11 'And thus ye do eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye have eaten it in haste; it is Jehovah's passover, 12 and I have passed over through the land of Egypt during this night, and have smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even unto beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I do judgments; I 'am' Jehovah. 13 'And the blood hath become a sign for you on the houses where ye 'are', and I have seen the blood, and have passed over you, and a plague is not on you for destruction in My smiting in the land of Egypt. 14 'And this day hath become to you a memorial, and ye have kept it a feast to Jehovah to your generations;—a statute age-during; ye keep it a feast. 15 Seven days ye eat unleavened things; only—in the first day ye cause leaven to cease out of your houses; for any one eating anything fermented from the first day till the seventh day, even that person hath been cut off from Israel. 16 'And in the first day 'is' a holy convocation, and in the seventh day ye have a holy convocation; any work is not done in them, only that which is eaten by any person—it alone is done by you, 17 and ye have observed the unleavened things, for in this self-same day I have brought out your hosts from the land of Egypt, and ye have observed this day to your generations—a statute age-during. 18 'In the first 'month', in the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye do eat unleavened things until the one and twentieth day of the month, at evening; 19 seven days leaven is not found in your houses, for any 'one' eating anything fermented—that person hath been cut off from the company of Israel, among the sojourners or among the natives of the land; 20 anything fermented ye do not eat, in all your dwellings ye do eat unleavened things.'
21 And Moses calleth for all the elders of Israel, and saith unto them, 'Draw out and take for yourselves 'from' the flock, for your families, and slaughter the passover-sacrifice; 22 and ye have taken a bunch of hyssop, and have dipped 'it' in the blood which 'is' in the basin, and have struck 'it' on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, from the blood which 'is' in the basin, and ye, ye go not out each from the opening of his house till morning. 23 'And Jehovah hath passed on to smite the Egyptians, and hath seen the blood on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, and Jehovah hath passed over the opening, and doth not permit the destruction to come into your houses to smite. 24 'And ye have observed this thing, for a statute to thee, and to thy sons—unto the age;
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.