Exodus 12:11

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

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

Thus shall ye eat it, to wit, for this time, because their circumstances required it, that they being suddenly to take a great journey, might be in a traveller’ s habit. But that these, and some other circumstances now enjoined and used, were only temporary, and not perpetual nor obligatory, sufficiently appears from the practice not only of the Jews in following ages, but also of Christ and of his apostles. And in like manner there are some institutions in the New Testament which did only oblige that age, and not all that follow them, as ,29. With your loins girded, like travellers and persons undertaking some difficult service; for such used to gird up their garments, which in those parts were long and troublesome. See 9:1 . Shoes on your feet; a badge, 1. Of their readiness for their journey, . 2. Of their freedom; for slaves, such as the Israelites now were in Egypt, used to go barefooted. 3. Of joy, as on the contrary going barefoot was a badge of mourning, . Your staff in your hand, like persons upon the point of departing, which was a very comfortable circumstance. In haste; for so the word signifies, . It is the Lord’ s passover: this lamb, or your eating of it, is the Lord’ s passover, i.e. it is a sign of God’ s passing over you and your houses, when he comes to destroy the Egyptians on every side of you, ,23. It is a metonomy usual in sacramental speeches, as .

Exodus 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; [with] your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it [is] the LORD’ S passover.Ver. 11. With your loins girded.] As pressed and intent to the service. So we should be at all times, but especially when to depart out of the Egypt of this life, and to take heaven by force. Then, if ever, we should hoc agere, "gird up the loins of our minds," &c. And ye shall eat it in haste.] As not doubting of deliverance, and waiting a call out of life. It is the Lord’ s Passover.] A sacramental expression, like that of our Saviour, "This is my body". The sacraments of the Old Testament were both sacraments and types: but those of the New, are sacraments only.

(11) Thus shall ye eat it.—The injunctions which follow are not repeated in any later part of the Law, and were not generally regarded as binding at any Passover after the first. They all had reference to the impending departure of the Israelites, who were to eat the Passover prepared as for a journey. The long robe (beged), usually allowed to flow loosely around the person, was to be gathered together, and fastened about the loins with a girdle; sandals, not commonly worn inside the house, were to be put on the feet, and a walking-stick was to be held in one hand. The meal was to be eaten “in haste,” as liable to be interrupted at any moment by a summons to quit Egypt and set out for Canaan. Some such attitude befits Christians at all times, since they know not when the summons may come to them requiring them to quit the Egypt of this world and start for the heavenly country. It is the Lord’s passover.—The word “passover” (pesakh) is here used for the first time. It is supposed by some to be of Egyptian origin, and to signify primarily “a spreading out of wings, so as to protect. But the meaning “pass over” is still regarded by many of the best Hebraists as the primary and most proper sense, and the word itself as Semitic. It occurs in the geographic name Tiphsach (Thapsacus), borne by the place where it was usual to cross, or “pass over,” the Euphrates.

Verse 11. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded] As in the eastern countries they wear long loose garments, whenever they travel they tuck up the fore parts of their garments in the girdle which they wear round their loins. Your shoes on your feet] This seems particularly mentioned because not customary. "The easterns throw off their shoes when they eat, because it would be troublesome," says Sir J. Chardin, "to keep their shoes upon their feet, they sitting cross-legged on the floor, and having no hinder quarters to their shoes, which are made like slippers; and as they do not use tables and chairs as we do in Europe, but have their floors covered with carpets, they throw off their shoes when they enter their apartments, lest they should soil those beautiful pieces of furniture." On the contrary the Israelites were to have their shoes on, because now about to commence their journey. It was customary among the Romans to lay aside their shoes when they went to a banquet. The servants took them off them when they entered the house, and returned them when they departed to their own habitations. Your staff in your hand] The same writer observes that the eastern people universally make use of a staff when they travel on foot. Ye shall eat it in haste] Because they were suddenly to take their departure: the destroying angel was at hand, their enemies were coming against them, and they had not a moment to lose. It is the Lord's passover.] That is, Jehovah is now about to pass over the land, and the houses only where the blood is sprinkled shall be safe from the stroke of death. The Hebrew word פסח pesach, which we very properly translate PASSOVER, and which should always be pronounced as two words, has its name from the angel of God passing by or over the houses of the Israelites, on the posts and lintels of which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, while he stopped at the houses of the Egyptians to slay their first-born.

11. The Israelites are to partake of the Passover completely prepared for their departure. your loins girded] The long and loose robes of Orientals, when they wish to move rapidly, are fastened up round the waist with a strong girdle: cf. 1 Kings 18:46, 2 Kings 4:29; 2 Kings 9:1. your sandals on your feet] ready for a journey. Sandals were not worn in the house. your staff in your hand] a staff was regularly used in walking. and ye shall eat it in trepidation] in mingled hurry and alarm. ‘Haste’ alone is not adequate: notice the cognate verb in Deuteronomy 20:3 (‘tremble’), 1 Samuel 23:26, Psalms 48:5 (RVm.). Cf. the same word in Deuteronomy 16:3, and Isaiah 52:12 (where the coming exodus from Babylon is not to be ‘in trepidation’). it is a passover (Heb. pιsaḥ ?) to Jehovah. The form of sentence, as vv. 27, 42, Exodus 29:18 a, 18b, Exodus 30:10, &c. In vv. 13 (see note), 23, 27, the term pιsaḥ ? is explained by means of the cognate verb in the sense of a passing over (cf. Aq. here ὑπέρβασις); but it is uncertain whether this is the original meaning of the term. The LXX. render by πάσχα, ‘pascha,’ from the Aramaic form of the word: so in NT. (e.g. Matthew 26:17). The Vulg. has in the OT. Phase, in the NT. Pascha; hence our adj. ‘Paschal.’ On the Heb. word, see further p. 408.

These instructions are understood by the Jews to apply only to the first Passover, when they belonged to the occasion. There is no trace of their observance at any later time.

10, 11. Let nothing of it remain — It was sacred to this special use, and was not to be profaned.