Exodus 12:17, commentary and pictures

The verse gives the directions delivered through Moses before the final judgment, telling Israel how they were to leave Egypt and how they were to be preserved from that judgment. The feast was instituted as a solemn ordinance on the night of the last plague, which was more severe than any before it, a night terrible to the Egyptians and glorious to the people of God. Its institution came after the dreadful plague of locusts and the plague of oppressive darkness in which breathing was difficult for the Egyptians, while the Hebrews had pure air and light in their dwellings. Beforehand Moses told Pharaoh, the Egyptian people, and the Israelites the nature and effect of that last plague, while the king and his idolatrous priests opposed letting Israel go to the last, even though the Egyptian people desired that the Hebrews be permitted to leave.

Each family, alone or joined with others, was to slay a lamb or kid without blemish and sprinkle its blood with hyssop on the two side-posts and upper door-post, so that the destroying angel coming at midnight would not enter that house. They were to eat the roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs at night, dressed with loins girded, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, eating in haste because it was the Lord's passover, gathered together around the table for the supper. That night God would pass through Egypt with the destroying angel sweeping across the sky, smiting all the first-born of man and beast, executing judgment against all the gods of Egypt, and bringing mourning among the Egyptians, while the blood would be a token on their houses so that when it was seen He would pass over them and the plague would not destroy them when He smote Egypt.

The feast is commanded because on that selfsame day God brought Israel's armies out of the land of Egypt. It is to be observed as a lasting ordinance in every generation as a remembrance of that deliverance. The annual service with its lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and retelling of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel, and the departure from bondage recalled the deliverance and impressed its story on the heart. The celebration was later revived by Hezekiah as a national gathering for Israel and Judah.

The deliverance despite Pharaoh's opposition led to Sinai, where God proclaimed the law and demonstrated its importance, sacredness, and authority, showing His purpose that the delivered people keep His law. The memorial called the people to turn from worldly concerns and remember God's miracles, mercy, and loving-kindness, so their love and reverence would grow and they would trust Him in their trials rather than turn to other gods. The slain lamb pointed forward to Christ's death, and its blood signifies Christ's blood cleansing the believing sinner and sheltering that person from God's wrath, a provision to be received by acting in faith. The unleavened bread signifies that those who receive life and nourishment from Christ must put away the leaven of sin, so keeping the feast means living with sincerity and truth rather than malice and wickedness.