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CHAPTER 7: The Passover And Its Ordinances - The Children Of Israel
Leave Egypt - Their First Resting-PlaceThe Pillar Of Cloud And Of Fire -
Pursuit Of Pharaoh Passage Through The Red Sea - DestructionOf
Pharaoh And His Host - The Song " On The Other Side." Exodus 12-15:21
EVERY ordinance had been given to Israel about the Paschal feast, and observed by
them. On thetenth day of the month, Abib (the month of ears, so called, because in it
the ears of wheat firstappear), or, as it was afterwards called, Nisan, (Esther 3:7;
Nehemiah 2:1) the "Passover" sacrificewas chosen by each household.
This was four days before the "Passover" actually took place - most probably in
remembrance of theprediction to Abraham, (Genesis 15:16) that "in the fourth
generation" the children of Israel shouldcome again to the land of Canaan. The
sacrifice might be a lamb or a kid of goats, but it must be"without blemish, a male of
the first year." Each lamb or kid should be just sufficient for the sacrificialmeal of a
company, so that if a family were too small, it should join with another. The
sacrificewas offered "between the evenings" by each head of the company, the blood
caught in a basin, andsome of it "struck" "on the two side-posts and the upper door-
post of the houses" by means of "abranch of hyssop." The latter is not the hyssop with
which we are familiar, but most probably thecaper, which grows abundantly in Egypt,
in the desert of Sinai, and in Palestine. In ancient times thisplant was regarded as
possessing cleansing properties. The direction, to sprinkle the entrance, meantthat the
blood was to be applied to the house itself, that is, to make atonement for it, and in a
senseto convert it into an altar. Seeing this blood, Jehovah, when He passed through to
smite theEgyptians, would "pass over the door," so that it would "not be granted the
destroyer to comein" unto their dwellings. (Exodus 12:23) Thus the term "Passover,"
or Pascha, literally expresses themeaning and object of the ordinance.
While all around the destroyer laid waste every Egyptian household, each company
within theblood-sprinkled houses of Israel was engaged in the sacrificial meal. This
consisted of the Paschallamb, and "unleavened bread with," or rather "upon, bitter
herbs," as if in that solemn hour ofjudgment and deliverance they were to have set
before them as their proper meal the symbol of allthe bitterness of Egypt, and upon it
the sacrificial lamb and unleavened bread to sweeten and tomake of it a festive supper.
For everything here was full of deepest meaning. The sacrificial lamb,whose sprinkled
blood protected Israel, pointed to Him whose precious blood is the only safety ofGod's
people; the hyssop (as in the cleansing of the leper, and of those polluted by death, and
inPsalm 51:7) was the symbol of purification; and the unleavened bread that "of
sincerity and truth," inthe removal of the "old leaven" which, as the symbol of
corruption, pointed to "the leaven of maliceand wickedness." (1 Corinthians 5:7, 8)
More than that, the spiritual teaching extended even todetails. The lamb was to be
(^)