Exodus 12:21-28

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood that is on the lintel and the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass that when ye are come to the land which Jehovah will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped And the children of Israel went and did so; as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they."

"Take a bunch of hyssop ..." There is some uncertainty about this, but most current commentators accept the definition making it, "a species of marjoram which grows wild. It has leafy stalks which make it suitable for sprinkling."[23] However, it seems more likely that it is a name for "the caper plant." "It is in view of this latter identification that the modern Arabic name for the caper plant is Asuf or Asaf, almost the same as the Hebrew [~'ezowb], the word here rendered hyssop."[24] This plant, used as a sprinkler for blood is mentioned in connection with a number of O.T. rites.

"Jehovah will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses ... "The destroyer is the personified power of Yahweh Himself manifesting itself as destruction."[25] There is no problem that God's agent appears to be mentioned here and that God Himself is represented as slaying the first-born in other passages. One, even God, is said to do what his agent does upon his orders. Keil identified the "agent" here as "The Angel of Jehovah."[26] It is a sinful human error to suppose that the actions attributed to God in the O.T. "are untenable in the light of our Lord's attitude,"[27] because the Second Advent of Christ will also be an occasion of judgment, punishment, and destruction, at which time, "All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him" (Revelation 1:7).

"Blood that is in the basin ..." As often in all languages a given word has more than one meaning; and here the word rendered "basin" also has the meaning of "threshold," but the translators, from the context, chose the proper rendition. One does not put blood "in a threshold." That has not kept some of the critics, however, from building up a fanciful tale about the Passover having originally been a pagan threshold rite, from which superstition it is still customary to carry brides over the threshold, etc., etc![28]

"Then Moses called all the elders of Israel ..." In view of the dimensions of such a task, it has been supposed that, "These directions were given earlier than that day, so that there was plenty of time for the elders to communicate the commands received to all Israel."[29] Such could easily have been true. After all, the Israelites had known for the better part of a whole year that their departure from Egypt was sure and impending. Only such a period of preparation could have imparted the information and discipline required when the moment for their leaving Egypt finally came.