(Exo 12:1 NASB) Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
(Exo 12:2 NASB) “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
Exo 12:2: This is the beginning of the Hebrew calendar as far as we know for certain. But it probably existed from the very beginning. The first month is given the name Abib (Ex. 13:4), which means “spring” or “a young ear of grain.” It overlaps with the modern months of March and April.
Most of the months in Scripture did not have names. They are only numbered except for the first one. This changes after they leave Babylon. They adopted the names of the months from the Babylonians who named the months after their gods.
(Exo 12:3 NASB) “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
(Exo 12:4 NASB) ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
Exo 12:4: Each household that is large enough is to take a lamb for themselves. If the family is not large enough, they are to share with their neighbors.
(Exo 12:5 NASB) ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
(Exo 12:6 NASB) ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
Exo 12:6: This is to be an unblemished lamb or goat. They are to bring it into their homes and accept him as a type of “family pet” on the tenth of the month. This feast is not really for individuals. It is for families to observe. And all the families in the nation are to observe it. This plague involves the death of either the firstborn of each family or the death of the substitutionary lamb.
(Exo 12:7 NASB) ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
Exo 12:7: It is the blood on the doorpost that will actually save the family from losing their firstborn. The only reason the people put the blood on the doorpost was out of faithfulness. They believed the words of Elohim and they acted upon them.
They had faith(fulness), but their faith(fulness) without works would mean death. If we truly have faithfulness, it is submissive, humble, and obedient to the Torah.
(Exo 12:8 NASB) ‘And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exo 12:8: Roasting the lamb was the only way of cooking the lamb without breaking any of it’s bones. Also, everyone in the family all needed to realize that they were eating from the same lamb
(Exo 12:9 NASB) ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.
(Exo 12:10 NASB) ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.
Exo 12:10: The lamb is to be roasted whole. It is not to have any bones broken. The entrails are to be roasted also. The lamb is to be whole. Nothing is to be left until morning. If there are any leftovers, they are to be burned in the fire. The entire lamb is to be consumed.
(Exo 12:11 NASB) ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste– it is the LORD’S Passover.
Exo 12:11: We cannot fully honor Yahweh’s Passover in this day because we do not have a place to sacrifice the lamb. That must be done in the place designated by Yahweh (Deut. 16:1-2).
The name of this celebration is “Yahweh’s Passover.” It is this phrase that Paul uses to describe Passover also (1 Cor. 11:20-21). The Greek word for “supper” is “deipnon.” This same word is translated “feast” several times in the Brit Hadasha (Matt. 23:5-6, Luke 20:46). It is also translated “supper” at the time of the Passover meal (John 13:1-2).
(Exo 12:12 NASB) ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments– I am the LORD.
Exo 12:12: We have mentioned that one of the main objectives of the plagues is to strike down the gods of Egypt as well as to make His name known throughout the land.
(Exo 12:13 NASB) ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:13: “The blood shall be a sign for you…” Yeshua used this phrase to in a similar way in reference to His own blood (Luke 22:20).
(Exo 12:14 NASB) ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
Exo 12:14: This Feast is to be celebrated forever as a memorial. It is to be celebrated as a permanent ordinance. It is called as a “memorial,” which is the Hebrew word “zikrone’” which means “memory” or “remembrance.” H2146. zikkaron, [272a]; from H2142; memorial, remembrance:– memorable sayings(1), memorial(12), records(1), remembrance(4), reminder(5), sign(1).
Yeshua said this same thing about Passover. He said it is a memorial to, or remembrance of, Him (1 Cor. 11:23-25).
Yeshua said to do this as often as you do it as a memorial to Him. It sounds like He is agreeing that it is a “permanent ordinance.”
(Exo 12:15 NASB) ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:15: The unleavened bread symbolizes the sinless life of Yeshua. Paul reminds us that we are to celebrate Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
(Exo 12:16 NASB) ‘And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
(Exo 12:17 NASB) ‘You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.
Exo 12:17: The Feast of Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread is all considered one Feast. It is a Feast of thanksgiving for deliverance and Feast of remembrance of the price that was paid for that deliverance. Yeshua advanced the meaning of the Passover to be a remembrance of His sacrifice and Him being the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
(Exo 12:18 NASB) ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
(Exo 12:19 NASB) ‘Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
(Exo 12:20 NASB) ‘You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
Exo 12:20: The emphasis is on the removal of the leaven in our dwellings. This points to the necessity of removing sin in our lives during this time. Once again, this is what Paul was speaking of in 1 Cor. 5:7-8.
(Exo 12:21 NASB) Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb.
(Exo 12:22 NASB) “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
(Exo 12:23 NASB) “For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.
Exo 12:23: Once again, the people had faith(fulness). But their faith(fulness) without obedience was worthless. It was their obedience that was necessary for their deliverance.
(Exo 12:24 NASB) “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.
(Exo 12:25 NASB) “And it will come about when you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, that you shall observe this rite.
Exo 12:25: This is to be an ordinance forever (Compare Ex. 12:24 & Ex. 12:14).
(Exo 12:26 NASB) “And it will come about when your children will say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’
(Exo 12:27 NASB) that you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.
(Exo 12:28 NASB) Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Exo 12:28: We are to use the Passover as a lesson to our children as an illustration of what Elohim did for us. When we celebrate it and point out how the sacrifice of Yeshua made this Feast “full,” then we understand the rich meaning of the Appointed Times.
(Exo 12:29 NASB) Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle.
(Exo 12:30 NASB) And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.
Exo 12:30: While some unlearned folk may claim this is unfair that the firstborn were killed. The fact is, all of Egypt was going to be consumed by drought years earlier. But one Israelite man saved the entire people. And Egypt enslaved those people to whom they owe their lives.
This was surely a strange night in Egypt. It has been said that there are no people more remarkable and frantic in their mournings than the ancient Egyptians. When a relative died, every one left the house, and the women, with their hair loose, and their bosoms bare, ran wild about the street. The men also, with their apparel equally disordered, kept them company; all shrieking, howling, and beating themselves. What a scene of horror and distress must now have presented itself, when there was not a family in Egypt where there was not one dead!
(Exo 12:31 NASB) Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said.
(Exo 12:32 NASB) “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
(Exo 12:33 NASB) And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We shall all be dead.”
Exo 12:33: Pharaoh finally understands that Elohim is in control and is over all.
(Exo 12:34 NASB) So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.
(Exo 12:35 NASB) Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing;
(Exo 12:36 NASB) and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Exo 12:36: Israel plundered the Egyptians of practically all they had (Prov. 16:7).
(Exo 12:37 NASB) Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.
(Exo 12:38 NASB) And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.
(Exo 12:39 NASB) And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
Exo 12:39: There were about 600,000 men of Israel that left, plus women and children. There was also a mixed multitude. The people that left that day were not a single bloodline.
(Exo 12:40 NASB) Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
(Exo 12:41 NASB) And it came about at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
(Exo 12:42 NASB) It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
Exo 12:42: They were in Egypt exactly 430 years to the day. Most scholars deny this fact as exemplified by this note from the Believer’s Study Bible:(vv. 40,41) God is always on schedule. He brought the people out of Egypt exactly on the day appointed. The LXX includes the patriarchal period in the “four hundred and thirty years,” making the stay in Egypt only 215 years. This was probably a scribal alteration to harmonize with a misinterpretation of Gen. 15:13. Since 1 Kin. 6:1 (literally interpreted) clearly dates the Exodus to c. 1445 B.C., a 215-year sojourn would put Joseph in Egypt during the Hyksos period, which does not match the Egyptian context of Genesis. In Gal. 3:17, Paul’s reference to 430 years probably refers to the period between the era of the patriarchal promises (i.e., Jacob’s move to Egypt c. 1875 B.C.) and the giving of the Law at Sinai (c. 1445 B.C.).
Also this note in that same Bible:
Solomon Builds the Temple
(1 Ki 6:1 NKJV) And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
1 Ki 6:1: This is a key verse in establishing the chronological framework of biblical events from the time of Abraham to David. This verse dates the Exodus from Egypt 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. If Solomon’s 40-year reign ended in 931 (or 930) B.C., the Exodus must have occurred c. 1445 B.C. Also, this places the beginning of the construction of the temple in the spring of 966 B.C.
(Exo 12:43 NASB) And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it;
(Exo 12:44 NASB) but every man’s slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it.
(Exo 12:45 NASB) “A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it.
(Exo 12:46 NASB) “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.
(Exo 12:47 NASB) “All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this.
Exo 12:47: All of the circumcised congregation of Israel is to celebrate Passover. The Hebrew word “Edah” for “conregation” is the same as the Greek word “Ekklaysia” that is mistranslated as “church.” (1 Cor. 11:22-25)
(Exo 12:48 NASB) “But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.
(Exo 12:49 NASB) “The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.”
Exo 12:49: Elohim’s Torah applies the same to the native Israelite and the stranger.
(Exo 12:50 NASB) Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
(Exo 12:51 NASB) And it came about on that same day that the LORD brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas