Exodus 12.1-28-The Institution of the Passover
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday November 27, 2011
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 12:1-28-The Institution of the Passover
Lesson # 12
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 12:1.
Chapter twelve begins a section in the book of Exodus that ends in Exodus 13:1-16 and records the Lord instituting the observance by the Israelites of the Passover.
Exodus 12:1 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. 4 Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 7 Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (NASB95)
In verses 1 and 2, we have the Lord telling Moses and Aaron when they should observe the Passover, which was to mark a new age in the history of Israel.
The events recorded in chapter twelve took place in the seventh month according to the civil year which began in September-October.
However, the month in which the events recorded in this chapter took place would constitute the first month in Israel’s religious calendar.
This new calendar was designed to give the Israelites an identity distinct from the heathen nations of the earth.
The historical event of the Lord delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage was to determine the calendar of the Israelites and mark the beginning of their history as a nation.
Verses 3 and 4 stipulate that each household in Israel was to have a lamb.
Each person in Israel had to take part in the Passover in order to avoid the coming judgment of God.
The first-born in every household of Egypt was to be slain if there was not blood from the sacrificed lamb on the doorposts.
The blood spoke of Christ's spiritual and physical deaths on the cross which would be the payment for sins.
Putting blood on the doorposts was to have faith in Christ and His future work on the cross.
In verse 5, the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron that the lamb in each household was to be perfect since the Lord Jesus, which the Passover lamb typified was sinless (Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Verse 6 records that the lamb was to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan at twilight, which the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled completely when He died on the fourteenth of Nisan, 33 A. D.
The lamb that each family in Israel killed led to each family being spared from the Lord killing the first born, which typifies Christ who was sacrificed to deliver not only Israel but all people.
The Passover lamb taught the Israelites and subsequent generations in Israel that deliverance and redemption is through a sacrifice, the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross.
In verse 7, the Israelites are instructed to put some of the blood of the lamb on the two doorposts and on the lintel of their homes.
The blood had the power to deliver the Israelites’ first born children from death which typified Christ’s death which has the power to deliver from the bondage of sin and Satan.
The blood symbolizes a sacrifice as a substitute in which one life is laid down for another (see Leviticus 17:11).
Therefore, Israel would escape the judgment to fall on Egypt through the mediation of a sacrifice (see Hebrews 9:22; 1 John 1:7).
In verse 8, the Israelites were commanded by the Lord to eat the flesh of the lamb that night and that the lamb was to be roasted with fire and it was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
The bitter herbs represented the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
The unleavened bread represents the impeccability of Christ who gave Himself for all of sinful humanity.
Then, in verse 9, the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron that the Israelites were not to eat any of the lamb raw or boiled in water but rather it was to be roasted typifying the judgment of Christ in their place.
The Lord in verse 10 tells the two brothers that the Israelites were not to leave any of the animal until morning.
The sacrifice was to be roasted with fire because fire spoke of the judgment of Christ.
In verse 11, the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron and the Israelites as to the manner in which they were to eat the Passover meal, namely, with their loins girded and sandals on their feet and with their staff in hand, eating the meal in haste.
This was to express their faith that the Lord would deliver them out of Egypt as a result of this tenth plague.
This readiness to leave Egypt typifies the Christian’s readiness to leave behind the devil’s world in order to execute God’s plan for their life.
In verses 12 and 13, the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron that on the night in which he was giving them these instructions, He would kill the firstborn in every home in Egypt, both man and beast, which would constitute the fifth and final plague.
The Lord also says that He will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt.
This tenth and final plague was against the Egyptian god Min who was the god of reproduction.
It was also against the Egyptian Heqet who was goddess who attended women at childbirth.
This tenth plague was also against Isis who was goddess who protected children.
Lastly, it was against Pharaoh’s firstborn son, who was considered a god by the Egyptians.
Exodus 12:14 “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” (NASB95)
In Exodus 12:14, the Lord tells Moses and Aaron that the day in which He strikes Egypt with this tenth plague was to be celebrated with the Passover festival annually in Israel forever.
In Exodus 12:15-20, the Lord gives Moses and Aaron instructions with regards to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was to be a national celebration of Israel’s redemption from Egypt.
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were closely connected and constituted a single unit.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to be for seven days according to Exodus 12:15, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of the month (Lev. 23:6; Num. 28:17).
The removal of leaven from each home signifies the removal of evil and speaks of sanctification.
Leaven was not to be found in the house and was a substance such as yeast that is used to produce fermentation in dough.
It produces a gas that lightens dough or batter.
Leaven in the word of God speaks of evil (1 Cor. 5:6b-8; Gal. 5:9).
The person with leaven in their house represented someone who adds works to salvation and therefore tramples on the Work of Christ and refuses the grace of God, which is God’s unmerited favor towards man.
The Israelites were to separate themselves from the evil standards of the rest of the heathen world in order to serve the Lord exclusively.
Failure to do so would result in a loss of the privileges and rights of the covenant people of God and also death.
The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Mark 14; Luke 22).
The application of the Feast of Unleavened Bread for us here in the church age is that it portrays experiential sanctification (John 17:17; 1 Cor. 5:6-9).
In verse 16, the Lord stipulates that the Israelites were not to do any work on the first day and the last day of the Feast Unleavened but instead they were to use these two days to worship the Lord together as a corporate unit.
These two days were to be days of celebration and a time to bring into remembrance their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.
In verse 17, the Lord says that like the Passover festival, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a permanent ordinance to be observed forever by the Israelites.
Then, in verses 18-20, the Lord repeats the instructions He gave in verses 15 and 16 in order to emphasize the importance of the Israelites observing this Feast of Unleavened Bread annually as a permanent ordinance.
Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. 22 You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 24 And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped. 28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. (NASB95)
The instructions that appear in Exodus 12:1-20 were given by the Lord to Moses and Aaron and not the Israelites.
However in Exodus 12:21-27, Moses and Aaron communicate these instructions to the elders or leaders of the Israelites who were to pass along these instructions to the Israelites.
The instructions that appear in verses 1-20 are given in abbreviated form in verses 21-27 but it must be noted that Moses does add warnings and clarifications in order that no one in Israel would die needlessly.
Verse 22 repeats Exodus 12:7 but with the added detail that a basin was to be used by the Israelites to collect the blood of the sacrificed lamb and that a hyssop branch could be used for smearing the blood on the doorframe.
Also, in verse 22, Moses adds that the Israelites were not to go outside for the rest of the evening but wait till morning to go outside.
Verse 23 echoes verses 12 and 13 and verse 24 echoes verses 14 and 17.
In verses 26-27, the Israelites are commanded to communicate to their children and future generations, the reason why they celebrated this festival in order to invoke faith in their offspring.
Verse 28 records that the citizens of Israel obeyed the Lord’s instructions that were communicated to them by their elders, which they received from Moses and Aaron.
So we can see that the Passover festival spoke of the redemption which Jesus Christ accomplished through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross of Calvary.
The Passover festival memorializes the historical event when the Lord killed the firstborn in every Egyptian home including Pharaoh’s.
Yet, He spared the first born in every home in Israel as a result of the Israelites exercising faith in His Word by obeying His command to sacrifice a lamb and spreading its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes.
Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that Jesus Christ is pictured by the Passover lamb.
1 Corinthians 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. (NASB95)
John the Baptist called Jesus Christ “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
So the Passover in Israel was a picture of redemption and deliverance from the bondage to sin and Satan, which was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ.