Exodus 12

On the eve of Israel’s release, God gives the Passover. A spotless lamb is killed, its blood is put on the doorframes, and its meat is eaten in readiness to leave. That night judgment falls on Egypt’s firstborn and on its gods, but the houses marked with blood are spared. Pharaoh finally lets the people go, and God brings them out on the very day He had appointed.

Exodus 12:1-2

God speaks to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt. He makes this month the start of Israel’s year. Their rescue is so central that time itself begins over. Their life as God’s redeemed people starts with His act of deliverance.

BSA: beginning (“head, chief”): This month becomes the head of all the months, first in rank as well as in order.

Hebrew: רֹאשׁ (rosh, H7218) — “head.” The Hebrew word for ‘beginning’ is literally ‘head’. This month stands at the head of the year, and redemption stands at the head of Israel’s life.

Exodus 12:3-4

On the tenth day each household chooses a lamb. A household too small to finish one shares with its nearest neighbor. No one is left out, and the whole congregation takes part together in what God is about to do.

BSA: share (“divide, distribute”): Households divide the lamb among themselves, so no family is left without a share in the deliverance.

Exodus 12:5

The lamb must be a healthy male in its first year. God asks for a good animal, not a leftover. It may come from the sheep or the goats. The offering must be worth something to the one who gives it.

BSA: unblemished (“without defects, flawless”): The animal must be without fault, which points to the costliness of the offering.

Hebrew: תָּמִים (tamim, H8549) — “complete, without defect.” The word means whole and sound, not merely ’no spots’. It is the same word used for blameless people, and the New Testament sees Christ in it.

See also: 1 Peter 1:18-19.

Exodus 12:6

The lamb is kept four days, from the tenth to the fourteenth. The family gets to know it before it is killed. Then the whole assembly of Israel slaughters the lambs at twilight, all together, so the whole nation shares in the act.

BSA: keep (“as a charge, a sacred trust”): The lamb is a trust held for God, to be watched over until the appointed hour.

Exodus 12:7

The blood is put on the two sides and the top of the doorframe of each house. Everything depends on this. The household inside is marked as belonging to those whom God will spare.

See also: Hebrews 11:28.

Exodus 12:8

The meat is eaten that same night, roasted, with flat bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. The bitter herbs recall the hard years of slavery. The bread speaks of leaving in a hurry. The meal joins grief and rescue.

BSA: bitter herbs (“with a strong bitter taste”): The sharp taste helps them remember how bitter their bondage had been.

Hebrew: מְרֹרִים (merorim, H4844) — “bitter herbs.” The word comes from the root for ‘bitter’. Earlier in Exodus the same root describes how the Egyptians made their lives bitter with hard labor.

Exodus 12:9-10

The lamb is to be roasted whole and not boiled. Nothing is to be left until morning, and any remainder is burned. The meal is solemn and complete, and nothing holy is to be treated casually afterward.

BSA: burn up (“completely destroy with flames, set on fire”): Leftovers of this sacred meal are not kept or discarded but wholly consumed by fire.

Exodus 12:11

They eat dressed for the road, with sandals on, staff in hand, and in a hurry. They are to eat like people who are leaving. God is about to free them, and they are to be ready to go the moment He opens the way.

BSA: dressed (“with your loins girded, prepared for travel”): Long robes were tucked into the belt so a person could walk or work freely.

Hebrew: פֶּסַח (pesach, H6453) — “Passover; a passing over.” The name comes from a verb meaning to pass over or spare. The feast is named for what God did, not for what the people did.

Exodus 12:12

God Himself will pass through Egypt that night and strike every firstborn, human and animal. He will also judge the gods of Egypt. The false powers the Egyptians trusted are shown to be nothing before Him.

BSA: judgment (“sentence, decision”): This is a formal ruling from the true Judge, not a random disaster.

See also: Numbers 33:4.

Exodus 12:13

The blood on the houses is a sign. When God sees it, He passes over, and the plague does not touch that house. Safety rests on God’s word and on the blood He appointed, not on the worthiness of the people inside.

BSA: pass over (“spare, protect”): God does more than skip the house. He shields and protects those under the blood.

See also: Romans 3:25; 1 Peter 1:18-19.

Exodus 12:14

This day is to be remembered every year as a feast to the LORD. Israel must never forget what God did. By keeping the feast, each new generation looks back to the rescue as its own story.

BSA: memorial (“remembrance, reminder”): The yearly feast keeps the great rescue fresh in the people’s minds.

Hebrew: זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron, H2146) — “remembrance.” The word means more than recalling a past event. It means keeping an act of God present, so that each generation stands in it again.

Exodus 12:15

For seven days they eat bread without yeast, and on the first day they clear all leaven from their houses. Anyone who ignores this is to be cut off from Israel. The command is serious. It marks a clean break with the old life.

BSA: remove (“completely, put away”): The leaven is to be put away entirely, not just reduced.

Hebrew: וְנִכְרְתָה (venikhretah, H3772) — “and shall be cut off.” The verb ’to cut’ is the same one used for ‘cutting’ a covenant. Here it means a person separates himself from the covenant people by despising the feast.

See also: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.

Exodus 12:16

The first and seventh days are sacred assemblies, set apart for God. No ordinary work is allowed, except preparing food. The people are taught to stop, gather and give attention to what God has done.

BSA: sacred (“holy, set-apart”): The assembly is set apart from common use for God alone.

Exodus 12:17

The feast marks the day God brought Israel out as ranks of an organized people, not as a mob. He is the one who brought them out, and they keep the feast in gratitude for what He did.

BSA: divisions (“armies, hosts, tribal groups”): Israel leaves in orderly companies, like an army marching under God’s command.

Hebrew: צִבְאוֹתֵיכֶם (tsivotekhem, H6635) — “your hosts, your armies.” A word often used for armies. A people of slaves is brought out as God’s own host.

Exodus 12:18-20

The Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from the evening of the fourteenth to the evening of the twenty-first. No leaven may be found in any house, and the rule applies to native and foreigner alike. The whole household and the whole land keep it.

BSA: leavened (“containing yeast”): Anything made with yeast, even a little, is forbidden for the seven days.

See also: Leviticus 23:5-8.

Exodus 12:21-22

Moses passes God’s instructions to the elders. The lambs are killed and the blood is brushed on the doorframes with a bunch of hyssop. No one goes out until morning. Inside the house, under the blood, is the place of safety.

BSA: hyssop (“a plant used for purification”): Hyssop was used elsewhere in Israel’s worship for cleansing, so the blood is applied as a means of purification as well as protection.

Hebrew: אֵזוֹב (ezov, H231) — “hyssop.” A small bushy plant with a leafy stem, well suited to dipping and sprinkling. It appears again in Israel’s rites of cleansing.

See also: Psalm 51:7.

Exodus 12:23

God promises to pass through to strike Egypt, but when He sees the blood He will not let the destroyer enter. The blood on the door is the line between judgment and safety.

BSA: destroyer (“the angel of death, bringer of ruin”): This is a messenger of ruin acting under God’s command, never beyond it.

Hebrew: הַמַּשְׁחִית (hammashchit, H7843) — “the destroyer.” It comes from a verb meaning to ruin or corrupt. The one who destroys is held back at every marked door.

Exodus 12:24-25

The feast is to last for the generations. When Israel enters the promised land, they are to keep this service. God’s promise of a land is certain, and He expects them to remember who gave it to them.

BSA: service (“act of worship, ritual”): The Passover is worship offered to God, not just a custom.

Exodus 12:26-27

When children ask what the service means, parents are to tell the story: the LORD passed over Israelite houses and spared them. The feast teaches faith through the family table. The people bow in worship when they hear it.

See also: Joshua 4:6-7.

Exodus 12:28

The people carry out exactly what God had commanded through Moses and Aaron. After the worship, they obey. Their faith shows itself in doing what He said, before the outcome is seen.

BSA: did (“obeyed, carried out”): They actually carried out each instruction as given.

Exodus 12:29

At midnight the LORD strikes every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh’s heir on the throne to the prisoner’s child in the dungeon, and the firstborn of livestock too. No rank in Egypt can stop it. This is the last of the ten plagues.

BSA: midnight (“in the middle of the night, at the darkest hour”): The judgment falls in the deepest dark, when no one could prevent it.

See also: Exodus 4:22-23.

Exodus 12:30

Pharaoh and all Egypt rise in the night, and a great cry goes up, for every house has a death. The ruler who refused to listen now has to face the cost of his hardness.

BSA: wailing (“great”): The grief is total and covers the whole land.

Exodus 12:31-32

Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron in the night and tells them to go, with the people, flocks and herds, as they had asked. He even asks for a blessing. The man who said no to God now gives way in full.

BSA: bless (“praise, honor”): Pharaoh, humbled, asks the people of the true God to speak good over him.

Exodus 12:33

The Egyptians press the Israelites to leave quickly, afraid that they will all die. The people who held them in slavery now urge them out the door, as God had said they would.

BSA: urged (“forced, pressed upon”): The Egyptians pushed with real force to be rid of them.

Exodus 12:34

They take their dough before it has risen, carrying their kneading bowls on their shoulders wrapped in clothing. The hurry is plain. There was no time to wait for the bread to rise.

BSA: leavened (“before it had risen, became sour”): The dough was not left to rise, so the bread stayed flat.

See also: Deuteronomy 16:3.

Exodus 12:35-36

The Israelites ask the Egyptians for silver, gold and clothing, as Moses had told them, and the LORD gives them such favor that the Egyptians hand it over. This fulfills what God had said long before, and it is payment for their years of unpaid labor.

BSA: favor (“graciousness, kindness”): God changed Egyptian hearts so they gave freely.

See also: Genesis 15:14; Exodus 3:21-22.

Exodus 12:37-38

About 600,000 men on foot set out from Rameses to Succoth, besides women and children. A mixed crowd of others goes with them, and many flocks and herds. God’s promise to make Abraham’s family a great people is visible.

BSA: mixed multitude (“of diverse backgrounds, a great rabble”): Non-Israelites of many backgrounds joined the exodus, having seen what God did.

Hebrew: עֵרֶב רַב (erev rav, H6153) — “a great mixture.” It means a large, mingled company. Other peoples chose to cast in their lot with Israel’s God.

Exodus 12:39

With no time to let it rise, they bake the dough into flat loaves. They were driven out so suddenly that they had made no provisions. What began as a command for a feast is now also the plain truth of how they left.

BSA: driven out (“expelled, thrust”): They were forced out, not allowed to pack at leisure.

Exodus 12:40-41

Israel’s stay in Egypt was 430 years, and on the very day it ended, all the LORD’s divisions left. God keeps His promises to the day. Nothing in Israel’s long bondage escaped His timetable.

BSA: divisions (“hosts, armies, companies”): The people leave as the Lord’s own ranked hosts, not as scattered fugitives.

See also: Genesis 15:13; Galatians 3:17.

Exodus 12:42

The LORD kept watch that night to bring them out. So the same night is to be kept as a night of watching by all Israel in every generation. God stayed awake for His people, and they are to remember it.

BSA: vigil (“night watch, careful watching”): God kept a watchful guard over His people through the whole night.

Hebrew: שִׁמֻּרִים (shimmurim, H8107) — “watchings, night observance.” It comes from the verb ’to guard’. God guarded Israel that night, and Israel now guards the memory of it.

Exodus 12:43-45

God gives rules for who may eat the Passover. Foreigners, temporary residents and hired workers may not. A purchased slave may, once circumcised. The meal belongs to those who are part of the covenant household.

BSA: circumcised (“cut off, consecrated”): Circumcision marked a man as set apart to God and belonging to His covenant.

See also: Genesis 17:12-13.

Exodus 12:46

The lamb is to be eaten inside one house, with none of the meat taken outside, and no bone of it broken. The whole family shares one meal under one roof. The unbroken bones were later seen as pointing to Christ.

BSA: break (“shatter or rupture”): The lamb’s body is to be kept intact, not smashed.

See also: John 19:36; Psalm 34:20.

Exodus 12:47-49

All Israel is to keep the feast. A foreigner who wants to join must have his males circumcised, and then he is treated like a native. One law applies to both. The door into God’s people is open to those who truly join.

BSA: foreigner (“sojourner, temporary resident”): An outsider living among Israel may be welcomed in if he comes under the covenant.

See also: Numbers 9:14.

Exodus 12:50-51

The Israelites do just as the LORD commanded, and on that very day He brings them out of Egypt by their divisions. The chapter closes with God as the deliverer, and with a people who followed His instructions and were brought out.

BSA: brought (“the selfsame day, at the exact moment”): The deliverance happens exactly on the day God had set.

See also: Exodus 6:6.