(27) It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover.—Heb., This is a passover-sacrifice to Jehovah. The emphatic word is “Passover;” and it was the meaning of this term which was especially to be explained. The explanation would involve an historical account of the circumstances of the institution, such as would be apt to call forth feelings of gratitude and devotion. read more
(29) All the firstborn.—The Hebrew word used applies only to males.The firstborn of Pharaoh.—The law of primogeniture prevailed in Egypt, as elsewhere generally. The Pharaoh’s eldest son was recognised as “hereditary crown prince,” and sometimes associated in the kingdom during his father’s lifetime. This had been the case with Lameses II., probably the Pharaoh from whom Moses fled (Exodus 2:15); but the practice was not common. In any case, however, the eldest son of the reigning monarch... read more
THE TENTH PLAGUE.(29, 30) The nature of the tenth plague is indubitable, but as to the exact agency which was employed there may be different views. In every family in which the firstborn child had been a male, that child was stricken with death. Pharaoh’s firstborn son—the erpa suten sa—the heir to his throne, was taken; and so in all other families. Nobles, priests, tradesmen, artisans, peasants, fishermen—all alike suffered. In the hyperbolic language of the narrator, “there was not a house... read more
(30) A great cry.—See the comment on Exodus 11:6. The combination of public calamity, private grief, and shocked religious fanaticism might well produce a cry “such as there was none like it, neither shall be like it any more” (Exodus 11:6).Not a house where there was not one dead. This cannot have been literally true. In half the families a daughter would have “opened the womb;” in others, the firstborn son would have been absent, or dead previously. To judge Scripture fairly, we must make... read more
THE DISMISSAL OF THE ISRAELITES.(31) He called for Moses and Aaron.—This does not mean that Pharaoh summoned them to his presence, but only that he sent a message to them. (See above, Exodus 11:8.) The messengers were undoubtedly chief officials; they “bowed themselves down” before Moses, who was now recognised as “very great” (Exodus 11:3), and delivered their master’s message, which granted in express terms all that Moses had ever demanded. Pharaoh’s spirit was, for the time, thoroughly... read more
(32) And bless me also.—Here Pharaoh’s humiliation reaches its extreme point. He is reduced by the terrible calamity of the last plague not only to grant all the demands made of him freely, and without restriction, but to crave the favour of a blessing from those whom he had despised, rebuked (Exodus 5:4), thwarted, and finally driven from his presence under the threat of death (Exodus 10:28). Those with whom were the issues of life and death must, he felt, have the power to bless or curse... read more
Exodus 12:8 Christianity, considered as a moral system, is made up of two elements, beauty and severity; whenever either is indulged to the loss or disparagement of the other, evil ensues.... Even the Jews, to whom this earth was especially given, and who might be supposed to be at liberty without offence to satiate themselves in its gifts, were not allowed to enjoy it without restraint. Even the Paschal Lamb, their great typical feast, was eaten 'with bitter herbs'. Newman, Sermons on... read more
CHAPTER XII.THE PASSOVER.Exodus 12:1-28.We have now reached the birthday of the great Hebrew nation, and with it the first national institution, the feast of passover, which is also the first sacrifice of directly Divine institution, the earliest precept of the Hebrew legislation, and the only one given in Egypt.The Jews had by this time learned to feel that they were a nation, if it were only through the struggle between their champion and the head of the greatest nation in the world. And the... read more
THE TENTH PLAGUE.Exodus 12:29-36.And now the blow fell. Infants grew cold in their mothers’ arms; ripe statesmen and crafty priests lost breath as they reposed: the wisest, the strongest and the most hopeful of the nation were blotted out at once, for the firstborn of a population is its flower.Pharaoh Menephtah had only reached the throne by the death of two elder brethren, and therefore history confirms the assertion that he "rose up," when the firstborn were dead; but it also justifies the... read more
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Exodus 12:24
(24) This thing.—Not the sprinkling of the blood, which was never repeated after the first occasion, but the sacrifice of the lamb, commanded in Exodus 12:21. read more