Exodus 12:1-13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 12:1-20

Moses and Aaron here receive of the Lord what they were afterwards to deliver to the people concerning the ordinance of the passover, to which is prefixed an order for a new style to be observed in their months (Exod. 12:1, 2): This shall be to you the beginning of months. They had hitherto begun their year from the middle of September, but henceforward they were to begin it from the middle of March, at least in all their ecclesiastical computations. Note, It is good to begin the day, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt ,.... Before they and the children of Israel came out of it, before the slaying of the firstborn, yea, before Moses came from the presence of Pharaoh, and had given him notice of it; and it is very probable even before the three days darkness, seeing it seems necessary it should be four days before the passover, since on the tenth day the lamb was to be taken, and on the fourteenth slain, Exodus 12:3 and by what follows it looks... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:2

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months ,.... Not only the first, as after expressed, but the chief and principal of them, now famous for their coming out of Egypt in it, and would be more so for the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and redemption by him from sin, Satan, and the world, law, hell, and death, for he suffered at the time of the passover. This month was called Abib, Exodus 13:4 , which signifies an ear of corn, and at this time we find that the barley was in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:3

Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel ,.... That is, to the elders of the people, and heads of families; unless we can suppose that they had been gradually gathered, and were now gathered together in a body by the direction of Moses, by whom they were assured that their departure was at hand; and the rather it may be thought that so it was, since the following order concerned the whole and every individual: saying, in the tenth day of this month ; the month Abib or Nisan, which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:4

And if the household be too little for the lamb ,.... That they cannot eat it up at once: let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls ; which Josephus F5 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. says were never fewer than ten, and were often twenty, but no man might feast alone; with which agrees the Jewish canon F6 Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 7. ,"they do not kill the passover lamb for a single person, nor even for a society consisting... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:5

Your lamb shall be without blemish ,.... Without any spot or defect in it. Maimonides F8 Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 1. reckons no less than fifty blemishes in a creature, anyone of which makes it unfit for sacrifice, see Leviticus 21:21 . This lamb was a type of Christ, who is therefore said to be our passover sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5:7 comparable to a lamb for his innocence and harmlessness, for his meekness, humility, and patience, for usefulness both for food... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:6

And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month ,.... In their houses; this may denote the preservation of Christ in his infancy, and to the appointed time of his sufferings and death; and it is remarkable, that on this very day, the tenth of Nisan, four days before the passover, and so as many days before his sufferings and death, he made his entry into Jerusalem, near to which he was to be offered up, John 12:1 , and the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:7

And they shall take of the blood ,.... Of the lamb, being received into a basin, Exodus 12:22 , and strike it on the two side posts ; with a bunch of hyssop dipped into it: and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it ; but not on the posts of those houses, the inhabitants of which joined with their neighbours in eating it; though Levi Ben Gersom thinks they were sprinkled as the rest; but to what purpose, when there were no Israelites, and no firstborn in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:8

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire ,.... The night of the fourteenth of Nisan; and as the Jews reckoned their days from the evening preceding, this must be the beginning of the fifteenth day, which being observed, will serve to reconcile some passages relating to this ordinance. The lamb was to be roasted, not only because its flesh thereby would be more palatable and savoury, but because soonest dressed that way, their present circumstances requiring haste; but... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:9

Eat not of it raw ,.... Not roasted enough; and so Jarchi says, that what is not sufficiently roasted, or is not thoroughly and down roasted, is in the Arabic language called נא F21 "cruda fuit caro", Golius, col. 2476. Semicocta, "cruda fuit caro", Castell. Lex. col. 2296. Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 169, 170. , the word here used; and so Maimonides F23 Hilchot Korban Pesach. c. 8. sect. 6. says it signifies flesh, on which the fire begins to operate, and is roasted a... read more

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