The First Passover

Chapter 12: 14-27, 43:51, and 13:1-16

This passage introduces the feast of the Passover, which is still celebrated, with some modifications, by the Jews. It commemorates the passage of the LORD over the houses of the Israelites who had brushed their lamb's blood on the lintel and two doorposts of their homes (verse 13) , sparing their firstborn from death.

Some details were added in the law which Moses received from the LORD (Numbers 9:10, 11, 28:16-24, Leviticus 23:10-14, Deuteronomy 16:2, 5, 6, 2 Chronicles 30:16), and time also included the cup (Luke 22:17, 20), and the sauce (John 13:26).

It is the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 23:15, Mark 14:1, Acts 12:3), lasting one week, so called because no bread made with yeast is allowed during this week, nor is it allowed to have leaven at home (Exodus 12:15).

Passover is celebrated after sunset, which, for them, is the beginning of a new day, in this case the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Both this first day and the last, the seventh, are sanctified as if they were Saturdays. The lamb eventually came to be called Passover (Mark 14:12-14, 1 Corinthians 5:7).

The party had to be celebrated every year, perpetually, throughout their generations, as a solemnity to the LORD.

The paschal lamb was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7).

It had to be a lamb, and Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29), so also called the Book of Revelation, meek ??and innocent, silent before the shearers, the executioners.
It had to be a male of the first year (Exodus 12:5), in full strength. Christ offered himself as a sacrifice in his early maturity, with all His strength and vitality.
It should be without blemish (Exodus 12:5). It is the description of the Lord Jesus, a Lamb without spot (1 Peter 1:19). The judge who condemned Him (like the lamb which should be examined for sacrifice) declared Him to be innocent.
Once chosen, it had to be kept within the family, for four days before its sacrifice, thus confirming its health (verses 3 and 6). The Lord Jesus spent more than three years after his baptism ministering among the people of Israel, when everyone, including his enemies, had the opportunity to verify his holiness (Luke 11:53,54, John 8:46, 18:38, 1 Peter 1:19). He also entered Jerusalem on the same day that the people chose their lamb four days before Passover.
The lamb was to be slain, and roasted in the fire (verses 6-9). Fire in the Bible represents God's punishment, and this fell on Christ when He bore our sin (John 12:24,27, Hebrews 9:22).
The sacrifice of the lamb was to be made at twilight, literally between the afternoons, by all the congregation of Israel (verse 6). The whole multitude of Jews in Jerusalem (who came from all over to country) shouted "crucify Him" ??(Luke 23:18), and He was crucified in the afternoon, on the eve of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
None of the bones of the lamb was to be broken (v. 46). This was also prophesied concerning the Messiah (Psalm 34:20), and faithfully fulfilled (John 19:33,36).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, beginning with the celebration of Passover, is a prophetic figure of the remission made by Christ of the sins of those who believe in Him (Exodus 12:1-28, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:6, 7, 1 Peter 1: 18, 19):

The blood had to put on the door of each house (Exodus 12:7). To save ourselves through the sacrifice made by Christ on the cross, it is necessary that each one of us individually take the step of receiving Him personally (John 3:36, Hebrews 9:22).
The blood thus applied, in itself constituted the perfect protection from punishment (Exodus 12:13). The blood of Christ is all sufficient to justify us (1 John 1:7, Hebrews 10:10,14).
Hyssop is a common plant of the mint family and is used in the purification of lepers (Leviticus 14:2-7), in the purification of pests (Leviticus 14:49-52) and in the sacrifice of the red heifer (Numbers 19:2 -6). Hyssop is a figure of faith, by which alone can we be cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Unleavened bread is a type of Christ, the Bread of Life (Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). To keep the Feast was a duty and a privilege, but it did not affect the safety of the participants: the loaves were not eaten on the night the firstborn were saved from death, but later (Exodus 12:34-39). It is only possible to grow in our spiritual life in Christ after our conversion and new birth: by then we have eternal life and are no longer exposed to judgement and sentencing by God.
The leaven had to be removed from homes. During the seven days, if someone was caught eating leavened bread, he must be expelled (Exodus 12:19). The word leaven appears 21 times in the Bible, and is a symbol of corruption and evil (Matthew 16:6, 11; Mark 8:15, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8). Its use was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the LORD (Leviticus 2:11, 7:12; 8:2, Numbers 6:15). The LORD said in a parable that "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33). Leaven represents the evil that comes inside a church, contaminating all (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
It was to be eaten with bitter herbs (v. 8), remembering the suffering of Egypt. Also when we are nourished by the Word of God, we remember the suffering under the yoke of sin, which was lifted from us.
It should be eaten hastily, in readiness for the journey (verse 11). We must always be vigilant, knowing that we might leave this world at any time: here we have no permanent city, but we seek one that is to come (Hebrews 13:14).

To consecrate means to dedicate to God, giving him their property. The consecration described in Chapter 13, Verses 2 and 11 to 16 was introduced so the people always remembered their deliverance by means of the blood of the lamb.

The month of Abib, beginning approximately at the equinox of March 21, became the first month of the Israelite ecclesiastical calendar, being the seventh of their calendar year. It came to be called Nisan after their captivity (Nehemiah 2:1). The lamb was sacrificed on the afternoon of the 15th day of Abib and eaten at night when the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. It could fall on any day of the week, and it is estimated that it was a Wednesday when Christ was crucified.

The ritual of consecration has three objectives:

To remind the Israelites of how God had spared His children and animals from death and freed all of them from servitude.
God showed that, unlike the pagan gods of antiquity, He did not want human sacrifices.
It symbolized the day when Jesus Christ would buy us, paying, at once, the price of our sin (1 Peter 1:18-19).

R David Jones

14 'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.
17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.' "
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.
26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'
27 that you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.' " So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Exo 12:43 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.
44 But every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.
45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.
46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to 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 a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you."
50 Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51 And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

Exo 13:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine."
3 And Moses said to the people: "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
4 On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.
5 And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.
6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.
8 And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.'
9 It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD's law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.
10 You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
11 "And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you,
12 that you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD's.
13 But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.
14 So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is this?' that you shall say to him, 'By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.'
16 It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

Exodus chapter 12 verses 14 to 27 and 43 to 51, and chapter 13 verses 1 to 16