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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:8
All these thy servants—i.e; all these courtiers here present. Shall come. Literally, "shall descend." Kalisch observes that by the Hebrew idiom "going from a nobler place to one of less distinction is called descending"…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:8
Righteous anger. It seems to be supposed by some that the true Christian ought never to be angry. St. Paul certainly says in one place, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour be put away from you" (Ephes…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:9-10
EXPOSITION Before proceeding to relate the last and greatest of the plagues, the author allows himself a momentary pause while he casts his eye back on the whole series of miracles hitherto wrought in Egypt, on the circ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:9
And the Lord said. Rather, "had said." God had forewarned Moses that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3), and that, in spite of all the miracles which he was empowered to perform before him, he w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:10
Moses and Aaron did all these plagues before Pharaoh. Aaron's agency is not always mentioned, and seems to have been less marked in the later than in the earlier miracles, Moses gradually gaining self-reliance. In passi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:1-29
The Passover. God's last and overwhelming blow was about to be struck at Egypt. In anticipation of that blow, and in immediate connection with the exodus, God gave directions for the observance of a Passover. I. THE PAS…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:1-2
The advantages of an ecclesiastical calendar. With their new position as an independent nation, and their new privileges as God's redeemed people (Exodus 6:6), the Israelites received the gift of a new ecclesiastical ca…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:1-20
FIRST INSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER. EXPOSITION THE INSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER AND THE REASONS FOR IT.—In the interval allowed by God, according to the precedent of former announced plagues, between the warning concernin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:1
The Lord spake.—According to the Biblical record, neither Moses nor Aaron introduced any legislation of their own, either at this time or later. The whole system, religious, political, and ecclesiastical, was received b…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:1-28
The institution of the Passover. Moses has now done with requesting and threatening Pharaoh. He leaves Pharaoh to the terrible smiting hand of Jehovah, and turns, when it is quite time to turn, to his own people. He who…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:2
The beginning of months. The exodus from Egypt was the birthday of the nation of Israel. In commemoration of this great event, the day from which the (religious) year began was changed. The month Abib was thenceforth to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. The Israelite year would seem to have hitherto commenced with the autumnal equinox (Exodus 23:16), or at any rate with the month Tisri (or Ethanim), which correspond…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:3-11
If one died for all then all died. Pharaoh's heart still hardened. The crowning judgment needs no intermediary; Jehovah will reveal His own right arm. Exodus 11:4. "Who shall live when God doeth this?" He who obeying Hi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:3
Speak ye unto all the congregation. Under the existing circumstances Moses could only venture to summon the elders of Israel to a meeting. He necessarily left it to them to signify his wishes to the people. (See Exodus…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:3-20
The Passover Proper. The Passover may be viewed:— I. AS A COMMEMORATIVE RITE. Instituted with reference to the tenth plague, and as a means by which the first-born of the Israelites might be saved from destruction, but…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:3-6
The Passover lamb a prophetic picture of Christ and his salvation. I. FOR WHOM THE SACRIFICE AVAILS. 1. The families of Israel, the household of faith. There is no other bulwark against the visitation of the angel of de…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:4
If the household be too little for the lamb—i.e; "too few to consume it at a sitting." Usage in course of time fixed the minimum number at ten. (Joseph. Bell. Jud. 6.9, § 3.) The whole family, men, women and children pa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:5
Your lamb shall be without blemish. Natural piety would teach that "the blind, the lame, and the sick" should not be selected for sacrifice (Malachi 1:8). The Law afterwards expressly forbade any blemished animals—"blin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:6
Ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day. The interval of four days (see Exodus 12:3) was probably intended to give ample time for the thorough inspection of the lamb, and for obtaining another, if any defect was di…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:7-13
Christ his people's salvation and strength. I. THE MEANS OF SAFETY, Exodus 12:7-13). 1. They took the blood and struck it on the door posts and the lintel. We must appropriate Christ's atonement. We must say by faith, "…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:7
They shall take of the blood. The blood, which, according to Hebrew ideas, "is the life," and so the very essence of the sacrifice, was always regarded as the special symbol of that expiation and atonement, with a view…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:8
Roast with firs. The meat of sacrificial meals was commonly boiled by the Hebrews (1 Samuel 2:14, 1 Samuel 2:15). The command to roast the Paschal lamb is accounted for: 1. By its being a simpler and quicker process tha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:9
Eat not of it raw. The injunction appears to moderns superfluous; but an ὠμοφαγία, or eating of the raw flesh of victims sacrificed, seems to have been practised by several heathen nations in ancient times, more espec…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:10
Ye shall let nothing of it remain till the morning. The whole of the flesh was to be consumed by the guests, and at one sitting, lest there should be any even accidental profanation of the food by man or animal, if part…