Exodus 12 · The Lantern

The First Passover

And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Speak you to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house:

But let us now proceed to what follows in the pericope: "Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel: On the tenth day of this month let each one take a lamb for every family, let each one take a lamb per house." He does not say, "Let them sacrifice a lamb on the tenth of the month," but "Let them take a lamb." They are commanded to sacrifice this lamb on the fourteen…

The bridegroom, who was to call good and bad to his marriage, was pleased to assimilate himself to his guests, in being born of good and bad. He thus confirms as typical of himself the symbol of the Passover, in which it was commanded that the lamb to be eaten should be taken from the sheep or from the goats—that is, from the righteous or the wicked.

It was commanded that the paschal lamb, by whose immolation the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt, should be selected five days before the [feast of] Passover, that is, on the tenth [day of the lunar] month, and immolated on the fourteenth [day of the lunar] month at sundown.

And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

"You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. The whole assembly of the children of Israel shall slaughter it at sunset, and they shall take some of its blood and place it upon the two doorposts and upon the lintel of every dwelling in which they shall eat of the lambs, among them" […].

Why is this lamb offered up in the evening and not during the day? The reason is plain enough, for our Lord and Savior suffered his passion at the close of the ages. So John says in his letter: "Dear children, it is the last hour." Since, moreover, it is the last hour, it is the beginning of night, for day has come to an end.

But now then, can there be anybody who is not curious to know what the meaning can be of the fact that the Jews answered from Scripture the inquiry of the magi about where the Christ would be born and yet did not go with them to worship him themselves?

And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two doorposts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, in which they shall eat it.

Moses caused the doorposts of the Israelites to be signed with the blood of a lamb; but you have given us a sign, the blood itself of a Lamb without blemish, slain for the sin of the world. Ezekiel says that a sign was given on the foreheads of the persons.

For why would the Lord instruct them to kill a sheep on this very feast day except that it was he about whom it was prophesied: "As a sheep is led to the slaughter." The doorposts of the Jews were marked with the blood of a slaughtered animal. Our foreheads are marked with the blood of Christ.

For Moses says: "They shall take of the blood of the lamb and put it on both doorposts and on the lintels of the houses in which they shall eat it." All of which things indeed bring forth great edification for us, if they are examined through mystical interpretation. For who the blood of the lamb is, you have learned not now by hearing, but by drinking.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Christians every day eat the flesh of the Lamb, that is, they daily take the flesh of the word. "For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed." And because the law of the Passover is such that it should be eaten in the evening, therefore the Lord suffered in the evening of the world, so that you may always eat of the flesh of the word, because you are always in the evening, unti…

Yet they were also completely ignorant of the commands of Moses himself, who ordered them specially to eat this bitterness when he established the paschal sacraments for them to observe and said, "You will eat it with bitterness, for it is the pasch of the Lord." For he did not order, as they think, the consuming of the very bitter juices of insignificant herbs with the roasted…

Concerning this lamb it is added further: "And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted with fire." Indeed we eat the lamb at night, because we now receive the Lord's body in the sacrament when we do not yet see one another's consciences.

Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with its purtenance.

One must not therefore eat the flesh of the lamb raw, as the slaves of the letter do in the manner of animals which are irrational and quite savage.

"You shall eat it with its head and shanks and inner organs." To me, the head seems to be that of the Lamb, written of in St. John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God." The shanks represent the human nature that he deigned to assume for our salvation.

Where it is also added: "You shall not eat any of it raw, nor cooked in water." Behold, now the very words of the history drive us from a historical understanding. Surely, dearest brothers, that Israelite people established in Egypt had not been accustomed to eat raw lamb, that the law should say to them: "You shall not eat any of it raw"?

And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

And thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover.

Before undertaking a word-by-word explanation of the Passover, it is fitting to offer a few brief remarks on the simple term "Passover." For most of the brethren, perhaps all of them, accept an etymology of the word "Passover" according to which the feast would take its name of "Passover" from the passion of the Savior.

And let us know that the law also of the most wise Moses is found to have commanded something of this kind to the Israelites. For a lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month, as a type of Christ. For our Passover, Christ is sacrificed, according to the testimony of most sacred Paul.

Whoever looks upon this mercy seat with full turning of the countenance, gazing upon him who hangs upon the cross through faith, hope, and charity, devotion, admiration, exultation, appreciation, praise, and jubilation, makes the Passover, that is, the passing over, with him, so as to pass through the Red Sea by the rod of the cross, entering the desert from Egypt, where he may…

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, so that only may be done of you.

And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this very same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at even.

Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread.

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses.

For he who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop. According to the gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the gospel he showed forth the glory of his resurrection.

They are to bear in mind that those who celebrated the Passover at the time through figures and shadows, when they were commanded to mark their doorpost with the blood of the lamb, marked them with hyssop. This is a mild and humble plant, but it has very strong and penetrating roots.

For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.

And who else could be the destroyer in Exodus, which Moses wrote, except the one who is the cause of destruction to those who obey him and who do not resist and struggle against his wickedness?

[The Son of God's] cross is our victory, and his gibbet is our triumph. With joy let us take this sign on our shoulders, let us bear the banners of victory. Let us bear such an imperial banner, indeed, on our foreheads! When the devil sees this sign on our doorposts, he trembles.

This [cross] we have been given as a sign on our forehead, just as Israel was given the circumcision. For by it we faithful are set apart from the infidels and recognized. It is a shield and armor and a trophy against the devil. It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us, as Scripture says.

And you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons for ever.

And it shall happen, when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this service.

And it shall happen, when your children shall say to you, What mean you by this service?

That you shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

And it happened, that at midnight the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus Begins

And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.

Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, so that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.

And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewelry of silver, and jewelry of gold, and clothes:

And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent to them such things as they required. And they plundered the Egyptians.

And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

"The teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth," the Apostle Paul, handed down to the Church which he gathered from among the Gentiles how it ought to attend to the books of the Law, which it had received from others and which had formerly been unknown to it and altogether foreign, lest, in taking up institutions foreign to it and being ignorant of the rule of those institutio…

Joseph came into Egypt alone, and soon thereafter six hundred thousand depart from Egypt. What is more marvelous than this? What greater proof of the generosity of God, when from persons without means he wills to supply the means for public affairs?

From their single ancestor, in not much more than four hundred years, the Hebrew people became so numerous that at the time of the exodus from Egypt there were, we are told, six hundred thousand men of military age.

And a rabble went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not wait, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions.

Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

And it happened at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the very same day it happened, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

Instructions for the Passover

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat of it:

But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.

A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.

In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall you break a bone of it.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

And that prophecy also is fulfilled, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." (Ex. xii. 46; Num. ix. 12.) For even if this was said with reference to the lamb of the Jews, still it was for the sake of the reality that the type preceded, and in Him the prophecy was more fully accomplished. On this account the Evangelist brought forward the Prophet.

Now next, that the legs of those two were broken, while his [Christ's] were not. He was already dead. Why this happened was stated in the Gospel itself.

All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and to the stranger that sojourns among you.

Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

And it happened the very same day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.