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Parsha[GN]
15: Bo (continued)
“Go,” Exod. 10:1-13:16
5. The Pesach (12:1-30) [ca. 1446 BCE]
a. The Paschal Lamb (12:1-13)
[Egypt • 8 Apr 1462 BCE]
1 ADONAI spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month [Aviv] shall be the beginning of months for you. It shall be the first month of your year.[2] 3 Tell the whole congregation of Isra'el that on the tenth day of this month, every man must select a lamb [or a kid] for his family, one lamb [or kid] for each household. 4 If the household is too small for a whole lamb, he and his nearest neighbor are to select one based on the total number of people, and share the animal according to what everyone can eat. 5 Your lamb must be an unblemished[5a] year-old male,[5b] and you may select it from among either the sheep or the goats.
6 “You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Isra'el will slaughter [their animals] at twilight.[6] 7 They are to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the top of the doorframe of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with with matzah and maror.[8] 9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but only roasted over fire— its head, legs and its inner organs. 10 Do not leave any of it until morning; what ever is left over you must burn in the fire before morning.
11 “This is how you are eat it: you are to be fully dressed for travel with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is ADONAI ’s Pesach.[11] 12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal, and I will execute judgment against all the ‘gods’ of Egypt.[12] I am ADONAI. 13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will identify them. When I see the blood, I will pass over[13] you, and no plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
b. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (12:14-28)
14 This day shall be a memorial for you. You are to celebrate it as a feast to ADONAI. You are to celebrate it throughout your genrations as a permanent ordinance.
15 “‘For seven days you are to eat matzah. On the first day you are to remove the leaven[15a] from your houses. Whoever eats hametz[15b] from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Isra'el. 16 On the first and seventh days you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any ordinary work[16] on those days except to prepare the meals — you may do only that. 17 You are to observe the Festival of Matzah,[17] for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 18 In the first month you are to eat matzah from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of twenty-first day of the month. 19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. Whoever eats food with hametz must be cut off from the congregation of Isra'el, whether he is a foreigner or a native born in the land. 20 You are to eat nothing with hametz. Wherever you live you are to eat matzah.’”
[Egypt • 9 Apr 1462 BCE]
(v) 21 Then Moshe assembled all the elders of Isra'el and told them, “Go and select for yourselves an animal from the flock lambs for each of your families, and slaughter the Pesach Lamb. 22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two side-posts with some of the blood that is in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When ADONAI passes through to strike down the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lintel and the two side-posts, ADONAI will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you down. 24 You are to observe this command as a permanent ordinance for you your descendants forever. 25 When you have come into the land which ADONAI will give you as He has promised, you must observe this ceremony.[25] 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you are to reply, ‘It is the sacrifice of ADONAI ’s Pesach because He passed over (פָּ֠סַח, pasach) the houses of the Isra'elites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’”
Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
[Egypt • 10-14 Apr 1462 BCE]
28 And the Isra'elites went and did just as ADONAI had commanded Moshe and Aharon.
c. The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn (12:29-30) [WHICH GODS?]
[Egypt • Wed 15 Apr 1462 BCE]
(vi) 29 At midnight, ADONAI struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 During the night Pharaoh got up in the night — he, and all his officials, and all the Egyptians — and there was a loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not one house without someone dead.
6. The Exodus from Egypt (12:31-13:22)
a. Pharaoh Lets the People Go (12:31-42)
31 Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon during the night, and said, “Get up, leave from among my people, both you and the Isra'elites! Go, worship ADONAI as you have asked! 32 Take your flocks and your herds just as you have said, and leave! And bless me also!”
33 The Egyptians urged the people, to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We are all going to die.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, in their their kneading bouls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 The Isra'elites acted on Moshe’s word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. 36 And ADONAI gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they let them have what they asked for. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The Isra'elites traveled from Rameses [MAP] to Succoth, [MAP] about six hundred thousand men on foot, plus the children. 38 An ethnically diverse crowd[38] also went up with them, along with with huge droves of livestock, including flocks and herds. 39 Since the dough they brought out of Egypt wasn’t leavened, they baked it into matzah loaves, because when they were driven out of Egypt, they couldn’t wait and they had not prepared any food for themselves.
[Egypt • 15 Apr 1462 BCE]
40 Now the duration of the Isra'elites’s stay in [Cana'an and][40] Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day,[41a] all of ADONAI ’s divisions,[41b] went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of vigil for ADONAI because He brought them out from the land of Egypt. So throughout their generations this night for ADONAI is to be observed by all the Isra'elites.
b. Instructions for the Passover (12:43-51)
43 ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, “This is the ordinance of the Pesach. No foreigner is to eat of it, 44 But any man’s servant who who has been purchased with money, he may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45 A temporary resident or hired worker may not eat of it. 46 [Each Paschal lamb] must be eaten inside the house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones. 47 The whole congregation of Isra'el must celebrate it. 48 If a foreigner lives with you and would like to celebrate ADONAI ’s Pesach, all the males be in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate and celebrate it, and he will become as a native born in the land.[48] But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. 49 The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”[49] 50 Then all the Isra'elites did this; they did just as ADONAI had commanded Moshe and Aharon. 51 That very day ADONAI brought the Isra'elites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.
2. Here God establishes His calendar for all His people. This is the beginning of God’s Appointed Times, the Moadim. [BACK]
5a. That is, without any defect at all. [BACK]
5b. One of the reasons that I believe that Yeshua had a one-year ministry is that the Passover Lamb is a “type” or picture of Messiah’s sacrifice. The Lamb was to be “without blemish” and must be a “one-year” old. We know from the entirety of Scripture that Yeshua was sinless, “without blemish.” The other requirement was that the lamb must be one year old. Therefore, I believe that Yeshua’s sacrifice must be at the end of one year of ministry. This isn’t an “essential doctrine” and it certainly isn’t a “salvation issue,” so please feel free to disagree. [BACK]
6. The phrase “at twilight” is literally “between the evenings,” and has been interpreted as being between about 3:00 pm and sunset. [BACK]
8. Matzah (מַצָּה) is unleavened (made without yeast or other leavening agent) bread or cake. Maror (מְרֹר) is a bitter herb. Traditional Passover observation generally uses horseradish and/or rimaine lettuce. [BACK]
11. Pesach is Hebrew פֶּ֥סַח (pe·saḥ), Passover, because God is going to cause the Death Angel to pass over the homes of all, both Hebrew and Egyptian, who fully participate in this event. [BACK]
12. This final plague will demonstrate that the God of Isra'el has fully and absolutely defeated all the gods of Egypt. These are not simply mythical beings, but rather actual spiritual entities, residents of the invisible realm. See “What the Torah Says About The Benéi Elohim (Sons of God) and the Divine Council.” See also “Ten Plagues for Ten Gods.” [BACK]
13. The words “pass over” translate the Hebrew word פָסַח (pascach), hence both the sacrificial (paschal) lamb and the celebration of this event are Pesach, Passover. [BACK]
15a. Leaven (שְּׂאֹ֖ר, śə·’ōr) includes yeast, any leavening agent, or anything fermented other than wine. [BACK]
15b. Hametz or chamets (חָמֵץ) includes anything leavened or fermented (except wine). [BACK]
16. “Ordinary work” translates the Hebrew word מְלָאכָה֙ (məlāḵāh), which refers to occupation, something done or made, or public business; however, the rest of the sentence specifies that only food preparation may be done. [BACK]
17. The Festival/Feast of Matzah/Unleavened Bread is observed “from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of twenty-first day of the month.” Passover is technically only during twilight on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai .” (v. 18 and Leviticus 23:5-7) Though Adonai defines them as two separate ovservances, modern Judaism observes them together [MORE HERE] [BACK]
25. “Ceremony” translates the Hebrew word עֲבּדָה (abodah), a service, labor, rite, or ritual. This is God’s instruction to Isra'el regarding corporate worship. [BACK]
38. An ethnically diverse crowd, or “mixed multitude,” of gentiles, which included not only Egyptians but also non-Egyptians who had been living in Egypt, elected to go out with the Isra'elites to serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Some estimate the total number of those leaving Egypt, inluding women and children, totaled more than two million. There has always been a place for gentiles in the Commonwealth of Isra'el! [BACK]
40. Watch the video “How Long Were the Israelites in Egypt.” [BACK]
41a. They left Egypt on the 430th anniversary of the very day that Jacob had moved his family there. Gen 46:5-7. For an interesting discussion of the “430 years” number, watch a few minutes of this video (which I also have here), which is clearly a minority opinion. It’s here because I find the discussion interesting, and he makes some extremely good arguments. Right or wrong, discussions like this are precisely why we need to be open to opinions that disagree with what we have always been taught.
The length of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, according to Genesis 15:13 (P), was in round numbers 400 years; more exactly, according to Exodus 12:40 ff (P), 430 years. But the last-mentioned passage in Septuagint reads, “the sojourn of the sons of Jacob, when they lived in Egypt and in the land of Canaan.” (The same reading is found in the Samaritan text, only that the land of Canaan precedes that of Egypt.) Since, according to this source (P), the Patriarchs lived 215 years in Canaan, the sojourn in Egypt would be reduced also 215 years. This is the way in which the synagogue reckons (compare Galatians 3:17), as also Josephus (Ant., II, xv, 2). In favor of this shorter period appeal is made to the genealogical lists, which, however, because they are incomplete, cannot decide the matter. In favor of a longer duration of this sojourn we can appeal, not only to Genesis 15:13 Septuagint has the same!), but also to the large number of those who left Egypt according to Numbers 1 and 26 (P), even if the number of 600,000 men there mentioned, which would presuppose a nation of about two million souls, is based on a later calculation and gives us an impossible conception of the Exodus. (“Children of Israel,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, emphasis added) [BACK]
41b. As we will see later throughout the Exodus narrative, Isra'el traveled in “divisions” (צִבּא֥וֹת, ṣiḇ·’ō·wṯ) according to their twelve tribes. צִבּא֥וֹת can be translated as hosts, armies, or that which goes forth.
48. Here circumcision for men is established one of the conditions for a gentile becoming a naturalized citizen of Isra'el. [BACK]
49. The Hebrew word here translated as “law” is תּוֹרָ֣ה (torah). From this I personally understand (feel free to disagree) that the one Torah is given for both native-born Isra'el and for the Gentile who wishes to identify with the Commonwealth of Isra'el. [BACK]
Other commentaries on Exodus 12
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
Pulpit Commentary
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
