This chapter discusses one of the most pivotal events from Old Testament history – one commemorating God’s deliverance of His people from slavery.
On the tenth day of each first month, each family head was to purchase one lamb according to their family tree; then kill it before sunset.
The Bible
This chapter’s first section describes God’s instructions regarding Passover. He indicated it should take place during a month that would become the starting point of religious calendar.
God instructed each family to select an unblemished lamb and sacrifice it at dusk, roasting and then eating it that same evening, along with bitter herbs and bread made without leaven – to symbolize Israel’s bitter bondage and their desire to escape Egypt.
The sacrificed lamb also serves as a symbolic representation of Jesus’ death for sinners. The motif reoccurs throughout Scripture from Isaac’s binding to its use in Jonah as an example that those who refuse to repent will face destruction; Amos and Obadiah employ it as warning of God’s judgment on Judah and Edom respectively while Jonah uses it as an image that reminds people that without repentance they face destruction – with evidence throughout Old Testament of God’s faithfulness in protecting his people! –
The Passover
Passover (Pesach in Hebrew), is the Jewish holiday commemorating their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. This story can be found in Exodus where Moses went before Pharaoh to ask him to release them free, yet when Pharaoh refused, God unleashed 10 plagues upon Egypt: darkness, lice, boils and cattle disease were brought about, while in one final plague He intended to kill all firstborn in Egypt but “passed over” Israelite homes who had marked their doors with lamb’s blood (Exodus 12:29).
At each family home, an unblemished male lamb aged one year was chosen and slaughtered at twilight with its blood being spread on doorposts and lintel of house. After roasting and devouring, no bones should be broken – as an act of commemoration to Christ’s crucifixion which left Him without even one single fracture to His body.
The Lamb of God
Lamb was an animal of great significance to Jews. It symbolised purity, innocence and meekness while it could also symbolize suffering and triumph.
The Bible instructs each family to take an one-year old male lamb without blemish, slaughter it and paint its blood onto their house’s door posts and lintel. After which they should enjoy roasting it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread as a symbolism of God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
Though thousands of lambs were sacrificed on that first Passover night, God saw only one as His Lamb; He sent Jesus as our Sacrifice at Calvary. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as this particular Lamb; through Him we are freed from sin and death. Later in Revelation He reappears again as the object of all worship in heaven because He successfully fulfilled this role at Calvary.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Chag HaMatzot or the Feast of Unleavened Bread was observed for seven days each year by Israelites to commemorate their escape from Egypt through God’s grace. Paul even referenced this holiday when exhorting believers at Corinth to leave behind sin as their forbearers did (see 1 Corinthians 12:5-6).
Verse 14-16 of Exodus instruct the Hebrew people that their feast would begin on the fourteenth day of the first month in the evening. Each family should slaughter an unblemished lamb and dip a bunch of hyssop (a parsley-like plant) into its blood before painting it onto doorposts and lintels as an invitation to the angel of death to “pass over” their homes, sparing them from further plague. A scapegoat was used at this point to symbolize having your sins carried away by someone else.
