Chapter Twelve

1–28. The establishment of Passover. 29–32. The tenth plague. 33. The beginning of the exodus of the Hebrews from the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:1. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: Exodus 12:2. This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. With the exodus from Egypt, a new life began for the Hebrews, marked by a succession of mercies from the Lord toward His people. The remembrance of these latter constitutes the content of the so-called ecclesiastical year. And since the first of these acts of grace—the leading out from Egypt—falls in the month of Abib, the month of grain (Exod 13:4, Deut 16:1), renamed Nisan after the Babylonian captivity, it becomes the first in the ecclesiastical year.

Exodus 12:3. Tell all the congregation of the sons of Israel: On the tenth day of this month, let each of them take a lamb for their family, a lamb for each household; The transformation of Abib into the first month of the ecclesiastical year fixed the remembrance of liberation from Egyptian bondage; the same purpose was achieved by the establishment of the Passover feast (“pesach”—passing over, Exod 12:11-12). While celebrating the Passover festival, the historical event of the exodus from Egypt, the Israeli people also celebrated their election as the people of God, their birth, their creation, for the exodus had as its purpose the rebirth of Israel as the people of God (Exod 19:4-6). Passover is a feast of birth, a feast of life. This general meaning of the feast is expressed in its individual observances. To be worthy of God’s election, the Hebrew people had to purify themselves. In the Old Covenant, sacrifices were the only means to this end. The sacrifice begins and is concentrated in the Passover celebration. The victim of the Passover feast was a lamb, called “the Passover sacrifice to the Lord” (Exod 12:27) and “the sacrifice of the Passover festival” (Exod 34:25). The same meaning is given to it by the Hebrew word “zebach,” used to designate bloody sacrifices. Intended for the Most High, for worship purposes, the lamb was chosen four days before slaughter on the 10th of Abib, perhaps for the purpose of careful observation to ensure it had no defects, was chosen by each family, since all Hebrews were liberated from bondage and received into the people of God.

Exodus 12:4. If the household is too small for a whole lamb, let it join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; you shall apportion the lamb according to the number of people—you shall make your count for the lamb according to what each person eats. According to the law, the lamb had to be eaten entirely, and in the extreme case any remaining was burned (Exod 12:10). And since a small household, by number of members, could not fulfill this first requirement, it was obligated to unite with another. According to later Jewish tradition, a household should not have fewer than 10 people.

Exodus 12:5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats, Exodus 12:6. and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it in the evening, Separated from the flocks on the 10th of Abib, the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the 14th in the evening, or in a literal translation from the Hebrew, “between two evenings.”

Exodus 12:7. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it; As seen from (Exod 12:13), it was prescribed to sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and lintels for the purpose that the avenging hand of God, striking the Egyptians, would pass over the Hebrews. If the Destroyer angel spared the houses of the latter because they were sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, then from this it is evident that it was an image of redemption, cleansing, and reconciliation. Its significance is equal to that of all sacrificial blood (Lev 17:11).

Exodus 12:8. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; The Passover meal symbolized the common unity of the participants of the meal among themselves and with its founder—God. Such significance of the Passover supper is indicated by the conditions of consuming the lamb. Prepared without being broken into pieces, the Passover lamb was a symbol of unity and wholeness, indicating that those who ate it should enter into communion with the Lord. In connection with the idea expressed by the Passover meal of the communion of the Hebrews with God stands the command to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In Egypt, Israel was in danger of being corrupted by the depravity of its rulers (Josh 24:14). But the Lord brought it out of a land of bondage, chose it as a pure, holy people. As such, it should banish from its midst the old leaven—moral corruption, begin a new sinless life. The sign of this was the abandoning of leavened bread during the Passover festival, a symbol of everything base (Matt 16:6, 1 Cor 5:7-8), and the eating of unleavened bread, bread pure (Hebrew matzot—pure, 1 Cor 5:8). The incentive to live such a life was, especially, the divine mercy—liberation from Egyptian bondage. A reminder of the bitterness of this bondage was the eating of bitter herbs (πικρίδων—LXX, a kind of the bitterest herb, corresponding to wild lettuce), the use of which, like bitter food generally, serves as the usual symbol of afflictions and sufferings (Ps 68:22, Jer 2:19). “You shall not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire” (Exod 12:9) does not contradict “you must cook (bashal) and eat” (Deut 16:7). The verb “bashal” does not mean “to boil” but simply “to make ready,” and therefore can be used equally for roasting over fire and for boiling in water.

Exodus 12:9. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs; Exodus 12:10. You shall let none of it remain until morning [and you shall not break any of its bones], but you shall burn any of it remaining until morning in the fire. Exodus 12:11. In this manner you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is the Passover of the Lord. Exodus 12:12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. Exodus 12:13. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Explanation of the final words: “it is the Passover of the Lord” (Exod 12:11). The Lord, who will strike all the firstborn in Egypt from human beings to animals and thereby prove their powerlessness (“I will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt”) (Exod 12:12), will pass over the houses of the Hebrews. Thus “pesach,” Passover—the passing over.

Exodus 12:14. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. The significance of the festival explains its perpetual observance for as long as the Old Covenant worship retains its force. Only in this sense is Passover an “eternal ordinance” (see 1 Cor 5:7). Like other festivals and ordinances, the Old Covenant Passover is a shadow, a foreshadowing of what is to come (Col 1:15-17). In the Passover ordinances, Old Covenant writers perceived the shadow of the future. They gave the coming Messiah titles that are clearly borrowed from the Passover lamb. Thus, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah liken Him to a lamb (Isa 53:7, Jer 11:19), and New Covenant writers see in this likeness a clear indication of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:32-35). In accordance with this, the title of lamb is applied to Him in the New Covenant as well (John 1:29, 1 Pet 1:19), and the holy John the theologian, recounting that soldiers did not break Christ’s legs, remarks: “These things happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: Not a bone of his shall be broken” (John 19:33-36, Exod 12:10). The church fathers and teachers expound in greater detail the typological significance of Passover. “The lamb,” says Cyril of Alexandria, “had to be previously chosen and separated from the flock for sacrifice: thus Christ from eternity was predestined to suffer for the human race.” The Passover lamb was required to be perfect, without blemish, male, and a year old (Exod 12:5). All these features, according to the indication of the church fathers, clearly depict Jesus Christ. The perfection of the lamb—the perfection of Christ, not only in divinity but also in the assumed nature, which is anointed with divinity. The spotlessness of the lamb—the spotlessness of Christ, because He heals from shame and defects and filth: He Himself took upon Himself our sins and diseases, but He Himself was not subject to anything requiring healing. The lamb is taken as a one-year-old, like the sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2, Gregory the Theologian). In the slaughter of the Passover lamb, the church fathers see a correspondence with the great Sacrifice. And first of all, the time of slaughter coincided with the time of Christ’s crucifixion. “He (Moses),” says Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, “knew and [predicted] the day of His suffering figuratively under the name of Passover. And on this very feast the Lord suffered, fulfilling the Passover.” “On the fourteenth day, the Passover lamb was slain as a type of the Lord crucified on the cross,” notes Ephrem the Syrian. The sprinkling of blood of the Passover lamb is the image of our redemption by the blood of Christ (Cyril of Alexandria). “The eating of unleavened bread, according to him,” is an indication that those who have become partakers of Christ should nourish their souls not with fermented, most pure desires, training themselves in a life free from cunning and corruption.” Bitter herbs—an image of the sufferings which we must bear for love of Him Who went to death for us.

Exodus 12:15. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. The beginning of the seven-day festival of unleavened bread is the day following Passover, that is, the 15th of Abib (Lev 23:6, Num 28:17). On the night of this date the Hebrews left Egypt (Exod 12:29-34). As a sign of the new life beginning at this moment (Exod 12:17), a breaking away from Egyptian leaven, the Hebrews had to remove all leaven from their homes. The person who violates the ordinances of the God-chosen people excludes himself from the midst of these latter—is punished with death (Gen 17:14, Exod 4:24, Exod 31:14).

Exodus 12:16. On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone needs for eating, that alone may be prepared by you. The beginning and end of the festival are sanctified by assemblies at the tabernacle (Lev 23:6, Num 28:17 and others). Those who have separated themselves from all evil give themselves to the Lord, not being distracted from serving Him by worldly occupations. The rest on the first and seventh days of the festival of unleavened bread is like the sabbath, but not as strict (Exod 16:23).

Exodus 12:17. You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. Exodus 12:18. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Exodus 12:19. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. Exodus 12:20. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread. Exodus 12:21. Then Moses called all the elders of [the sons of] Israel and said to them: Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb; According to the command of verse 3 (Exod 12:3), Moses announces to the people the law of Passover. In proclaiming God’s will, he makes certain additions.

Exodus 12:22. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin; and none of you shall go outside the door of your house until the morning. Among these additions is the remark about hyssop, which refers not to hyssop in the literal sense, as it does not grow in Syria and Arabia, but to a similar plant, and the command not to go outside the houses: blood saves only those inside buildings.

Exodus 12:23. For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the Destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. In (Exod 11:4), the one smiting the firstborn Egyptians with a “plague of destruction” (Exod 12:13) is represented as the Most High Himself. Meanwhile, verse 23 distinguishes from Him, as an instrument of punishment, a special Destroyer. According to some church teachers—Justin, Origen, and Augustine—these were evil angels, an indication of which is given in (Ps 77:49); Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Theodoret understand by “Destroyer” a good angel; the Targum, in agreement with the remark of the Book of Wisdom of Solomon (Wis 18:15), sees in the Destroyer the direct, extraordinary action of God’s word (“memra,” according to the Targum). Some of the modern exegetes identify this word with an angel of the Most High, others see in the Destroyer a simple angel, which seems more natural (2 Sam 24:16, Isa 37:36).

Exodus 12:24. You shall observe this as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. Exodus 12:25. When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this observance. Exodus 12:26. And when your children ask you, “What do you mean by this observance? Exodus 12:27. you shall say, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” And the people bowed down and worshipped. Exodus 12:28. The sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. Exodus 12:29. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. At midnight on the 14th of Nisan. In verse 5 of chapter 11, in denoting the scope of the plague, another expression is used: “from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the slave-girl who was at the mill” (Exod 11:5). Both expressions clearly indicate the destruction of all the firstborn, among both the highest and the lowest classes of the people. A slave prisoner likewise well represents the lowest position in society, as does a slave-girl occupied with grinding grain with a millstone.

Exodus 12:30. Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in [all the land of] Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead. Exodus 12:31. Then [Pharaoh] summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said: Rise up, leave my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go, serve the Lord [your God], as you said; Exodus 12:32. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and leave; and bless me too. In contrast to the first nine plagues, the tenth produces the predicted effect on Pharaoh (Exod 11:8). The reason for this lies in the following. According to Egyptian mythology, Pharaoh was considered not only a representative but also a son of the supreme god Ra. “Be reverently honored for your merits, the son of the sun, Pharaoh, let him be worshipped,” is said, among other things, in a hymn to the god Ra. In view of this belief, it is quite understandable why the first plagues did not affect Pharaoh. Let, he reasoned, the Most High have proven His superiority over the gods of Egypt. I myself am a god, and since there is nothing to indicate that He is superior to me, I find no need to submit to His demands. Now, however, a god considering himself as such, has his firstborn killed by God’s will. The One Who Is, and no other (Exod 4:23), manifested His power over him. He is stronger, higher than Pharaoh; the latter, under the influence of consciousness of his own powerlessness before the Most High, is left to bow before His will. And Pharaoh does indeed release the Hebrews, fulfills Moses’ demand (Exod 8:26).

Exodus 12:33. The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, saying: “We shall all be dead. Exodus 12:34. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders. The remark about bread that had not yet been leavened, but had evidently already been prepared for leavening, gives reason to assume that the people were not familiar with the law of unleavened bread. And indeed, it is proclaimed later, and its very fulfillment pertains to the time of settlement in the promised land (Exod 13:6 and others). Such a view is not contradicted by the remark of verse 39 (Exod 12:39), that the Hebrews baked unleavened cakes from the dough they took out of Egypt. The preparation of these cakes was not the fulfillment of the law of unleavened bread (Exod 12:15 and following), but rather a matter of simple necessity: the Hebrews had not taken provisions with them, the fermented dough was not ready (Exod 12:34), and therefore they had to make do with unleavened cakes.

Exodus 12:35. The sons of Israel had done as Moses told them; they asked the Egyptians for objects of silver and gold, and for clothing. Exodus 12:36. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. See above the explanation of verses 19–20 of chapter 3.

Exodus 12:37. The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, besides children; On Rameses, see the commentaries on verse 11 of chapter 1. Succoth—“tents,” perhaps referring to a locality called Sehet in Egyptian records. On the number of those who left, see the commentary on verse 7 of chapter 1.

Exodus 12:38. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with very large herds of flocks and herds. The existence among those who left Egypt of Hebrews of other nations is also mentioned in other parts of the Pentateuch: (Num 11:4, Deut 29:11). According to (Lev 24:10), they included Egyptians with whom the Hebrews had entered into family relationships. Also included in the foreigners are the “God-fearing” Egyptians (Exod 9:20) and, finally, Semites related to the Hebrews, who, according to scholars, had long lived on the eastern border of Egypt.

Exodus 12:39. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. Exodus 12:40. Now the period that the sons of Israel had [and their fathers] lived in Egypt [and in the land of Canaan] was four hundred thirty years. Exodus 12:41. At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt in the night. The duration of the Hebrews’ stay in Egypt is determined as 430 years: “the period that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.” In the Septuagint text, this number also includes the years of the patriarchs of the Hebrew people living in the land of Canaan: “and the sojourning of the sons of Israel, which they and their fathers sojourned in Egypt and in the land of Canaan, was 430 years.” And since Abraham, having moved to Canaan at 75 years of age (Gen 12:4), gave birth to Isaac after 25 years of living there (Gen 17:1), Isaac at 60 years of age gave birth to Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:26), and Jacob moved at 130 years (Gen 47:9), adding 25, 60, and 130 we get 215, that is, 215 years that, according to the Greek text, the patriarchs lived in the land of Canaan, and 215 years that their descendants lived in Egypt. Due to the disagreement between the texts and subsequent literature lacking uniformity in views on the duration of the Jews’ stay in Egypt, Josephus, Julius Africanus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and among Russians Metropolitan Filaret, follow the count of the Septuagint; while Theophilus of Antioch and Clement of Alexandria follow the count of the Hebrews. The account of the patriarchs’ lives, the narrator ended in the book of Genesis. The entire book of Exodus, in particular, the chapters preceding this passage, deals with Israel, which had settled in Egypt. By the flow of speech, it is natural to expect that when reckoning chronologically, the narrator will have in view only the Egyptian life of the Jews. And that he has in view it, is evident from what follows. The period subject to chronological determination is called by him the word “moshav” (a verbal noun from the verb “yasav”—to dwell), that is, presented as a time of settled, not nomadic life of the Hebrew people, which can only be called a life in Egypt, but by no means in Canaan, where the patriarchs led a wandering life (Gen 47:9). In favor of the Hebrew count, further speaks (Gen 15:13): “Know that your offspring will be aliens in a land not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.” The land in which the offspring of Abraham will be aliens for 400 years cannot by any means be understood as Canaan. According to the promises (Gen 12:7), it was given to the patriarchs and their descendants, was “their own” land for them, and therefore could not be called “foreign” or “not their own.” But if Canaan cannot be understood as the “foreign” land, then neither can the 400 years of residence in it be included in the 430 years if the whole period is being split into two parts of 215 years each. Testifying against all Greek reckoning, the said passage speaks, in particular, and against the division of the 430-year period into two parts, counting 215 years in each. According to (Gen 15:13), aliens will be the offspring of Abraham; consequently, from the 215 years of the patriarchs’ life in Canaan, 25 years of Abraham’s own sojourning should be excluded (see above), and the first part of the entire period will equal 190, not 215 years. Neither the change of only four generations in Egypt (Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses) nor the testimony of the Apostle Paul (Gal 3:16-17) contradicts the Hebrew count. As is evident from the above (see the explanation of verses 14–25 of chapter 6), more than four generations passed between Kohath and Moses; Amram, the father of Moses, is not the son of Kohath but a later descendant of Levi. As for the testimony of the Apostle Paul, first of all, it is not clear from what moment he begins the count of 430 years. On the other hand, the expression “I am speaking from a human point of view” (Gal 3:15), suggests that the Apostle Paul follows the reckoning that was common in his time.

Exodus 12:42. That was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That night is a vigil to be kept for the Lord by all the Israelites throughout their generations. Exodus 12:43. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it; Exodus 12:44. but any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after you have circumcised him. Exodus 12:45. No bound laborer or hired servant shall eat of it. Exodus 12:46. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the meat outside the house, [you shall not break any of its bones,] and you shall not break a bone of it. Exodus 12:47. The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it. Exodus 12:48. If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it; he shall be regarded as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it; Exodus 12:49. There shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you. Passover is a national feast of the Hebrew people, established in remembrance of their liberation from Egyptian slavery. And if the feelings evoked in the alien by this event are foreign to him, then it is certainly strange to see his participation in this feast: “no foreigner shall eat of it.” * * * In (Exod 12:13) it is said—when I strike the land of Egypt, I struck the land, I struck Egypt. There is no unambiguous indication that the Lord Himself struck the people. If He will lead angels executing vengeance—this does not mean that He Himself will kill people. In many places of Holy Scripture, angels always accompany God—they lead, help, speak in God’s name. This is confirmed by the following opinion of the holy fathers (Editor’s Note).