust” (1Pe 3:18). He gave “his life a ransom for many ‘ (Mat 19:28). His blood is a propitiation (Rom 3:25). There is just ground for the remark of Coleridge (we quote from memory) that a man who would deal with the language of his father’s will, as Unitarians on this and other points do with the language of the New Testament, would be liable to an action at law.

4. In both, there was need for an act of personal, appropriating faith. “The people bowed the head, and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded “(Exo 12:27, Exo 12:28). “Through faith (they) kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood,” etc. (Heb 11:28). Their faith showed itself in sprinkling the blood on their door-posts and lintels, and in sheltering themselves under it. Nothing short of this would have availed to save them. So it is not knowledge about Christ, but faith in him; personal application to his blood, and trust in it as the means of salvation, which secures our safety. Faith is the bunch of hyssop.

5. In both, the slain lamb becomes the food of the new life. There was, on the part of the Israelites, a sacrificial feast upon the flesh of the lamb. This denoted, indeed, peace and fellowship with God, but it was also an act of nourishment. Similarly, under the Gospel, the new life is nourished by feeding upon Christ. We make him ours by inward appropriation and assimilation, and so are spiritually nourished for all holy service (cf. Joh 6:1-71.). Minor typical features might be insisted upon (male of the first year, roast with fire, not a bone broken, unleavened bread, hitter herbs of contrition, etc.), but the above are the broad and outstanding ones.

II. THE SURPASSING EXCELLENCE OF THE TRUE PASSOVER. It belongs to the nature of a type that it should be surpassed by the antitype. The type is taken from a lower sphere than the thing which it represents. So completely, in the case of the passover, does the reality rise above the type, that when we begin to reflect on it the sense of likeness is all but swallowed up in the sense of disproportion. How great,

1. The contrast in the redemptions. The redemption from Egypt, though spiritual elements were involved in it, was primarily a redemption from the power of Pharaoh, and from a temporal judgment about to fall on Egypt. Underlying it, there was the need for a yet greater redemptiona redemption from the curse of a broken law, and from the tyranny of sin and Satan; from death spiritual, temporal, and eternal. It is this higher redemption which Christ has achieved, altering, through his death, the whole relation of God to man, and of (believing)man to God.

2. The contrast in the victims. That, an irrational lamb; this, the Eternal Son of God in human nature, the Lord’s own Christ.

3. The contrast in the efficacy of the blood. The blood of the passover lamb had no inherent virtue to take away sin. Whatever virtue it possessed arose from God’s appointment, or from its typical relation to the sacrifice of Christ. Its imperfection as a sacrifice was seen

(1) In the multitude of the victims.

(2) In the repetition of the service (Heb 10:1-3).

But what the flowing of the blood of millions of lambs, year by year slain in atonement for sin could not achieve, Christ has achieved once for all by the offering up of his holy body and soul. The dignity of his person, the greatness of his love, his holy will, the spirit of perfect self-sacrifice in which he, himself sinless, offered himself up to bear the curse of sin for the unholy, confers upon his oblation an exhaustless meritoriousness. Its worth and sufficiency are infinite (Heb 10:10-15; 1Pe 1:19; 1Jn 2:2).

4. The contrast in the specific blessings obtained. The difference in these springs from the contrast in the redemptions. Israel obtained

(1) Escape from judgment.

(2) Outward liberty.

(3) Guidance, care, and instruction in the desert.

(4) Ultimately, an earthly inheritance.

We receive, through Christ,

(1) Pardon of all sins.

(2) A complete justifying righteousness, carrying with it the title to eternal life.

(3) Renewal and sanctification by the Spirit.

(4) Every needed temporal and spiritual blessing in life.

(5) Heaven at the close, with triumph over death, the hope of a resurrection, and of final perfecting in glory.J.O.

Exo 12:26, Exo 12:27

What mean ye by this service?

Apply to the Lord’s Supper.

I. A QUESTION TO BE PUT BY THE COMMUNICANT TO HIMSELF. Qualification for the Lord’s table includes “knowledge to discern the Lord’s body,” as well as “faith to feed upon him.”

II. A QUESTION LIKELY TO BE PUT TO THE COMMUNICANT By HIS CHILDREN.

1. The children are presumed to be spectators of the ordinance. It is well that children should be present during the administration of the sacraments. It awakens their interest. It leads them to inquire.

2. The ordinance is fitted to attract attention. An external interest attaches to it. It appeals to the senses. The symbolic acts and movements prompt to inquiry.

3. It furnishes an excellent opportunity for imparting instruction. Children will attend to an explanation of the sacraments, who will pay little attention to a book or a sermon. The symbolism of the ordinance aids instruction; makes it vivid and impressive.

III. A QUESTION WHICH THE CHRISTIAN PARENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO ANSWER TO HIS CHILDREN. It is a sad matter when a parent is incapable of sitting down, and instructing his children in the meaning of the sacramental symbol. It betrays something worse than ignorance; not improbably, a total want of spiritual religion.

IV. THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION INVOLVES A STATEMENT OF THE GREATEST VERITIES OF OUR FAITH. The Jew had to answer to his child”It is the sacrifice, of the Lord’s passover,” etc. (Exo 12:27). The Christian has to answer, “It is the memorial of our Lord’s death, in atonement for our sins.” He has to tell

1. How we were in guilt and danger.

2. How, for the love wherewith he loved us, Christ gave himself up to the death for our redemption.

3. How, for his sake, we are forgiven and accepted.

4. How the ungodly world has still God’s wrath resting upon it. It is wonderful to reflect how simply, yet how perfectly, God has provided for the handing down of a testimony to these great truths in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The pulpit may fail to preach the doctrine of atonement; Rationalistic and Unitarian teachers may deny it; but as often as the Lord’s Supper is observed, on the model of the New Testament, the truth is anew proclaimed in unmistakable symbols. To give a child a satisfactory explanation of the Lord’s Supper, embodying the words of institution, would be almost of necessity, to preach a sermon on the atonement.J.O.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Exo 12:26-27

The children’s question in Canaan.

I. IT WAS A QUESTION TO BE EXPECTED. The service was one to provoke curiosity. It was not some daily action of the household, of which the children learned the meaning and purpose almost unconsciously. The grinding of the corn, the kneading of the dough, in a very short time explained themselves. But when as the beginning of the year drew round, it brought with it these special observances, the slaying and eating of the lamb and the seven days of unleavened bread, there was everything to make a child ask, “What is this being done for?” God makes one thing to fit into another. He institutes services of such a kind, with such elements of novelty and impressiveness in them, that the children make it easier for them to be instructed in the things that belong to his will. And what was true concerning this passover service, is also true, more or less, concerning all that is revealed in the Scriptures. The great facts of Divine revelation are such as to provoke curiosity, even in a child’s mind. If it be true that the Scriptures are given to guide us all the way through life, then what is more reasonable to expect than that God will have placed much in them to stir up attention and inquiry from those who are just at the beginning of life?

II. HENCE THIS WAS A QUESTION TO BE ENCOURAGED. Every advantage was to be taken of childish curiosity. Inquisitive children are often reckoned a nuisance, and told to be quiet; yet such a policy as this, though it may save trouble in the present, may lead to a great deal more trouble in the future. A stupid child who never asks questions, is to be reckoned an object of pity and a source of peril. God has always in mind how to make each generation better instructed than the one going before; more obedient to him, and more serviceable for his purposes. The temptation of the grown people in Israel was to undervalue what was going on in the minds of their children. Remember how Mary and Joseph suffered through their want of forethought on this point. The God who watches human beings all the way from the cradle to the grave knows well how children, even very little children, have their own thoughts about things; and he wanted the people to give them every encouragement and information. One question wisely answered leads to the asking of other questions. Thus, by the continuance of an inquiring mood in the mind, and thus only, is profitable information to be given. Information is not to be poured into the mind as into a bucket; it must be taken as food, with appetite, and digestive and assimilating power. Thus if the question were not asked, if, while the passover preparations were being made, a child stood by in stolid unconcern, or ran away heedlessly to play, such conduct would fill a wise parent with solicitude. He would look upon it as being even more serious than a failure of physical health. He would do all he could by timely suggestions to bring the question forth. Ingenuity and patience may do much to bring curiosity into action, and if the question were not asked it would have to be assumed. The narrative of the passover was a most important one for every Israelite child to hear and remember; and if only the narrative was begun, it might soon excite the requisite and much desired interest.

III. IT WAS A QUESTION WHICH GAVE GREAT SCOPE FOR USEFULNESS TO THE CHILDREN IN THE ANSWERING OF IT. God, indeed, directs how it is to be answered; but of course, it is not meant that there was to be a formal, parrot-like confinement to these words. What, for instance, could be more gratifying to the children, who in after times asked this question, than to begin by pointing out to them, how God himself expected them to ask this question? Then the words he had directed Moses to provide for an answer, might be repeated. But it would have been a poor spiritless answer, unpleasing to God, and profitless to the children, if it had stopped with the bare utterance of the words in Exo 12:27. There was room for much to be said, that would very peculiarly impress the mind of a thoughtful child. It might be reminded that whereas, now, little children were born in the freedom of Canaan, some among their forefathers had been born in the bondage of Egypt. It might be told of that Pharaoh who had threatened the men* children with destruction. In particular, the story of the infant Moses might be told. So now, in those parts of the world where the idols are abolished, and former idolaters are gathered round the throne of grace for Christian worship, an opportunity is given for explaining to the children, in how much better a state, and with how much better surroundings they are brought up. “What mean ye by this service?’ was a question which could be answered in form, and yet with such absence of heart, as utterly to chill and thwart the eager inquirer. Whereas, if it were only answered with evident care, with amplitude of detail, with loving desire to interest and satisfy, then the child thus favoured, would be laid under great obligations to be thankful in feeling, and devoted in service. A question of this sort gave great opportunity. Happy those who could seize the opportunity at once, and use it to the full.

IV. IT WAS A QUESTION WHICH CAME TO CALL EVERY ISRAELITE, AT THE ANNUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER, TO A CAREFUL CONSIDERATION OF HIS OWN FEELINGS WITH RESPECT TO IT. It was a question which helped to guard against formality. A little child may render a great service, without knowing it, even to a grown man. God can send the little ones, to test, to rebuke, to warn, to stir out of lethargy. “What mean ye by this service?” How is the Israelite of the grown generation to answer this question? He may tell the child what the service is intended for, the historical facts out of which it arose, and the Divine appointments concerning it; but after all, this is no real answer to the question. It may be an answer to satisfy the inquiring child, and yet leave the person who has to give it, with a barbed arrow in his memory and conscience. Notice the precise terms of the question. What mean ye by this service? How should the child ask in any other terms? It looks and sees the parents doing something new and strange; and to them it naturally looks for explanation and guidance. The question is not simply, “Why is this thing being done?’ but “Why are you doing it, and what do you mean by it?” It became only too possible in the lapse of ages, to go through this service in a cold, mechanical, utterly unprofitable way. Not so, we may be sure, was it observed the first time in Egypt, on the night of deliverance. Then all was excitement, novelty, and overflowing emotion. Be it ours, in considering all outward and visible acts in connection with religion, all symbolic and commemorative institutions, to ask ourselves in great closeness and candour of personal self-application, “What mean we by this service?’ Do we mean anything at all, and if so, what is it that we mean? To answer this is not easy: it is not meant to be easy. Perhaps one great reason why there are such marked and unabated differences of opinion with respect to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper is, that we have never sufficiently considered the question, “What mean ye by these services?’ It is hard work to be quit of mere superstition, mere clinging to outward observances as matters of custom, tradition, and respectability. It is very certain that to this question of the children, put in all its particular emphasis, only too many fathers in Israel would have been forced to reply, “We do this thing because our fathers did it.” Remember that forms are, in themselves, nothing to the invisible, spiritual God. Their value is as containing, protecting and expressing what we have to present. That which pleased Jehovah and profited Israel was not the outward passover service, but the intelligence, the perceptions, the gratitude, the aspirations, and the hopes that lay behind it.Y.

Exo 12:21-28

Israel and the sacrifice for sin.

I. CHRIST SLAIN BY US. The lamb’s blood was not only shed for them, but also by them. The crucifying of Jesus by the Jews, the revelation of what lies in every unrenewed heart. “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced.”

II. WHAT IS NEEDFUL FOR SALVATION.

1. Appropriating faith. It was the blood applied with their own hands to the door of the dwelling that saved those within. It is not enough that the blood be shed. Is it upon our gates? Have we set it by faith between us and destruction?

2. It must be applied as God directs us. It was sprinkled on the lintel and doorpostsnot within, but without. It is not enough that we believe. We must make open profession of our faith.

3. We must abide within until the day dawn and salvation come. To put that blood (which should be between us and the world) behind us, no longer to hide within it but to forget it, is to renounce salvation. Are we without or within the blood-stained gateway? We are saved if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.

II. GOD‘S COVENANT GIVES PERFECT SECURITY (Exo 12:25). The shed blood stands between us and death. The awe and joy of redeemed Israel, a faint emblem of the awe and joy which we shall feel, who shall see the judgment of sin but only from afar.

IV. THE DUTY OF THE REDEEMED.

1. Perpetual remembrance (Exo 12:23). We must, in the ordinance of Christ’s own appointment, shew his death till he come.

2. The handing down the knowledge of salvation (Exo 12:26, Exo 12:27). Christians should glory in the story of the Cross.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 12:21. Draw out and takeand kill the passover. The word mishecu signifies, properly, as we have rendered it, to draw out or take from a number; as if it was said, choose out now, and take you a lamb. It deserves particularly to be remembered, that Moses here calls the paschal lamb by the name of the passover. Kill the passover; i.e. the paschal lamb: a mode of speaking very frequent, both in the Old and New Testament: a little attention to which would have prevented many strange opinions and disputes. Thus Christ calls the bread and wine his body and blood, Mar 14:22; Mar 14:24. Thus St. Paul calls Christ our Passover, 1Co 5:7. So circumcision is called the covenant, Gen 17:13.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

C.The institution of the first passover. The last plague. The release and the preparation for departure

Exo 12:21-36

21Then [And] Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw [Go] out,12 and take you a lamb [take you lambs] according to your families, and kill the passoExo Exo 12:22 And ye shall [And] take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts [two posts] with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his 23house until the morning. For [And] Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts [two posts], Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto [come into] your houses to smite you 24And ye shall observe this thing for [as] an ordinance to [for] thee and to [for] thy sons for eExo Exo 12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be [are] come to the land which Jehovah will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 27That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Jehovahs passover [the passover of Jehovah], who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head [bowed down] and worshipped. 28And the children of Israel went away [went], and did 29[did so;] as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass that at midnight [at midnight that] Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. 30And Pharaoh rose up in the 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 dead. 31And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. 32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be [are] all dead men. 34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed [asked] of the Egyptians jewels [articles] of 36silver, and jewels [articles] of gold, and raiment. And Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that [and] they lent unto them such things as they required [they gave unto them]: and they spoiled [despoiled] the Egyptians.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exo 12:21. Draw out, as the rendering of , is acquiesced in by Lange, De Wette, Wordsworth, Murphy, and Canon Cook (in the Speakers Commentary), and is defended by Kalisch and Bush. The latter, in a note on Jdg 4:6, affirms that never means to approach. He assigns to it there the meaning to draft, or enlist, sc. soldiers for his armya meaning which certainly is no where else (therefore not frequently, as Bush says) to be found. That may be used intransitively, Bush does not deny; and indeed in Jdg 20:37 he himself follows the rendering drew themselves along, and explains it as descriptive of a mass of men stretching themselves out in a long train and rapidly urging their way to the city. This certainly is not far from the meaning which he denies to the word. What significance could be attached to the phrase draw out, as here used of the paschal lamb, is not clear. Not draw out, in the sense of pull out,a meaning which the word has in such cases as that of Jeremiah, who was drawn up with cords out of the dungeon, Jer 38:13. Not draw out in the sense of draw by lot; for the word no where has this meaning, and the lambs were not drawn by lot. It could mean only takea meaning which, though assigned to it here by Kalisch, the word no where else has, and which, if it had it, would be the same as that of the following word. There is therefore little doubt that we are to understand the word, with the LXX., Vulg., Gesenius, Frst, Bunsen, Arnheim, Alford, Keil, Knobel, and others, as used intransitively.Tr.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The narrative evidently transports us to the 14th day of Nisan, the days of preparation being passed over.

Exo 12:21. For this reason we do not translate intransitively, go hence, etc. The paschal lambs have been for four days in a special enclosure; now they are to be drawn out, seized and slaughtered. Hence also the injunction proceeds at once to the further directions concerning the transaction.

Exo 12:22. A bunch of hyssop.A handful, says Maimonides. Hyssop designates probably not the plant which we call hyssop, not the hyssopus officinalis, it being doubtful whether this is found in Syria and Arabia (vid. Ritter, Erdkunde, XVII., p. 686), but a species of the origanum similar to the hyssop (Keil).That is in the basini.e., in which the blood was caught. None of you shall go out.They are protected only in the house, behind the propitiatory blood.

Exo 12:23. The destroyer to come inComp. the of Heb 11:28 with 2Sa 24:16; Isa 37:36. So Keil and others, whereas Knobel and others take as abstract=destruction. Knobels reasons (p. 105) are easily refuted; e.g., though Jehovah Himself goes through Egypt, yet it does not thence follow that He might not make use of an angel of judgment in the judicial inflictions (to be understood symbolically, vid. Psa 78:49); He Himself, however, distinguishes between His people and the Egyptians.

Exo 12:24-26. The establishment of the Passover festival is again enjoined, and at the same time there is connected with it an injunction to instruct children concerning it. The Israelitish child will not unthinkingly practice a dead worship; he will ask: What does it mean? And the Israelitish fathers must not suppress the questions of the growing mind, but answer them, and thus begin the spiritualizing of the paschal rite.

Exo 12:27. Worshipped.Expression of faith, allegiance, joy, and gratitude.

Exo 12:28. Brief reference to the festive meal of faith in contrast with the dreadful judgment now beginning. At midnight.According to Keil, we have no occasion here to look for any natural force as underlying the punishment, but to regard it as a purely supernatural operation of divine omnipotence, inasmuch as here the pestilence is not named, as in 2Sa 24:15. Also (he says) Jehovah administers the last plague without Moses mediation. But here too Moses prophetic prediction has a place; and also the teleological design of the facts. And this was the main feature of all these punitive miracles, provided we do not conceive Moses rod as having itself wrought them. According to Knobel, the miracle consisted in the pestilence which from the oldest time to the present day has had its chief seat in Egypt. He gives a series of examples, p. 106. Also statements concerning the season in which the pestilence is accustomed to appear in Egypt: December, February, March. It is most destructive from March to May. Quite in accordance with the facts, the series of plagues ends with the pestilence, which generally lasts till the Nile inundation. The pestilence spares many region, e.g., the deserts (Pruner, p. 419). On the death of the cattle: According to Hartmann (Erdbeschreibung) von Afrika, I., p. 68), the dogs in Cairo almost constantly have the pestilence; and when it rages among them, it ceases to prevail among men. According to Knobel, the occurrence was expanded by legendary tradition into a miracle. But miraculous are: (1) The prediction of the fact, its object, and its results; (2) the sudden spread of the plague over the younger generation, the first-born, especially the first-born of the king, being singled out; (3) the fact that both beasts and men suffered; (4) the liberation of Israel. That the religious expression of this great event has its peculiarity, that it makes generalizations, and leaves out subordinate features in accordance with its idealizing tendency and symbolic designon this point one must shape his views by means of a thorough hermeneutical apprehension of the religious style. Even Keil cannot quite adopt the assumption of Cornelius a Lapide, that in many houses grandfathers, fathers, sons, and wives, in case they were all first-born, were killed. But literally understood, the narrative warrants this. But the perfect realization of the object aimed at lifts the event above the character of a legend.

Exo 12:30-31. The great lamentation which in the night of terror resounds through Egypt becomes the immediate motive for releasing Israel. And he called for Moses.We need not, with Calvin, lay any stress on the fact that Pharaoh, Exo 10:28, had commanded the men not to show themselves again to him, as if a humiliating inconsistency of the tyrant with himself were not characteristic, and as if in the history of despotism it were not a frequent feature. This crushing humiliation Pharaoh could not escape. Moses and Aaron had to receive the permission from his own month. And we cannot call it mere permission. He drives him out by a mandate which boars unmistakable marks of excitement. Serve Jehovah, as ye have said.These words involve the promise of complete liberation, and at the same time the intention to require the Israelites to return. As ye have saidhe repeatsand finally he even begs for their intercession: bless me also. According to Keil, every thing, even the request for their blessing, looks to a manifest and quite unconditional dismissal and emancipation. But this thought is expressed more positively in the behavior of the Egyptians, who were the most terrified.

Exo 12:33. At all events the Israelites had a right to understand the dismission as an emancipation, although formally this right was not complete until Pharaoh hostilely pursued them. Keil refers to Exo 14:4-5. The report brought to the king, that the people had fled, seems, however, to imply that in the mind of the Egyptians there had been no thought of unconditional emancipation, but only of an unconditional furlough. And when Pharaoh was disposed violently to take back even this promise, that was a new instance of hardness of heart, the last and the fatal one. We are all dead men: as it were, already dead. Expression of the greatest consternation.

Exo 12:34. And the people took their dough, before it was leavened. That is (according to Keil): The Israelites intended to leaven the dough, because the command to eat unleavened bread for seven days had not yet been made known to them. But the text evidently means to say just the opposite of this: they carried, in accordance with the command, dough which was entirely free from leaven. They had already put enough for seven days into the baking-pans, and carried these on their shoulders, wrapped up in their outer garments, or rather in wrapping cloths, such as might be used for mantles or wallets.

Exo 12:35-36. Vid. Exo 3:21 and Comm. on Genesis, p. 83.

Footnotes:

[12][Exo 12:21. Draw out, as the rendering of , is acquiesced in by Lange, De Wette, Wordsworth, Murphy, and Canon Cook (in the Speakers Commentary), and is defended by Kalisch and Bush. The latter, in a note on Jdg 4:6, affirms that never means to approach. He assigns to it there the meaning to draft, or enlist, sc. soldiers for his armya meaning which certainly is no where else (therefore not frequently, as Bush says) to be found. That may be used intransitively, Bush does not deny; and indeed in Jdg 20:37 he himself follows the rendering drew themselves along, and explains it as descriptive of a mass of men stretching themselves out in a long train and rapidly urging their way to the city. This certainly is not far from the meaning which he denies to the word. What significance could be attached to the phrase draw out, as here used of the paschal lamb, is not clear. Not draw out, in the sense of pull out,a meaning which the word has in such cases as that of Jeremiah, who was drawn up with cords out of the dungeon, Jer 38:13. Not draw out in the sense of draw by lot; for the word no where has this meaning, and the lambs were not drawn by lot. It could mean only takea meaning which, though assigned to it here by Kalisch, the word no where else has, and which, if it had it, would be the same as that of the following word. There is therefore little doubt that we are to understand the word, with the LXX., Vulg., Gesenius, Frst, Bunsen, Arnheim, Alford, Keil, Knobel, and others, as used intransitively.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 78
DELIVERANCE OF THE ISRAELITES FROM THE DESTROYING ANGEL

Exo 12:21-23. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bas on; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians: and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door; and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

THE office of a Minister is to declare to the people what he himself has received from God to deliver to them [Note: 1Co 15:3.]. Nothing should be added by him; nothing should be withheld [Note: Act 20:27.]. The direction given to Moses, See thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount [Note: Heb 8:5.], is that to which all the servants of God should be conformed in all their ministrations. In this consists fidelity. If we add any thing to the word of God, the plagues contained in it shall be added unto us: if we take away from it, our names shall be taken out of the book of life [Note: Rev 22:18-19.]. It is spoken to the honour of Moses, that he was faithful in all his house: and we find invariably, that the messages which he delivered to the people, and the ordinances which he established among them, accorded with the commission which he himself had received from God. In the words before us, he delivers to them a message of terror and of mercy: he informs them of the judgment about to be inflicted on the Egyptian first-born; and of the means which God in his mercy had appointed for exempting them from the general calamity.

We propose to consider.

I.

The means prescribed

God might have preserved his people without any particular means; as he did when he sent forth an angel to destroy almost the whole Assyrian army. But he intended this deliverance as a type of a far greater deliverance, which he should afterwards effect through the incarnation and death of his own Son; and therefore he appointed certain observances which should lead their minds to that great event

1.

They must kill the paschal lamb

[Though the passover differed from all other sacrifices, inasmuch as no part of it was burnt upon the altar, yet it is expressly called a sacrifice [Note: Deu 16:4.] ; and it was ordered to be represented under that character to all succeeding generations [Note: 6, 27.]: and St. Paul himself speaks of it as prefiguring, in that particular view, the death of Christ [Note: 1Co 5:7.].

Here then it is most instructive to us, as it teaches us, that, without a sacrifice offered unto God for us, we cannot obtain favour in his sight, or escape the judgments which our sins have merited. We do not presume to say, absolutely, what God might, or might not, have done; because we know nothing of God except as he is pleased to reveal himself to us: but, as far as the revelation he has given us enables us to judge, we are persuaded that a vicarious sacrifice was necessary; and that, without such a sacrifice, God could not have been just, and at the same time the justifier of sinful man [Note: Rom 3:25-26.] ]

2.

They must sprinkle its blood

[The destroying angel might have been instructed to discern between the Israelites and the Egyptians without any external sign upon the walls: but God ordered that the blood of the lamb should be sprinkled on the lintel, and side-posts of the doors, in order to shew us yet further, that the blood of Christ must be sprinkled on our souls. The blood of the lamb did not save the Israelites by being shed, but by being sprinkled: and, in the same manner, it is not the blood of Christ as shed on Calvary, but as sprinkled on the soul, that saves us from the wrath to come. Hence the Scripture so often speaks of our being come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel [Note: Heb 12:24 and 1Pe 1:2.]. We must, as it were, dip the hyssop in the blood, and by faith apply it to our own hearts and consciences, or else we can have no benefit from it, no interest in it ]

3.

They must abide in their houses

[This was appointed, that they might know to what alone they owed their safety, namely, to the blood sprinkled on their houses. If, presuming upon their descent from Abraham, or upon their having killed the passover, any of them had ventured abroad before the morning, they would, in all probability, have perished, as Lots wife did after her departure from Sodom, or as Shimei afterwards did by going without the walls of Jerusalem [Note: 1Ki 2:41-46.]. The injunction given to them, teaches us, that we must abide in Christ [Note: Joh 15:4-7. N.B. Five times in four verses is this truth repeated.] ; and that, to venture for one moment from under the shadow of his wings, will involve us in the most imminent danger, if not in utter ruin. We have no protection from the pursuer of blood any longer than we continue within the walls of the city of refuge [Note: Num 35:26-28.] ]

Let us now take a view of,

II.

The deliverance vouchsafed

The deliverance itself was truly wonderful

[Throughout all the land of Egypt, the first-born of every person, from the king on his throne to the captive in the dungeon, was slain by an invisible agent. By whatever means the various families were awakened, whether by any sudden impression on their minds, or by the groans of their first-born smitten by the destroying angel, there was at the same hour throughout all the kingdom a cry of lamentation and of terror; of lamentation for their deceased relatives, and of terror on their own account, lest a similar judgment should be inflicted on them also. What dreadful consternation must have prevailed, the instant that the extent of this calamity was seen; when every one, going for relief and comfort to his neighbour, saw him also overwhelmed with similar anguish! But though the first-born of men and cattle was destroyed amongst all the Gentiles, not one, either of men or cattle, suffered amongst the Israelites. How must the whole Jewish nation be struck with wonder at this astonishing display of Gods mercy towards them!
But a greater deliverance than this was shadowed forth. There is a day coming when God will put a more awful difference between his friends and enemies; when his enemies, without exception, shall be smitten with the second death, and his friends be exalted to eternal glory and felicity. What terror will be seen in that day! what weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth among the objects of his displeasure! and what exultation and triumph amongst those who shall be the monuments of his distinguishing favour! That deliverance will be indeed wonderful; and eternity will be too short to explore the unsearchable riches of grace and love contained in it.]

The manner in which it was effected also deserves particular attention

[There was not one agent only in this transaction, but two: a destroying angel, that went forth to execute judgment indiscriminately on one in every house; and God, who attended him, as it were, to intercept his stroke, and ward off the blow wherever the blood was sprinkled on the houses. This is clearly intimated in the text; and it is as clearly referred to by the Prophet Isaiah, who combines this image with that of a bird darting between her offspring and the bird of prey, in order to protect them from their voracious enemy [Note: Isa 31:5.]. Indeed the very name given to the ordinance which was appointed to commemorate this event, was taken from the circumstance of Gods leaping forward, and thus obliging the angel to pass over every house where the blood appeared.

In reflecting on this, we take comfort from the thought, that, whoever may menace the Lords people, God himself is their protector; and that, while he is for them, none can be effectually against them. If all the angels in heaven, yea and all the devils in hell too, were employed to execute vengeance on the earth, we need not fear; since God is omniscient to discern, and almighty to protect, the least and meanest of his believing people.]

We may learn from hence,
1.

The use and excellence of faith

[It was by faith that Moses kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them [Note: Heb 11:28.]. It is by faith also, and by faith alone, that we can obtain an interest in the Lord Jesus. In what other way can we present to God his sacrifice? In what other way can we sprinkle our hearts with his atoning blood? In what other way can we abide in him till the morning of the resurrection? This is not done by repentance, or love, or any other grace, but by faith only. Other graces are good, and necessary in their place; but it is faith only that apprehends Christ, and obtains for us all the benefits of his passion. Let us then believe in him, and live upon him, and dwell in him, as our sure and only deliverer from the wrath to come.]

2.

The importance of inquiring into our state before God

[The generality go to their rest as securely as the Egyptians did, unawed by the threatenings of Almighty God, and unconscious of the danger to which they were exposed. But how many wake in eternity, and find their error when it is too late! Let me then entreat you to inquire whether you have ever dreaded the stroke of Gods avenging arm? whether you have been made sensible that God has appointed one way, and one way only, for your escape? whether you have regarded Christ as your passover that has been sacrificed for you? whether you have fed upon him, with the bitter herbs of penitence and contrition? Have you dipped the hyssop, as it were, in his blood, and sprinkled your souls with it? And do you feel that it would be at the peril of your souls, if you were to venture for one moment from your place of refuge? Make these inquiries; and be not satisfied till you are assured, on scriptural grounds, that you are out of the reach of the destroying angel. Till then, adopt the prayer of David; Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

Ver. 21. All the elders of Israel. ] The masters of families, who in this family service were to kill and eat, and set before the rest of the household, as priests at home; and to show them the meaning of that mystery.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

kill the passover. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, “Passover” put for the lamb.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

elders: Exo 3:16, Exo 17:5, Exo 19:7, Num 11:16

and take: Exo 12:3, Num 9:2-5, Jos 5:10, 2Ki 23:21, 2Ch 30:15-17, 2Ch 35:5, 2Ch 35:6, Ezr 6:20, Mat 26:17-19, Mar 14:12-16, Luk 22:7-13, 1Co 10:4

lamb: or, kid, Exo 12:3, *marg.

the passover: That is, the lamb which was called the paschal, or passover lamb; the animal sacrificed obtaining the name of the institution. St. Paul copies the expression in 1Co 5:7.

Reciprocal: Exo 13:13 – lamb Heb 11:28 – he kept

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Exo 12:21-27 J, Exo 12:28 P. Rules for the Passover (second set) (for analysis see Exo 11:1).These verses, though they come second, embody in the main Js account of the institution, which P has elaborated in Exo 12:1-13, adding many details, but not mentioning the hyssop, or the basin, or the confinement to the house. Hyssop was a wall or rock plant (1Ki 4:33), with pliant twigs, probably marjoram, a branch of which made a simple sprinkler for rites of purification. The Israelite elders were to draw out enough lambs (Exo 12:21, cf. Exo 12:3*) from the flock, as the shepherd would catch the leg of a sheep with his crook to separate it from the rest. They are told to kill the Passover, as though it were a familiar rite employed for a special purpose. They were (Exo 12:22) to apply (cf. Exo 4:25) some of the blood to the lintel, and to remain all night within the guarded precincts. In Exo 12:32 a it is Yahweh who is to smite the Egyptians, but in Exo 12:23 b the destroyer (cf. 2Sa 24:16) is a distinct agent: Holzinger infers that J and E are both drawn upon here, and notes that the people in Exo 12:27 b replace the elders of Exo 12:21. Baentsch also doubts if this section, implying a risk of Israel sharing the most terrible plague upon Egypt, can have come from the author of Exo 11:6, etc. But this may be an early supplement of J, of which there were not a few. The order for perpetual observance (Exo 12:24) is probably Ps sequel of Exo 12:20, though the phrase an ordinance for ever (hoq ad lm) is not in Ps usual form (huqqath lm). The duplicate order for repetition is one of the few Deuteronomic additions (Exo 12:25-27 a) that can certainly be traced in Ex. (cf. Exo 13:3, etc.). The shrewd insistence on systematic instruction in Exo 12:26 (see RV references) is characteristic of D, and is observed to this day (p. 109, Pro 4:3 f.*). The graphic touch, bowed the head and worshipped, connects Exo 12:27 b with Exo 4:31, cf. Exo 12:35 f.* In Exo 12:28 we have Ps conclusion of Exo 12:1-13. For the Christian application of the Passover, cf. 1Co 5:7 f.*

Exo 12:22. bason: see 2Sa 17:28, etc.; elsewhere threshold, as in Jdg 19:27, etc., and Gr. here. Trumbull (Threshold Covenant) ingeniously builds on this meaning a theory that the Passover was a threshold sacrifice, and that Yahweh crossed the threshold as a protective guest, and even as the Bridegroom of His people. Other theories being also conjectural, this merits attention. Driver ignores it, but MNeile calls it attractive. The belief in the sanctity of the threshold is widespread. The household deities were probably resident there. To step over it into the house brought whoever entered it into covenant with the inmates. This would prevent him from doing them harm. Thus, in the ceremony of manumission the slave is brought to the Elohim, to the door or doorpost (Exo 21:6*, Deu 15:17), and his ear is bored unto the door. Robbers dig through the clay walls of houses (Job 24:16, Mat 6:19 f.) because their reverence, i.e. their superstitious dread of the consequences which might follow on a violation of the sanctity of the threshold, forbids them to enter by the door. The priests and worshippers of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of his temple (1Sa 5:5, cf. Zep 1:9, all those that leap over the threshold). To step on the threshold, all the more when this was sanctified by blood, would be to reject the offered covenant with insult: a thought which gives a fuller meaning to Heb 10:29, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. The Roman bride was carried over the threshold of her husbands house, presumably to make it impossible for her to step on it by accident. It is customary even to-day to welcome an honoured guest with blood on the threshold.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

The communication and execution of the directions concerning the Passover 12:21-28

Hyssop grew commonly on rocks and walls in the Near East and Egypt (Exo 12:22). If it was the same plant that we identify as hyssop today, masses of tiny white flowers and a fragrant aroma characterized it. The Jews used it for applying blood to the door in the Passover ritual because of its availability and suitability as a liquid applicator. They also used it in the purification rite for lepers (Lev 14:4; Lev 14:6), the purification rite for a plague (Lev 14:49-52), and for the red heifer sacrifice ritual (Num 19:2-6).

"The hairy surface of its leaves and branches holds liquids well and makes it suitable as a sprinkling device for purification rituals." [Note: Youngblood, p. 61.]

"The people were instructed that the only way they could avert the ’destroyer’ was to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. Though the text does not explicitly state it, the overall argument of the Pentateuch . . . would suggest that their obedience to the word of the Lord in this instance was an evidence of their faith and trust in him [cf. Heb 11:28]." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 263.]

God through Moses stressed the significance and the importance of perpetuating the Passover (Exo 12:26).

"The Israelitish child will not unthinkingly practice a dead worship; he will ask: What does it mean? and the Israelitish father must not suppress the questions of the growing mind, but answer them, and thus begin the spiritualizing [the explanation of the spiritual significance] of the paschal rite." [Note: J. P. Lange, "Exodus or the Second Book of Moses," in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scripture, 1:2:39-40.]

Worship and obedience occur together again here (Exo 12:27-28). These are the two proper responses to God’s provision of redemption. They express true faith. These are key words in Exodus.

"The section closes with one of those rare notices in Israel’s history: they did exactly what the Lord had commanded (Exo 12:28)-and well they might after witnessing what had happened to the obstinate king and people of Egypt!" [Note: Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 376.]

"By this act of obedience and faith, the people of Israel made it manifest that they had put their trust in Jehovah; and thus the act became their redemption." [Note: Johnson, p. 62.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)