Exodus 12:12-5112For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will 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 the Lord. 13And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. 21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. 22And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 23For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 24And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 25And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? 27That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. 28And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 29And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 31And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. 32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. 34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: 36And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. 37And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. 38And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. 39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. 40Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. 43And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: 44But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. 45A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. 46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. 47All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 49One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. 50Thus did all the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 51And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. (Exodus 12:12‑51).
ALL the first born—not a family to be spared, unless the blood was on the door posts and the lintel over the door, —were to die on the chosen night. When God began, He would punish all, except the blood-protected ones, because the lamb had, as we might say, given its life, been punished instead, God would pass over those. All have sinned, and all deserved to be punished, but the Lamb of God, the sinless One, has died for all, and those who believe in Him are saved.
They were never to forget this night of judgment, and of passing over; and well might they always remember it. Before it came, for seven days, the people who believed God were to eat no leavened bread, no bread, as I explained last week, made with yeast. The first and last days of the week were set apart for meetings, there must be no work done on those days, except to provide meals for themselves. Again and again here in this chapter the people of Israel were told that there must be no leaven in their food, or even in their houses during the whole week before the stroke of judgment fell.
Now, what do you think that God meant for people to learn from these things? If we remember that that night was one of the times when God showed us, long before it happened, something about the dying of Jesus, it isn’t hard to see that putting all the leaven out of the house, meant that God would not have sin allowed by His people during the whole week, or, really, their entire lives. If we belong to Jesus, through faith in His blood, we ought not to sin, at any time.
In the twentieth verse, God finished speaking to Moses, and then in the next, we have Moses beginning to tell what he had been told. They were not to go out of their houses that night, after the blood of the lamb was put on the door posts, because they were only safe inside, protected by the blood out there in the dark. The destroying angel came through their streets about midnight, looking at the doorways of the houses. If there was blood there, on he flew to the next house. No blood on its door posts? Then in he went, and the oldest child was found dead. O, what crying there must have been in all the country! But it was too late; God had warned them again and, again and told of a way, of escape. And the families that believed God; they were perfectly safe in their homes, for was not the lamb’s blood on the door posts, and God had said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you”?
Expecting to leave Egypt forever by the coming of the morning, they were dressed for the journey, and meanwhile the lamb had been roasted, as I suppose, before the open fire, and eaten. Perhaps they didn’t feel safe, but it was not their feelings that kept the angel of death outside.
And through the length and breadth of Egypt the messenger of God flew, entering every house which had not the blood on its door posts, taking the eldest, the first born every time. You see, it was all a question of the blood of the lamb where God could see it.
Now the Egyptians were terrified, and they hurried the people away, thinking that if they kept them any longer, God would take the lives of all. They said, “We be all dead mien,” but we soon find that their scare did not last very long.
With bread only partly made, and with jewelry and clothes given to them by the Egyptians, the people of Israel started on their long journey, a big crowd indeed, and with them, too, a great mixture of other people who for one reason or another thought best to go along.
ML 01/15/1922