Exodus 12

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:50utc

The Tenth Plague - Death of the First-born and the Passover chapter 12

This chapter describes the turning point in Israel's history. Israel changed from a herd of slaves into a nation of free people. From a group of defeated human wrecks, they became the army of the Lord. From a despised minority, they became the most important nation in the world. Their association with God made the a bridge between earth and heaven.

In vs. 1-20 God explained to Moses what was involved in the Passover and the eating of unleavened bread.

In vs. 20-28 Moses passed on to the people the instructions the Lord had given him.

In vs. 29-39 we read what happened during the night: the killing of all the first-born and the expulsion of Israel from Egypt.

Vs. 40-42 give the historic perspective of the event.

Vs. 43-49 probably retell what God communicated to Moses before the actual Passover took place. These verses contain stipulations regarding who will be allowed to participate; leaving the door open for non-Israelites to be saved from destruction.

Vs. 50-51 tell us that the people actually left Egypt.

God started a new calendar. "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year" (vs. 2). Israel still counts its years from the exodus in Egypt, which puts them ahead some 2000 years of the Christians who reset their calendar with the birth of Christ. That the calculation of Christ's birth turned out to be erroneous does not change the principle that redemption marks the beginning of a new era.

The Pulpit Commentary comments on this: "The Israelite year would seem to have hitherto commenced with the autumnal equinox (Ex. xxiii. 16), or at any rate with the month Tisri (or Ethanim), which corresponded to our October. Henceforth two reckonings were employed, one for sacred, the other for civil purposes, the first months of each year, sacred or civil, being the seventh month of the other. Abib, the month of ears' - our April, nearly - became now the first month of the ecclesiastical year, while Tisri became its seventh or sabbatical month."

God's rearrangement of the calendar is an anticipation of the day when all things will be made new. The old calendar is based on the first creation. We calculate our hours and days and months in terms of the relationship of our planet with other celestial bodies, mainly the sun and the moon. The new calendar is based on our relationship with celestial beings, mainly the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Paul says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"[ 1 ] New creations need new calendars.

The calculation of the calendar of our Christian era was done in retrospect. It wasn't until centuries later that people started to figure back to the approximate date of Christ's birth. Here God sets the new calendar before anything happens in time and space. The wonder of this point should not escape us.

Redemption begins with the choosing of a lamb. The Hebrew word for lamb covers a much wider range than its equivalent in English. The Hebrew term is used for both sheep and goats, and it is not even limited to younger animals. In Egypt the choice was up to the Israelites as to which animal to choose, as long as they adhered to the guidelines. This was the picture of the reality to come. For the ultimate redemption God does the choosing. Jesus is called "The Lamb of God."

The Israelites had to figure out approximately how much lamb would be needed for a household. According to The Pulpit Commentary, which quotes Josephus, "Usage in course of time fixed the minimum number at ten."

The only stipulation in choosing the lamb was that it must be a one year-old male without defect, and it must be kept apart for a little over three days. The animal was to be chosen on the tenth of the month and killed on the fourteenth. Those days roughly reflect the period of Jesus' ministry of three and a half years on earth. The Passover lamb was in every respect a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in His death on the cross.

The time of the killing which is translated "at twilight" or "in the evening" is literally "between the two evenings." There are various interpretations of this expression. The practice in the temple in Jerusalem was to start the sacrifices about three o'clock in the afternoon, which is about the hour when Jesus died on the cross. But Jesus and His disciples had already celebrated the Passover feast the evening before. One of our problems is that, as Westerners, we take our clocks very seriously. We go by the minute. Our meetings and church services start when the clock strikes. It is part of the frustration of the life of a missionary that not every culture understands the importance of punctuality. In Asia people look at the sun to determine when to start certain activities. The Indonesians use an expression which means that time can be stretched like a piece of rubber.[ 2 ] One hour more or less does not make any difference. A Friday noon service at the mosque does not start at 12 sharp. People come drifting in any time between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M. Having observed this, I have been wondering if "between the two evenings" could not literally have meant any time between 6 P.M. one day and 6 P.M. the next. I can hardly imagine that the Israelites of old would have been slaves of their watches as we modern Westerners are.

At the original Passover celebration time was, a much more important factor, because of the hurried departure than it would have been at later commemorations of the Exodus.

There were two important requirements that had to be accomplished when the lamb was killed. The blood had to be applied to the doorpost, and the lamb had to be roasted and eaten. The two actions exemplified protection and sustenance. The element of hurry was extremely important. Moses and the elders had warned them that the angel of death would enter through the door in order to kill the first-born son who was inside. If there was blood at the doorpost, he would pass that house because the killing had already taken place. We should not take this to mean that the angel was fooled by the blood, but he knew the law of substitution, and he realized that he could not go in and kill twice.

The Lord Himself takes full responsibility for the killing of the first-born, just as He took full responsibility for the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. For us who know the love of God, it is hard to understand that God is a God Who kills. We have to understand, however, that God does not cause death. Death is the result of severance from God. Death is as much God's enemy as it is ours. We should, therefore, not see the angel of death as the angel of the Lord. This is an evil creature who does the killing, but he only kills because God allows him to. That is why God presented it to the Israelites as if He Himself went through the land of Egypt. The devil did the dirty work, but he was not able to boast about it. He was only the instrument of God's wrath. It is hard for us to understand this, but, unless we make the distinction, we see God as a mixture of good and evil. How it is possible that God uses sin and death for His own glory goes above my comprehension.

We should not forget either that the judgment was in the first place "on all the gods of Egypt." The fact that humans died was not the main issue; it was the defeat of the powers of darkness that was at the heart of this Passover. The first-born that were killed had been dead for years.

The application of the blood was, of course, full of spiritual significance. In much the same way as the Israelites were covered by the blood of the lamb so that the wrath of God would not touch them, so are we covered by the blood of Jesus. Jesus says: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."[ 3 ] Or, as the RSV translates it: "he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." Paul says: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."[ 4 ] The Exodus shows us the importance of being covered by the blood of Jesus. That means that we have asked for forgiveness of our sins on the basis of His death on the cross.

The amazing feature of this chapter is that the application of the blood occupies so little space in it. The bulk of the text deals with the nourishment derived from the meat of the lamb. There is never any question as the whether the Israelites would apply the blood or not. That seems to be a foregone conclusion. God considers them in principle as redeemed people. The important part is that they feed themselves enough and that they are aware of the emergency of their situation, so they are ready to leave on a moment's notice.

Time was short. The lamb could not be boiled, as most sacrificial animals meant for human consumption were. Also there was no time to bake leavened bread. The meat had to be roasted over fire and the bread had to be baked without yeast. The urgency emphasized two very special truths: the fire was an image of the suffering Christ underwent at the cross and the lack of yeast symbolized the absence of sin in the life of the person who partook. The addition of herbs has been variously interpreted as making the meal tasty or making it bitter. I suppose we can't have both; although one may acquire a taste for bitter things.

Another feature that amazes us is that after Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years, according to ch. 12:41, and after a prolonged period of probably one whole year, during which the Lord poured out the ten plagues upon the country, all of a sudden they have to leave within the space of a few hours. God's patience spans the centuries, but He acts with the speed of lightning. The command is: "Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover." The Israelites had to be ready to move while they were eating a feast. Vs. 11 says: "This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand."

Jesus identified Himself clearly with this Passover lamb when He said to the people of His time: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."[ 5 ] But during the celebration of Jesus' last Passover, He identifies Himself with the bread and the wine. In Matthew we read: "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.' "[ 6 ]

The partaking of the lamb was a hurried event, but the eating of the unleavened bread was done during a whole week. The two were closely linked: we are redeemed once for all by the death of the Lamb of God, and we eat Him only once, so to speak. The living of a life that is pure and unpolluted by sin takes a life-time on earth and an eternity in heaven. Evidently, when Jesus died on the cross the eating of the meat of the lamb lost its significance. For us the consequences of His death are the living of a life of purity and avoidance of sin, as expressed in the communion service we celebrate.

While the Israelites were safe under the protection of the blood of the lamb, outside their houses a carnage of a magnitude, unknown before, went on. The angel of death killed all the first-born of man and animal. Nobody was exempt. It was God's judgment upon "all the gods of Egypt." They were the ones who had tried to keep Israel in bondage. Pharaoh had been little more than their puppet. Then as now, "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."[ 7 ] The killing of all the first-born was ultimately the defeat of Satan. It is to him that God says: "I am the LORD."

At the end of time God's people will be sealed in much the same way as the Israelites were in Egypt; we read in Revelation: "Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 'Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.' "[ 8 ] This seal consists of the blood of Christ that covers us and the Holy Spirit Who indwells us.

In the verses 14-20 God puts the events of that night in an historic perspective. The difference between time and eternity, between finite man and the infinite God, becomes obvious here. Not only would no man be able to see over the limitations of the hour, but although the Israelites surely must have sensed that something great was happening to them, they would have been unable to evaluate it in the light of history, even less in the light of eternity. God did this for them. He told them that what they were doing that night and in the week following would be celebrated throughout the centuries. Generations to come would commemorate this particular event.

Even less would anybody at that point in time have been able to see the typical significance of the Passover. They may have understood that the lamb died in the place of man, but how could they fathom that this represented the fact that God would become man and die in our place? As the apostle Paul charged: "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast; as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."[ 9 ] Paul's commentary shows the eternal significance of that night of the Exodus. Not just generations on earth would remember it, but throughout eternity in heaven we will celebrate the Festival!

The celebration of the feast was to last seven days. The Pulpit Commentary believes that the Egyptians did not know the division of days in sections of seven. It suggests that Abraham may have brought the concept from Babylonia. If this is true, it would mean that a great deal of the creation story, as we read it in the first chapters of Genesis, would have been lost in Egypt at that time. The Israelites kept the Sabbath and at least that fact would have been known in Egypt.

The week-long celebration symbolized a lifetime of eating bread without yeast, that is a life without malice and wickedness and with sincerity and truth. The unleavened bread was the fruit of the killing and eating of the lamb. It was because Israel had been redeemed and was protected by the blood of the lamb from the powers of darkness that they were able to live the life God wanted them to live.

We have seen already that God made the day of the Passover to be the first day of the new year. The feast was not only to be celebrated a whole life, but it was the celebration of the New Year, the new dispensation, in anticipation of the time when all would be new.

Also, it was to be a celebration together. Nobody is a Christian by himself. The celebration begins and ends with a sacred assembly. We celebrate in fellowship with one another as part of the feast. The Sabbath feature of the first and the last day indicates a lifting of the curse. As result of sin God said to Adam: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground."[ 10 ] During the feast no one was allowed to toil and sweat; they were to rest, since God had done the work for them. The most basic principle of the Christian life is to enter into God's Sabbath. We read in Hebrews: "For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his."[ 11 ]

Anyone who played with yeast, so to speak, was no longer part of Israel. Vs. 19 says: "And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born." "Cut off" does not stand for being lost, but for a severing of the bond of fellowship.

Beginning with vs. 21 Moses repeats God's instructions to the elders of the people and through them to the whole congregation. This address must have taken place on the tenth day of the month, for Moses tells them to select their lambs for the Passover that very day.

[ 1 ] II Cor. 5:17

[ 2 ] Jam karet

[ 3 ] John 5:24

[ 4 ] Rom. 8:1

[ 5 ] John 6:53-56

[ 6 ] Matt. 26:26-28

[ 7 ] Eph. 6:12

[ 8 ] Rev. 7:2,3

[ 9 ] I Cor. 5:7,8

[ 10 ] Gen. 3:17-19

[ 11 ] Hebr. 4:10