The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a Spring festival which lasted for either seven or eight days, depending on your point of view. Prior to that week, Israel was to “clean house,” moving out all forms of corruption and leaven. Then, on the first day of the feast, families, or groups of families, were to sacrifice their Passover lamb. So the first day of Unleavened Bread was the day of the Passover. Here in Matthew, and also essentially in Mark and Luke, we read – “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? Then two verses later we find, “and the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.”
As I was meditating on these verses, asking the Lord for an outline for this message, a thought struck me. One of those old incandescent “light bulbs” popped up over my head. Just as Jesus and the disciples made preparations for this Passover, so did Moses about fifteen hundred years earlier. When I couldn’t really find a sermon from our text, I decided to make this a Bible study of Exodus 12:1-14. Please turn to page 76 in your Bibles – Exodus 12.
But while you do that there is one word from Matthew 26 which I’d like to emphasize. More properly, it’s a word NOT found in Matthew 26 – “And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.” Does it mean anything to you that the disciples didn’t prepare FOR the Passover? They prepared the Passover itself – or they prepared the Passover HIMSELF. For Christians, the Passover is not a day or a festival, but the Person of our Saviour. Please keep that in mind as we proceed through Exodus 12.
Exodus 12:1 and 2 – “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Before the Exodus, the calendar Israel had been using started with Tishri – in autumn. Some people think that this was what they had learned from the Egyptians, with whom they had been living for the previous four hundred years.. But I understand that Israel believed that God created the earth in autumn, and that was the source of their original calendar.
But now the Lord was changing the year around, starting the ecclesiastical year in the spring. Isn’t there real significance in this change? In one sense, God created the physical universe, and let’s say that it was on September 28. But Israel was reborn – born again – at a different time of the year. David Oldfield was physically born on September 28, 1949, but he was born again on a different day during the year 1963. Deuteronomy 16:1 – “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.” Abib became the first month in the sequential order of months, but also become the first in importance. Don’t the Passover and the Exodus illustrate salvation from sin? This is where real life begins – this is the source of eternal life. MY physical birth was Tishri, but in a sense my new birth was when Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God was sacrificed at the Passover. I may be 65 years old in the flesh, but it might be said that I’m only 50 years old in the Lord.
Why does Esther 3:7 say that “Nisan” was the first month of the year? That was the Chaldean name for “Abib.” It’s correct to say that Passover is either Abib or Nisan, but we know it to be in the spring.
Verse 3 – Speak ye unto 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 an house: When Joshua led Israel across the Jordan and they reached the Promised Land, they did two things: First the men were circumcised, and then on the 14th of Abib the nation celebrated the Passover. Joshua 4:19 tells us that it was on the tenth day of Abib that Israel entered the Promised Land. And it was on that day that each Israelite family was to select and set aside their Passover sacrifice.
Two weeks ago, someone asked me if the Passover had to be a lamb, and I quickly answered that it did. But I have to correct my answer and make an apology – old age is setting in and my memory is not what it once was. The word “lamb” in this verse is “sey” and means only a “small grazing animal” – not specifically a lamb. Now look at verse 5 – “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats.”
In the years after Joshua, Israel didn’t specifically separate their sacrifice four days prior to Passover. The explanation was that once they were settled in the land, they were better prepared for the Passover, and this wasn’t really necessary, because they already knew which were the best of their flocks. I’ll let you think about whether or not they broke the law in not doing this later in their history.
Verse 4 – “And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.” What was going to happen on the day following the sacrifice of the first Passover? Was Israel supposed to take lamb leftovers for their trip to the Promised Land? No, all of the Passover lamb was supposed to be consumed in one of two ways – eaten or burned up.
So how many people would it take to eat an average sized yearling lamb? I am told that it could feed up to twenty people. If a family was young and still small, with only three or four members it would be difficult to eat an entire lamb, even if it was a very small animal. So families were given the opportunity to join with their neighbors for the sacrifice and the meal. Later Jewish writings established the preferred number of participants between ten and twenty. I have noticed that some Bible commentaries apply this invitation of the neighbors to the presentation of the gospel to the Gentiles.
Verse 5 – “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:” The statement “male of the first year” is literally “son of a year” and could mean anywhere from eight days to three hundred days old. So this animal could have been almost new born, or a pretty good size after a year of grazing. Lambs eventually became the preferred Passover animal, but lambs were not demanded. As you can see goats were perfectly acceptable, and there is some question even about other kinds of cattle.
Later, some of the Jews established a fifty point check list for determining a blemishless animal. They would look at ears, feet, coloration, eyes, nose – all sorts of things. Why was the animal supposed to be without blemish? Because it was to depict the perfect sacrifice that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Malachi 1:8, 14 – “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” I Peter 1:18-19 – “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Verse 6 – “And ye 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.” Why was the lamb supposed to be separated from the flock for four days? Was for inspection? In many cases that animal was kept inside the family home. How would you like that, mom?
Remember that in the early days of Exodus, there wasn’t yet a tribe in Israel ordained to work as priests. It was the head of the house, or the host, who killed the animal and sprinkled his blood. And was this done on the usual altar? There was no altar. The sacrifice of the Passover was not a Levitical sacrifice in the true sense of the word. And this raises some interesting questions, for which I haven’t yet found answers: Did the disciples take their Passover lamb to the temple for sacrifice? Did one of them slay him, did a priest, or was it left to the Lord Jesus? Wouldn’t Christ’s slaying of the lamb be appropriate, since He lay down his own life for the sheep?
There is a lot of theological discussion about the definition of the “evening.” Some say that it means anytime after the sun begins to go down, i.e. from noon to dark. Some say from mid-afternoon until the sun disappears. Some say from the moment the sun touches the horizon until it can’t be seen any longer. Since the Lord didn’t declare any real specifics, I’m not sure that a precise minute was intended. But I think that personally, I would have tried to determine when the sun was to hit the horizon.
Verse 7 – “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” I have heard preachers say that putting the blood on the two sides and upper lintel pictured the cross. Being naive and gullible, I have probably said the same thing myself. But today, I fail to see how a door can look like a cross. I think that it’s a mistake to squeeze too much out of an illustration, even a Biblical illustration. On the other hand, doesn’t the Lord describe Himself as the door?
What was the means of this application? Hyssop – verse 22. We don’t get to determine either the source of our salvation or how it is to be applied. For example, it’s not by works of righteousness that we are saved, but by faith.
Verse 8 – “They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Generally speaking, the Jews preferred to eat pot roast, over barbeque or oven roasted meat. But, again, on this occasion the Lord was quite specific. There were sacrifices made by the Egyptians, particularly those to Osiris, which were eaten raw. Israel was to see to it that this meat was to be different from what they preferred or had seen in others. Roasting is a good illustration of the judgment which was laid upon the Saviour on our behalf, although I don’t see too much difference between that and boiling.
One of most memorable Passover seasons mentioned in the Bible took place during the days of Josiah. It sheds a little light on the way things were done years after the Exodus. II Chronicles 35:1, 11-13 – “Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them. And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.”
The meal was to include unleavened bread– this was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven makes bread and cakes lighter, fluffier, tastier and perhaps nicer. But it is also an unnecessary foreign substance in the bread. The Hebrew word for “unleavened bread” is “matsah.” You can find Matsah crackers in the some grocery stores. As I am sure you know, leaven is an allegory of sin. I Corinthians 5:6-8 – Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
What are these bitter herbs? They were things like wild lettuce and chicory. Have you ever munched on raw dandelion leaves? This is how I think of these bitter herbs. This was not supposed to be a feast in the Thanksgiving Day sort of way. It was supposed to remind them of their salvation and from what they had been saved. Turn to Deuteronomy 16:1-7 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.”
Verse 9 – “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.” From what I have been able to determine, this lamb was only partially gutted. It had its digestive tract removed from it’s stomach on down, but the rest of the viscera: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, remained. “Purtenance” speaks of the main internal organs, but not necessarily the intestines. In this way it was possible to prepare the animal without breaking any bones.
The ancient preacher, Justin Martyr was a Samaritan by birth and personally familiar with the Passover. In a debate with a Jew, the subject of Christ the Passover was addressed. Martyr said that the front legs of the animal were spread apart in the sort of way that the crucifixion spread the arms of its victim. I’m not sure that this could be done without dislocating the shoulders of the lamb, but I don’t really know anything about the anatomy of sheep. It was prophesied that not a bone of our Saviour would be broken. But is there a command that the Passover Lamb could not have a bone broken? Whether or not Martyr was right, the lamb was hung over an open fire, probably on some sort of spit.
Verse 10 – “And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.” It was required on that first Passover that the entire animal be consumed, either by people or by fire. John Gill says that the implication is that we need all of Christ our sacrifice that we can get.
Verse 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.” The Passover is the exit visa that we need to go home, and the “gittin’ up mornin’” is about here. Like many civilized societies, Israelites usually took their shoes off upon entering their homes. At meals, people sat down or reclined and, if they had servants, they sometimes had their feet washed. But on this special occasion, everyone was supposed to be fully dressed. They were told to have their boots on and their jackets synched up tight. They are going home in a few hours.
And their eating of the sacrifice pointed out their real union with Christ the Saviour. We’re not talking about a ritualistic observance of salvation. This is life and death union with Christ.
Verse 12 – “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 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.” Some traditions say that there were a number of disasters which occurred that first 14th of Nisan. Some say that there was a terrible earthquake which destroyed Egypt’s temples and idols. It was similar to what happened to Dagon when it had a sleep-over with the Ark of the Covenant. The Jews say that Egypt’s molten gods melted, their wooden gods caught fire, their plaster gods crumbled and their stone gods cracked and were broken. After all, the exodus was really about the conflict between Jehovah and Satan. And this verse implies just that. Then that night God killed the first born sons of the people and the first male offspring of what domestic animals were left in Egypt.
Verse 13 – “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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 smite the land of Egypt.” The verse says that the blood not only had a message for the Lord, but also one for Israel as well. Not only did the Lord not visit the homes where the blood had been applied, but that blood was a positive testimony to Israel of the grace of the Lord.
Verse 14 – “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” Never again did Israel observe the Passover precisely in this same way. Even Joshua, who was there for the first observance, didn’t follow it exactly at Gilgal. For example, he didn’t have time to separate the lambs for four days. And Israel didn’t really have door posts and lintels in their tents. Besides, the Lord was not on that night sending His death angel. But the feast and memorial have been observed off and on during Israel’s history.
And why is it so important? It’s a depiction of the sacrifice of our Saviour for us. The Lord Jesus is not only our Atonement, but our Passover. We have life because through Him we are spared.
And what we read in Matthew 26 is a part of the Lord’s preparation for our redemption.