121 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak unto all the assembly of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month let them take themselves each a lamb, for a father's house, a lamb for a house. 4 And if the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; each according to [the measure] of his eating shall ye count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; ye shall take [it] from the sheep, or from the goats. 6 And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it between the two evenings. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and put [it] on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter [herbs] shall they eat it. 9 Ye shall eat none of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with its in-wards. 10 And ye shall let none of it remain until the morning; and what remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall ye eat it: your loins shall be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is Jehovah's passover. 12 And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah. 13 And the blood shall be for you as a sign on the houses in which ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be among you for destruction, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall celebrate it [as] a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations [as] an ordinance for ever shall ye celebrate it. 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread: on the very first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day—that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 12:1-15
Commentary on Exodus 12:1-20
(Read Exodus 12:1-20)
The Lord makes all things new to those whom he delivers from the bondage of Satan, and takes to himself to be his people. The time when he does this is to them the beginning of a new life. God appointed that, on the night wherein they were to go out of Egypt, each family should kill a lamb, or that two or three families, if small, should kill one lamb. This lamb was to be eaten in the manner here directed, and the blood to be sprinkled on the door-posts, to mark the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians. The angel of the Lord, when destroying the first-born of the Egyptians, would pass over the houses marked by the blood of the lamb: hence the name of this holy feast or ordinance. The passover was to be kept every year, both as a remembrance of Israel's preservation and deliverance out of Egypt, and as a remarkable type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not a reward of their own righteousness, but the gift of mercy. Of this they were reminded, and by this ordinance they were taught, that all blessings came to them through the shedding and sprinkling of blood. Observe, 1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7,8. Having received Christ Jesus the Lord, we must continually delight ourselves in Christ Jesus. No manner of work must be done, that is, no care admitted and indulged, which does not agree with, or would lessen this holy joy. The Jews were very strict as to the passover, so that no leaven should be found in their houses. It must be a feast kept in charity, without the leaven of malice; and in sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy. It was by an ordinance for ever; so long as we live we must continue feeding upon Christ, rejoicing in him always, with thankful mention of the great things he has done for us.