Exodus 12:1

THE PASSOVER. -- Exodus 12:1-14.

GOLDEN TEXT. -- Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. -- 1 Corinthians 5:7. TIME. --B. C. 1491, when Moses was eighty years old. The month of Abib, or Nisan; either in March or April. PLACE. --Egypt, probably near Zoan or Tanis. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Exodus 4:1-17; Exodus 5:1-20; Exodus 6:1-13; Exodus 7:1-25. CONNECTING LINKS. --Signs Given to Moses, (Exodus 4:17); Return of Moses to Egypt, (Exodus 4:18-26); Bondage Made Heavier, (Exodus 6:1-13); The Ten Plagues upon Egypt--1. Blood, (Exodus 7:20-25); 2. Frogs, (Exodus 8:5-15); 3. Lice, (Exodus 8:16-19); 4. Flies, (Exodus 8:20-24); 5. Murrain, (Exodus 9:5-7); 6. Boils and Blains, (Exodus 9:8-12); 7. Fire and Hail, (Exodus 9:22-25); 8. Locusts, (Exodus 10:12-15); 9. Fearful Darkness, (Exodus 10:21-23); 10. Death of the First-born, (Exodus 11:4-7; Exodus 12:29-30). LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. The Paschal Lamb Chosen; 2. The Paschal Lamb Slain; 3. The Paschal Blood. Passover.

INTRODUCTION.

The long travail was now ended, and the birth-hour of Israel has come. Everything in the style of the narrative indicates that momentous events impend. The institution of the Passover, which was the national birthday festival, is minutely related. Everything here shows the supreme importance of this Passover institution. It is interwoven into the very substance of the history, and, including the further repetition of the next chapter, is described, ordained, and enforced in four different forms, each bringing out special and important features, yet all involving the essentials of the ordinance. This, the great memorial feast of the old covenant, foreshadowing the one memorial feast of the new, typifies to the Christian consciousness the whole history of redemption, the sacrifice of the Lamb without blemish, "slain from the foundation of the world," and the Exodus of. redeemed race from the bondage of sin. The Passover, which is the oldest of the Jewish festivals, has outlasted all the rest; and this alone has passed from the old to the new covenant, and, as the supper of the Lord, commemorates now how "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."-- F. R. Newhall.

1. THE PASCHAL LAMB CHOSEN.

1. The Lord spake in the land of Egypt.

The statements that these instructions were given in the land of Egypt, and that they were given to Moses and Aaron are important, the one marks the peculiar dignity of this ordinance which was established before the sinaitic code, the other marks the distinction between Moses and Aaron and all other prophets. They alone, as Aben Ezra observes, were prophets of the law, that is, no law was promulgated by any other prophets.-- Canon Cook. This note of place would have been unnecessary if the writer had not passed from Egypt into the wilderness since the preceding chapter was indited. It is, therefore, an intimation that this portion of the narrative was not committed to writing till after the Exodus had taken place. It thus affords an incidental presumption that the narrative was composed by an eye witness.-- Murphy. It was. feast in Egypt, and not of Egypt. It did not consist of Egyptian viands. It spoke of deliverance from Egypt, yet it was first to be observed in Egypt. It told of Egypt and it told of Canaan. So with the Lord's Supper. It is in the world, yet not of the world. It is given here, observed here, yet it points away from this; it reminds us of our heavenly inheritance.-- H. Bonar.