Exodus 12:4-16

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 12:4

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:10

And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning ,.... It was to be all ate up; a whole Christ is to be received and fed upon by faith; Christ in both his natures, divine and human, united in his person, in all his offices of prophet, priest, and King, and with all the benefits and blessings of his grace, and which come by his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice: and that which remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire : what of the flesh which remaineth not ate,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:11

And thus shall ye eat it ,.... After the following manner, in the habit and posture described: the Targum of Jonathan adds,"at this time, and not in ages following;'for these rites were peculiar to the passover in Egypt, and not to be observed in later times: with your loins girded ; that is, with their garments girt about their loins, for the better convenience in travelling; for in those countries they wore long loose garments, which reached to their feet, and unless girt up, were a... read more

John Gill

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

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night ,..... Which must be understood consistent with his omnipresence, and of the manifestation of his powerful presence, or of the exertion of his mighty power in the following event: and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast ; as had been declared to Pharaoh, Exodus 11:5 . and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment ; meaning either figuratively, the nobles, princes, judges and civil... read more

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