Exodus 12:21-23 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.’”
God is about to deliver the final plague0the death of the first-born of families, both human and animal. But God wants to protect His people, so He orders them to use the blood of the sacrificial Passover lambs to paint their doorposts and lentils. When the Angel of Death sees that blood, he will pass over the house. And God keeps that promise!
Exodus 12: 29 At midnight God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also, the firstborn of the animals. 30 Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt—what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn’t a house in which someone wasn’t dead. 31-32 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, “Get out of here and be done with you—you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms. And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you’ve insisted, but go. And bless me.”
33 The Egyptians couldn’t wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, “We’re all as good as dead.”
The people of Egypt are already fed up with the Israelites; now Pharaoh is also terrified. Pharaoh orders the Israelites to get out immediately, leaving them only time to grab everything. Prior to the Passover, the Israelites have already asked their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver, and clothing. Now the Israelites are heading out of Egypt as rapidly as possible.
34-36 The people grabbed their bread dough before it had risen, bundled their bread bowls in their cloaks, and threw them over their shoulders. The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them; they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold things and clothing. God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean.
37-39 The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. Hebrews and non-Hebrews alike set out, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock. They baked unraised cakes with the bread dough they had brought out of Egypt; it hadn’t raised—they’d been rushed out of Egypt and hadn’t time to fix food for the journey.
This unraised bread is the first matzoth bread, the flat bread that continues to be eaten wherever Jews celebrate Passover throughout the world. Although the Israeli housewives originally bake unraised dough out of necessity, God has already ordered the Israelites to avoid eating any yeast products during Passover week.
The Passover
40-42 The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, God’s entire army left Egypt. God kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because God kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor God by keeping watch this night—a watchnight.
Not only does God deliver the Israelites right on time, but He also ensures that all of them are safe. The Bible states that there are 600,000 Israelite men, plus women and children, plus non-Israelites who have learned to fear the God of the Israelites. Estimates indicate that there might be as many as two million four hundred thousand people who leave Egypt.
Has God delivered the Israelites because they are so virtuous and faithful in worshiping Him? Are you kidding! When Moses and Aaron come to Egypt, many of the Israelites want nothing to do with them. But those first nine plagues aren’t simply to change Pharoah’s heart or the hearts of the Egyptians. Those nine plagues also remind the Israelites of the power of the When God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites have spent 430 years in Egypt, and many of them are worshiping Egyptian deities rather than the One True Living God. When the Angel of Death passes over the Israelite families with lamb’s blood on their doorposts, many of those Israelites also become convinced!
In the end, it’s not virtue or faith that protects the Israelites; it’s that sacrificial blood. In the fullness of time, God will send Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. As we approach Christmas, let’s remember that it’s not about presents or carols or Christmas trees, or celebrations. It’s about the Lamb of God.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, thank You for sending Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice so that we will not have to pay the penalty for our sins. We confess that we are sinners and that only the Blood of Jesus is sufficient to pay for our sins. We accept that sacrifice and promise to follow Jesus all of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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