The self-same day— See Exodus 12:41. Thus the Lord wonderfully delivered his people, and appointed a solemn festival to perpetuate the memory of this great event: some traces of which, however corrupted and imperfect, were preserved in the most distant nations. Strabo, in particular, says, there was a report that the Jews were descended from the Egyptians; and that Moses was an Egyptian priest, who possessed a certain part of that country; but, being dissatisfied with the present state of things, he forsook it; and many worshippers of the Deity followed him, &c. See Strab. geog. lib. 16: Justin, lib. 36: cap. 2 and Tacit. lib. 5: cap. 3.
Reflections on the ordinance of the passover as typical of Christ.
The fatal night was now arrived, when the destroying angel was to smite all the first-born of Egypt, and the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. This last and sorest plague shall break the unrelenting heart of Pharaoh, and dismiss the oppressed Israelites from his cruel yoke. But mark the goodness of their God, in providing for their safety amid the general devastation! They are directed to sprinkle on their door-posts the blood of a lamb, whose qualities, the manner of its death, and the rites wherewith they were to eat its flesh, are left on record for the generations to come. The messenger of death, they were assured, would not presume to enter these hallowed doors, though a thousand fell at their side, and ten thousand on their right hand. Then it was that the Egyptian idols felt also the vengeance of the true God: and so memorable was the night, that the month in which it fell, was, in succeeding ages, to be the beginning of months. A ceremony indeed it was, which seemed but weak, unmeaning, and unprofitable; but, penetrating the outward vail, let us try to discern the hidden mystery, by that same faith, through which Moses kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood. Its meaning we are not now left to explore merely by our own understanding; for, that it was a prophetical type, and very expressive of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, an apostle gives us to know, by telling us, that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," l Cor. Exodus 5:7.
A Lamb was chosen out of the flock: Emblem of him who was taken from among men, and raised up from among his brethren, and, like that lovely creature, did injury to none.—It was a male of the flock, of a year old; for Christ is a Son given unto us, and suffered in the flower of his age; but without blemish and without spot. Though descended from an impure race of ancestors, he brought no stain of sin into the world with him; and though he long conversed with sinful men, and grappled with strong temptations, he contracted not the smallest taint. Even Judas and Pilate attested, that he was just and upright; the last, before he condemned; and the first, after he betrayed him.—On the tenth day of the month Abib, the lamb was fetched from the field, and, on the fourteenth day at even, it was killed. Even so he, of whom these things were spoken, went up to Jerusalem five days before the passover, where, with wicked hands, he was taken, crucified, and slain.—The lamb was roasted with fire. It was the fire of the Father's wrath, O immaculate Lamb of God, which forced thee to complain, "My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd: my tongue cleaveth to my jaws," Psalms 22:14-15.—A bone of the lamb was not to be broken, and none of it was to be left till the morning. To accomplish the first, the soldiers brake not his legs as usual; and, to fulfil the last, he was taken down from the cross the same evening on which he died.—In vain had the Israelites killed the lamb, if they had not also sprinkled its blood with the hyssop upon the door-posts: and Christ is to us dead in vain, unless applied by faith to the conscience. His blood must not be sprinkled behind the door, for we must publicly profess that we are not ashamed of the cross of Christ; nor below the door, for it must not be trodden under foot: but above, and on every side, on all that we are, on all that we have, and on all that we do. Indeed, by his all-penetrating eye, the doors of the house and heart are seen with equal clearness. Had a presumptuous Israelite despised this ordinance of God, and neglected to sprinkle his doors with blood, he would not have been within the limits of the Divine protection; yea, had he ventured abroad in that perilous night, the angel was not bound to spare him. So when the arrows of destruction are flying thick and fast, the blood of Jesus is our only sanctuary. Of this alone can we say, "Behold, O God, our shield," Psalms 84:9. We are guilty of death, this is the sacrifice which thou requirest: accept this blood; which we sprinkle by thy command, instead of our own, which deserves to reek upon our door-posts. O Jesus, we are indebted to thy atoning blood for blessings that far transcend deliverance from Egyptian bondage, or from temporal death. By thy blood we are delivered from the wrath which is to come. Thou art our Hiding-place. Under this covert of thy blood, we shall not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked; but shall dwell in peaceable habitations, sure dwellings, and quiet resting-places, nigh which no plague shall come.—Many a time the haughty tyrant of Egypt was frighted by the awful prodigies wrought by Moses; but never was he thoroughly subdued, till the blood was sprinkled. Then the prey was taken from the mighty. In vain he pursues after them, for never more shall they wear his chain. So many a time, the prophecies of Christ might fright the black prince of hell, but never was he thoroughly subdued, till on the cross the Great Messiah spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Even so his faithful people are said to overcome the enemy of their salvation by the blood of the lamb. By this same blood, the idols are abolished. As in that night of desolation, the temples of Egypt were not spared more than the palaces; so in the days of the Messiah, shall a man cast his idols of silver and gold, which he made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Well may this happy period be unto us the beginning of months. If the beginning of the year was changed to the Israelites, and the seventh became the first month, much more may the beginning of the week be altered to the Christians, and the seventh day be exchanged for the first, for a Sabbath unto the Lord; for on that day a much more glorious work was finished, than when he brought Israel out of Egypt, or even than when he finished the heavens and all their host, and laid the foundation of the earth.
We have seen how the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, and the happy consequences of this symbolical action. Let us now observe, how its flesh was to be eaten, and how we are made partakers of Christ, who is at once our Shield to protect us from danger, and our Food to preserve our soul in life. It was eaten roasted; for Christ is savoury to faith. A bone must not be broken; and mysteries must not be too curiously pryed into. A whole lamb must be eaten in every house; and a whole Christ received by every believing soul. It must be eaten in haste; and whatsoever our hand findeth, should be done with all our might. The bitter herbs may signify the bitterness of contrition for sin, and of the tribulation we shall have in this world. Unleavened bread represents sincerity and truth. The loins girt, and feet shod, signify the girding up the loins of the mind, and the preparation of the Gospel of peace, or a readiness to every good work. The staff in the hand might signify, that here we have no continuing city. Here let us end, adoring that condescending love, which has appeared towards us sinners of the Gentiles. At the first passover we were uncircumcised and unclean, by reason of death; we were afar off, and without God in the world. But us hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; and in Jesus Christ we, who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Therefore let us keep the feast; for even Christ our second, our best passover is sacrificed for us.