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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:11
With your loins girded, etc. Completely prepared, i.e; to start on your journey—with the loose wrapper (beged), ordinarily worn, collected together and fastened by a girdle about the waist; with sandals on the feet, whi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:12
For I will pass through, etc. God now proceeds to give the reason for the institution of the new ceremony, and to explain the new term pesach. "I have commanded this rite," He says, "because I am about to go through the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:13
The blood shall be to you for a token, etc. The blood was not to be a token to the Israelites, but to God for them. Translate—"and the blood shall be as a token for you upon the houses that you are there." It shall dist…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:14-20
The Passover feast the type of the Christian life. I. THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE IS AN UNCEASING FESTIVAL. 1. It is unending, deepening joy. Other joys fade, this brightens. 2. It is a growing appropriation of the Lamb of God…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:14-20
Hitherto the directions given have had reference, primarily and mainly, if not wholly, to the first celebration of the Passover on the night preceding the Exodus. Now, it is announced, (a) the eating of unleavened bread…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:14
This day shall be to you for a memorial. Annual festivals, in commemoration of events believed to have happened, were common in the religion of Egypt, and probably not wholly strange to the religious ideas of the Hebrew…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:14
The Passover continued in the Eucharist. It was expressly declared that the Passover was instituted to be observed as a feast "by an ordinance for ever." Jews are justified in remaining Jews, if they cannot otherwise co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:15
Seven days. There is no indication that the week of seven days was admitted by the ancient Egyptians, or even known to them. Apparently, the nation which first adopted it was that of the Babylonians. Abraham may have br…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:16
On the first day there shall be an holy convocation. After the Paschal meal on the evening of the 14th of Abib, there was to be a solemn assembly of the people on the next day for religions worship. The name "convocatio…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:17
In this self-same day. The 15th of Abib—the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. Have I brought your hosts out. This expression seems to prove that we have in the injunctions of Exodus 12:14-20, not the exact wor…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:18
In the first month. The word "month" seems to have accidentally dropt out of the Hebrew text. In the evening. The Hebrew day commenced with the evening (Genesis 1:5); but the evening here intended is that at the close o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:19
This is not a mere "vain repetition" of Exodus 12:15. It adds an important extension of the punitive clause—"that soul shall be cut off from Israel"—from Israelites proper to proselytes. We are thus reminded, at the ver…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:20
Here again there is no repetition, but an extension. "Ye shall eat nothing leavened," not only no leavened bread (Exodus 12:15), but no leavened cake of any kind. And "in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
EXPOSITION THE FIRST PASSOVER. Having received the Divine directions as to the new rite, if not with all the fulness ultimately given them, yet with sufficient fulness for the immediate purpose, Moses proceeded to commu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:21
Draw out—i.e; "Withdraw from the flock." (See Exodus 12:3.) A lamb. The word used is generic, and would not exclude the offering of a goat.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:21-29
Christ our Passover. The Passover was an eminent type of Christ. It was probably to it the Baptist referred when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John L 29). Paul gives a decisi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
Israel and the sacrifice for sin. I. CHRIST SLAIN BY US. The lamb's blood was not only shed for them, but also by them. The crucifying of Jesus by the Jews, the revelation of what lies in every unrenewed heart. "They sh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:22
No safety for man beyond the limits protected by the Lamb's atoning blood. No Israelite was to pass beyond the door of his house until the morning, lest he should be destroyed by the destroyer. Within the precincts, pro…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:22
A bunch of hyssop. The hyssop was regarded as having purging or purifying qualities, and was used in the cleansing of the leper (Le Exodus 14:4), and of the leprous house (ibid. 51-52), and also formed an element in the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:23
Compare Exodus 12:12, Exodus 12:13 which are closely followed. The only important difference is, the new expression, "The Lord will not suffer the destroyer to come in," which has generally been regarded as implying, th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:24
To thee and to thy children. The change from the plural to the singular is curious, Perhaps, we are to understand that Moses insisted on the perpetuity of the ordinance to each of the elders severally.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:25
The land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised. See above, Exodus 3:8-17; Exodus 6:4; and compare Genesis 17:8; Genesis 28:4, etc.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:26
When your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this service. Apparently, Moses adds these injunctions by his own sole authority. He assumes that curiosity will be aroused by the strange and peculiar features of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:26-27
The children's question in Canaan. I. IT WAS A QUESTION TO BE EXPECTED. The service was one to provoke curiosity. It was not some daily action of the household, of which the children learned the meaning and purpose almo…