Verses 1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The Passover event was the beginning of the Hebrew calendar. The plagues in Egypt caused crop failure, so it is apparent that the time of year referred to in these scriptures was in the summer. Please note that there is no Spring or Fall in the Bible, but only Summer and Winter. Based on understanding the Hebrew calendar and then understanding the service times of the priests when the tabernacle was erected and staffed in the wilderness, it is fairly easy to determine the month of the birth of the LORD Jesus Christ, and be assured it was not in December as celebrated worldwide today. More on this later.
Application: The children of Israel, the Hebrews, would always start their new year with a celebration commemorating their miraculous liberation from the bondage of slavery and the beginning of a bright future in the land promised to them by their God. The focus for them would be their marvelous LORD and Savior. Think about the focus of New Year celebrations today. Can Jesus be seen in the parties and in the resolutions made to be broken?
Verses 3-4 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
This first Passover was the beginning of the animal sacrificial system that was to remain in place until the death of the LORD Jesus Christ, at which time it was abolished. God cares about His critters. Note that He did not want any of the lambs wasted. Sharing the meal with a neighbor family would protect against needless killing and wasting of the meat.
Verses 5-9 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
The Hebrew word translated as “blemish” is “tamiym”, pronounced taw meme. It also means perfect or without spot. The Hebrew word “seh” is translated as “lamb,” but can also be translated as “cattle.” So the sacrificial lamb could be from either the sheep family or the goat family, but the requirement that it be without blemish and that it be a male less than a year old was not negotiable. Why? Because this ritual was pointing to the sacrificial Lamb of the New Testament, the LORD Jesus Christ. He was the first born Son of God, without sin or blemish, and His blood was shed to cover the sins of men and save them from spiritual death.
Note that the whole assembly of the children of Israel was to kill the lamb all at the same time. Thousands of years later, the whole assembly of Jews in Jerusalem shouted at the same time, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” and then watched as their LORD and Savior was murdered by the leaders of their religious and political establishments. See Luke 23:21.
The Hebrews were to paint the blood on the top and on the sides of the door frames of their houses. This would prevent the death angel from entering in to kill.
Application: The blood of innocent critters was used to provide a hedge of protection around the followers of God in Egypt so that their lives would be saved. Today, it is the shed blood of Christ that covers the believer and daily protects him/her from physical and spiritual death. Hebrews 9:22 states, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Jesus stated in Matthew 26:28, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” So God put the Passover and all its rituals in place to constantly remind the people of what was to come when He would come to Earth as a man to save His people from their sins, from the penalty of death, and from the judgement of Hell.
Why was the lamb to be roasted with fire? The Bible describes God as a consuming fire. Fire not only consumes, but it cleanses. Surgical instruments are heated in an autoclave to destroy pathogens that cause disease. Fire purifies. Metals are heated in ovens to separate one metal from another, gold being the most well known example of this process. Fire is a tool of judgement. The end time prophetic scriptures teach that this world will be destroyed by fire (2Peter 3:7), and a new Heaven and Earth will be created in the last days when God pours out His judgement upon sinful man. The entire Passover ritual is symbolic, and the fire represented God and His power, the cleansing of sin and the purification and separation of the people of God from the pagan people of Egypt, and the final judgement of God upon the wicked nation of Egypt.
Verse 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
Why no leftovers? Because refrigeration was not in existence in Moses’ days, and the remaining flesh, along with the inside organs that were not removed, would immediately begin a rotting process that would make the meat an abomination to the LORD, not to mention unsafe for human consumption. But the greater significance of this part of the ritual was that it pointed to the resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ in His physical body from the tomb. King David wrote in the Psalms that Christ’s body would not see decay. And it didn’t. See Psalms 16:10 and Acts 2:31. Likewise, the Passover lamb’s body would not see decay, but would be totally destroyed by fire so that rotting of the flesh could not occur.
Verse 11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.
Because in Moses’ day the men as well as the women wore long, flowing garments, in order to walk quickly or to engage in physical activity or combat the person had to hike up the garment and secure it at the waist and hips with a belt or sash of some kind. The Hebrew people were going to walk out of Egypt as quickly as they could go with their children, with their critters, and with their possessions. They were to be ready to go forward when commanded and therefore they were to be dressed, to have their shoes on, and to have their walking sticks ready for their passage out of Egypt on foot.
Application: The believer today needs to always be in a state of readiness for any commandment from the Holy Spirit to go forward. (The appropriate spiritual attire of the believer is listed in Ephesians 6 and will be discussed when studying that book in the New Testament.) Part of that readiness preparation includes having the mind focused on the things of the LORD. 1Peter 1:13-16 says, “Wherefore gird (fasten or secure with a belt or band) up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning (patterning or conforming) yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (conduct, behavior) because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Like the Hebrew people in Egypt, the believer can be ready for any journey in the kingdom of God by filling the mind with scripture truth and by forming a close relationship with Jesus through prayer and thanksgiving.
Application: Notice that this ritual is the LORD’s passover. It was never meant to be just a holiday for people in succeeding generations to enjoy, but rather it was meant to be a solemn yearly event reminding the Hebrews of the LORD’s actions on their behalf. It is still the LORD’s passover every day of the year as people all over the world are finding the LORD of lords and the King of kings and inviting Him into their lives, at which time all judgement and resulting punishment is passed over from them through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the last sacrificial Lamb. They are forgiven and set apart or holy like their God.
Verse 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
All the gods of Egypt had proven to be without power and totally useless against the plagues brought about by the God of Moses and Aaron. So to have their children die and not be helped by any of the Egyptian gods would prove to be the last failure that would ruin the reputation of these gods so badly that the Egyptian people could not help but see that their gods were worthless, unreliable and not to be trusted or worshipped. These demonic gods would be judged by the God of righteousness and the people would know the truth.
Verse 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
The word translated as “token” is the Hebrew word “owth” and it also means sign or mark. The blood put a mark or sign upon the Hebrew people residing in the house so that they were recognizable as belonging to the LORD.
Application: Believers today wear the mark of God just as the Hebrew people did the night of the Passover. It is not a visible mark that people can see, but God sees it and so does the devils. It is caused by the shed blood of Jesus and it invisibly covers all believers everywhere. That is why a person who is serving the Devil will often take an immediate dislike to a believer without knowing anything about the believer. The demonic spirit inside that person recognizes the presence of the Holy Ghost in the believer’s life and the protective mark covering them because of the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Verse 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
As long as there was a physical Hebrew nation (or Israel as it later became known), this ritual was to remain in place and the people were commanded to observe it. It was not a suggestion. Jerusalem and the nation Israel were destroyed around 70 AD by the Roman general Titus and the citizens were scattered into all nations where they were assimilated to some degree. Jesus had died, been buried and then resurrected from the dead around 30 AD and the birth of the Christian church followed. So the ritual of Passover was no longer needed as the LORD Jesus Christ became the last Passover Lamb and His sacrifice provided permanent forgiveness of sin. No more innocent critters needed to be killed. Jesus did it all. However, those Jews who rejected Jesus continued their Old Testament laws and rituals and they are observed by Jewish people today, often in a modified manner. A closer look at the feasts and holy convocations will happen as they are presented in the scriptures.
Verse 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Leaven represents sin in the scriptures. Because of the haste in leaving Egypt, the Hebrew’s bread was not able to be leavened with yeast and have time to rise. Unleavened bread is tough and hard and not very pleasant to eat. By putting away the leaven or yeast, the Hebrew people were supposed to be reminded in this ritual to put away sin from their lives. Eating leavened bread during the seven days would result of the person being “cut off” from his people forever. Loss of family, loss of possessions, and loss of national identity would result.
Application: If a believer lets sin back into his/her life, it is like the leaven in bread. It may be small in amount, but in time it will spread and the sin behavior will expand. Like the Hebrews who ignored the warning not to consume leavened bread and who were cut off from their people, the believer who ignores the warnings in the Bible to stay away from sin will be cut off from a Holy God and lose their Christian family and their spiritual possession in Heaven of eternal life.
Verses 16-17 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
The word convocation comes from the Hebrew word “miqra,” pronounced mil raw, and means a sacred assembly or a calling together. No work was to be done except personal labor for the benefit of eating. That would include feeding any livestock as well. God did not want the people doing business as usual, but He wanted them to have a time of reflection on the great things He had done for them when bringing them out of slavery in Egypt.
Application: Today, most Christian churches meet at least one day a week. Usually there is music, a time of worship and praise and a sermon. But is there a time of sacred quietness where the believers stop and reflect upon the goodness of God?
Verses 18-20 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
This required ritual was seven days long and again that number represents divine perfection. Notice that God, as stated in the New Testament, is no respecter of persons. The Israelite and the stranger living in the land were required to participate. God saw the Hebrew born and the stranger as all being the same, entitled to the same blessings and to the same punishment for noncompliance to the specifications of this ritual.
Verses 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. 22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 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.
Hyssop was a plant used for medicinal and religious purposes. In this event, it served as a brush to apply the blood to the door frames.
Application: Not just any type of plant was to be used to apply the blood of the lamb to the door frames. By using hyssop, the healing power of the blood of Jesus and the establishment of the New Covenant church was being foreshadowed.
Application: Moses called for the elders and gave them instruction. This method of management points to the structure of the Christian church in that elders were chosen to assist in the running of the church. Elders means exactly what the word says. These were usually older men who had lived long enough to have developed wisdom and understanding. See 1Timothy in the New Testament to further study how the church was to be structured.
Verses 24-28 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 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. 26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 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. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. 28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to teach future generations about the God of the Hebrews. In time, it became just another opportunity to eat and be merry with friends and family.
Application: Today, many secular and religious holidays are celebrated throughout the year, and unfortunately, like the Hebrews, most people do not take the time to consider the meaning of the holiday, but just enjoy a day off work and a big meal. Perhaps believers need to reflect on the meaning of the holiday and teach the historical or religious meaning to their friends and family. Just a thought.
Verse 29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Why did the avenger strike at midnight? Not really sure. Perhaps an answer will come as this study progresses.
Verses 30-32 And 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. 31 And 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 the LORD, as ye have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
God’s prophecy to Moses that Pharaoh would drive the Hebrews out of the land of Egypt has come true. This tenth plague has taken all control away from Pharaoh and his government. They cannot stand against the judgements of the God of the Hebrews.
Verses 33-36 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. 34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: 36 And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
The Egyptians were dead men already because they did not repent and seek the LORD and His forgiveness for their many sins. As a result, although they were physically living, they were all spiritually dead.
Verses 37-39 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. 38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Rameses was a city in Egypt that had been built by Hebrew slaves. The name means “child of the sun”. Succoth was the first stopping place of the Hebrews and was a place where Jacob had built a place for himself and his livestock. The word means “booths”. So the Hebrew people traveled from a city of bondage that they had built with their own labor to a place where their patriarch Jacob (Israel) had built and lived.
The exact number of people leaving Egypt is not known, but it had to be well over a million when wives and children are added to the six hundred thousand men. Notice that there was a mixed multitude which means people of other races had joined themselves to the Hebrews. Also notice that by necessity the people were celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Verses 40-42 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
Here can be seen God’s number: 430 years = 4+3=7.
Verses 43-51 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: 44 But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. 45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. 46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. 50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 51 And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
All the male descendants of Abraham were to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. By God insisting the males be circumcised, they could not hide their nationality. It was a visible mark in their flesh that was clearly visible should they engage in adulterous behavior. It separated the children of God from the children of the Devil. A stranger could live with the Hebrews but could not participate in the Passover celebration unless circumcised. Why? Again, the uncircumcised male stranger was not a part of the congregation of Israel and therefore not a child of God. By accepting circumcision on his body, the stranger was accepting the laws of God and showing a willingness to be part of the Hebrew family. Blood lines or genes do not matter to God. He looks at the attitude of the heart to determine who is and who is not His child.