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John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Exodus 12:1
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 12
This chapter begins with observing, that the month in which the above wonders were wrought in Egypt, and the following ordinance appointed to the Israelites, should hereafter be reckoned the first month in the year, Ex 12:1 on the tenth day of which a lamb here described was to be taken and kept till the fourteenth, and then slain, and its blood sprinkled on the posts of the houses of the Israelites,
Ex 12:3, the manner of dressing and eating it is shown,
Ex 12:8 and the reason of the institution of this ordinance being given, Ex 12:12, and an order to eat unleavened bread during seven days, in which the feast was to be kept, Ex 12:15, directions are also given for the immediate observance of it, and particularly about the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb, and the use of it, Ex 12:21, and this ordinance, which they were to instruct their children in, was to be kept by them in succeeding ages for ever, Ex 12:24 about the middle of the night it was first observed, all the firstborn in Egypt were slain, which made the Egyptians urgent upon the Israelites to depart in haste, Ex 12:28 and which they did with their unleavened dough, and with great riches they had borrowed of the Egyptians, Ex 12:34, the number of the children of Israel at the time of their departure, the mixed multitude and cattle that went with them, their baking their unleavened cakes, the time of their sojourning in Egypt, and of their coming out of it that night, which made it a remarkable one, are all particularly taken notice of, Ex 12:37, laws and rules are given concerning the persons that should partake of the passover, Ex 12:43 and the chapter is concluded with observing, that it was kept according to the command of God, and that it was on the same day it was first instituted and kept that Israel were brought out of Egypt, Ex 12:50.
Ver. 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, Ex 12:3 and by what follows it looks as if it was at the beginning or first day of the month, and so the words may be rendered, "the Lord had spoke" {y}; and the following account is deferred to this place, that there might be no interruption of the history of the plagues, and that the passover, with all its rites and ceremonies, both at the first institution and observance of it, and in later times, might be laid together.
{y} rmayw "alloquutus antem fuerat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "dixerat autem"; so some in Drusius, and Ainsworth.
Exodus 12:2
Ver. 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, Ex 13:4, which signifies an ear of corn, and at this time we find that the barley was in ear, Ex 9:31 which clearly shows in what month the above things were transacted; afterwards it was called Nisan, which seems to be the Chaldean name for it, Ne 2:1: it shall be the first month of the year to you; which before was the seventh; while the Israelites were in Egypt they observed the same beginning of the year and course of months as the Egyptians, as Josephus {z} intimates; and with the Egyptians, the month Thot was the first month, which answered to Tisri with the Jews, and both to our September, or a part of it, so that the beginning of the year was then in the autumnal equinox, at which season it is thought the world was created; but now to the Israelites it was changed unto the vernal equinox, for this month of Abib or Nisan answers to part of our March and part of April; though indeed both beginnings of the year were observed by them, the one on ecclesiastic, the other on civil accounts; or, as Josephus {a} expresses it, the month of Nisan was the beginning with respect to things divine, but in buying and selling, and such like things, the ancient order was observed; and so the Targum of Jonathan here paraphrases it,
"from hence ye shall begin to reckon the feasts, the times, and the revolutions.''
Indeed the Jews had four beginnings of the year according to their Misnah {b}; the first of Nisan (or March) was the beginning of the year for kings and for festivals; the first of Elul (or August) for the tithing of cattle; the first of Tisri (or September) for the sabbatical years, jubilees, and planting of trees and herbs; and the first of Shebet (or January) for the tithing the fruit of trees.
{z} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 3. {a} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 3. {b} Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 1. sect. 1.
Exodus 12:3
Ver. 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 shows that this direction must be given before that day, and so very probably on the first of the month, as before observed:
they shall take to them every man a lamb; not every individual person, but every master of a family, or head of an house, as follows:
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house; if large enough to eat up a whole lamb, otherwise they were to do as next directed: the Targum of Jonathan suggests, that this direction of taking a lamb to them on the tenth day of the month was only for this time, and not for following ages; and so the Jewish doctors {c} commonly understand it as being peculiar to the passover in Egypt, and not in later times; for they {d} say,
"what difference is there between the passover in Egypt, and the passover in later ages? the passover in Egypt was taken within the tenth day, and was obliged to sprinkling with a bunch of hyssop upon the lintel, and upon the two side posts, and was eaten with haste in one night, but the passover in later ages was kept all the seven days.''
The ground and reason of this special direction for taking up a lamb on the tenth day was, that they might have a lamb ready; and that through the multiplicity of business, and the hurry they would be in at their departure, they might not forget it, and neglect it; and that they might have time enough to examine whether it had all the prerequisites and qualifications that were necessary; and that while they had it in view, they might be led to meditate upon, and talk of, expect and firmly believe their deliverance; yea, that their faith might be directed to a far greater deliverance by the Messiah, which this was only typical of, Heb 11:28 but some of these reasons would hold good in later times, and it seems by some circumstances that this rule was attended to.
{c} Ben Gersom in loc. Maimon. Korban Pesach. c. 10. sect. 15. {d} Misn. Pesach. c. 9. sect. 5.
Exodus 12:4
Ver. 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 {e} says were never fewer than ten, and were often twenty, but no man might feast alone; with which agrees the Jewish canon {f},
"they do not kill the passover lamb for a single person, nor even for a society consisting of one hundred, that cannot eat the quantity of an olive:''
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb: that is, a man must reckon up how many he has in his own house to eat of the lamb, and what their appetites be, by which he will he able to judge whether he can dispense with a lamb himself, or whether he must take in some of his neighbours, and how many, so as to eat up the whole lamb, for, for such persons the lamb was to be slain. The rule is,
"if a man slays it for those that do not eat of it, or for those that are not counted, for the uncircumcised, and the unclean, it was wrong, and not allowed of {g}.''
The taking in his neighbours may respect the call of the Gentiles to partake of Christ with the Jews, see Eph 3:5.
{e} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. {f} Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 7. {g} lbid. c. 5. sect. 3.
Exodus 12:5
Ver. 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish,.... Without any spot or defect in it. Maimonides {h} reckons no less than fifty blemishes in a creature, anyone of which makes it unfit for sacrifice, see
Le 21:21. This lamb was a type of Christ, who is therefore said to be our passover sacrificed for us, 1Co 5:7 comparable to a lamb for his innocence and harmlessness, for his meekness, humility, and patience, for usefulness both for food and raiment, as well as for being fit for sacrifice; and who is a lamb without spot and blemish, either of original sin, or actual transgression, holy in his nature, harmless in his life:
a male of the first year; anyone within that time, but not beyond it; denoting the strength and vigour of Christ, in the flower of his age, his short continuance among men, and his being tender and savoury food for the faith of his people:
ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats; it might be either a lamb, or a kid of the goats; for the most part, or generally, it was a lamb that was taken; so the Jewish canon runs {i},
"he that says to his servant, go and slay for me the passover, if he slays a kid he may eat it; if he slays a lamb he may eat of it; if he slays a kid and a lamb, he may eat of the first.''
The goat being of an ill smell may denote Christ being made sin, and a sin offering for his people; and the taking of a lamb from these may signify the choice of Christ from among the people in the council and covenant of God; the preordination of him to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world; the preservation of him from the infection of sin in his incarnation, and the separation of him from sinners in his conversation.
{h} Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 1. {i} Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 2.
Exodus 12:6
Ver. 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, Joh 12:1:
and the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it in the evening; that is, of the fourteenth of Nisan; not between the two suns, as the Targum of Jonathan, between the sun setting and the sun rising; nor between the setting of the sun, and the entire disappearance of its rays of light reflecting in the air and clouds after it, as Aben Ezra; so it is said in the Talmud {k}, after the sun is set, all the time that the face of the east is red; others say as long as a man can walk half a mile after sun setting; and others, the twinkling of an eye; but "between the two evening's" {l}, as it may be rendered; which respects that space of time after the sun begins to decline, and the entire setting of it; when the sun begins to decline, as it does after noon, that is the first evening, and when it is set, that is the second; and the middle space between the one and the other is about the nineth hour of the day, according to the Jewish computation, and, with us, about three o'clock in the afternoon, about which time the passover used to be killed; for they say {m},
"the daily sacrifice was slain at eight and a half, and offered at the nineth; but on the evening of the passover it was slain at seven and a half, and offered at eight and a half, whether on a common day, or on a sabbath; and if the evening of the passover happened to be on the evening of the sabbath, it was slain at six and a half, and offered up at seven and a half, and after that the passover;''
which was done, that there might be time before the last evening for the slaying of the passover lamb. Josephus {n} says, at the passover they slew the sacrifice from the nineth hour to the eleventh;
See Gill on "Mt 26:17", and it being at the nineth hour that our Lord was crucified, the agreement between him and the paschal lamb in this circumstance very manifestly appears, Mt 27:46 though it may also in general denote Christ's appearing in the last days, in the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself: the slaying of the paschal lamb is ascribed to the "whole assembly of the congregation", because it was to be slain by their order, and in their name, for their use, and they present; and thus the crucifixion of Christ, his sufferings and death, are attributed to the men of Israel, and all the house of Israel, Ac 2:22.
{k} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 34. 2. {l} Mybreh Nyb "inter duas vesperas", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Ainsworth. {m} Misn. Pesach. c. 5. sect. 1. {n} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3.
Exodus 12:7
Ver. 7. And they shall take of the blood,.... Of the lamb, being received into a basin, Ex 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 them? the two side posts were the posts of a folding door, on which the two folds were hung, and the upper doorpost is what is afterwards called the lintel, Ex 12:23 and has its name in Hebrew from looking out; for, as Aben Ezra says, there was a window over the door, as is the custom throughout the whole country of the Ishmaelites or Arabians; and so Schindler says {o}, which perhaps he took from him, that the word signifies either a lintel, or a little window over the door, through which it might be seen who called or knocked at the door; and adds, in Egypt, as now in Arabia, there were windows over the doors of houses. The sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb was typical of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon the hearts and consciences of his people, and of their peace, safety, and security by it from the wrath of God, and the vengeance of divine justice; of the further use of this rite, see
Ex 12:22, Aben Ezra mentions it as the opinion of some, that the sprinkling of the blood on those places was to show that they slew the abomination of the Egyptians openly; but he himself gives a much better reason for this rite, namely, that it was to be a propitiation for everyone that ate in the house, and was a sign to the destroyer, that he might look upon it in like manner, as it is said Eze 9:4, "set a mark, &c.;" this seems to be peculiar to the passover in Egypt, and was not used in later times.
{o} Lex. Pentaglott. col. 1938.
Exodus 12:8
Ver. 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 chiefly to denote the sufferings of Christ, the antitype of it, when he endured the wrath of God, poured out as fire upon him; and also to show, that he is to be fed upon by faith, which works by love, or to be received with hearts inflamed with love to him:
and unleavened bread; this also was to be eaten at the same time, and for seven days running, even to the twenty first day of the month,
Ex 12:15, where see more concerning this: the reason of this also was, because they were then in haste, and could not stay to leaven the dough that was in their troughs; and was significative of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, with which the true passover lamb is to be eaten, in opposition to the leaven of error, hypocrisy, and malice, 1Co 5:7:
and with bitter herbs they shall eat it; the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "with wild lettuces", which are very bitter; and the worst sort of which, for bitterness, Pliny says {p}, is what they call "picris", which has its name from the bitterness of it, and is the same by which the Septuagint render the word here: the Targum of Jonathan is,
"with horehound and endive they shall eat it;''
and so the Targum on So 2:9. Wild endive; of which Pliny says {q}, there is a wild endive, which in Egypt they call cichory, and bids fair to be one of these herbs; according to the Misnah {r} and Maimonides {s}, there were five sorts of them, and anyone, or all of them, might be eaten; their names with both are these, Chazoreth, Ulshin, Thamcah, Charcabinah, and Maror; the four first of which may be the wild lettuce, endive, horehound, or perhaps "tansie"; and cichory the last. Maror has its name from bitterness, and is by the Misnic commentators {t} said to be a sort of the most bitter coriander; it seems to be the same with "picris": but whatever they were, for it is uncertain what they were, they were expressive of the bitter afflictions of the children of Israel in Egypt, with which their lives were made bitter; and of those bitter afflictions and persecutions in the world, which they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect to endure; as well as they may signify that as a crucified Christ must be looked upon, and lived upon by faith, so with mourning and humiliation for sin, and with true repentance for it as an evil and bitter thing, see
Zec 12:10.
{p} Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 8. & 21. 17. & 32. 22. {q} Ibid. {r} Misn. Pesach. c. 2. sect. 6. {s} Hilchot, Chametz Umetzah, c. 7. sect. 13. {t} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Pesach. ut supra. (c. 2. sect. 6.)
Exodus 12:9
Ver. 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 an {u}, the word here used; and so Maimonides {w} says it signifies flesh, on which the fire begins to operate, and is roasted a little, but not enough for eating. And indeed there seems to be no necessity of a prohibition of eating the flesh quite raw: some {x} derive the word from a root which signifies to break, and suppose that this rule forbids the breaking or cutting it in pieces; that as it was to be roasted whole, and not a bone of it to be broken, so it was to be brought to table whole, and the whole to be eaten; but then it could not be eaten without being cut to pieces. Abarbinel {y} takes the word in the usual signification of it, "now", as if the sense was, ye shall not eat of it now, not before the evening of the fourteenth day; but whereas Moses had told them,
Ex 12:6, that the lamb was to be kept up until the fourteenth day, it was needless to tell them that they should not eat it now or immediately; the first sense is best, and this shows that Christ, the antitype of this lamb, is not to be eaten in a carnal but spiritual manner, of which our Lord treats in Joh 6:31, nor sodden at all with water; the Targum of Jonathan is,
"neither boiled in wine, nor in oil, nor in other liquor, nor boiled in water.''
This, with respect to the antitype, shows, that Christ is not to be received in a cold lukewarm manner, and with indifference; and that nothing is to be mixed, added, and joined unto him, but he alone is to be regarded in the business of our acceptance, justification, and salvation:
but roast with fire; for the reasons before given: the manner of roasting it, according to the Jewish canons {z}, was this, they bring a spit made of the wood of pomegranate, and thrust it into its mouth quite through it, and put the thighs and entrails within it; they do not roast the passover lamb on an iron spit, nor on an iron grate. Maimonides {a} is a little more particular and exact in his account; to the question, how do they roast it? he replies,
"they transfix it through the middle of the mouth to its posteriors, with a wooden spit, and they hang it in the midst of a furnace, and the fire below:''
so that it was not turned upon a spit, according to our manner of roasting, but was suspended on a hook, and roasted by the fire underneath, and so was a more exact figure of Christ suspended on the cross, and enduring the fire of divine wrath. And Justin Martyr {b} is still more particular, who was by birth a Samaritan, and was well versed in Jewish affairs; he, even in conversing with Trypho the Jew, who could have contradicted him had he said what was wrong, says, the lamb was roasted in the form of a cross; one spit, he says, went through from the lower parts to the head, and again another across the shoulders, to which the hands (or rather the legs) of the lamb were fastened and hung; and so was a very lively emblem of Christ crucified:
his head, with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof; or with its inwards {c}, these were all to be roasted together, the whole lamb with all that belonged to it, with which the above canon of the Jews agrees.
{u} "cruda fuit caro", Golius, col. 2476. Semicocta, "cruda fuit caro", Castell. Lex. col. 2296. Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 169, 170. {w} Hilchot Korban Pesach. c. 8. sect. 6. {x} Oleaster apud Rivet in loc. Gusset. Comment. Ebr. p. 487, 488; so some in Aben Ezra. {y} So Marinus Brixianus in Arca Noe. {z} Misn. Pesach. c. 7. sect. 1, 2. {a} Hilchot Korban Pesach. c. 8. sect. 10. {b} Dialog. cum Trypho Jud. p. 259. {c} wbrq lew "et cum interioribus ejus", Pagninus, Tigurine version, so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Exodus 12:10
Ver. 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, and what of it that could not be eaten, as the bones, which were not broken, and the nerves and sinews, which might not be eaten; and so runs the Jewish canon {d},
"the bones, and the sinews, and what remains, they shall burn on the sixteenth day; and if the sixteenth happens on the sabbath, they shall burn on the seventeenth.''
The reason of this law was, that what was left might not be converted to common or superstitious uses, as also that the Israelites might not be burdened with it in their journey, nor the Egyptians have an opportunity of treating it with contempt.
{d} Misn. ut supra, (Persch. c. 7.) sect. 10.
Exodus 12:11
Ver. 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 great hinderance in walking; and may denote the saints being girt with the girdle of truth, and their readiness and fitness to perform every good work:
your shoes on your feet; which used to be put off at feasts, in order to have their feet washed, which was frequently done at such times, as we learn from many instances in Scripture, which could not be done unless the shoes were off, Ge 18:4, besides, it is highly probable that the Israelites in Egypt did not wear shoes in common, it being a hot country, and they in a state of poverty and bondage; but now being about to depart the land, and to take a journey, they are ordered to have their shoes on, to be ready for it: and was a token of their deliverance and freedom, and joy on that occasion; and may, in an evangelic sense, denote the feet of the saints being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, Eph 6:15,
and your staff in your hand; such as travellers make use of to support and assist, protect and defend them, in their journey, and may be expressive of faith in the word and promises of God, which are the support of his people in their passage through this world, Ps 23:4
and ye shall eat it in haste; because upon slaying the firstborn the Egyptians would be urgent upon them to depart immediately. Aquila renders it, "with fear", and so the Targum of Jonathan; but the other sense suits best with the circumstances of the Israelites:
it [is] the Lord's passover; which he has commanded, and is a sign and token of his passing over the houses of the Israelites, when he destroyed the firstborn in all the houses of the Egyptians, and which is explained in the following verse, and the reason of its name given; the act of passing was his, the ordinance was appointed by him, and it was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true passover, 1Co 5:7.
Exodus 12:12
Ver. 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, Ex 11:5
and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; meaning either figuratively, the nobles, princes, judges and civil magistrates, who are sometimes called Elohim, gods; but since the firstborn of these, as of others, and so the judgment on them, are comprehended in the preceding clause, this is, rather to be understood literally of the idols of the Egyptians, their images of gold and silver, or of whatever they were made of: the Targum of Jonathan is,
"on all the idols of the Egyptians I will exercise four judgments; the molten idols shall be melted, the idols of stone shall be cut asunder, the idols of earth shall be broke to pieces, and the idols of wood shall become ashes;''
see Nu 33:4 and there are some traces of this in Heathen writers; Artapanus {e} says, that by an earthquake most of the temples in Egypt fell; and Justin {f} reports, that Moses, being the leader of the exile Israelites, stole away the sacred things of the Egyptians, i.e. their gods, which they endeavoured to regain by force of arms:
I am the Lord; God Almighty, faithful and true, and therefore what was threatened should certainly be performed, and thereby the Egyptians and all others might know that he was Jehovah alone, and that there is no God beside him.
{e} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436. {f} E Trogo, l. 36. c. 2.
Exodus 12:13
Ver. 13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are,.... The blood of the passover lamb being sprinkled on the two sideposts and upper doorposts of the houses inhabited by the Israelites, or where they were eating the passover; this should be a sign or token to them of the Lord's making good his promises, to them, and so of their safety, and to the destroying angel not to enter therein, but pass by and save them:
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; for which reason this ordinance now instituted was called the passover, because the Lord, on sight of the blood sprinkled, passed over the houses of the Israelites to those of the Egyptians; or "leaped", as Jarchi says, the word signifies, skipped from one Egyptian house to another, passing by that of the Israelites:
and the plague shall not be upon you, to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt, the pestilence with which the firstborn should be destroyed.
Exodus 12:14
Ver. 14. And this shall be unto you for a memorial,.... To be remembered, and that very deservedly, for the destruction of the firstborn of the Egyptians, and for the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and as memorable a day it is, and much more so, for the redemption of the spiritual Israel by the Messiah; for it was on this selfsame day that he suffered for the redemption and salvation of his people: the Jews not only having a saying,
"that in the month Nisan they were redeemed, and in the month Nisan they will be redeemed {g}''
but they expressly say,
"on the same day, the fifteenth of Nisan, Israel is to be redeemed, in the days of the Messiah, as they were redeemed on that day, as it is said, according to the days, &c.; Mic 7:15 {h}:''
and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; as the fifteenth day was properly the Chagigah; or festival day, when they made a feast both of the flock and of the herd, of both sheep and oxen, De 16:2
you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever; unto the end of the Jewish economy and church state, until the Messiah come, the true passover, and be sacrificed for us.
{g} Roshhashanah, fol. 11. 1. 2. {h} Cabalistae apud Fagium in loc.
Exodus 12:15
Ver. 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread,.... From the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the twenty first; and this was a distinct festival from what was properly called the feast of the passover, and does not respect the first passover in Egypt; for though the passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread, and the Israelites ate no other, not only for seven days, but for thirty days following; yet this was not only by the divine command, but through necessity, they having no other bread to eat; but in later times they were commanded to keep a feast for seven days, in which they were not to eat leavened bread, in commemoration of their hasty departure out of Egypt, not having time to leaven the dough in their troughs, and of their distress and want of savoury bread:
even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; out of their dwelling houses, which were to be diligently searched for that purpose, and every hole and crevice in them; and not only their lower rooms, their dining rooms and parlours, but their upper rooms and bedchambers; because it was possible a man might sometimes go into them with a piece of bread in his hand, and drop or leave some of it behind him: yea, synagogues and schools were to be searched, since children might carry thither leavened breads {i}: and this search was to be made by the light of a lamp or candle, not by the light of the moon, if in the night; nor by the light of the sun, if in the day, but by the light of a lamp or candle, and not by the light of a torch, or of a lump of fat, or grease, or oil, but by a lamp or candle of wax {k}: and this search was to be made at the beginning of the night of the fourteenth of Nisan; yea, it is said that leavened bread was forbidden from the seventh hour of the day, that is, one o'clock in the afternoon and upwards, which is the middle of the day {l}: the account of the Misnic doctors is {m},
"R. Meir says, that they may eat leaven the whole fifth hour, i.e. eleven o'clock in the morning, and burn it the beginning of the sixth, or twelve o'clock; R. Judah says, they may eat it all the fourth hour, or tenth o'clock, and suspend it the whole fifth hour, and burn it the beginning of the sixth:''
for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day; from the first of the seven days to the last of them, beginning at the night at the fourteenth, and ending at the night of the twenty first:
that soul shall be cut off from Israel; either from the commonwealth of Israel, and be disfranchised, and not accounted as an Israelite; or from the Israelitish church state, and have no communion in it, or partake of the ordinances at it; or if it is to be understood of cutting off by death, it is either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God; and is sometimes by the Jews interpreted of a man dying either without children, or before he is fifty years of age, and some even understand it of destruction of soul and body, or of eternal damnation.
{i} Lebush, par. 1. No. 433. sect. 1. 3. 10. Schulcan Aruch, par. 1. No. 433. sect. 3. 10. {k} Lebush & Schulcan ib. sect. 1. {l} Lebush & Schulcan No. 431. sect. 1. {m} Misn. Pesach c. 1. sect. 4.
Exodus 12:16
Ver. 16. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation,.... An holy day, in which the people be called to holy exercises, and wholly abstain from worldly business, done on other days:
and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation unto you; observed in a festival way, and in the like religious manner the first day was, the day of their going out of Egypt; and the seventh was the day in which Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red sea, as Aben Ezra observes; for which reason those days are distinguished from the rest, and appointed to be holy convocations, and which appear from the journeying of the children of Israel, as computed by Junius: they came to Succoth on the fifteenth, to Etham the seventeenth, to Pihahiroth the eighteenth, where they were ordered to stay, and wait the coming of their enemies, on the twentieth the army of Pharaoh came up to them, and the night following the Israelites passed through the sea and the Egyptians were drowned:
no manner of work shall be done in them; as used to be done on other days, and as were on the other five days of this festival: the Jewish canons are,
"it is forbidden to do any work on the evening of the passover, from the middle of the day and onward, and whoever does work from the middle of the day and onward, they excommunicate him; even though, he does it for nothing, it is forbidden {n}: R. Meir says, whatever work anyone begins before the fourteenth (of Nisan) he may finish it on the fourteenth, but he may not begin it on the beginning of the fourteenth, though he could finish it: the wise men say, three workmen may work on the evening of the passover unto the middle of the day, and they are these, tailors, barbers, and fullers: R. Jose bar Judah says, also shoemakers {o},''
but in the text no exception is made but the following:
save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you