When they killed the Passover.
The Passover, a typical observance
No other festival was so full of typical meaning, or pointed so clearly to “good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1).
I. It was a feast of redemption, foreshadowing a future and greater redemption (Galatians 4:4-5).
II. The victim, a lamb without blemish and without spot, was a striking type of “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19).
III. Slain, not by the priest, but by the head of the Paschal company, the blood shed and sprinkled on the altar, roasted whole without the breaking of a bone, it symbolized Him who was put to death by the people (Acts 2:23), whose blood during a Paschal festival was shed on the altar of His cross, whose side the soldier pierced, but break not His legs (John 19:32-36).
IV. Eaten at the sacrificial meal (peculiar to the peace offering) with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (the symbol of purity), it pointed to that one oblation of Himself once offered, whereby Christ has made us at peace with God (Ephesians 2:14-15), in which whosoever truly believes must walk in repentance and sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
V. It was at a paschal supper that its antitype, the Christian eucharist, was instituted by our Lord (Matthew 26:17). (G. F. MacLean, D. D.)
The Passover
The Passover, commemorating the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, was the annual birthday of the Hebrew nation. Its celebration was marked with a popular joy and impressiveness suited to its character. The time of its observance was the fourteenth of the month Abib, called Nisan after the Babylonish captivity. It corresponded to that part of our year included between the middle of March and the middle of April. It is the fairest part of the year in Palestine. Fresh verdure covers the fields, and innumerable flowers of brightest tint and sweet perfume bedeck the ground. The fields of barley are beginning to ripen, and are almost ready for the sickle. To crown all, the moon, the Paschal moon, is then at the full, and nightly floods with splendour the landscape. As early as the first of the month, Jerusalem showed signs of the approaching feast. Worshippers from all parts of Palestine and other countries began to arrive, in increasing numbers, down to the very day of the Passover. They came in companies of various sizes, in family groups, in neighbourhood groups, in bands of tens, twenties, and hundreds. The city was filled to overflowing, and thousands encamped in tents in the environs. Josephus says that more than two-and-a-half millions of people gathered at Jerusalem in the time of Nero to attend the Passover. Universal hospitality was shown. Wherever a guest chamber could be found, it was thrown open. The only recompense allowed or taken was that the occupant of the apartment might leave behind for their host the skin of the Paschal lamb and the earthen vessel used at the meal. (A. H. Currier.)
Significance of the Passover
I. Considering the events and circumstances attending its original institution (Exodus 12:1-51) we may say, in general, that it signified deliverance through the lamb. The angel of death entered not where its blood was sprinkled. It declared that the corruption incurred in Egypt was expiated.
II. But the meaning of the Passover was not exhausted in the idea of atonement. For it consisted not only in the slaying of the lamb and the offering of his blood, but in the joyful eating of it. The wine at the feast was a symbol of its blood. The quaffing of this as a cup of refreshment, and the feeding upon the savoury flesh, expressively indicated that it was the privilege of God’s reconciled people not only to be saved from death by the lamb, but to receive from it conscious satisfaction, joy, and strength. They felt the benefit of His surrendered life in all their renewed and quickened powers.
III. Leaven, as producing fermentation, was a symbol to the Jews of corruption. It represented the influence of idolatrous Egypt, which they were utterly to put away. Unleavened bread, therefore, was an emblem of purity. It signified that they who ate it had put away sin.
IV. The bitter herbs are emblematical of the trials and discipline which form an essential and wholesome part of the Christian life. Such trials are shadows made by the light. They are inseparable accompaniments of the gospel in its work of subduing the world to submission to Christ. (A. H. Currier.)