Exodus 12

1. And the Lord spake, etc. The final plague is introduced by the institution and first celebration of the Passover. The Israelites were now to reckon the months of the year from the first month of their release (Deut. xvi. 1).

4 according to the number. The Jewish practice was, that not fewer than ten persons, nor more than twenty, should partake of one lamb.

5 without blemish. An emblem of Him who was “holy, harmless, undefiled,” and is hence denominated “a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. i. 19; Heb. ix. 14).—or from the goats. Kids were taken as well as lambs as late as the great Passover in King Josiah’s reign (2 Chron. xxxv. 7). In later times lambs were chiefly used.

6 evening. The time was between the ninth hour (about 3 p.m.) and sunset, when the fifteenth day began.

7 take of the blood. Thus it became a ceremonial expiation to all who partook of the lamb within the house. For the “blood of sprinkling,” see Heb. ix. 22; xii. 24; 1 Pet. i. 2.

8 unleavened bread. As symbolical of inward purity; the fermentation produced by leaven implying a process of corruption, emblematical of depravity (1 Cor. v. 8). There is also here a memorial of their haste in departing (Deut. xvi. 9.—bitter [herbs]. This has been supposed to represent the bitter bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt, also to set forth the necessity of godly sorrow for sin.

9 the purtenance. “The inwards” (R.V.).

11 your loins girded, etc. That is, as travellers; for in the house the robe was usually left loose, and the sandals taken off. The attitude was that of faith, expecting immediate deliverance. This part of the institution does not appear to have been permanent.

11 passover. This word represents the meaning of the Hebrew “Pesach,” or Chaldee “Pascha”; which, however, includes the idea of protection: the “passing” being as of a bird with outstretched wings. See ver. 27. This passing over (in mercy) is expressed by a different word from the passing through (in judgement), ver. 12.

12 gods. This may mean either princes (see Isa. xix. 1), or the objects of idolatrous worship; but perhaps it rather signifies powers in general, referring to whatever constituted the chief objects of their dependence.

14 a memorial. The Passover was both a memorial of Israel’s preservation and deliverance, and a remarkable type of the great Sacrifice by which a greater deliverance was to be accomplished. Cp. Luke xxii. 19.

15 unleavened bread. Hence it is frequently called “the feast of unleavened bread.” Lev. xxiii. 6; Luke xxii. 1; and cp. Acts xii. 3; xx. 6.

26. What mean ye by this service? The Jews have formalised this command by requiring the son in the family, at a set time during the celebration of the paschal supper, to ask his father, “What meaneth this?” To which the father answers, “We eat this Passover because the Lord passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt. We eat these bitter herbs because the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers bitter in Egypt,” etc. And cp. Josh. iv. 6.

29 the firstborn. If this was occasioned by pestilence, as some have suggested, still the miraculous nature of the visitation is sufficiently apparent in the facts; that it broke out precisely at the time predicted by Moses; that it destroyed all the firstborn in one night; that it extended to cattle as well as human beings; and that the Israelites were exempt from the scourge.

32 and bless me also. Showing his abject terror of what might yet follow: “Let us part friends.”

33. We be all dead men. They seem to have feared a still more terrible plague, which might destroy them all.

35 jewels. Or, “vessels.” On the “borrowing” and “lending,” see on iii. 22.

36 such things as they required. This phrase is not in the original, which means simply, “let them have what they asked” (R.V.). Thus God took care that the Israelites should obtain their hard-earned wages from their oppressors.

37. Succoth. Or, “booths.” This was their first station.

Six hundred thousand. If the word Eleph (fr. Alaph), here translated “thousand,” be understood in its other meaning of “family,” one of the great difficulties as to the numbers of the people is removed. If there were 600,000 men, the total number of the Israelites would be between two and three millions. (See Flinders Petrie: Researches in Sinai.)

38 mixed multitude. The “mixed multitude” were probably in part Egyptians, and children of mixed marriages (Lev. xxiv. 10, 11).

40 four hundred and thirty years. From the first calling of Abraham (Gen. xii.) to this time, exactly 430 years elapsed.

47 neither shall ye break a bone. This command was added probably because the Passover was intended to be typical as well as commemorative. See John xix. 33, 36.

49 that sojourneth. This shows that dedication to God, rather than descent from Abraham, entitled the Israelites to their privileges. Others could become “children of Abraham” by adoption. See Matt. iii. 9.