Exodus 12:39
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
The verse belongs to the record of Israel's departure from Egypt after dwelling in the country round about Goshen, on the very day the appointed time was completed. They set out in a hurried procession carrying staffs and bundles, and baked unleavened cakes from the dough they had brought out because they were thrust out, could not tarry, and had prepared no food for the journey. The unleavened bread was the hasty meal eaten on the night of the march from the land of bondage, with loins girded, shoes on feet and staff in hand, together with the lamb and the bitter herbs, while the sprinkled blood and the death-dealing angel were rehearsed in solemn silence. The unleavened bread in the Passover service recalled that hurried departure from bondage, and that night assembly was fitted to stir the imagination, impress the heart, and fix the past experiences and God's commandments forever in the memory of children and youth, though the people delivered from lifelong slavery were not yet prepared for that work of teaching.
That departure fulfilled the prophecy given to Abraham that after four hundred years Israel would leave with great substance. God in pity broke the yoke of their bondage and brought His people out with power and mighty signs and wonders, placing Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. He called them out to separate them from the customs, habits, and practices of the world and to bring them nearer to Himself to make known His will, so that in life and character they would manifest the principles of His kingdom and give the world a representation of His goodness, mercy, justice, and love. He called them out to bring them to Sinai to hear the proclamation of the law first given in Eden, proclaiming the Ten Commandments with His own voice in awful grandeur as Ruler of the world to impress the sacredness of His law and the importance of obeying it, revealing by its force and power its importance as the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ the Redeemer speaking from Sinai.
That freeing from Egyptian slavery, with the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of the pursuers, is meant to be remembered as proof of God's power to give victory and to lead His people forward to the heavenly Canaan. When Israel believed the discouraging report of the unfaithful spies they forgot that deliverance and gave way to mourning, complaint, lamentation, distrust of God, desperation, and the sin of murmuring and rebellion, instead of trusting Him for victory. Gratitude and memory of the deliverance should keep God's people from that sin. That same purpose and pity holds for God's people today, whom the world will recognize as superior when the law is exemplified in life, and it calls upon those who name His name to lift the degraded as He lifted Israel, as seen in the colored people in America who in one sense have been freed from slavery but are still in the slavery of ignorance and living in sin and degradation.