121 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt , 2 " This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 "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 . 4 '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 . 5 'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old ; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats . 6 'You shall keep e it until the fourteenth e day of the same month , then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight . 7 ' 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. 8 'They shall eat the flesh that same night , roasted with fire , and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs . 9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water , but rather e roasted with fire , both its head and its legs along with its entrails . 10 ' And you shall not leave any of it over until morning , but whatever is left of it until morning , you shall burn with fire . 11 '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 . 12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night , and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt , both man and beast ; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments - I am the Lord . 13 ' The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where e 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 . 14 '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 . 15 ' 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 .
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.