UNLEAVENED BREAD, etc.
Exodus 12:15-28 (NIV).
INTRODUCTION
The Lord continues his instructions to Moses and Aaron for their final meal in Egypt. He has already described the killing of the lambs and put the blood on the doorposts of every Israelite household. The blood is a sign for the Lord to pass by that home. Passover is a springtime event when the lambs are likely to be born at the time of the vernal equinox. It is held at night when families have fulfilled their daytime responsibilities and in the middle of the month when the moon is full. The entire Lamb is to be eaten, with nothing saved for the priests. Indeed, the priests are not even involved since all is to be orchestrated by the heads of the households.
Commentary on
Exodus 12:15-28
15 For seven days, you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day, remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
For seven days, you are to eat bread made without yeast.
From the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the twenty-first; and this was a distinct festival from what was called the feast of the Passover correctly, and does not respect the first Passover in Egypt; for though the Passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread, and the Israelites ate nothing other, not only for seven days, but for thirty days following; yet this was not only by the divine command, but through necessity, they have no other bread to eat; but in later times they were commanded to keep a feast for seven days, in which they were not to eat leavened bread, in commemoration of their hasty departure out of Egypt, not having time to leaven the dough in their troughs, and of their distress and desire for savory bread:
On the first day, remove the yeast from your houses,
That is, from out of their dwelling houses, which were to be diligently searched for that purpose, and every hole and crevice in them; and not only their lower rooms, their dining rooms and parlors, but their upper rooms and bed-chambers; because it was possible a man might sometimes go into them with a piece of bread in his hand, and drop or leave some of it behind him. Synagogues and schools were to be searched since children might carry bread with them, and this search was to be made by the light of a lamp or candle, not by the light of the moon, if in the night; nor by the light of the sun, if in the day, but by the light of a lamp or candle, and not by the light of a torch, or of a lump of fat, or grease, or oil, but by a lamp or candle of wax: and this search was to be made at the beginning of the night of the fourteenth of Nisan. It is said that leavened bread was forbidden from the seventh hour, one o'clock in the afternoon, and upwards, which is the middle of the day, i.e., eleven o'clock in the morning, and burn it at the beginning of the sixth, or noon.
For whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh
For whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day; from the first of the seven days to the last of them, beginning at night of the fourteenth, and ending at the night of the twenty-first:
It must be cut off from Israel.
That soul shall be cut off from Israel; either from the commonwealth of Israel, and be disfranchised, and not described as an Israelite; or from the Israelitish church-state, and have no communion in it, or partake of the ordinances at it; or if it is to be understood of cutting off by death, it is either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God; and is sometimes by the Jews interpreted of a man dying either without children, or before he is fifty years of age, and some even understand it of the destruction of soul and body or eternal damnation.
16 On the first day, hold a sacred assembly and another on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
On the first day, hold a sacred assembly
Moreover, on the first day, there shall be a holy convocation (assembly), a holy day in which the people are called to holy exercises and completely abstain from worldly business done on other days.
And another one on the seventh day.
Moreover, on the seventh day, there shall be a holy convocation; observed in a festival way and the like religious manner; the first day was the day of their going out of Egypt, and the seventh was the day on which Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red sea; for which reason those days are distinguished from the rest, and appointed to be holy convocations, and which appear from the journeying of the children of Israel, as computed by Junius: they came to Succoth on the fifteenth, to Etham the seventeenth, to Pihahiroth the eighteenth, where they were ordered to stay, and wait for the coming of their enemies, on the twentieth the army of Pharaoh came up to them, and the night following the Israelites passed through the sea, and the Egyptians were drowned:
Do no work at all on these days,
No manner of work shall be done on them; as used to be done on other days, and as we are on the other five days of this festival: the Jewish canons are, "it is forbidden to do any work on the evening of the Passover, from the middle of the day and onward, and whoever does work from the middle of the day and onward, they will excommunicate him; even though he does it for nothing (without pay), it is forbidden: R. Meir says, whatever work anyone begins before the fourteenth (of Nisan) he may finish it on the fourteenth, but he may not begin it on the beginning of the fourteenth, though he could finish it: the wise men say, three workmen may work on the evening of the Passover unto the middle of the day, and they are these, tailors, barbers, and fullers (one who washes cloth). Some add shoemakers to this list.
Except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
Every man must eat, so kindling fire and preparing food might be done on those days, which might not be done on Sabbath days; the prohibition of work was not as strict.
17 "Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
On this day, the 15th of Abib - the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, I brought your divisions out of Egypt. This expression seems to prove that we have, in the injunctions of verses 14-20, not the exact words of the revelation on the subject made by God to Moses before the institution of the Passover. However, the words were altered after the exodus had taken place. Otherwise, the expression must have been, "I will bring your multitudes out."
On Easter eve, the day on which the preaching of Jesus defiled Satan to the spirits in prison *(1 Peter 3:19) and on which the Church first realizes its deliverance from the bondage of sin by the Atonement of Good Friday, is the Christian continuance of the first day of unleavened bread, and so answers to this text, as Good Friday to the similar command in ver. 14. Exodus 12:17
*" After being made alive, he proclaimed to the imprisoned spirits."
18 In the first month, you are to eat bread made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
In the first month, you are to eat bread made without yeast,
As it was now ordered to be deemed, the month Abib or Nisan:
From the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
The fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread; that is, at the evening following, the fourteenth of Nisan, and which was the beginning of the fifteenth day, the Jews beginning their day from the evening: hence the Targum of Jonathan is, "on the fourteenth of Nisan ye shall slay the Passover, in the evening of the fifteenth ye shall eat unleavened bread:"
until the evening of the twenty-first day.
Unto the twentieth day of the month at even, which would make just seven days; the above Targum adds, "on the evening of the twenty seconds ye shall eat leavened bread," which was the evening following the twenty-first day. This prolonged abstinence from leaven denotes that the whole lives of those who are Israelites indeed should be without guile, hypocrisy, and malice and should be spent in sincerity and truth.
19 For seven days, no yeast will be found in your houses. Moreover, anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.
This is not a mere "vain repetition" of verse 15. It adds an important extension of the corrective clause - "must be cut off from the community of Israel." - from authentic Israelites to proselytes. We are thus reminded, at the very time when Israel is about to become a nation and to enter upon its inheritance of exclusive privileges, that no exclusion of the Gentiles because of race or descent was ever contemplated by God, either at the giving of the law or at any other time. In Abraham, all their families were blessed (Genesis 12:3). It was always open to any Gentiles to join themselves in Israel by becoming "proselytes of justice," adopting circumcision and the general observance of the law, and joining the Israelite community. The whole law is full of references to persons of this class (Exodus 20:10; Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 18:26; Leviticus 20:2; Leviticus 24:16; Numbers 35:15; Deuteronomy 5:14; Deuteronomy 16:11-14; Deuteronomy 24:17, 19; Deuteronomy 27:19; Deuteronomy 29:11, etc.). It must have been largely recruited in the times immediately following the exodus from the "mixed multitude" which accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38) and from the Kenites who joined them in the wilderness (Numbers 10:29-31; Judges 1:16). Born in the land - i.e., an Israelite by birth - "the land" is, no doubt, Canaan, which is regarded as the true "Land of Israel" from the time when God assigned it to the posterity of Abraham (Genesis 15:18). Exodus 12:19
20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread."
Here again, there is no repetition but an extension. "Ye shall eat nothing leavened," not only no leavened bread (ver. 15) but no leavened cake of any kind. Moreover, "in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread," i.e., wherever ye dwell, whether in Egypt, the wilderness, Palestine, Babylonia, or Media, this law shall be observed. So the Jews observe it everywhere to this day, though they no longer sacrifice the Paschal lamb.
21 Then Moses summoned all Israel's elders and said, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb."
Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them
Not in age but in office, who were either heads of families or at least principal men in the tribes; which explains in what manner he was to speak to the congregation of Israel and convey to them the will of God concerning the observation of these feasts, (Exodus 12:3).
"Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb."
Take a lamb, according to your families; or "take ye of the flock," whether a lamb or a kid; a lamb for every family, if there was a sufficient number in it to eat it up; if not, two or more families were to join and keep the feast together:
And slaughter the Passover lamb.
Moreover, killing the Lamb for the Passover, which was to be done on the fourteenth day of the month; before the priesthood was established in the family of Aaron, and before the Israelites were possessed of the land of Canaan, and the temple was built at Jerusalem, the heads of families killed the Passover, and in their own houses, but afterward it was killed only by the priests, and at Jerusalem and in the temple there, see Deuteronomy 16:5.
22 Take a bunch of hyssops, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning
Take a bunch of hyssops,
Which some take to be "mint," others "Origanum" or "marjoram," as Kimchi (s), others "rosemary," as Piscator, Rivet, and many more; and indeed, this seems to be fitter to strike or sprinkle with than hyssop, but it is more generally understood of hyssop because the Hebrew word "ezob" is so near in sound to it. However, whether it means the same herb we call hyssop is uncertain: Jarchi says three stalks of it are called a bunch, and so the Mishnic canon runs, "the command concerning hyssop is three stalks (which Maimonides on the place interprets roots), and in the three branches; "which some have allegorically applied to the Trinity, by whom the hearts of God's people are sprinkled with the blood of the true paschal Lamb, and are purged from dead works: the Heathens in their sacrifices sometimes used branches of laurel, and sometimes branches of the olive, to sprinkle with:
And dip it in the blood that is in the basin:
According to the Targum of Jonathan, this was an earthen vessel into which the blood of the Lamb was received when slain, and into this, the bunch of hyssops was dipped. Hence, it was usual with the Heathens to receive the blood of the sacrifice in cups or basins: the blood being received into a basin, and not spilled on the ground and trampled on, may denote the preciousness of the blood of Christ, the actual Passover lamb, which is for its worth and excellent efficacy to be highly prized and esteemed, and not be counted as a standard or unholy thing; and the dipping the bunch of hyssop into the blood of the Lamb may signify the exercise of faith on the blood of Christ, which is a low and humble grace, excludes boasting in the creature, deals alone with the blood of Jesus for peace, pardon, and cleansing, and by which the heart is purified, as it deals with that blood:
And strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin:
An emblem of the sprinkling of the hearts and consciences of believers with the blood of Christ and cleansing them from all sin by it:
And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning;
That they might not be in the way of the destroyer; and though the destroying angel knew an Israelite from an Egyptian, yet this was to be the ordinance of protection to them, abiding in their houses, marked with the blood of the Passover lamb; signifying that their safety was in their being under that blood, as the safety of believers lies in their being justified by the blood of Christ; for to that it owes that they are saved from the wrath to come: this is the purple covering under which they pass safely through this world to the heavenly glory, Romans 5:9, this circumstance was peculiar to the Passover in Egypt; in later times there was not the like danger.
23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians.
All the firstborns in several families, in all the towns and cities in Egypt.
Moreover, when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts.
Which must be understood of his taking notice of it with a unique view to the good of those within the house; otherwise, everything is seen by his all-seeing eye: and thus Christ, the Lamb of God, is amid the throne, as though he had been slain, and is always in the view of God and his divine justice; and his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, are constantly looked unto by him with pleasure, delight, and satisfaction, to the advantage of his people, as applied unto them, who are now accepted with him, justified in his sight, and secure from condemnation and wrath:
The Lord will pass over the door.
Furthermore, the house where this blood is sprinkled, and go to the next, or where Egyptians dwell; and thus, justice passes over, and passes by, acquits and discharges them who are interested in the blood and sacrifice of Christ:
Moreover, he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
The destroying angel, as the Targum of Jonathan; for he seems to be distinct from the Lord, who is said to pass through and pass over, being an attendant and minister of his, to execute vengeance upon the Egyptians; and whether a good or an evil angel, it matters not, since God can make use of either to inflict judgments on men; but it may be more probably the former, even such a one as was employed in destroying the whole host of the Assyrians in one night, 2 Kings 19:35 and answers better in the antitype or emblem to the justice of God taking vengeance on ungodly sinners when it is not suffered to do the saints any harm.
24 "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.
Moreover, shall always observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and thy sons. Not this last thing of sprinkling the blood, which was peculiar to the Passover in Egypt; but the whole before observed relating to the feast of the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, and all the rites appertaining to them, which were to be observed until the coming of Christ.
25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.
A bunch of hyssops - The designated species does not appear to be the plant now bearing the name. It would seem to have been an aromatic plant, common in Palestine and near Mount Sinai, with a long straight stalk and leaves admirably adapted for sprinkling.
Bason - The rendering rests on good authority and gives a good sense: but the word means "threshold" in some other passages and Egyptian and is taken here in that sense by some versions. If that rendering is correct, it will imply that the Lamb was slain on the threshold.
None ... shall go out ... - There would be no safety outside the precincts protected by the blood of the Lamb; a symbolism explained by the margin reference.
26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?'
Or part of Divine worship. God expects this even from the Jewish children, and much more from Christian men, that they should inquire and understand what is said or done in the public worship or service of God, and therefore not to rest in dumb signs, of which they neither inquire nor know the meaning, or in the service of God in a language which they understand not.
27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
Then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD.
This Lamb is a sacrifice, both eucharistical, or by way of thanksgiving for their safety, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, and for their deliverance out of Egypt; and also conciliatory, the blood of this Lamb being a propitiation or atonement for all within the house where it was sprinkled, as before observed from Aben Ezra; and typical of the atoning sacrifice of Christ our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7 and this was commanded by the Lord, and approved of and accepted by him, and therefore called his sacrifice as well as Passover, for the following reason:
Who passed over the houses of Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'
When he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, their families, not suffering the destroying angel, entered them, distinguishing mercy and worthy of remembrance. Now in this, they were to instruct their children in successive generations that the memory of it might be kept up, and a sense of the goodness of God continued, and his name glorified. Maimonides says, "it is a command to make this known to children, even though they do not ask it, as it is said, "and thou shall show thy son," Exodus 13:8. According to the son's knowledge, his father teaches him; how if he is a little one or foolish? He says to him, my son, all of us were servants, as this handmaid, or this servant, in Egypt; and on this night the holy blessed God redeemed us, and brought us into liberty: and if the son is grown up, and a wise man, he makes known to him what happened to us in Egypt, and the wonders which were done for us by the hand of Moses, our master, all according to the capacity of his son; and it is necessary to make a repetition on this night, that the children may see, and ask, and say, how different is this night from all other nights! until he replies and says to them, so and so it happened, and thus and thus it was:"
Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
They were signifying their deep sense of the mercy shown them, their thankfulness for it, and their readiness to observe the ordinance now instituted.
28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover - or This is the sacrifice of the Passover to Yahweh. The most formal and exact designation of the festival is thus given: but "the Passover" may mean either the act of God's mercy in sparing the Israelites or the Lamb which is offered in sacrifice: more probably the latter, as in Exodus 12:21. This gives a clear sense to the expression "to Yahweh;" the Passover lamb was a sacrifice offered to Yahweh by His ordinance.
