Exodus 12:34
And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
On that night of judgment when the firstborn were slain at midnight, Pharaoh and the Egyptians urged Israel to leave at once, and before morning the people took their dough before it had risen, carrying it in their kneading troughs wrapped in their clothing upon their shoulders with their belongings. Though in great haste, they went out in orderly companies by dawn as a vast procession with a mixed multitude and flocks and herds, fulfilling the appointed day to come out with great substance after four hundred years. That hasty taking of unleavened dough is why unleavened bread belongs to the Passover service, and the hurried meal of lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs was reenacted to fix the deliverance from bondage forever in memory. God brought them out to separate them from the customs of the world and bring them near Himself, to lift degraded slaves to a higher moral level by giving them knowledge of Himself and making known His will through His law. That mighty deliverance is to be remembered with gratitude and trust, not forgotten in murmuring and rebellion as when Israel accepted the false report of the spies.
Hasty Departure From Egypt
Israel had followed God's directions and stood fully ready for the journey, waiting for the rebellious king and his great men to bid them go while the angel of death passed from house to house among the Egyptians. On that night they were separated from the Egyptians and gathered with their children into their own houses under the token of blood to escape the destroying angel who slew the firstborn of man and beast. Their obedience showed faith by works in doing what God required for deliverance, and the Passover was kept as an ordinance to tell their children of passing over their blood-marked houses. Egyptians who acknowledged the God of the Hebrews as the only true God, forsook their powerless idols, and pledged to serve Him were welcomed into their houses and decided to leave Egypt with Israel to worship Him.
At midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh's heir to the captive's and the cattle's, and a great cry arose because no house was without the dead. Pharaoh rose in the night and summoned Moses and Aaron to order Israel out with flocks and herds. The Egyptians with his officers pressed the people to send them out in haste, saying they were all dead men lest all die.
In that urgency before morning the people took their dough before it was leavened, before it could rise, and carried it with their belongings and what they needed in their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders, as God brought them out with all they possessed. Though in haste, the departure was orderly in companies with a leader for each, and by dawn a vast company with a mixed multitude and flocks and herds was on its way from bondage. They set out as a long, continuous procession of robed men and women moving together across open country with low hills in the distance, carrying staffs and bundles bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders, with head coverings and garments for the journey.
The departure fulfilled what was told to Abraham four hundred years before that his seed would serve and be afflicted in a strange land and afterward come out with great substance. It took place on the very day God had appointed. The Israelites asked of the Egyptians and received jewels of silver and gold and raiment, finding favor so that they spoiled the Egyptians, and left with great substance and with Joseph's bones as a reminder of God's promise to deliver them.
Remembrance Purpose and Application
The unleavened bread belongs to the paschal service because the people took their dough before it was leavened in their hasty march from bondage. They left in haste before the dough could rise, carrying it in kneading troughs wrapped in their clothes upon their shoulders. That unleavened bread and hurried meal were remembered in the Passover service as part of the story of deliverance from bondage.
At Jerusalem the night assembly reenacted that haste, with men in girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand eating the hasty meal of lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In solemn silence they rehearsed the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel and the grand march from the land of bondage. Bound up with nature and kindly association, the ceremony stirred the imagination and impressed the heart. It fixed God's commandments and past deliverance forever in the memory of child and youth.
The bringing of Israel out of Egypt was the moment God desired to establish His method of education in Israel. Few were then prepared to work together with Him in training their children, for the parents themselves needed instruction and discipline. As victims of lifelong slavery they were ignorant, untrained and degraded, with little knowledge of God and little faith in Him. They were confused by false teaching and corrupted by long contact with heathenism. God brought them out to lift them to a higher moral level by giving them a knowledge of Himself.
His purpose in bringing them forth was to separate them from the customs, habits and practices of the world and to bring them nearer to Himself that He might make known to them His will. In life and character they were to manifest the principles of His kingdom and reveal His goodness, mercy, justice and love, giving the world a representation of His character. When the law of God is thus exemplified in the life, even the world recognizes the superiority of those who love and fear and serve God above every other people. This same purpose stands for God's people today.
The deliverance from Egyptian bondage was a mighty work of God, with the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of pursuing foes, which should be remembered with gratitude and trust rather than forgotten through murmuring and rebellion. The people forgot it when they accepted the false report of the unfaithful spies. That forgetfulness led them to desperation, mourning, lamentation and distrust of God. The lesson is not to be ungrateful and forgetful of God by repeating the sin of murmuring, rebellious Israel.
God pitied the Israelites in their slavery in Egypt, broke the yoke of their bondage, and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. The same pity moves Him toward the colored people in the Southern States of America. They in one sense have been freed from slavery, yet remain in the slavery of ignorance and live in sin and degradation in the shadow of Christian doors. His deliverance of Israel calls those who name His name to take up the long-neglected work of lifting them.