Exodus 12:7 & 8 And they shall take of the blood [1]
Of the lamb, being received into a basin, Exodus 12:22:
And strike it on the two side posts
With a bunch of hyssop dipped into it:
And on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it
But not on the posts of those houses, the inhabitants of which joined with their neighbors [sic] in eating it; though Levi Ben Gersom thinks they were sprinkled as the rest; but to what purpose, when there were no Israelites, and no firstborn in them? the two side posts were the posts of a folding door, on which the two folds were hung, and the upper doorpost is what is afterwards called the lintel, Exodus 12:23 and has its name in Hebrew from looking out; for, as Aben Ezra says, there was a window over the door, as is the custom throughout the whole country of the Ishmaelites or Arabians; and so Schindler says, which perhaps he took from him, that the word signifies either a lintel, or a little window over the door, through which it might be seen who called or knocked at the door; and adds, in Egypt, as now in Arabia, there were windows over the doors of houses. The sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb was typical of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon the hearts and consciences of his people, and of their peace, safety, and security by it from the wrath of God, and the vengeance of divine justice; of the further use of this rite, see Exodus 12:22, Aben Ezra mentions it as the opinion of some, that the sprinkling of the blood on those places was to show that they slew the abomination of the Egyptians openly; but he himself gives a much better reason for this rite, namely, that it was to be a propitiation for everyone that ate in the house, and was a sign to the destroyer, that he might look upon it in like manner, as it is said Ezekiel 9:4, “set a mark, etc.” this seems to be peculiar to the passover in Egypt, and was not used in later times.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire
The night of the fourteenth of Nisan; and as the Jews reckoned their days from the evening preceding, this must be the beginning of the fifteenth day, which being observed, will serve to reconcile some passages relating to this ordinance. The lamb was to be roasted, not only because its flesh thereby would be more palatable and savory, but because soonest dressed that way, their present circumstances requiring haste; but chiefly to denote the sufferings of Christ, the antitype of it, when he endured the wrath of God, poured out as fire upon him; and also to show, that he is to be fed upon by faith, which works by love, or to be received with hearts inflamed with love to him:
And unleavened bread
This also was to be eaten at the same time, and for seven days running, even to the twenty first day of the month, Exodus 12:15, where see more concerning this: the reason of this also was, because they were then in haste, and could not stay to leaven the dough that was in their troughs; and was significative of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, with which the true passover lamb is to be eaten, in opposition to the leaven of error, hypocrisy, and malice, 1 Corinthians 5:7.
And with bitter herbs they shall eat it
The Vulgate Latin version renders it, “with wild lettuces” which are very bitter; and the worst sort of which, for bitterness, Pliny says, is what they call “picris” which has its name from the bitterness of it, and is the same by which the Septuagint render the word here. . . .
[1] John Gill, “Exodus 12:7-8,” John Gill’s Exposition of the Old & New Testament, Vol. I (London: Mathews & Leigh, 1809; reprint, Paris, AR.: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 370 (page citations are to the reprint edition).
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