Directions for eating

A. M. 2513.

CHAP. XII.

assembly of the congregation | roast with fire, and An. Exod. Isr. 1. of Israel shall kill it in the bread; and with

B. C. 1491.

Abib or Nisan.

evening.

7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

they shall eat it.

9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain

8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, until the morning; and that which remaineth

in which Christ was crucified began at the third hour, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, the ordinary time for the daily morning sacrifice, and ended at the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of the evening sacrifice, Mark xv. 25, 33, 34, 37. Wherefore their ninth hour was their hour of prayer, when they used to go into the temple at the daily evening sacrifice, Acts iii. 1; and this was the ordinary time for the passover. It is worthy of remark that God sets no particular hour for the killing of the passover: any time between the two evenings, i. e., between twelve o'clock in the day and the termination of twilight, was lawful. The daily sacrifice (see Exod. xxix. 38, 39) was killed at half past the eighth hour, that is, half an hour BEFORE three in the afternoon; and it was offered up at half past the ninth hour, that is, half an hour AFTER three. In the evening of the passover it was killed at half past the seventh hour, and offered at half past the eighth, that is, half an hour BEFORE three and if the evening of the passover fell on the evening of the Sabbath, it was killed at half past the SIXTH hour, and offered at half past the SEVENTH, that is, half an hour BEFORE two in the after

noon.

The reason of this was, they were first obliged to kill the daily sacrifice, and then to kill and roast the paschal lamb, and also to rest the evening before the passover. Agreeably to this Maimonides says the killing of the passover is after mid-day, and if they kill it before it is not lawful; and they do not kill it till after the daily evening sacrifice, and burning of incense and after they have trimmed the lamps they begin to kill the paschal lambs until the end of the day. By this time of the day God foreshowed the sufferings of Christ in the evening of times or in the last days, Heb. i. 2; 1 Pet. i. 19, 20: and about the same time of the day, when the paschal lamb ordinarily died, He died also, viz., at the ninth hour; Matt. xxvii. 46-50." See Ainsworth.

blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing; Heb. x. 29.

Verse 8. They shall eat the flesh-roast with fire] As it was the ordinary custom of the Jews to boil their flesh, some think that the command given here was in opposition to the custom of the Egyptians, who ate raw flesh in honour of Osiris. The Ethiopians are to this day remarkable for eating raw flesh, as is the case with most savage nations.

matsah,

Unleavened bread] matstsoth, from to squeeze or compress, because the bread prepared without leaven or yeast was generally compressed, sad or heavy, as we term it. The word here properly signifies unleavened cakes; the word for leaven in Hebrew is on chamets, which simply signifies to ferment. It is supposed that leaven was forbidden on this and other occasions, that the bread being less agreeable to the taste, it might be emblematical of their bondage and bitter servitude, as this seems to have been one design of the bitter herbs which were commanded to be used on this occasion; but this certainly was not the sole design of the prohibition: leaven itself is a species of corruption, being produced by fermentation, which in such cases tends to putrefaction. In this very light St. Paul considers the subjectin this place; hence, alluding to the passover as a type of Christ, he says: Purge out therefore the old leaven

for Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth; 1 Cor. v. 6-8.

Bitter herbs] What kind of herbs or salad is intended by the word " merorim, which literally signifies bitters, is not well known. The Jews think cichory, wild lettuce, horehound, and the like are intended. Whatever may be implied under the term, whether bitter herbs or bitter ingredients in general, it was designed to put them in mind of their bitter and severe bondage in the land of Egypt, from which God was now about to deliver them..

Verse 7. Take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts] This was to be done by dipping a bunch of hyssop into the blood, and thus sprinkling it upon Verse 9. With the purtenance thereof.] All the the posts, &c. ; see ver. 22. That this sprinkling of intestines, for these were abused by the heathens to the blood of the paschal lamb was an emblem of the purposes of divination; and when roasted in the mansacrifice and atonement made by the death of Jesus ner here directed they could not be thus used. The Christ, is most clearly intimated in the sacred writings, command also implies that the lamb was to be roasted 1 Pet. i. 2; Heb. ix. 13, 14; viii, 10. It is remark-whole; neither the head or legs were to be separated, able that no blood was to be sprinkled on the threshold, nor the intestines removed. I suppose that these last to teach, as Mr. Ainsworth properly observes, a re- simply included the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, &c., verent regard for the blood of Christ, that men should and not the intestinal canal. not tread under foot the Son of GOD, nor count the

- Verse 10. Ye shall let nothing of it remain until the

Manner of eating the lamb.

A. M. 2513.
B. C. 1491.

EXODUS.

of it until the morning ye shall

An. Exod. Isr. 1. burn with fire.

Abib or Nisan.

Why called the passover

A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. Abib or Nisan.

B. C. 1491.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and 11 And thus shall ye eat it; will smite all the first-born in the with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, land of Egypt, both man and beast; and and your staff in your hand; and ye shall against all the gods of Egypt I will execute eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. judgment: I am the LORD.

m

* Deut. xvi. 5.- Chap. xi. 4, 5; Amos v. 17. m Numbers Or, princes 5 chap. xxi. 6; xxi 28; Psa. lxxxii. 1,6; John

xxxiii. 4.

morning] Merely to prevent putrefaction; for it was not meet that a thing offered to God should be subjected to corruption, which in such hot countries it must speedily undergo. Thus the body of our blessed Lord saw no corruption, Psalm xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27, because, like the paschal lamb, it was a sacrifice offer ed to God.

Verse 11. And thus shall ye oat it; with your loins girded] As in the eastern countries they wear long loose garments, whenever they travel they tuck up the fore parts of their garments in the girdle which they -wear round their loin's.

x. 34, 35.- Chap. ví, 2.

It is the Lord's passover.] That is, Jehovah is now about to pass over the land, and the houses only where the blood is sprinkled shall be safe from the stroke of death. The Hebrew word D pesach, which we very properly translate PASSOVER, and which should always be pronounced as two words, has its name from the angel of God passing by or over the houses of the Israelites, on the posts and lintels of which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, while he stopped at the houses of the Egyptians to slay their first-born.

But we

It appears that from the Jewish passover the heathens borrowed their sacrifice termed PROPTER VIAM. It was their custom previously to their undertaking a journey, to offer a sacrifice to their gods, and to eat Verse 12. Against all the gods of Egypt, &c.] As the whole if possible, but if any part was left they different animals were sacred among the Egyptians, burned it with fire; and this was called propter viam, the slaying of the first-born of all the beasts might be because it was made to procure a prosperous journey. called executing judgment upon the gods of Egypt. It was in reference to this that Cato is said to have As this however does not appear very clear and satisrallied a person called Q. Albidius, who, having eaten factory, some have imagined that the word elohey up all his goods, set fire to his house, his only remain-should be translated princes, which is the rendering in -ing property.- "He has offered his sacrifice propter our margin; for as these princes, who were rulers of viam," says Cato, "because he has burned what he. the kingdom under Pharaoh, were equally hostile to could not eat." This account is given by Macrobius, the Hebrews with Pharaoh himself, therefore these Saturn., lib. ii., 2, edit. Bipont., vol. i., p. 333; and is judgments fell equally heavy on them also. a remarkable instance-how closely some of the religious may ask, Did not these judgments fall equally on all observances of the people of God have been copied by the families of Egypt, though multitudes of them had the heathen nations. no particular part either in the evil counsel against the Israelites or in their oppression? Why then distinguish those in calamities in which all equally shared? None of these interpretations therefore appear satisfactory. Houbigant, by a very simple and natural emendation, has, he thinks, restored the whole passage to sense and reason. He supposes that elohey, GODS, is a mistake for ahley, TENTS or habitations, then he and the lamed being merely interchanged. This certainly gives a very consistent sense, and points out the universality of the desolation to which the whole context continually refers. He therefore contends that the text should be read thus: And on all the TENTS (or HABITATIONS) of Egypt I will execute judgment; by which words the Lord signified that not one dwelling in the whole land of Egypt should be exempted from the judgment here threatened. It is but justice to say that however probable this criticism may appear, it is not supported by any of the ancient versions, nor by any of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi. The parallel place also, Num. xxxiii. 4, is rather against Houbigant's interpretation For the Egyptians buried all their firstYour staff in your hand] The same writer ob-born, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon serves that the eastern people universally make use of their gods also [on ubeloheyhem] the Lord exea staff when they travel on foot. cuted judgments. But Houbigant amends the word Ye shall eat it in haste] Because they were sud-in this place in the same way as he does that in denly to take their departure: the destroying angel was at hand, their enemies were coming against them, and they had not a moment to lose.

Your shoes on your feet]. This seems particularly mentioned because not customary. "The easterns throw off their shoes when they eat, because it would bę troublesome," says Sir J. Chardin, "to keep their shoes upon their feet, they sitting cross-legged on the floor, and having no hinder quarters to their shoes, which are made like slippers; and as they do not use tables and chairs as we do in Europe, but have their floors covered with carpets, they throw off their shoes when they enter their apartments, lest they should soil those beautiful pieces of furniture.". On the contrary the Israelites were to have their shoes on, because now about to commence their journey. It was customary among the Romans to lay aside their shoes when they went to a banquet. The servants took them off them when they entered the house, and returned them when they departed to their own habitations.

Exodus. There appears also to be an allusion to this former judgment in Isa. xix. 1: Behold, the Lord— shall come into Egypt, and the idols [ eliley] of

t

leaven out of your houses: for
whosoever eateth leavened bread An. Exod. Isr. 1.
from the first day until the seventh
day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 And in the first day there shall be a
holy convocation, and in the seventh day there
shall be a holy convocation to you; no man-
ner of work shall be done in them, save that
which every man must eat, that only may
be done of you.

W

15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened. 17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleabread; even the first day ye shall put away vened bread; for in this self-same day have

Jerusalem. The truth is,, the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world has been offered, and they have no power to restore the ancient type. See on ver. 27. «.

Egypt shall be moved at his presence. And in Jef. xliii. 13 The houses of the gods [ bottey elohey] of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire. The rabbins say that "when Israel came out of Egypt, the holy blessed God threw down all the images of their Verse 15, Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread] abominations, and they were broken to pieces.". When This has been considered as a distinct ordinance, and a nation was conquered, it was always supposed that not essentially connected with the passover. The their gods had either abandoned them or were over-passover was to be observed on the fourteenth day of .come.. Thus Egypt was ruined, and their gods confounded and destroyed by Jehovah. See the note on -chap. xi. 7.

Verse 13. The blood shall be to you for a token} It shall be the sign to the destroying angel, that the house on which he sees this blood sprinkled is under the protection of God, and that no person in it is to be injured. See on ver. 11

Verse 14. A memorial] To keep up a remembrance of the severity and goodness, or justice and mercy, of God. Ye shall keep it a feast-it shall be annually observed, and shall be celebrated with solemn religious joy, throughout your generations—as long as ye continue to be a distinct people; an ordinance a Divine appointment, an institution of God himself, neither to be altered nor set aside by any human authority.

the first month; the feast of unleavened bread began on the fifteenth and lasted seven days, the first and last of which were holy convocations.

That soul. shall be cut off] There are thirty-six places in which this excision or cutting off is threatened against the Jews for neglect of some particular duty; and what is implied in the thing itself is not well known. Some think it means a violent death, some a premature death, and some an eternal death. It is very likely that it means no more than a separation from the rights and privileges of an Israelite; so that after this excision the person was considered as a mere stranger, who had neither lot nor part in Israel, nor any right to the blessings of the covenant. This is probably what St. Paul means, Rom. ix. 3. But we naturally suppose this punishment was not inflicted but on those who had showed marked and obstinate contempt for the Divine authority. This punishment appears to have been nearly the same with excommunication among the Christians; and from this general notion of the cutting off, the Christian excommunica

For ever.] by npr chukkath olam, an everlasting or endless statute, because representative of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world; whose mediation, in consequence of his sacrifice, shall endure while time itself lasts; and to whose merits and effi-tion seems to have been borrowed. cacy the salvation of the soul shall be ascribable. throughout eternity. This, therefore, is a statute and ordinance that can have no end, either in this world or in the world to come. It is remarkable that though the Jews have ceased. from the whole of their sacrificial system, so that sacrifices are no longer offered by them in any part of the world, yet they all, in all their generations and in all countries, keep up the remembrance of the passover, and observe the feast of unleavened bread. But no lamb is sacrificed. Their sacrifices have all totally ceased, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Even the flesh that is used on this occasion is partly roasted and partly boiled, that it may not even resemble the primitive sacrifice; for they deem it unlawful to sacrifice out of

Verse 16. In the first day and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation] This is the first place where we meet with the account of an assembly collected for the mere purpose of religious worship. Such assemblies are called holy convocations, which is a very appropriate appellation for a religious assembly; they were called together by the express command of God, and were to be employed in a work of holiness.

pp mikra, convocation, is a word of similar import with the Greek EKKλnoia, which we commonly translate Church, and which properly signifies an assembly convened by public call.

Verse 17. Self-same day] Dry beetsem, in the body of this day, or in the strength of this day; probably they began their march about day-break, called here

EXODUS.

y Lev: xxiii. 5; Num. xxviii. 16. Ör, kidd Heb. xi. 28. Verse 7. Verse 12, 13. 18; Deut. xvi. 3; 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. Ver. 3; Ezek. ix. 6; Rev. vii. 3 ; ix. 4. h2 Sam. xxiv, 16; 1 Cor Num. ix. 4; Josh. v. 10; 2 Kings xxiii. 21; Ezra vi. 20; Matt. x. 10; Heb. xi. 28.- Chap. iii. 8, 17.- Chap. xiii. 8, 14 ¿ xxvi. 18, 19; Mark xiv. 12-16; Luke xxii. 7, &c, Deut. xxxii. 7; Josh. iv. 6; Psa.-lxxviii. 6.

the body or strength of the day, and in Deut. xvi. 1, qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the blood by night-some time before the sun rose.

Their posterity to be taught

A. M. 2513.
B. C. 1491.

Abib or Nisan.

27 That ye shall say, It is | And the people m bowed the head An. Exod. Isr. 1. the sacrifice of the LORD's pass- and worshipped. over, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.

A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. An. Exod. Isr. 1

28 And the children of Israel Abib or Nisan. went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

■ Heb. xi. 28.

densed into one point of view, in the address to the
communicant : "Take and eat this in remembrance
that Christ died for THEE; and FEED Upon HIM, in thy
heart, by FAITH with THANKSGIVING." Thus God con-
tinues the memorial of that grand transaction which
he has said should be an ordinance for ever; evidently
meaning thereby, that the paschal lamb should be the
significator till the passion and death of Christ; and
that afterwards bread and wine taken sacramentally, in
commemoration of his crucifixion, should be the con-
tinual representatives of that sacrifice till the end of
the world. Thus the passover in itself, and in its re-
ference, is an ordinance for ever; and thus the words
of the Lord are literally fulfilled. Reader, learn from
this, 1. That if thou art not rescued from the thraldom
of sin, thou must perish for ever. 2. That nothing
less than the power and mercy of God can set thee
free. 3. That God will save thee in no other way
than by bringing thee out of thy sinful state, and from
thy wicked practices and companions.
4. That in or-
der to thy redemption it was absolutely necessary that
the Son of God should take thy nature upon him, and
die in thy stead. 5. That unless the blood of this sa-
crifice be sprinkled, in its atoning efficacy and merits,
on thy heart and conscience, the guilt and power of
thy sin cannot be taken away. 6. That as the blood
of the paschal lamb must be sprinkled on every house,
in order to the preservation of its inhabitants, so there

Verse 27. It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover] We have already intimated that the paschal lamb was an illustrious type of Christ; and we shall find that every thing in this account is typical or representative. The bondage and affliction of the people of Israel may be considered as emblems of the hard slavery and wretchedness consequent on a state of sinfulness. Satan reigns over both body and soul, bringing the whole into subjection to the law of sin and death; while various evil tempers, passions, lusts, and irregular appetites, act as subordinate tormentors, making the lives of the vassals of sin bitter, because of the rigour by which they are obliged to serve. Reader, is this thy case? The mercy of God projects the redemption of man from this cruel bondage and oppression; and a sacrifice is appointed for the occasion by God himself, to be offered with particular and significant rites and ceremonies, all of which represent the passion and death of our blessed Lord, and the great end for which he became a sacrifice, viz., the redemption of a lost world from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin, &c. And it is worthy of remark, 1. That the an-must be a personal application of the blood of the cross niversary or annual commemoration of the passover was strictly and religiously kept by the Jews on the day, and hour of the day, on which the original transaction took place, throughout all their succeeding generations. 2. That on one of these anniversaries, and, as many suppose, on the very day and hour on which the paschal lamb was originally offered, our blessed Lord expired on the cross for the salvation of the world. 3. That after the destruction of Jerusalem the paschal lamb ceased to be offered by the Jews throughout the world, though they continue to hold the anniversary of the passover, but without any sacrifice, notwithstanding their deep-rooted, inveterate antipathy against the author and grace of the Gospel. 4. That the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted to keep this true paschal sacrifice in commemoration, and that this has been religiously observed by the whole Christian world (one very small class of Christians excepted) from the foundation of Christianity to the present day! 5. That the Jews were commanded to eat the paschal lamb; and our Lord, commemorating the passover, commanded his disciples, saying, Take, eat, THIS is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of ME. In the communion service of the Church of England, the spirit and design both of the type and antitype are most expressly conVOL. I. ( 24 )

to thy conscience, to take away thy sins. 7. As it was not enough that the passover was instituled, but the blood must be sprinkled on the lintels and door posts of every house to make the rite effectual to the salvation of each individual, so it is not enough that Christ should have taken human nature upon him, and died for the sin of the world; for no man who has the opportunity of hearing the Gospel is saved by that death, who does not, by faith, get a personal application of it to his own heart. 8. That those who wish for an application of the atoning blood, must receive this spiritual passover with a perfect readiness to depart from the land of their captivity, and travel to the rest that remains for the people of God; it being impossible, not only to a gross sinner, continuing such, to be finally saved, (however he may presume upon mercy of God,) but also to a worldly-minded man, to get to the kingdom of God; for Christ died to save us from the present evil world, according to the will of God. 9. That in order to commemorate aright, in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the great atonement made for the sin of the world, all leaven of malice, bitterness, and insincerity, must be put away; as God will have no man to partake of this mystery who does not fully enter into its spirit and meaning. See 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.

353

the