The Passover: Story of Redemption
Pastor Steve Hardy
The Passover Lamb
12 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of [a]Egypt, 2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a [b]lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a [c]lamb for [d]each household. 4 Now if the household is too small for a [e]lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the [f]number of persons in them; in proportion to [g]what each one should eat, you are to [h]divide the lamb. 5 Your [i]lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 [j]You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it [k]at twilight. 7 Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [l]of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread [m]and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment [n]belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [o]live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you [p]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
14 ‘Now this day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as [q]a permanent ordinance. 15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that [r]person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be [s]prepared by you. 17 You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your [t]multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a [u]permanent ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that [v]person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves [w]lambs according to your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and [x]apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
A Memorial of Redemption
23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has [y]promised, you shall keep this [z]rite. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘[aa]What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but [ab]spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.
28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29 Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, [ac]worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
Exodus of Israel
33 The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.
35 Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they plundered the Egyptians.
37 Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, [ad]along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. 39 And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had no yeast, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they [ae]prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 Now the time [af]that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 And at the end of 430 years, on this very day, all the [ag]multitudes of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.
Ordinance of the Passover
42 It is a night [ah]to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, [ai]to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no [aj]foreigner is to eat it; 44 but as for every slave [ak]that someone has purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45 A stranger or a hired worker shall not eat it. 46 It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. 47 All the congregation of Israel are to [al]celebrate this. 48 But if a stranger resides with you and [am]celebrates the Passover to the Lord, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to [an]celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 [ao]The same law shall [ap]apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you.”
50 Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their [aq]multitudes.
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the firstborn of every womb among the sons of Israel, among people and animals alike; it belongs to Me.”
3 And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you departed from Egypt, from the house of [ar]slavery; for by [as]a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing with yeast shall be eaten. 4 On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go out from here. 5 And it shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall [at]perform this rite in this month. 6 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing with yeast shall [au]be seen among you, nor shall any dough with yeast [av]be seen among you in all your borders. 8 And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall [aw]serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder [ax]on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. 10 Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from [ay]year to year.
11 “Now when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 you shall [az]devote to the Lord every firstborn of a womb, and every firstborn offspring of an animal that you own; the males belong to the Lord. 13 But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every [ba]firstborn among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With [bb]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of [bc]slavery. 15 And it came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord put to death every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborns to animal firstborns. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, every firstborn of a womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 So it shall [bd]serve as a sign on your hand and as [be]phylacteries [bf]on your forehead, for with [bg]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”
God Leads the People
17 Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 Therefore God led the people around by way of the wilderness to the [bh]Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in battle formation from the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will certainly [bi]take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” 20 Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might [bj]travel by day and by night. 22 [bk]He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from the presence of the people.
