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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:39
Unleavened cakes. Some of the modern Arabs make such cakes by simply mixing flour with water, and attaching flat circular pieces of the dough thus formed to the sides of their ovens after they have heated them. (Niebuhr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:40
The sojourning of the children of Israel, which dwelt in Egypt. Rather, "Which they sojourned in Egypt." Four hundred and thirty years. Literally "thirty years and four hundred years."
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:40-42
God's discipline of his chosen ones. I. THE TRIALS OF GOD'S PEOPLE APE SEVERE, BUT HAVE A JOYFUL END AT LAST, The sojourn in Egypt was from first to last an affliction (Genesis 15:13). It was only on account of the fami…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:40-43
The Exodus. View it in three lights. I. AS AN EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. God is the sworn foe of the slave-holder. Only in a very modified sense was slavery tolerated in Israel; and the laws were such as gradually to under…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:40-42
EXPOSITION The narrative of the departure from Egypt is followed, not unnaturally, by a notification of the length of the sojourn, which is declared to have been a space of four hundred and thirty years. In the "Introdu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:41-50
Passover precepts realised in Christian practice. The precepts were:— I. THAT NO UNCIRCUMCISED STRANGER, NOT EVEN THOUGH A HIRED SERVANT IN A HEBREW FAMILY, SHOULD EAT OF IT. Formally, baptism corresponds to circumcisio…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:41
The self-same day … all the hosts went out. The setting forth upon the journey is regarded as the "going out"—not the actual exit, which was only effected by the passage of the Red Sea.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:42
It is a night to be much observed. We must suppose that some of the Israelites actually commenced their march before the night was over, being "hastened" by the Egyptians (Exodus 12:33), and having all things in readine…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:43-51
The spirit of the Passover ordinance. The features to be specified reappear in the Lord's Supper. The ordinance was— I. EXCLUSIVE. (Exodus 12:43, Exodus 12:45, Exodus 12:48.) A stranger, an uncircumcised person, and a h…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:43-51
EXPOSITION SUPPLEMENTARY ORDINANCE WITH RESPECT TO THE PASSOVER. The position of these verses is curious. We should have expected them to have followed immediately on Exodus 12:20, or else to have been reserved for the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:43
This is the ordinance of the passover—i.e; "This is the law, in respect of the persons who are to partake of it"—there shall no stranger eat thereof, or literally, "No son of a stranger shall eat thereof." By a "strange…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:43-51
The Law of the Passover. I. WHAT GOD REQUIRES IN ITS OBSERVANCE. 1. God demands purity of communion. No stranger is to cat of it. 2. It is not to be carried out from the midst of the household of faith. The peace and fe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:44
Every man's servant that is bought for money. Or "every man's slave." The Mosaic Law found servitude existing, and left it existing, only guarding against its extreme abuses (Exodus 21:20-27). It put no check on the tra…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:45
A foreigner. Literally "a so-journer"—i.e; a foreigner who is merely passing through the land, or staying for a time, without intending to become a permanent resident. The Septuagint πάροικος well expresses the meaning…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:46
In one house shall it be eaten. Compare the directions in Exodus 12:3-10, which imply this, and see the comment on Exodus 12:10. Neither shall ye break a bone of it. Kalisch thinks that the lamb was a symbol of the unit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:47
All the congregation … shall keep it. Rather "shall sacrifice it." (Compare Exodus 12:6.) Exodus 12:48, Exodus 12:49 And when a stranger, etc. Here we have the positive ordinance corresponding to the implied permission…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:50
Thus did all the children of Israel—i.e; the Israelites, at their first passover, acted in accordance with these precepts, especially in admitting to the feast all circumcised persons, whether natives or foreigners, and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 12:51
This verse should be transferred to the commencement of the next chapter, which should run as follows:—"And it came to pass—on the self-same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:1-16
The Dedication and Redemption of the First-born. In commemoration of the great mercy whereby their first-born sons were spared, when all those of the Egyptians were slain, God required the Israelites to do two things:—…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:1-16
EXPOSITION SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN. In connection with the deliverance from death of the Israelite first-born by the blood of the lamb, and still further to fix the remembrance of the historical facts in the min…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:1
On the true grammatical nexus of this verse, see note on Exodus 12:51. The injunctions of Exodus 12:2, and probably those of 3-15—were given to Moses on the very day of the setting-forth, most likely, at Succoth in the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:2
Sanctify unto me. Not by any positive ceremony, but by regarding it as "set apart unto the Lord" (Exodus 13:12)—made over to him, that is, as his own. All the first-born. The Hebrew word used is masculine, and by its pr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:3
And Moses said. Without relating the directions given to Moses any further, the author passes to the directions given by him. He thus, here and elsewhere, avoids unnecessary repetition. Remember this day. The injunction…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 13:3-16
The rightful use of Church ordinances. Church ordinances are The benefits derivable from them depend mainly upon their rightful use. We learn from the instructions hero given to the Israelites by Moses, that their right…