Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.
Israel was commanded to keep the Passover ordinance, also called the feast of unleavened bread, at its appointed time every year from year to year after the deliverance from Egypt. The yearly feast was a memorial of that deliverance wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt. The Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month recalled God's passing over Israel when He smote Egypt's firstborn, and the feast of unleavened bread from the fifteenth day recalled eating that bread in the hasty flight from Egypt. A yearly observance fitly suited an event that occurred once. That annual memorial of the flight is distinct from the weekly Sabbath, which rests on creation as a memorial of creation and not on the Exodus, since a weekly rest cannot fitly memorialize a deliverance that could come round but once a year.
Context and Yearly Observance
The command stands in Exodus 11-13, among the chapters Exodus 2-23 concerning the going out from Egypt filled with tremendous events, and belongs to the account of the first Passover and Israel's departure from Egypt. It is part of Moses' account of the exodus given under his direct supervision and told as fact without doubt, in terms just as positive as his history of creation and the fall, so its credibility stands or falls with Genesis 1-3. It commands Israel to keep the Passover ordinance, also called the feast of unleavened bread, at its appointed season every year from year to year, following the deliverance from Egypt and the death of Egypt's firstborn. It was given before that deliverance for future generations, to serve as a memorial of it, and its annual timing matched the event it commemorated.
The ordinance was to be observed for seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month Abib, during which Israel was forbidden to eat leaven. It belongs to the first form of the Passover, given for Israel in Egypt and for observance in the wilderness on the journey to Palestine and for some time later, before the building of the temple materially changed the celebration. That first form carried none of the added injunctions found in Deuteronomy 16:1-6 and Numbers 28:16-25 that were hardly possible to carry out in the wilderness, enjoined no wine, and included no closing Hallel of Psalms 113-118. The phrase in his season from year to year means the ordinance occurred but once a year at its due annual time and only then, with the sole exception that the Passover could be kept in the second month by those ceremonially unclean in the first. Like the feast of first-fruits or weeks and the feast of harvest, it was regulated not by days of the week but by the new moons or months and by the revolution of the year, so it could not fall on the same weekday year by year.
Exodus 13:2-10 is one of four passages written in Hebrew on a narrow parchment strip about eighteen inches long kept in small leather boxes worn as phylacteries. One box an inch and a half square was bound by cow-hide straps to the left elbow and wound down to the middle finger, and a smaller box scarcely an inch square was tied to the forehead with a fillet brought around to the breast. They were to serve as reminders of the law and were worn only at times of prayer, but the Pharisees paraded them on all occasions and enlarged the forehead box to three or four inches and wore it conspicuously over the eyes to attract attention, which Christ reproved as making broad their phylacteries. The verse is situated in the account of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, which precedes God's instructions for building the sanctuary as an object lesson of salvation; the annual ordinance itself is not explained here.
Memorial of Egyptian Deliverance
The ordinance kept in its season from year to year was a memorial of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up from Egypt's land. The Passover, also called the feast of unleavened bread, was given before that deliverance to serve for future generations as its memorial. It was to be kept annually for seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month Abib, during which Israel was forbidden to eat leaven.
Its yearly observance suited the event it commemorated, since an observance once a year fits an event that occurred once. The annual timing of the Passover ordinance matched God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
The Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month was in memory of God's passing over Israel when He smote the Egyptians. It preserved in remembrance how the destroying angel passed over their dwellings when Egypt's firstborn were doomed to die through judgment. The feast of unleavened bread was in memory of eating that bread in the flight from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, specifically declaring how the Egyptians hurried Israel away with hastening hand.
Together the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread were the two fitting, plain memorials given to keep fresh in thought that glad deliverance.
Weekly Sabbath Is Distinct
The ordinance commands the keeping of the feast of unleavened bread in its season from year to year as the fitting memorial ordained of the deliverance from Egypt. The passover on the fourteenth day of the first month is in memory of the passing over of Israel when the Egyptians were smitten, and the feast of unleavened bread is in memory of eating that bread in the flight from Egypt. That deliverance was a flight on the fifteenth day of the first month to be kept annually, while the Sabbath is a rest on the seventh day of each week. Therefore the Sabbath did not originate at the Exodus and does not commemorate it, but rests on creation as the memorial of creation. Its yearly observance suited an event that occurred once, unlike the weekly Sabbath.
Together the passover observed as appointed and the feast of unleavened bread kept in its season from year to year are the two fitting, plain memorials given to keep fresh in thought that glad deliverance wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up from Egypt's land. The passover preserves in remembrance how the destroying angel passed over their dwellings when Egypt's firstborn were doomed to die through judgment, and the feast specifically declares how the Egyptians hurried Israel away with hastening hand. The Sabbath is not one of those memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. For a weekly rest cannot fitly keep in memory a day that could come round but once a year, any more than the Fourth of July could be celebrated once every week, and a rest cannot fitly memorialize a rush.
Israel was commanded to keep the Passover ordinance, also called the feast of unleavened bread, at its appointed time every year from year to year after the deliverance from Egypt. The yearly feast was a memorial of that deliverance wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt. The Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month recalled God's passing over Israel when He smote Egypt's firstborn, and the feast of unleavened bread from the fifteenth day recalled eating that bread in the hasty flight from Egypt. A yearly observance fitly suited an event that occurred once. That annual memorial of the flight is distinct from the weekly Sabbath, which rests on creation as a memorial of creation and not on the Exodus, since a weekly rest cannot fitly memorialize a deliverance that could come round but once a year.
Context and Yearly Observance
The command stands in Exodus 11-13, among the chapters Exodus 2-23 concerning the going out from Egypt filled with tremendous events, and belongs to the account of the first Passover and Israel's departure from Egypt. It is part of Moses' account of the exodus given under his direct supervision and told as fact without doubt, in terms just as positive as his history of creation and the fall, so its credibility stands or falls with Genesis 1-3. It commands Israel to keep the Passover ordinance, also called the feast of unleavened bread, at its appointed season every year from year to year, following the deliverance from Egypt and the death of Egypt's firstborn. It was given before that deliverance for future generations, to serve as a memorial of it, and its annual timing matched the event it commemorated.
The ordinance was to be observed for seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month Abib, during which Israel was forbidden to eat leaven. It belongs to the first form of the Passover, given for Israel in Egypt and for observance in the wilderness on the journey to Palestine and for some time later, before the building of the temple materially changed the celebration. That first form carried none of the added injunctions found in Deuteronomy 16:1-6 and Numbers 28:16-25 that were hardly possible to carry out in the wilderness, enjoined no wine, and included no closing Hallel of Psalms 113-118. The phrase in his season from year to year means the ordinance occurred but once a year at its due annual time and only then, with the sole exception that the Passover could be kept in the second month by those ceremonially unclean in the first. Like the feast of first-fruits or weeks and the feast of harvest, it was regulated not by days of the week but by the new moons or months and by the revolution of the year, so it could not fall on the same weekday year by year.
Exodus 13:2-10 is one of four passages written in Hebrew on a narrow parchment strip about eighteen inches long kept in small leather boxes worn as phylacteries. One box an inch and a half square was bound by cow-hide straps to the left elbow and wound down to the middle finger, and a smaller box scarcely an inch square was tied to the forehead with a fillet brought around to the breast. They were to serve as reminders of the law and were worn only at times of prayer, but the Pharisees paraded them on all occasions and enlarged the forehead box to three or four inches and wore it conspicuously over the eyes to attract attention, which Christ reproved as making broad their phylacteries. The verse is situated in the account of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, which precedes God's instructions for building the sanctuary as an object lesson of salvation; the annual ordinance itself is not explained here.
Memorial of Egyptian Deliverance
The ordinance kept in its season from year to year was a memorial of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up from Egypt's land. The Passover, also called the feast of unleavened bread, was given before that deliverance to serve for future generations as its memorial. It was to be kept annually for seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month Abib, during which Israel was forbidden to eat leaven.
Its yearly observance suited the event it commemorated, since an observance once a year fits an event that occurred once. The annual timing of the Passover ordinance matched God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
The Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month was in memory of God's passing over Israel when He smote the Egyptians. It preserved in remembrance how the destroying angel passed over their dwellings when Egypt's firstborn were doomed to die through judgment. The feast of unleavened bread was in memory of eating that bread in the flight from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, specifically declaring how the Egyptians hurried Israel away with hastening hand.
Together the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread were the two fitting, plain memorials given to keep fresh in thought that glad deliverance.
Weekly Sabbath Is Distinct
The ordinance commands the keeping of the feast of unleavened bread in its season from year to year as the fitting memorial ordained of the deliverance from Egypt. The passover on the fourteenth day of the first month is in memory of the passing over of Israel when the Egyptians were smitten, and the feast of unleavened bread is in memory of eating that bread in the flight from Egypt. That deliverance was a flight on the fifteenth day of the first month to be kept annually, while the Sabbath is a rest on the seventh day of each week. Therefore the Sabbath did not originate at the Exodus and does not commemorate it, but rests on creation as the memorial of creation. Its yearly observance suited an event that occurred once, unlike the weekly Sabbath.
Together the passover observed as appointed and the feast of unleavened bread kept in its season from year to year are the two fitting, plain memorials given to keep fresh in thought that glad deliverance wrought with a mighty hand when Jehovah brought Israel up from Egypt's land. The passover preserves in remembrance how the destroying angel passed over their dwellings when Egypt's firstborn were doomed to die through judgment, and the feast specifically declares how the Egyptians hurried Israel away with hastening hand. The Sabbath is not one of those memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. For a weekly rest cannot fitly keep in memory a day that could come round but once a year, any more than the Fourth of July could be celebrated once every week, and a rest cannot fitly memorialize a rush.