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 . 16 ' 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. 17 '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 . 18 ' In the first month, on the fourteenth e day of the month at evening , you shall eat unleavened bread , until the twenty-first e day of the month at evening . 19 ' 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 . 20 'You shall not eat anything leavened ; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread .' "
21 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. 22 " 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 e of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning . 23 "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. 24 "And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever e .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 12:11-24
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.
Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
(Read Exodus 12:21-28)
That night, when the first-born were to be destroyed, no Israelite must stir out of doors till called to march out of Egypt. Their safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling. If they put themselves from under the protection of that, it was at their peril. They must stay within, to wait for the salvation of the Lord; it is good to do so. In after-times they should carefully teach their children the meaning of this service. It is good for children to ask about the things of God; they that ask for the way will find it. The keeping of this solemnity every year was, 1. To look backward, that they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. Old mercies, to ourselves, or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, that God may be praised, and our faith in him encouraged. 2. It was designed to look forward, as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time. Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; his death was our life.