Read Exodus 12:1–28
Questions from the Scripture text: Who spoke to whom where (Exodus 12:1)? What did He establish (Exodus 12:2)? What were they to do on what day of this month (Exodus 12:3)? How many (Exodus 12:4)? What kind (Exodus 12:5)? How long was it to stay in the house (Exodus 12:6)? Then what were they to do? How many of them? At what time? What were they to do with some of the blood (Exodus 12:7)? How were they to cook it (Exodus 12:8a, Exodus 12:9)? With what were they to eat it (Exodus 12:8b)? How much had to be consumed in what two ways (Exodus 12:10)? In what manner were they to eat (Exodus 12:11)? What did the Lord call this meal? Who would pass through where (Exodus 12:12a)? What will He do to whom (verse 12b)? And against whom would he execute judgment (verse 12c)? Why (verse 12d)? What will the blood be (Exodus 12:13a)? How will the Lord respond to it (verse 13b)? With what result (verse 13c)? How long would this nation keep this feast (Exodus 12:14)? As what and to whom? How many days would they eat what (Exodus 12:15a)? What would they do the first day (verse 15b)? What would be done to non-compliers (verse 15c)? What would happen on the first day of the feast (Exodus 12:16a)? And what on what other day (verse 16b)? What mustn’t be done (verse 16c)? What will the Lord have done on this same day (Exodus 12:17a)? How long will the people thus delivered from Egypt observe it (verse 17b)? What are the exact dates of the feast (Exodus 12:18)? What must not be found where for how long (Exodus 12:19a)? And what will happen to whom if he does what (verse 19b)? Of what may they eat nothing during the feast (Exodus 12:20a)? What must they eat where (verse 20b)? Whom did Moses call in Exodus 12:21? What did he tell them to do? And then what were they to do (Exodus 12:22)? What would the Lord do to the Egyptians (Exodus 12:23a)? But what would the Lord do to Israel (verse 23b)? And who was to observe this for how long (Exodus 12:24)? Where else would they keep this service (Exodus 12:25)? Who were to say what to whom (Exodus 12:26)? And what were the parents to say (Exodus 12:27)? How did the people respond to this instruction (end of verse 27)? Then what did they do (Exodus 12:28a)? In what manner (verse 28b)?
Happy New Year! The “shall be” in Exodus 12:2 is supplied by the translators, but “is” would have been a more natural rendering. Whether the Lord chose to deliver them at (their) New Year’s time or changed the time to New Year’s by delivering them, the point is the same: God wants His people to punctuate new seasons in their lives by the commemoration of His salvation. The Lord has done the same for us by beginning each week with the Lord’s Supper. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. He brings us to His feast to drive home the reality of His salvation in His body and blood, so that we will live out of that reality all week long.
One of the interesting things about this commemoration is how much it seems to aim at children. Part of this is implied. The year (or less) old lamb (Exodus 12:5) was to be taken into the house on the tenth day. For four days, a young lamb would be in the home. You can imagine how attached the children would grow to it before they were required to attend its killing at twilight on the 14th day (Exodus 12:6). Three times (Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:17, Exodus 12:24) in the passage, the Spirit emphasizes that this observance is to take place throughout their generations, and with their sons, forever. One of the great features of the observance is when the children ask the parents what the parents mean by the service of the Passover (Exodus 12:26).
What is it that God wants the children to know? That God is their greatest danger, and that God is their only salvation. Notice that it is the Lord Himself Who executes judgment. Not only against man and also against beast but against all the purported “gods” of Egypt (Exodus 12:12). This judgment is a display of Himself, “I am Yahweh.” Not only is the lamb to be killed, as a spotless substitute, but then it must be burned (Exodus 12:8). Only burned (Exodus 12:9). All of it burned (Exodus 12:10). For we deserve not just death but the fire of God’s wrath in Hell. But it is the Lord Himself Who saves Israel (Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:27). He is the One Who gives them the substitute. He is the One Who spares them from the plague. He is the One Who would Himself come and bear death and Hell in our place as the Lamb of God.
Let us learn to live our lives out of the commemoration of God’s saving us. And let us learn to focus upon teaching the next generation in these commemorations. And let us learn that at the heart of this commemoration is remembering that God Himself is our greatest danger, and God Himself is our only hope of salvation.
What has God given you for commemorating His salvation? How can you participate/foster the transmission of this knowledge to the next generation? Who is your greatest danger? Who is your only hope of salvation? Are you “covered by the blood”? What, then, will come of you?
Sample prayer: Lord, You are righteous, and we deserve death and Hell. So we praise and thank You for giving us Christ as our substitute and covering us by His blood. Forgive us for when we order our lives around something other than You and Your salvation. Grant unto us not only to live out of the knowledge of Your salvation, but to communicate this to our children. Save them, too, we pray in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP51B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH196 “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing”
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