Exodus 12:14, commentary and pictures

This day was appointed through Moses on the night of the last and most severe plague upon Egypt before the midnight destruction of the firstborn, to be kept as a yearly feast to the LORD throughout Israel's generations by an ordinance forever. The day to be remembered is the night of slaying a lamb without blemish and striking its blood on the doorposts and lintel, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs in haste, while God smote all the firstborn of man and beast and passed over the marked houses so the plague did not destroy them. The feast was to preserve the memory of God's protection and deliverance from bondage and slavery, so that children could learn what the service meant when parents answered that it is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover who passed over Israel's houses and brought them out as an independent nation. The slain lamb pointed forward to the death of Christ, and its blood symbolized His atoning blood which cleanses the believing sinner from sin and shelters believers from wrath, with the deliverance from Egypt typifying the final deliverance through the sacrifice of His own life. The yearly observance was designed to call minds away from worldly cares to review God's works and mercies so love and trust would increase, making the deliverance a vivid memorial that impressed the heart and fixed it forever in the memory of children and youth.

The Memorial Appointed

The day was appointed through Moses before the midnight destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, as direction for departure and preservation from the coming judgment. It was instituted as a solemn ordinance on the night of the last and most severe plague upon Egypt, after its nature and effect had been told to Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the Israelites. That night was terrible to the Egyptians and glorious to the people of God.

This day is to be a memorial kept as a yearly feast to the LORD throughout Israel's generations by an ordinance forever. The first keeping marked the night God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, when the Egyptians' firstborn were slain while the marked Israelite homes were passed over. In all future generations Israel was to keep it as a memorial of that great deliverance, repeating to children the story of how the LORD passed over the houses of Israel when He smote the Egyptians and delivered their houses.

The night to be remembered joined slaying a lamb without blemish to striking its blood on the doorposts and upper doorposts as an outward token and sign. The lamb was to be eaten roasted whole with unleavened bread and bitter herbs inside the house, with loins girded, shoes on feet and staff in hand, in haste because it is the LORD's passover. That same night God passed through Egypt to smite all the firstborn of man and beast and to execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, and the blood on the houses was the token so that when He saw the blood He would pass over them and the plague would not destroy them when He smote Egypt. The memorial day thus sets apart the sprinkling of blood on the doorway, the passing of the destroying angel over the houses, the eating of the Passover supper together, and the slaying of Egypt's firstborn with mourning among the Egyptians.

The feast was to preserve the memory of how God protected the Hebrew families when the destroying angel struck Egypt, so that children could learn what the service meant and remember His care. It began with the birth of the Hebrew nation on the last night of bondage in Egypt when there appeared no token of deliverance. God commanded its yearly keeping as a memorial of how He passed over the houses of the children of Israel when He smote the Egyptians and then brought the Hebrews out of Egypt as an independent nation. From generation to generation the story of this wonderful deliverance was to be repeated, with children asking what the service means and parents answering that it is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover.

In later years Israel kept it each year on the anniversary night of their leaving, at the place God chose for His holy habitation, especially at Jerusalem. There they assembled before Him with girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand to eat the hasty meal of lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs, while the story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel and the grand march from the land of bondage was rehearsed. The yearly Passover was to be commemorated as a special religious feast-day of gladness and rejoicing, with no unnecessary work so time could be devoted to considering the blessings bestowed in bringing them by wonderful power from servile bondage to freedom. They were not to appear before Him empty but to bring gifts, freewill offerings and thank offerings according to how He had blessed them, with manservant and maidservant, stranger, fatherless and widow joining in the rejoicing. Families journeyed with delight and offerings of gratitude, recounted the experiences of the past, sang the songs of the wilderness wandering and chanted the commandments amid nature and kindly human association, stirring the imagination and impressing the heart and fixing the deliverance forever in the memory of children and youth.

The lasting memorial feast to the LORD, to be kept through every generation, was revived as the national Passover when Israelites were gathered from Judah and the northern kingdom to celebrate it in Jerusalem under Hezekiah.

Christ Foreshadowed in Passover

The slain lamb pointed forward to Christ's own death, and the blood marking the houses symbolized the blood of Christ. That blood is efficacious for the believing sinner, cleansing him from sin and sheltering believers from the wrath of God coming upon the impenitent and unbelieving world as God's wrath fell upon the Egyptians. Yet no one is benefited by this provision for salvation unless he performs the work God leaves him to do and by his acts manifests faith in the provision made.

The deliverance from Egypt was typical of the great atonement Christ made by the sacrifice of His own life for the final deliverance of His people. The blood sprinkled on the doorposts prefigured His atoning blood and the continual dependence of sinful man on the merits of that blood for safety from the power of Satan and for final redemption. The feast was both commemorative and typical, and the type reached the antitype when Christ, the Lamb without blemish, died on the cross. He ate the Passover supper with His disciples just before His crucifixion and that same night left the Lord's Supper as the ordinance to commemorate His crucifixion and death. That supper was not to be observed only occasionally or yearly but more frequently than the annual Passover, because salvation depends upon a continual application of His cleansing blood to the heart and continual dependence upon it.

The Passover and its ceremonies represented Christ and cannot be fully explained apart from Him as revealed in the Old Testament. Christ spoke through the prophets and patriarchs, and He Himself is the key that unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its rich treasures. If the Saviour now revealed is rejected, those religious services and ceremonies are valueless. The ceremony was instituted by Christ Himself before His incarnation, and He is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. When the priests, scribes and rulers led Him to the judgment hall they would not enter lest they be defiled so they might eat the Passover, exact about their own maxims and traditions while condemning Him and working contrary to the light. At that moment type was meeting antitype, with Christ Himself in their midst with His divinity clothed with humanity.

The verse does not make the Lord's Supper a once-a-year continuation of the Passover. To use it to refuse the emblems of Christ's dying and to have no faith in commemorating His sufferings is error, only human opinion and not Bible truth, to be yielded so believers can unite and truth can gain the victory. The rites Jesus saw at the age of twelve became clearer to Him, and He recognized that they were bound up with His own life and the mission He would fulfill for the heirs of covenant promises.

Living the Remembrance Faithfully

The yearly keeping was appointed to draw minds away from world-loving interests and from cares and anxieties about temporal things to review God's works, calling to mind His miracles, mercies and loving-kindness in delivering Israel from Egypt. That review was to increase love and reverence for Him, leading to always looking to Him and trusting Him in every trial and not turning to other gods. The memorial was established to be observed by every generation as a lasting remembrance of that deliverance.

Its ceremonies made the deliverance a vivid memorial that stirred the imagination and impressed the heart. The lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs and hasty meal, with the retelling of the sprinkled blood, the death of the firstborn and Israel's departure from bondage, kept that deliverance alive. It was kept as a memorial feast to God in His holy habitation at Jerusalem, with a night assembly where men stood with girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand to eat in solemn silence while the story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel and the grand march from the land of bondage was rehearsed. That schooling fixed the deliverance forever in the memory of children and youth, as families journeyed with delight and offerings of gratitude, recounted the experiences of the past, sang the songs of the wilderness wandering and chanted God's commandments amid the influences of nature and kindly human association. For the younger members of the congregation these ordinances were to be a special safeguard and blessing.

God gave Israel these lasting memorial ordinances while leading them through the wilderness and repeated His instructions so truth would make an abiding impression on their minds. They were to keep God in the remembrance of the people, to cause parents to teach their children to know Him, to fear and honor Him as their Leader under the most trying circumstances. They were to hold that the Lord is one God and beside Him there is none else, and to remember they could depend on Him to carry them safely through. The deliverance so memorialized was that they could keep the law given in Eden, for after delivering them God brought them to Sinai to hear that law proclaimed. Every event connected with Christ's keeping of the feast benefits His future followers, and His tarrying in Jerusalem at that feast teaches believers this lesson of remembrance and trust.

The yearly Passover was to be commemorated as a special religious feast-day of gladness and rejoicing, kept by assembling before God at set periods in the place He chose. No unnecessary work was to be done so the time could be devoted to considering the blessings He bestowed in bringing them by His own wonderful power from servile bondage to freedom. They were not to appear before Him empty but to bring gifts, free-will offerings and thank-offerings according to how He had blessed them, with manservant and maidservant, stranger, fatherless and widow joining in the rejoicing, the varied offerings revealing character and gratitude. Faithful observance of His requirements in this way would bring His blessing on all their increase and all the work of their hands.

Yet when Herod killed James and imprisoned Peter, the Jews in Jerusalem were keeping that memorial of deliverance from Egypt as a great religious gathering with pretended zeal for the law of God. Celebrating that deliverance while persecuting and murdering believers in Christ transgressed every principle of that law they professed to honor. Those gatherings were perverted into a place to stir one another up against Christians until they were united in bitter hatred of them.