MOSES: part 3 of 4 – The 10th plaque and the Passover” – Exodus 11-13
◼ Introduction
o The celebration of the Passover spans much of human history.
▪ 3400 years ago, Moses and his family prepared to leave Egypt.
▪ 2000 years ago, Jesus sat with his disciples for a meal. The story of the Exodus was retold in a powerful way.
▪ Today, millions of faithful believers celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week.
o The Passover reminds the Christian of God’s liberation through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
o The Passover is first mentioned in Exodus 11:4-8 during Moses’ last audience with Pharoah. The key components:
▪ The LORD would go out at midnight to kill the firstborn of all Egyptian people and their animals.
▪ There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt, the likes of which have never been heard before or never will be heard again.
▪ The Israelite dogs will not bark at all, setting up the distinction between Israel and Egypt.
▪ Pharaoh’s officials will demand that the Israelites leave.
◼ Biblical context (Exodus 12-13)
o Exodus 12:1-13 - The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 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. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 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. 12 “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. 13 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 plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
▪ This time is all about what is NEW. The Israelites would have their own calendar, and the Passover celebration would signal the beginning of their calendar year (Nisan – March/April).
▪ It begins with the lamb or goat being chosen on the tenth day and cared for until the fourteenth day when they are slaughtered.
▪ The chosen animal must be a one-year-old male without defect.
▪ The people must take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes where the meal takes place.
▪ They were to eat the meat roasted over the fire with its head, legs, and internal organs intact. Include bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.
▪ They were to eat the meal with their cloak tucked into their belt, their sandals on their feet, and their staff in their hand.
▪ They were to burn whatever was left over.
o What is the point of these specific instructions?
▪ One year male without defect.
• I Peter 1:18-1918 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
• The Israelites did not buy their way out of slavery. God provided the Lamb for the Passover.
▪ Put the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes where the meal takes place.
• Hebrews 9:2222 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
• The blood of the Passover lamb kept the Israelites from the coming judgement.
▪ They were to eat the meat roasted over the fire with its head, legs, and internal organs intact.
• This is how wandering shepherds would prepare their meal.
▪ Include bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. They were to eat the meal with their cloak tucked into their belt, their sandals on their feet, and their staff in their hand. They were to burn whatever was left over.
• The people of Israel were to leave Egypt in a hurry.
o Exodus 12:14-2014 “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. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. 17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of
Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 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. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”
▪ This text emphasizes how Israel will celebrate this event in future years.
▪ The Passover is also called “The Feast (Festival) of Unleavened Bread.”
▪ The emphasis is on the preparation for the meals – it is the only work allowed.
▪ The restriction about “no yeast” is serious. To this day, many Jewish families sell their yeast to a non-Jew (Christian cleric) with the understanding they can buy it back after the week-long event (H.L. Ellison, Exodus).
o Exodus 12:21-2821 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 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. 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
▪ Here Moses gives instructions to the elders among the Israelites.
▪ The hyssop was the brush used to put the blood on the doorposts. (The hyssop plant was used to put the sponge with wine vinegar to Jesus’ lips while on the cross [John 19:29]).
▪ Again there is a present and future element in this text. Moses tells the elders what will happen immediately and how this event will be remembered as a lasting ordinance.
▪ The destroyer is not identified in Exodus. It is described in Psalm 78:49 as “a band of destroying angels.”
▪ There is a real emphasis on remembering what God did for His people. The custom of the youngest child asking this question at each Passover continues to this day. This idea is reinforced in Exodus 13:14-1614 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on
your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
▪ The result? The people bowed down, worshipped, and obeyed what the Lord commanded.
o Exodus 12:29-3629 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. 31 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. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
▪ Prophecies from Exodus 11:4-8 coming true:
• The LORD went out at midnight to kill the firstborn of all Egyptian people and their animals.
• There was loud wailing throughout Egypt, the likes of which have never been heard before or never will be heard again.
▪ God’s favor on Israel:
• Pharaoh summoned Moses back into his presence and released them to go and worship the Lord. He allowed them to take their flocks and herds, and even asked for a blessing.
• The Egyptian people were favorably disposed to the Israelites, giving them gold, silver, and clothing.
• The term used is “plundered,” in reference to what Egypt had done previously to Israel.
o Exodus 12:37-4237 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.
▪ There are more references to bread in Exodus 12 (6) than to the lamb (4).
▪ One often overlooked element of the Passover is the vigil to honor the Lord. I Corinthians 11:23-2623 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
o Exodus 12:43-5143 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. 46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. 48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” 50 All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.
▪ Regulations for the Passover Meal
• No foreigner may eat it. They must be circumcised to become a part of the Jewish community.
• It must be eaten inside the house. The blood on the door protected those inside only.
• Do not break any of its bones. John 19:31-3731 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
• The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
o Exodus 13:1-16 - The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” 3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a
mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year. 11 “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons. 14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
▪ Now Moses shares the Passover information with the people.
▪ He adds another component to the Passover – the consecration of the firstborn. This will serve as a powerful reminder of the price God paid to bring them out of Egypt.
▪ Luke 2:22-2322 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
◼ Other common threads in the Passover text
o A lasting ordinance (Exodus 12:14; 17; 24; cf. 13:10).
o The LORD brought you out (12:17, 51; 13:3, 9, 14, 16).
▪ Luke 9:30-31 –30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (Departure = exodos).
◼ Other Passover mentions in Scripture:
o Exodus 23:15; Numbers 9:1-5, 13 – Celebrate the Passover at the right time in the right way.
o Leviticus 23:4-8; Deuteronomy 16:1-8 – Instructions about the Passover
o Joshua 5:10 – The Israelites celebrated Passover before the attack on Jericho.
o Matthew 26:17-28; Mark 14:12-25 – The Lord’s Supper is tied to the Passover meal.
o Luke 22:15 – Jesus wanted to eat the Passover with His disciples before He suffered.
o John 2:13-23 – When it was almost time for the Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem.
o John 13:1 – It was just before the Passover Festival and Jesus knew the hour had come for Him to leave the world and go to the Father.
o I Corinthians 5:7 – Get rid of the old yeast and become a new batch of unleavened bread, since Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.
o Hebrews 11:28 – Moses kept the Passover so the destroyer of the firstborn would not turn the firstborn of Israel.
◼ The Passover Lamb in John’s Gospel (chapter 6):
o The Passover retold the Exodus story with the symbolic meal of lamb, bread, and wine.
o Jesus miraculously fed thousands, which led people to ask for more bread, which caused Jesus to say He is the true bread, and they will have eternal life if they will eat/drink Him.
o John 6:51 – I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
▪ Flesh = “sarx.” This is not “body” language (soma).
▪ John is the only Gospel writer who does not mention the act of communion during the Last Supper. In fact, the only person described as receiving the bread is Judas Iscariot.
◼ The Passover Lamb in Revelation:
o Revelation 4 – John hears “Lion of the tribe of Judah” but turns and sees a sacrificial bloody lamb who is alive and ready to open the scroll.
o Revelation 7 – John hears the number of those who were sealed – 144,000. But he turns and sees the great multitude standing before the Lamb.
o Revelation 8 – The first five trumpet blasts bring hail, fire, blood, darkness, locusts, and death, replaying the plagues sent in Exodus.
o Revelation 9 – Despite all these plaques, the people did not repent.
o The Lamb conquered His enemies by loving them and dying for them. God’s kingdom will be revealed when the nations see the church imitating the loving sacrifice of the Lamb by not killing their enemies but dying for them.
o Exodus 13:1616 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
o Revelation 13:16-1816 [The second beast] also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
o The issue is one of allegiance. Will you follow the Lamb?