Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Dialk of the Fimt-Born Threatened, EXODUS XI, XII. The PaszQver InHtituted.
the beginning of months—the first not only in order, l)ut in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh ac- <-ording to the reckoning of the civil year, whicii began
the Lord—Ten i fled by the preternatural darkness, the Ktnbbt.>rii Uin<; relciit.s, uikI proposes anotlier coniproinlse—the flocks ami lienis to be left as hostai-es for tlieir return. Bat the crisis is approachiiiK, ami Mosis insists on every iota of his demand. Tlie eattle would be needed in (September, and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand tlrst in the national religious Near which began in March, April. 3. Speak ye unto all the eongregation of Israel—The recent events had pre|)ared the Israelitisli people for a crisis in their affairs, and they seem to have yielded implicit obedience at this time to Moses. It Is ol).servable that, amid all the hurry and bustle of such a departure, their serious attention was to be given to a solemn act of religion, a lamb lor an house —a kid might be taken {v, 5). The .service was to be a domestic one, for the deliverance was to be from an evil threatened to every house in Egypt. 4. If the household be too little for the lamb, Ac.—It appears from Joseiolius that ten persons were required to make up the pioper for sacrifice—liow many or liow few could not be known till their arrival at the scene of religious observance. Hut the emancipation of Israel from Kizyptian bondage was to Incomplete. SJ**. Pliaraoh said, . . . Get thee from me — The calm firmness of Moses provoked? tlie tyrant. Frantic with disappointmentand rae, with otl'enile<l and desperate malice, he ordered him from his presence, and forbade him ever to return. 39. Moses said, Thou ha>>t gpokcu well.
CHAPTER XI.
% cr. 1-10. Dkath of the FirstHoitN TuRFATr-xKn. 1. the I<ord said—rather HAD said unto Moses. II maybe inferred, therefore, that he had been apprised that the pascli;il <M)mmunion. every man, according to Ills enling— It is said that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb, by each indivitlual, wa.s about the size of an olive.
crisis was now arrived, that the nexi planue would so effectually humlde ami alarm the mind of I'haraoli, that he would " </)r«si them out thence altoi;etber;" and tliu* the word of Moses (ch. ID. 'JOi. must be rey:arded as a prediction.
.3. lamb . . . without blemish—The smallest deformity or defect made a lamb unfit for sacrifice—a type of Christ (Hebrews 7.2(1; 1 Peler I.ID). a male of the tirst year Christ in the prime of life. 6. keep it up until the fourteenth day, iVc.—Being selected from the rest of the flock
3, 0. Speak now tit Ihe ears of the pi ople—These verses, describing the communiciition which liad been made in private to Moses, are inserted here as a pareiitlii'sis, and it was to be separated four days before sacrifice; and for the same length of time was Christ under exjimination and his spotless innocence declared before the world, kill it in the evening—/. c, the interval between the sun s beginning to decline, and sunset, corresponding to our three o'clock in the afternoon. 7. take of the blood, and strike it on the tivo side-posts, &c.—as a sign of safety to those within. The po.sts must be considered of tents, in which the Israelites generally lived, though some might be in houses. Though the Israelites were sinners as well as the Egypti.aus, God was pleased to accept the substitution of a lamb—the blood of which being seen sprinkled on the door-posts, procured them mercy.
will be considered (cli. li 4. Tims salth the 1-ord, About midnight—Here is recorded.tlie announcement of the last pla-iue made in the most solemn nntnner to the liinfr, on whose hardened he.art all his jiaintul experience hud hitherto prtxluced no softening, at least no permanently good effect, will I go out liito the michit of Egypt^—lan<iua'j:e used after the manner of mi;n. 5. nil the first-horn In the land . . . shall «lie—The time, the suddenness, the dreadful severity of t his comin!< calamity, and the peculiar description of victims, bolli amonist men and Ijeasts, on whom it was to fall, would all contribute to asi Kravate it« character, the maid-servant that Is behind the n»lll--The Krindinj; of the meal for daily use in every household is commonly done by female slaves, and is considered the lowest employment. Two portable millstones are used for the inirpose, of which the uppermost is turned by a small wooden handle, and during the operation the inaiil sits behind the inill. 0. shall he a great cry thronghoiit all the la>4l— In the case of a death, people in the Kast set up loud wailings, and imagination may conceive what "a ^reat cry" would be raised when death would inv.ade every family in the kingdom. 7. against any of the cliildreu of Israel shall not a dog move his tongite—No town or village in Egypt or in the East generally is free from the nuisance of dogs, who prowl about the streets and make the most hideous noise at any passengers at night. What an emphatic significance does tlie knowledge of tliis circumstance give to this fact in the sacre<l record, that on the awful night that was coming, when the airsliould he rent
It was to be on the side-posts and upper door-posts, where it might be looked to, not on the threshold, where it might be trddilen under foot. This was an emblem of the blood of sprinkling (Hebrews 12. 2-1,29). 8. roast with fire—for the sake of expedition; and this difference was always observed between the cooking of the paschal lamb and the other offerings (2 Chronicles ;i5. 13). unlenvenetl bread—also for the sake of despatch (Deuteronomy l(i. 3), but as a kind of corruption (Luke 12. 1) there seems to have been a typical meaning under it (1 Corinthian.s o. 8). bitter herbs lit., bitters—to remind the Lsraelites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to whicli God's people are subject on account of sin. 9. Eat not of it raw i. e., with any blood remaining—a caveat against conformity to idolatrous practices. It was to be roasted whole, not a bone to be broken, and this pointed to Christ (John 19. 36). 10. let nothing of It remain untlJ the moi-ning—which might be applied in a superstitious manner, or allowed to putrefy, whicll in a hot climate would speedily have ensued; and which was not becoming in what had been offered to God.
with the piercing snrieksof mourners, so great and universal would be the panic inspired by the hand of God, that not a dog would move his tongue against the children of Israel ! 8. all these thy servants shall . . . bow down themselves iinto me—This should be the effect of the universal terror; the hearts of the proudest would be humbled and do reverential homage to God, in the person of His representative, went oiit ... In a great anger-Holy and righteous indignation at the duplicity, repeated falsehood, and hardened impenitence of the king; and this strong emotion was stirred in the bosom of Moses, not at the 111 reception given to himself, but the dishonour done to God (Matthew 19. 8 ; Ephesiaus 4. 26).
U-lt. The Rite OF THE Passover. 11. thus shall ye eat It ; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet,—as prepared for a journey. The first was done by the skirts of the loose outer cloth being drawn up and fastened in the girdle, so as to leave the leg and knee free for motion. As to the other, the Orientals never wear shoes in-doors, and the ancient Egyptians, as appears from the monuments, did not usually wear either shoes or sandals. These injunctions seem to have applied chiwfly to the first celebration of the rite. It is the Lord's passover—called by this name from the blood-marked dwellings of the Israelites being passed over figuratively by the destroying angel. 13. smite . . . gods of Egypt perhaps used here for princes and grandees. But, according to .lewish tradition, the Idols of Egypt were all on that night broken in pieces (see Numbers 1 ; Isaiah 19.1). 13, 14r. for a memorial, A-c.—The close analogy traceable in all points between the Jewish and Christian passoverH
CHAPTER XII.
Ver. 1-10. The Fas.sover In.stitutkd. 1. the Liord pake unto Moses—rather, had spoken unto Mo.ses and Aaron ; for it is evident that the communication here deeribed must have been made to them on or before the tenth of the moc th thU mouth shall be unto yon is seen also in the circumstance tlia* both festivals were