The Passover Is Instituted Series

THE PASSOVER IS INSTITUTED Exodus 12:1-20 (KJV)

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2 This month shall be the beginning of months: the year's first month.

3 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 a house:

4 And if the household be too little for the Lamb, let him and his neighbor 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.

5 Your Lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or 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 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 appurtenances thereof.

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.

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.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and 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.

13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: 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.

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.

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.

16 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.

18 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.

INTRODUCTION TO

Chapter 12:1-20

Passover, also called Pesach is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelite's Exodus from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. The word Pesach or Passover can also refer to the Korban Pesach; the paschal Lamb offered when the Temple in Jerusalem stood; to the Passover Seder, the ritual meal on Passover night; or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. One of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals, Passover is traditionally celebrated in the Land of Israel for seven days and eight days among many Jews in the Diaspora , based on the concept of Yom Tov Sheni Shel galuyot4. In the Bible, the seven-day holiday is known as Chag HaMatzot, the feast of unleavened bread (matzoh).

According to the Book of Exodus, God commands Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors so that the Angel of Death will pass over them (i.e., that they will not be touched by the tenth plague, death of the firstborn). After the death of the firstborn Pharaoh, the Israelites were ordered to leave, taking whatever they wanted, and Moses was asked to bless them in the name of the Lord. The passage states that the Passover sacrifice recalls when God "passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt." This story is recounted at the Passover meal in the form of the Haggadah5, in fulfillment of the command, "And thou shalt tell (Higgadata) thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt."