12 For I h will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land h ch. 11. 4, 5. Amos 5. 17. of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: k I am the LORD. 1 Numb. 33. 4. k ch. 6. 2. general one of powers, principalities, dignities, whatever in fine constituted the grand objects of their dependence, whether divine or human. Arab. ‘All the objects of adoration.' These should all, by the stupendous judgments of this night, be turned to confusion together, and their votaries covered with indelible shame. What could be a more sig than the complete exposure of their impotence to aid their worshippers in a time of need? We have elsewhere but a single allusion to this incident of the divine visitation, and that is not of a the Israelites had adopted this and other customs of the Egyptians, we may understand that (except by the priests) sandals were only used during journeys, which would render their eating the passover with sandalled feet, a still stronger mark of preparation than even the previous alternative.' Pict. Bible. It does not appear that the directions given in this verse were held to be bind-nal infliction upon the gods of Egypt ing in the subsequent observance of the paschal rite. It is clear, at least, that our Savior and his Apostles celebrated the Passover in a sitting or recumbent posture, denoting ease and security, the contrary of the urgent haste of the Is-nature to afford us any help to a more raelites on this occasion.- —¶ It is the minute explanation. Num. 33. 4, 'For Lord's passover. Heb. П pesah, leap, the Egyptians buried all their first-born, or transition. So called from the figu- which the Lord had smitten among rative destroying angel's passing over them; upon their gods also the Lord the blood-marked houses of the Israel- executed judgments.' There is a traites. The legitimate signification of dition among the Jewish doctors, which the original is to leap or skip over. A may be well founded, that the idols or phraseology constructed with reference the Egyptians were on that night deto this incident occurs Amos, 7. 8, 'I molished. Thus Pirke Eliezer, ch. 48, will not pass by them any more ;' i. e. 'When Israel came out of Egypt, what I will not grant them exemption any did the holy blessed God do? He threw more; intimating how often he had down all the images of their abomipassed by them, as now, while his nations, and they were broken in pieces. judgments were abroad. Gr. Tuo xa. Targ. Jon. 'Their molten images were 12. I will pass through the land of dissolved and melted down, their images Egypt. That is, in the infliction of my of stone were dashed in pieces, their wrath. Chal, 'I will reveal myself in images made of earth were crumbled the land of Egypt.' Arab. 'I will make into bits, and their wooden ones reduced manifest my Angel.' Thus Amos, 5. 17, to ashes.' Artapanus in Prep. Evang. 'And in all vineyards shall be wailing; of Eusebius, 1. 9. c. 27, goes so far as to for I will pass through thee, saith the affirm, that most of the Egyptian tem Lord;' i. e. in desolating judgment.- ples were overthrown on this occasion ¶ Against all the gods of Egypt I will and from the allusion in Isaiah, ch. 19. execute judgment. Heb. 3 31, to the idols of Egypt being moved at bekol Elohim, by which may be meant not only the objects of their idolatrous worship, but also the princes or grandees of the nation. Probably the most appropriate sense of the term is the the Lord's presence, the idea is perhaps not ill founded. It would be a singular fact should the truth prove to be that the traces of violent wrenchings and disruptions, now so evident in the 13 And 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. 14 And this day shall be unto you massy ruins of the temples of Upper and Lower Egypt, should have happened at the very time of which we are now speaking. 13. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Heb. pasahti; the original word from which 'pesah, passover is derived, and a different one from that rendered 'pass through,' in the preceding verse. Gr. σvεаco vμas, I will protect you. Chal. I will commiserate, or spare you.'- - To destroy you. Heb. lemashith, for a corruption or destruction.. ¶ Ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord. Heb. Dan haggothem otho hag, ye shall festivally keep it a feast. ¶ By an ordinance for ever. Heb. hukkath olam, a statute of eternity; one to be observed as long as the legal economy should subsist. for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a m feast to the LORD throughout your generations: ye shall keep it a feast n by an ordinance for ever. 1 ch. 13. 9. m Lev. 23. 4, 5. 2 Kings 23. 21. a ver. 24. 43. & ch. 13 10. junction is even now attended to by modern Jews with the most scrupulous precision. The master of the family searches every corner of the house with a candle, lest any crumb of leavened bread should remain, and whatever is found is committed to the fire; and after all, apprehending that some may still remain, he prays to God that, if any leaven be still in the house, it may become like the dust of the ground. Extraordinary precautions are also used in preparing the unleavened bread, lest there should be any thing like leaven mixed with it, or any kind of fermentation take place in it. See Jennings' 'Jewish Antiquities.' Two distinct words are employed to signify 'leaven' in this verse, the former of which 787 seor, properly imports leaving or remainder, and is rendered by Ainsworth, the most exact of all translators, 'old leaven,' to which Paul alludes, 1 Cor. 5. 7, 'Purge out therefore the old leaven,' &c. The other hometz, is so 15. Seven days shall ye eat, &c. That is, seven days commencing on the day after the killing of the passover, or the fifteenth day of the month. The feast of unleavened bread was in fact a distinct called from a word signifying sourness. ordinance from the passover, though The terms, perhaps, have allusion to a following immediately upon it. This two-fold species of spiritual leaven, the law respecting the feast of unleavened one hidden and secret, or hypocrisy, bread, though given before the depar Luke, 12. 1, the other open malice and ture from Egypt, seems not to have wickedness, Cor. 5. 8, or wicked persons, gone into effect till after it. Ye as David, Ps. 71. 4, calls the malicious shall put away. Heb. 1 tashbi- and unrighteous man, y hometz, a thu, ye shall cause to cease. Gr. apa- leavener, though rendered in our transVIEITE, ye shall abolish or cause to dis-lation 'cruel man.' Thus also Ps. 73. appear. "This was probably to commemorate the fact that the Israelites left Egypt in such haste, that they had no opportunity to leaven their dough (v. 39), and were consequently obliged, in the first instance, to eat unleavened cakes, (Deut. 16. 3). The present in 21, he terms the heart infected with er- 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ve shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread, from the first day until the seventh day, p that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And in the first day there shall be aan holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a 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. 17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for r in this self-same 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. o ch. 13. 6, 7. & 23. 15. & 34. 18, 25. Lev. 23. 5,6. Numb. 28. 17. Deut. 16. 3, 8. 1 Cor. 5.7. P Gen. 17. 14. Numb. 9. 13. 4 Lev. 23. 7,8. Numb. 28. 18, 25. r ch. 13. 3. S 18 In 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. 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, u even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened: in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. 21 Then 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. s Lev. 23. 5. Numb. 28. 16. t Exod. 23. 15. & 34. 18. Deut. 16. 3. 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. u Numb. 9. 13. x ver. 3. Numb. 9. 4. Josh. 5. 10. 2 Kings 23. 21. Ezra 6. 20. Matt. 26. 18, 19. Mark 14. 12,-16. Luke 22. 7, &c. or by the direct hand of God himself. the strength or bone of this day. See See Note on Gen. 17. 14. 16. An holy convocation. Heb. mikra kodesh, a convocation of holiness. By the prohibition of secular work, it appears that these days were to be regarded as proper sabbaths, with the exception that on these days meat might be dressed, which was unlawful on the Sabbath, Ex. 16. 23, 24. The original for 'convocation' comes from a verb kara, signifying to call, to make proclamation, and implies the summoning the people together by the sound of the trumpet, as is intimated Num. 10. 2, 'Make thee two trumpets of silver-that thou mayest use them for the calling of the people;' the same word as that here rendered convocation. Save that which every man must eat. Heb. kol nephesh, every soul; i. e. every person. See Note on Gen. 14. 21. 17. In this self same day. Heb. D be etzem ha-yom hazzeh, in Note on Gen. 7. 13.¶ Have I brought, &c. As the deliverance of the Israelites had not yet been actually accomplished, this phraseology is doubtless adopted on the ground of the certainty of the event in the view of the divine mind, and as the matter of his promise. 18. Ye shall eat. Ye shall begin to eat. 19. Whether he be a stranger or born in the land. As 'strangers,' strictly so called, or foreigners, were not permitted to partake of the Passover unless previously converted and circumcised, v. 43, 44, the word must here be understood of gentile proselytes in contradistinction from native-born Israelites. 21. Draw out and take you a lamb. Heb. 2 mishku. Draw out from the folds. Of this word, which is frequently employed in the sense of draft ing or making a levy, see a full explanation in the Note on Judg. 1. 6.¶ Kill the passover. That is, the lamb 22 y And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and z 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. 23 a For 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 b will not suffer the destroyer to y Hebr. 11. 28. z ver. 7. a ver. 12. 13. b Ezek. 9.6. Rev. 7. 3. & 9. 4. c 2 Sam. 24. 16. 1 Cor. 10. 10. Hebr. 11. 28. of the Passover; the animal slain being called, by a figure of speech, by the name of the institution of which it constituted a leading feature. In accordance with this, we often meet with the phrase 'to eat the Passover,' 'to prepare the Passover,' &c.; and in like manner the word covenant' is used for the sacrifice offered in making the covenant; the 'rock' that followed the Israelites 'was Christ; and the 'bread and wine' of the sacrament are the body and blood' of Christ. 22. Ye shall take a branch of hyssop. A plant growing about a foot and a half high, having bushy stalks, terminated by spikes of flowers, and leaves of an aromatic smell, and warm, pungent taste. It grows in great plenty on the mountains near Jerusalem. From its growing in bunches, and putting out many suckers from a single root, it was well adapted to the purpose here mentioned, as also for purifications of different kinds.¶ None of you shall go *out. This injunction seems also peculiar to this first Passover, as the reason for it did not exist afterwards. In allusion to this language the prophet says, Isa. 26. 20, 'Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. Those who ex come in unto your houses to smite you. 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, daccording as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26 e And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? d ch. 3. 8, 17. e ch. 13. 8, 14. Deut. 32. 7. Josh. 4. 6. Ps. 78. 6. pect God's salvation must abide by the terms on which he has declared it his purpose to grant it. 23. When he seeth the blood, &c. No destroyer can smite unless God first grant him a commission. And the Most High always recognises his own mark upon those who bear it, and while they are 'passed over' and spared in the visi tation of his wrath, all others must expect to fall under the stroke of his breath.•—¶ Will not suffer the destroyer to come in, &c. By this is generally understood a destroying angel. But as the term 'angel' is often employed figuratively as a personification of divine judgments, we have no question that this is the preferable sense here. But as the subject has already been fully discussed in another place (Note on Ex. 3. 2.), it will be unnecessary to recite the arguments again in connexion with this passage. 25. Ye shall keep this service. That is, with the exception of those circumstances of the ordinance which in their own nature were confined to the first instance of its celebration. 26. When your children say unto you, What mean ye by this service? Heb 3 2 mah ha-abodah hazzoth lakem, what this service to you? i. e. what does it signify? The annual observance of this ceremony was well 27 That ye shall say, fIt 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 g bowed the head and worshipped. 28 And the children of Israel went away, and h did as the LORD had f ver. 11. & ch. 4. 31. h Hebr. 11. 28. calculated to secure the perpetual remembrance of the events which it celebrated. The various rites and usages connected with it were so peculiar, they made such an inroad upon the ordinary routine of domestic life, that the curiosity of children would be naturally arrested, and they would be led to inquire into the reasons of such strange proceedings. This would afford to parents the opportunity to acquaint their off spring with the origin and import of the solemn service, and to impart to them all those related instructions which were so important to be received into their opening minds. The inquisitive. ness of children when it flows in this channel, prompting them to learn the reasons of religious services and the meaning of the various solemn ordinances which they behold, is always to be encouraged. Indeed we see not how pious parents at this day can take their children to witness the common ordinances of the Christian Church, viz. baptism and the Lord's supper, and consider their duty discharged without explaining to them the nature of those solemn rites, and endeavoring to impress upon their minds the duties and obligations which they involve. 27. The people bowed the head and worshipped. That is, when all these informations and instructions were communicated to them by the elders; for it seems from v. 21, that Moses' address was made to the people through the elders. commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. 29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the 1 ch. 11. 4. K Numb. 8. 17. & 33. 4. Ps. 78.51. & 105. 36. & 135. 8. & 136.10. Ich. 4. 23. & 11.5. 28. And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord commanded. This was a very proper sequel to the professions implied in their bowing and worshipping. Unless followed by a prompt and candid obedience our acts of external reverence are a 'bodily exercise that profiteth little.' 29. At midnight the Lord smote all the first-born, &c. Had this judgment been executed by an angel, it would have been natural for the writer here to have said that the angel went forth at midnight and smote all the first-born of the Egyptians, both of men and cattle. But it is ascribed directly to the Most High himself, as no doubt it is to be understood. Indeed it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of such an effect wrought at one and the same time all over Egypt by the agency of a single angel. We are obliged to conceive of him in this work as passing from house to house in at least successive moments of time, and as we may suppose that there were many thousands slain, we see not how they could all have been said to perish at the hour of midnight, as they undoubtedly did. On the whole there can be no question we think that the judgment in v. 23, is personified. But how shall we adequately conceive of the complicated horrors of that fearful night? The groans of the dying, mingled with the shrieks of the living, broke in upon the stillness of the night, and from the imperial palace to the poorest hovel, lamentation and mourn |