Exo 12:2-3 | KingComments | STEP | The fact that Israel did not suffer most of the previous plagues is grace. However, in the final plague, the judgment of the firstborn, there is no distinction between Egypt and Israel. The firstborn of Israel are as much subject to judgment as those of Egypt. Before we know what salvation is, we must first know what judgment is. The institution of the Passover comes from God. The Passover is God’s starting point to 1. guide the people through the Red Sea, 2. lead them through the wilderness, and finally 3. bring them to the promised land. The LORD speaks as Judge. That He is both for Egypt and for His people. For His people He is also the Savior. He speaks about the Passover while the people are still in Egypt. The Passover is the only feast Israel has celebrated in Egypt. It is the beginning of a new era. It is the beginning of God’s relationship with His people on the basis of salvation. Now the people can go to serve God. This is the first month of the religious calendar of Israel, the month of Abib ( ). Abib means ‘fresh, young ears’, for example from the barley. In the civil year it is the seventh month at that moment. This new calendar gives the Israelites a new identity as the beloved people of the true God.

‏ Exodus 12:2-3

Introduction

The fact that Israel did not suffer most of the previous plagues is grace. However, in the final plague, the judgment of the firstborn, there is no distinction between Egypt and Israel. The firstborn of Israel are as much subject to judgment as those of Egypt. Before we know what salvation is, we must first know what judgment is.

The institution of the Passover comes from God. The Passover is God’s starting point to

1. guide the people through the Red Sea,

2. lead them through the wilderness, and finally

3. bring them to the promised land.

A New Beginning

The LORD speaks as Judge. That He is both for Egypt and for His people. For His people He is also the Savior. He speaks about the Passover while the people are still in Egypt. The Passover is the only feast Israel has celebrated in Egypt.

It is the beginning of a new era. It is the beginning of God’s relationship with His people on the basis of salvation. Now the people can go to serve God. This is the first month of the religious calendar of Israel, the month of Abib (Exo 13:4). Abib means ‘fresh, young ears’, for example from the barley. In the civil year it is the seventh month at that moment. This new calendar gives the Israelites a new identity as the beloved people of the true God.

A Lamb

Moses must speak to “all the congregation of Israel”, an expression that is being used here for the first time. It indicates the unity of God’s people. On the tenth day, the beginning of the three-day darkness, every household must take a lamb into their house. God’s redemption of His people as a whole is known and seen in the households.

The world does not see what the church does when it meets, but it does see what happens in the households of the believers. The lamb must have the central place in the household. For three days the whole family can observe the lamb. The significance of the household is highlighted in this chapter in a special way.

The lamb must be there for three days. On the fourteenth day it must be killed. The Lord Jesus, the true Passover (1Cor 5:7b), we also can observe during the three years of His walk on earth. We see this when we read the Gospels. Then we always have to remember that He is on His way to the cross to be slaughtered there. We can think of His death especially on Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

If a household is too small, it can share a lamb with its neighbors. The lamb is the standard. We must comply with the Lamb, not the other way around. Each household enjoys the Lord Jesus to different degrees. If there is much enjoyed, one can let others share in it.

The lamb must be taken from the sheep or from the goats. The sheep is usually used as a burnt offering, the goat as a sin offering. It has to be “unblemished”, there may be no defect on it. The Lord Jesus is the true burnt offering and the true sin offering. He is “a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1Pet 1:19). He is the One “who committed no sin” (1Pet 2:22), “who knew no sin” (2Cor 5:21), and of Whom is true: “In Him there is no sin” (1Jn 3:5). All this can only be said of Him. Therefore John the baptist could point at Him and say: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

It must be a male lamb, a year old. This relates to the manly power with which the Lord Jesus accomplished the work on the cross. We also see in the word “a year old” an indication of tenderness, sweetness. So the Lord Jesus was as well. Will the children in a household not have observed the lamb like this?