The Passover, the final plague upon Egypt. Also, the Passover became the great deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt.

The section from here to the end of chapter 18 describes the exodus from Egypt.

v1-2: The new start. The month of the Passover was to be the people's first month. The Passover was to mark the putting behind of Egypt, and all that that had meant; bondage, servitude, cruelty, and idolatry. It also meant a moving forward into freedom, fellowship, covenant, and worship.

v3: "The whole community", and "each man"; there was a responsibility upon every Hebrew person. Otherwise, judgement would fall; see v30, where every Egyptian home suffered death.

v4: Each household was to have a lamb or kid, or to share one with a neighbouring household.

v5: The lamb had to be without blemish, pointing us to Christ's perfection and sinlessness.

v6: The lamb was to be kept in the home for some days, before it was to be killed. Without the sacrifice, there could have been no fresh start.

v7: The blood was to be daubed around the door.

v8-9: The meat was to be eaten with bitter herbs, and with bread without yeast.

v10: The lamb was to be totally consumed, as in the burnt offering. Christ was consumed in His love and obedience for the Father, He came to do the will of the Father (John 4.34), He was baptised at His death.

v11: The meal to be eaten in haste, hence the instructions at v8-9. This was the Lord's Passover, God's salvation of His people from the bondage of Egypt. In departing, they were to leave behind them the things of their old life, even though they might have appeared attractive. The Passover is later referred to as the feast of the Jews (John 6.4), indicating a dead ritualism that had developed by the time of Christ.

v12: The same night the Lord God would pass through the land of Egypt, killing all the first born sons. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, He shared the Passover meal with His disciples (1 Cor 11.23), for He was the first born, the One and Only of the Father, who was slain for us. 

The reference to ‘the gods of Egypt’ is significant. Pharaoh, and the pantheon of Egyptian gods, was being challenged by ‘the God of the slaves.’ The plagues were targeted challenges to those gods; water turning to blood challenged HAPI the god of the river Nile; plague of frogs challenged the frog-faced god; plagues on livestock challenged the gods of fertility; plague of darkness challenged RA, the sungod of Egypt – all proved impotent, just as the magicians of Egypt had earlier proved impotent against the miracles of Moses and Aaron.

v13: Total security in God's instructions; whenever He saw the blood on the doorposts, no death would fall. This is the obedience of faith; God had spoken, the people believed, and acted accordingly, and the matter was settled.

v14: Every year, the people were to remember the Passover. This was to teach each succeeding generation about the deliverance from Egypt (10.2; v26; 13.8). The Passover was never repeated, for there was but one salvation, which had been accomplished; the New Testament speaks similarly of our salvation in Christ, see Eph 2.1-3; 4.17-20. We note that the children of Israel very quickly forgot what they had been delivered from, see 16.3.

v15: The people had to search for any leaven (yeast) in their homes. This was a sign of self-examination and repentance, see v20; 13.3,7.

v16: There was an extra Sabbath day, for there was a "sacred assembly" on the first and the seventh days. (When Christ died, there was an extra Sabbath; see John 19.31, "a special Sabbath". This, together with the ordinary Sabbath, meant that he died on a "Thursday", was raised on the "Sunday", providing three days and nights.)

v17: The annual feasts of Unleavened Bread and Passover were laid down before the actual event. There was never any doubt that God would fulfil His word.

v18: The feast of Unleavened Bread is described separately, although later they merged, see Mark 14.1.

v19: For the seven days, the absence of leaven (yeast), and the abstinence from leavened bread, provided a re-enactment of the events of the first Passover. This was a constant reminder of the glorious deliverance from Egypt. Compare 1 Cor 11.26.

v20: Wherever they lived, the people of Israel were instructed to eat unleavened bread. This was doubtless a testimony to others that they were the people delivered by God. There is much in the law that made Jews distinct from all other peoples.

v21-27: Moses gave the instructions to the elders of Israel. Notice that the instructions were for immediate application (v21-22), and for future application (v24-27). Moses had already put in place the annual remembrance of the deliverance. Compare 2 Tim 2.2, where Paul urges Timothy to pass on the truths of Christ to faithful men able to teach others also. It is important that the truth is passed on accurately and faithfully; contrast Judg 2.10 where a generation arose which did not know the Lord.

v28: The children of Israel realised that the time of deliverance was near. They obeyed the Lord's instructions. The promises of God, delivered to them over many months, were now being fulfilled.

v29-30: As promised, at midnight, the Lord struck down the first born in Egypt. The message of life for Israel was a message of death for Egypt. Compare 2 Cor 2.16. The awful judgment upon Egypt was the hand of God.

v31-36: The Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave. They could take their families, and their livestock (see 10.9; 11.24). They ate their unleavened bread, and they were given articles of silver and gold. Pharaoh and the Egyptian people urged them to leave quickly, "For otherwise ... we will all die."

v37: The vast crowd, of 600,000 men, plus women and children, totalling over 1 million people.

v38: Many other people, of other peoples, left with the children of Israel. They had seen the devastation upon Egypt, and the exemption from the plagues that the Israelites had. It may well have been that, during the famine at the time of Joseph, other groups of people settled in Egypt. Gen 47.13-14 indicates that people came from Canaan. They had perhaps stayed, and now took the opportunity to return to their forefathers' homeland.

v39: The practical blessing of unleavened bread, as the people did not have time to wait for the bread to leaven (rise).

v40-41: The fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham in Gen 15.13. The people had lived in Egypt for 430 years, and had suffered around 400 years of affliction.

The affliction had evidently grown during that period; in 1.8-14 the Pharaoh, who had not known Joseph, schemed to have the children of Israel used as slaves. Later they told the midwives to kill the male children (1.15-18). Later still they refused to provide straw for the bricks (5.6-9).

v42: The Lord's vigil, or observance; he watched out for His own; and His people must remember that "for the generations to come."

v43-49: The regulations for the Passover.

v43: The Passover is exclusive; only those who belong to the Lord may eat of it.

v44-45: Explaining v43, and reminding us that any Gentile slave could become a Jew, and share in the Passover feast.

v46: The meal is to be eaten in the house. Perhaps strangely the bones of the lamb must not be broken, a reference to the Lord's own death, see John 19.33-36.

v47: The Passover is inclusive; all the Lord's people must eat of it.

Since the Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2.19), we have a joyful responsibility to share all that the Lord has called us to.

v48-49: The Gentile may become a Jew, by circumcision, and therefore share in the Passover. Presumably this was not by compulsion, but by choice. In a similar way, we invite those who do not know Christ to put their faith in Him.

v50-51: The children of Israel did what was commanded.