If the household be too little - That is, if there be not persons enough in one family to eat a whole lamb, then two families must join together. The rabbins allow that there should be at least ten persons to one paschal lamb, and not more than twenty. Take it, according to the number of the souls - The persons who were to eat of it were to be first ascertained, and then the lamb was to be slain and dressed for that number. read more
Without blemish - Having no natural imperfection, no disease, no deficiency or redundancy of parts. On this point the rabbins have trifled most egregiously, reckoning fifty blemishes that render a lamb or kid, or any animal, improper to be sacrificed: five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, etc., etc. A male of the first year - That is, any age in the first year between eight days and twelve months. From the sheep, or from the goats... read more
Ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day - The lamb or kid was to be taken from the flock on the tenth day, and kept up and fed by itself till the fourteenth day, when it was to be sacrificed. This was never commanded nor practiced afterwards. The rabbins mark four things that were required in the first passover that were never required afterwards: The eating of the lamb in their houses dispersed through Goshen. The taking the lamb on the tenth day. The striking of its blood on... read more
Take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts - This was to be done by dipping a bunch of hyssop into the blood, and thus sprinkling it upon the posts, etc.; see Exodus 12:22 . That this sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb was an emblem of the sacrifice and atonement made by the death of Jesus Christ, is most clearly intimated in the sacred writings, 1 Peter 1:2 ; Hebrews 9:13 , Hebrews 9:14 ; Hebrews 8:10 . It is remarkable that no blood was to be sprinkled on the... read more
They shall eat the flesh - roast with fire - As it was the ordinary custom of the Jews to boil their flesh, some think that the command given here was in opposition to the custom of the Egyptians, who ate raw flesh in honor of Osiris. The Ethiopians are to this day remarkable for eating raw flesh, as is the case with most savage nations. Unleavened bread - מצות matstsoth , from מצה matsah , to squeeze or compress, because the bread prepared without leaven or yeast was generally... read more
With the purtenance thereof - All the intestines, for these were abused by the heathens to purposes of divination; and when roasted in the manner here directed they could not be thus used. The command also implies that the lamb was to be roasted whole; neither the head or legs were to be separated, nor the intestines removed. I suppose that these last simply included the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc., and not the intestinal canal. read more
Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning - Merely to prevent putrefaction; for it was not meet that a thing offered to God should be subjected to corruption, which in such hot countries it must speedily undergo. Thus the body of our blessed Lord saw no corruption, Psalm 16:10 ; Acts 2:27 , because, like the paschal lamb, it was a sacrifice offered to God. It appears that from the Jewish passover the heathens borrowed their sacrifice termed Propter Viam . It was their... read more
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded - As in the eastern countries they wear long loose garments, whenever they travel they tuck up the fore parts of their garments in the girdle which they wear round their loins. Your shoes on your feet - This seems particularly mentioned because not customary. "The easterns throw off their shoes when they eat, because it would be troublesome," says Sir J. Chardin, "to keep their shoes upon their feet, they sitting cross-legged on the floor,... read more
Against all the gods of Egypt, etc. - As different animals were sacred among the Egyptians, the slaying of the first-born of all the beasts might be called executing judgment upon the gods of Egypt. As this however does not appear very clear and satisfactory, some have imagined that the word אלהי elohey should be translated princes, which is the rendering in our margin; for as these princes, who were rulers of the kingdom under Pharaoh, were equally hostile to the Hebrews with Pharaoh... read more
Get a Bible verse delivered to your inbox every day!
Read on Mobile
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 12:3
In the tenth day of this month - In after times they began their preparation on the thirteenth day or day before the Passover, which was not celebrated till the fourteenth day, see Exodus 12:6 ; : but on the present occasion, as this was their first passover, they probably required more time to get ready in; as a state of very great confusion must have prevailed at this time. Mr. Ainsworth remarks that on this day the Israelites did afterwards go through Jordan into the land of Canaan; ... read more