Instructions for the Passover Meal

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Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tent day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb They must share one with their nearest neighbor. having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose. Must be year old males without defect. And he may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them and Twilight. They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire. Along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire. With the head, legs, and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning. If some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it. With your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood I will pass over you. No destructive. the plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. So there's two different things that are going on here. The one historically here is that God is about to do this plague and he's told the people of Israel that you need to Kill a lamb and put its blood over your lintel, over your door frame, and that that will be the sign for this angel of the Lord. Not to kill the firstborn in this household. And there are specific instructions here that we're supposed to roast it. It can be a lamb or it could be a a goat. You know, it has to be a year old. Has to be without defect. Can't be some lamb that's on its last legs. And then you're also supposed to eat all of it. And you're eat it in haste. And then You may heard this. weedy with the bitter herbs and the bread me without yeast. If you have a friend who is Jewish and you can get invited to a Seder, or if your church does a Seder, you will see these elements In that Passover meal that is still celebrated to this day. where you eat it with the bitter herbs to remember your slavery in Egypt to the tears that were shed, and you eat it with the the different things that are going on in that meal. But the other thing historically here is they're supposed to eat it. Dressed and ready to go. Right. That's it. That's the Cloak is tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You're, you're ready to go. God is doing this Passover. Be ready. Down The other thing that we as Christians see in this Is a Four taste of the role of Jesus. With Jesus sacrifice, we call Jesus sometimes the Lamb of God, that's what John the Baptist called him in particular. That was the first one to use that phrase. Meaning the lamb that was sacrificed for us. And that when God looks at the blood of Jesus when we're baptized, we're baptized into his crucifixion. That when God looks at us, he sees the blood of Jesus. credits those to Jesus account. that Jesus took care of those with the blood that was shed. And so that's one of the reasons why we study this whole book of Exodus is that we see In the Tabernacle we see in the Passover lamb little taste little things that give us a clue for our own faith. Continuing on. This is a day you are to commemorate for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. A lasting ordinance. For seven days you were to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it on from the first day Through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly. And another on the seventh day. Do not work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat. Is all you may do. Celebrate the festival of unleavened bread because it was on this day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month You are to eat bread made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses, and anyone whether foreigner or native born is Who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread. These two sections here, these two paragraphs look forward from this time in Egypt. to how this will be celebrated in the future every year. If we look at the history of Israel, Israel in the time of the kings is very does not do a good job of remembering this and celebrating it every year. But The Jewish people since the time of the Babylonian captivity been very good about celebrating it to this day. And they still do the feast of the unleavened bread where they They look through the house for leaven and and eat the unleavened bread or matze is the thing that you'll see in stores. All of this is going back to these instructions here. Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, What does this ceremony mean to you, then tell them it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians. Then the people bowed down and worshiped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt. From the first born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first born of the prisoner. Who is in the dungeon. And the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night And then there was loud wailing in Egypt. For there was not a house without someone. God did what God said he would do through Moses, and this is the most terrible Therefore of all of the plagues. And it has a result, the Exodus. During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, Up leave my people, you and the Israelites, go worship the Lord as you have requested, take your flocks, and your herds as you have said, and go. And also bless me. The Egyptian people to hurry and leave the country, for otherwise they said we will all die. So the people took their dough. before the yeast was added and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in cloth. The Israelites did this as Moses instructed and asked Egyptians for articles of silver and gold. And for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptibly disposed toward the people. And gave them what they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Ramses to Sucath. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot besides women and children. Many other people went up with them and also large Groves of livestock. Both flocks and herds. With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. Now the length of time the Israelite people were in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. at the end of the four hundred and thirty years to the very day All the Lord's divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil. That night to bring them out of Egypt. to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come. And so because of this last plague. Their are practically driven out of Egypt. Everyone wants them to leave, take our money and go. And so they take their gold and you may wonder about the clothes, but remember that at a time before industrialization, clothes were part of your wealth. You would actually pass down clothes from generation to generation and just mend them.