Exodus · chapter 12 of 40
Updated on
Exodus 12 tells of the institution of the Passover: each Israelite family sacrifices a lamb without defect and puts its blood on the doorposts, and the Lord passes over those houses when he strikes the firstborn of Egypt. Pharaoh drives Israel out, and they leave Egypt after 430 years, and the chapter establishes the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the rules of the Passover.
Exodus 12 is the center of the book. After nine plagues, the tenth brings judgment on Egypt and Israel's deliverance, and God institutes a feast his people will keep from generation to generation. The Passover becomes the foundation with which the rest of the Bible describes redemption, and the New Testament connects it with the work of Christ.
The Lord told Moses and Aaron that this month would be the first of the year. On the tenth day each family would take a lamb without defect, a year-old male, and keep it until the fourteenth day, when the whole assembly would kill it at twilight. They would put its blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house, and eat the meat roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in haste, with belt fastened, sandals on and staff in hand. The Lord would pass through Egypt that night and strike every firstborn, and when he saw the blood he would pass over, with no plague of destruction.
God commanded them to keep this date as a perpetual ordinance and to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, with no leaven in their houses. Moses explained the rite to the elders: apply the blood with a bunch of hyssop and stay inside until morning. When their children asked about the rite, they were to say it was the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of Israel.
At midnight the Lord struck every firstborn of Egypt, from Pharaoh's to the prisoner's in the dungeon, and the firstborn of the livestock. There was a great cry, for there was no house without someone dead. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and told them to leave with all the people, with their flocks and herds, and to bless him too. The Egyptians urged the people to hurry out, and the Israelites received silver, gold and clothing from them.
The Israelites set out from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children, with a mixed multitude and many livestock. Israel's stay in Egypt had been 430 years, and that night was a night of watching for the Lord. The chapter ends with the rules of the Passover: no uncircumcised foreigner could eat it, it was to be eaten in one house and no bone of the lamb was to be broken.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Each family is to take some of the lamb's blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house. The blood marks the homes of those who obey God's word, and the lamb dies in their place.
The blood will be a sign on the houses, and when the Lord sees it he will pass over with no plague of destruction. This gives the Passover its name: salvation comes through the blood of the lamb, not by the merit of those inside.
When children ask what the rite means, parents will answer that it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of Israel. The feast is a way of teaching the story of redemption to each new generation.
Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron by night and orders them to leave with all the people to serve the Lord. The king who said he did not know the Lord now yields to his power.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: One without defect, a year-old male. — Exodus 12:5
Answer: On the two doorposts and the lintel of the house where they ate it. — Exodus 12:7
Answer: Unleavened bread and bitter herbs. — Exodus 12:8
Answer: He would pass over, not allowing the plague of destruction to enter. — Exodus 12:13
Answer: The Lord struck every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh's to the prisoner's. — Exodus 12:29
Answer: Four hundred and thirty years. — Exodus 12:40
The Passover teaches that salvation comes through God's grace and not through anyone's effort. The Israelites inside the houses were safe because they obeyed and trusted the blood, not because they were better than the Egyptians. For Christians, the New Testament sees in this a picture of Christ, the Lamb of God, whose death saves.
It also teaches us to remember. God commanded a feast so that each generation would tell the story of its rescue. In a class or small group you can think about how we tell the younger ones what God has done, and how the Lord's Supper helps us remember with gratitude a greater redemption.
Exodus 12 ends with a free people leaving Egypt under the Lord's hand. Exodus 13 continues with the consecration of the firstborn and God's guidance through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud and fire.
The Hebrew word is related to the verb to pass over or to protect. The name recalls that the Lord passed over the houses marked with blood when he struck the firstborn of Egypt. It is also the name of the feast and of the lamb that was sacrificed.
The apostle Paul calls Christ our Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7, and the Gospel of John presents him as the Lamb of God and stresses that none of his bones was broken, echoing Exodus 12:46. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper in the setting of a Passover meal.
The text speaks of about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. Scholars debate the number: some take it literally, others think the word translated thousand might mean clans or units. In any case, the text stresses that it was a numerous people.