Exodus 12: 12 1-10 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.”
These verses are among the most thrilling in the Old Testament. God has sent Moses and Aaron to argue with Pharoah to allow the Israelites to go. But after nine plagues of escalating severity, Pharoah has remained obdurate. And now God is preparing to extract the Israelites from Egypt with the most horrific plague of all-the death of all first-born people in animals in Egypt who are not under the protection of a blood sacrifice. The Angel of Death will know which homes are under God’s protection by the sacrificial blood smeared on the doorposts and the lintel. But God has further instructions:
11 “And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.
12-13 “I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
But not only is God going to protect the Jews, but He is instituting a festival for His people to celebrate forever.
14-16 “This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always. You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses—anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.”
What’s the importance of leaven? Why is God forbidding anything that has leaven? Leaven symbolizes Egypt, for it is used to brew beer. God wants His people to get rid of ANYTHING that might remind them of Egypt and to continue to eat unraised bread for seven days so that they will definitely remember. And the festival is to last for a week with worship services on the first and seventh days so that people will respect the celebration as a major festival. Not only that, but anyone who breaks the terms of Passover is to be cut off from Israel, to be an outcast. Few things are more horrible than losing one’s national identity.
17-20 “Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always. In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread. For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel. Don’t eat anything raised. Only matzoth.”
1-23 Moses assembled all the elders of Israel. He said, “Select a lamb for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the bowl of blood and smear it on the lintel and on the two doorposts. No one is to leave the house until morning. God will pass through to strike Egypt down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, God will pass over the doorway; he won’t let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin.
24-27 “Keep this word. It’s the law for you and your children, forever. When you enter the land which God will give you as he promised, keep doing this. And when your children say to you, ‘Why are we doing this?’ tell them: ‘It’s the Passover-sacrifice to God who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when he hit Egypt with death but rescued us.’”
The people bowed and worshiped.
28 The Israelites then went and did what God had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did it all.
Yeast has spiritual connotations. Centuries later, Saint Paul is writing to the Corinthians, castigating them for tolerating a grossly immoral situation within their church. Referring to God’s commands regarding Passover, Paul says, “Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it’s anything but that. Yeast, too, is a “small thing,” but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this “yeast.” Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)
God is about to deliver His people, but He wants to do it on His terms and not on theirs. The Israelites have no idea of what is about to happen; all they know for now is that they need to follow God’s instructions completely and to make sure they and their families are protected by the blood of the sacrificial lamb.
Later, Jesus will become the Lamb of God, giving His blood for the sins of the world. For those who believe in that ultimate sacrifice, God promises eternal life and joy with Him in heaven forever. Let’s pray.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and nothing we do is good enough to make up for that sin or to earn our way into heaven. Lord, please forgive us our sins. We accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We thank You for the promises of eternal life. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment