Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/303

Rh thing in it, forsake all for Christ, and reckon it no bad bargain. Heb. 13. 13, 14.

4. The feast of unleavened bread was typical of the Christian life, 1 Cor. 5. 7, 8. Having received Christ Jesus the Lord, (1.) We must keep a feast, in holy joy, continually delighting ourselves in Christ Jesus; no manner of work must be done, (v. 16.) no care admitted and indulged inconsistent with, or prejudicial to, this holy joy: if true believers have not a continual feast, it is their own fault. (2.) It must be a feast of unleavened bread, kept in charity, without the leaven of malice, and in sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy. The law was very strict as to the passover, and the Jews were so in their usages, that no leaven should be found in their houses, v. 19. All the old leaven of sin must be put far from us, with the utmost caution and abhorrence, if we would keep the feast of a holy life to the honour of Christ. (3.) It was by an ordinance for ever; (v. 17.) as long as we live we must continue feeding upon Christ, and rejoicing in him always, with thankful mention of the great things he has done for us.

21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill the passover. 22. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 23. For the will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 24. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 25. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 26. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean youye [sic] by this service? 27. That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head, and worshipped. 28. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

I. Moses is here, as a faithful steward in God's house, teaching the children of Israel to observe all things which God had commanded him; and no doubt he gave the instructions as largely as he received them, though they are not so largely recorded. It is here added,

1. That this night, when the first-born were to be destroyed, no Israelite must stir out of doors till morning, that is, till toward morning, when they would be called for to march out of Egypt, v. 22. Not but that the destroying angel could have known an Israelite from an Egyptian in the street, but God would intimate to them that their safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling; if they put themselves from under the protection of that, it was at their peril: also, that those whom God has marked for himself must not mingle themselves with evil-doers: see Isa. 26. 20, 21. They must not go out of the doors, lest they should straggle and be out of the way when they should be summoned to depart: they must stay within, to wait for the salvation of the Lord, and it is good to do so.

2. That hereafter they should carefully teach their children the meaning of this service, v. 26, 27. Observe, (1.) The question which the children would ask concerning this solemnity, (which they would soon take notice of in the family,) "What mean ye by this service? What is the meaning of all this care and exactness about eating this lamb, and this unleavened bread, more than about common food? Why such a difference between this meal and other meals?" Note, [1.] It is a good thing to see children inquisitive about the things of God; it is to be hoped that they who are careful to ask for the way will find it. Christ himself, when a Child, heard and asked questions, Luke, 2. 46. [2.] It concerns us all rightly to understand the meaning of those holy ordinances wherein we worship God; what is the nature, and what the end, of them: what is signified, and what intended; what is the duty expected from us in them, and what the advantages to be expected by us. Every ordinance has a meaning; some ordinances, as sacraments, have not their meaning so plain and obvious as others have; therefore we are concerned to search, that we may not offer the blind for sacrifice, but may do a reasonable service. If either we are ignorant of, or mistaken about, the meaning of holy ordinances, we can neither please God nor profit ourselves. (2.) The answer which the parents were to return to this question; (v. 27.) Ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, that is, "By the killing and sacrificing of this lamb, we keep in remembrance that work of wonder and grace which God did for our fathers when," [1.] "To make wayfor our deliverance out of bondage, he slew the first-born of the Egyptians, so compelling them to sign our discharge;" and, [2.] "Though there were with us, even with us, sins against the Lord our God, for which the destroying angel, when he was abroad doing execution, might justly have destroyed our first-born too, yet God graciously appointed and accepted the family-sacrifice of a lamb instead of the first-born, as, of old, the ram instead of Isaac; and in every house where the lamb was slain the first-born were saved." The repetition of this solemnity in the return of every year was designed,

First, To look backward as a memorial, that in it they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. The word pesach signifies a leap or transition: it is a passing over; for the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites, and did not destroy their first-born. When God brings utter ruin upon his people, he says, I will not pass by them any more, (Amos, 7. 8.—8. 2.) intimating how often he had passed by them, as now when the destroying angel passed over their houses. Note, 1. Distinguishing mercies lay under peculiar obligations. When a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, and yet we are preserved, and have our lives given us for a prey, this should greatly affect us, Ps. 91. 7. In war or pestilence, if the arrow of death has passed by us, passed over us, hit the next to us, and just missed us, we must not say it was by chance that we are preserved, but by the special providence of our God. 2. Old mercies, to ourselves or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, but be had in everlasting remembrance, that God may