Exodus 12:1-20 comments: a lamb, the lamb, your lamb

12:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 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: 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. 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: 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. 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. 8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

God lays out the beginnings of the Hebrew calendar. The month that they leave Egypt is to be the first month. The Jewish month, Nissan, runs through our March and April.

Verses 3,4, & 5 give us an understanding of Christ.

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: 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. 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:

He is a lamb, a sacrifice and ransom to God, the propitiation to satisfy God’s wrath for mankind’s sins against Him. He is the lamb, the only way to salvation. He is your lamb, who died for your sins on the cross at Calvary and rose for your justification.

Every man’s lamb was kept from the tenth day to the fourteenth day of the first month, at which time it was killed. Its blood was smeared on the side posts and on the header. There were specific rules as to how it should be cooked and eaten. Nothing was wasted and nothing was left. It was to be eaten with the person dressed ready to leave quickly.

This was to be called the Lord’s Passover. God is going to pass through the land of Egypt and kill the firstborn of man and beast. Even the gods of Egypt are being judged which is another reference to events going on in the spirit world that we cannot see. This is evident in descriptions in Revelation also that fundamentalists often try to make as events and persons in the physical world in which we live but seem clearly as things not visible to us but causing visible things, seen only from the heavenly realm itself. Again, here is another proof that there are events going on that we cannot see.

2Kings 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16  And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

God will pass over and spare the Hebrews by virtue of the blood on their doorposts. It is the blood of their lamb that saves them and God’s recognition of it, nothing else. He didn’t say, “I’m going to spare you because you are a wonderful people of whom I am so proud.” No, it is the blood of a lamb, the lamb, their lamb that saves them.

This day is to be memorialized and never forgotten with a week of remembrance bracketed by the people drawing together in a holy convocation, an assembly, like a special church meeting today. For seven days they would eat unleavened bread, a symbol of their hasty flight and unpolluted. Leavened bread was a symbol for Christ of the pollution of the Pharisees, the religious elite of His day on earth, of God’s commandments in Luke 12:1.

Leaven is something added to dough, typically yeast, to make it ferment and rise. It would be something added to Biblical doctrine, for instance, additional rules God never intended.

Matthew 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

It renders faith meaningless to God. For instance, in prescribing long prayers to feel spiritual.

Matthew 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

It includes things that may have their uses but makes them a sign of your faithfulness to God when they are not something He required.

Mark 7:1 ¶  Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. 2  And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. 3  For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.

For instance, wearing a business suit to church may satisfy a man’s conviction to dress his best when he comes to church but when he makes it a doctrine for proof that another Christian who does not share that belief is not genuinely committed to worshipping God he, like a Pharisee, mingles leaven with God’s words.

There are many other things that can be included in this comparison like certain rituals, church words, ceremonial observances, and demands on time and money that would have been impossible for early Christians. The most striking leaven, though, would be to add something to the simplicity of Biblical Salvation in order to distinguish your doctrine from other people’s worship. You are probably about to add leaven after you say or think something like, “If they were real Christians they would…..”

This would be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For one week from the 14^th through the 21^st of the month only unleavened bread would be eaten. There was to be no leaven at all in their homes.

Luke 22:1  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.