The Celebration of The Passover
August 11, 2020
Commentary
In celebration of the Passover meal they were to eat bread made without leaven (v. 15). This is flat bread made with no yeast. In fact if you ate anything made with yeast during this festival, you would be excommunicated from Israel. The only work they were allowed to do during this time of special religious services was that of preparing food (v. 16). To celebrate this festival was a way of remembering the day that God brought the families and tribes out of Egypt (v. 17). They were to begin this celebration on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month and continue until the evening of the twenty-first day (v. 18). During these seven days no yeast was to be allowed in anyone’s home (v. 19). They were told to stay away from yeast no matter where they lived (v. 20).
Moses called the leaders of Israel together and each family was instructed to pick out a sheep and kill it (v. 21). They were instructed to make a brush from the branches of a hyssop tree and dip the brush in the bowl that had the blood of the animal in it. Then they were told to brush blood above the door and on the posts at each side. After this everyone was to stay inside (v. 22). During the night the Lord went through the country of Egypt and killed the first-born son of every Egyptian family (v. 23). The angel that brings death would see the blood on the door posts of each Israelite family and not kill the first-born sons. Future generations were to observe this celebration each year (vv. 24-25).
Application
Feelings and good works had nothing to do with deliverance from the death angel but only the application of the blood on the door posts. My assurance of salvation doesn’t depend on my religious experiences, works of mercy or cultivation of character but only in me personally trusting in His shed blood.
Exodus 12:15– 24 (NET)
15 For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. Surely on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.
16 ‘On the first day there will be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind on them, only what every person will eat—that alone may be prepared for you. 17 So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat bread made without yeast until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast—that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or one born in the land. 20 You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.’”
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select for yourselves a lamb or young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animals. 22 Take a branch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.
Illustration: The Difference Between Confirmed And Standby Tickets
Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, pace and smoke, smoke and pace. The difference is caused by the assurance factor. If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you smoke and pace? Would you say to yourself, “I don’t know what God’s going to say–will it be ‘Welcome home, child,’ or will it be ‘Depart from me; I never knew you’? (Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels, IVP, p. 113)