Exodus 12:14-28 | The Way of Scripture

Exodus 12:14-28

How would future generations remember the rescue?

Berean Standard Bible

14 And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come. 15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do. 17 So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel. 20 You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ 27 you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

What is the context?

The night of deliverance is to become a lasting memorial. God commands seven days of unleavened bread, with sacred assemblies on the first and seventh days. Ordinary work stops on those assembly days, with meal preparation permitted. The removal of leaven is treated as a binding covenant obligation.

Moses then gives the elders the instructions for that first night. They are to kill the lambs, use hyssop to apply the blood to the doorframes and remain inside until morning. The LORD will see the blood and prevent the destroyer from entering those houses.

The observance is to continue after they enter the promised land. Children will ask what it means, and the answer is to tell what the LORD did: He struck Egypt and spared Israel’s homes. The people respond by bowing in worship and carrying out the instructions. Memory, explanation and obedience belong together.

How is this passage commonly understood?

The shared reading understands the feast as a binding memorial through which Israel is to remember and teach God’s deliverance. Calvin emphasizes the seriousness of preserving the memory of redemption through the commanded observance; Wesley likewise connects the annual feast with gratitude for the rescue.

Where does this fit in God's plan?

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 applies the removal of leaven to the life of the church. Because Christ has been sacrificed as the Passover lamb, Paul calls believers to put away malice and wickedness and live in sincerity and truth. The remembered rescue leads into a changed way of life.

Luke 22:7–20 places Jesus’ final meal with His apostles within Passover. He gives bread and the cup in connection with His body, His blood and the new covenant, and commands remembrance of Him. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 explains that this meal proclaims His death until He comes. The memorial of deliverance from Egypt opens into the New Testament’s remembrance of the deliverance accomplished by Christ.

What is our position?

Our study Should We Seek Signs From God? understands the blood on the Passover doorposts as a sign whose meaning God had already given through His word. The instructions and promise came first. The people were called to trust that promise and act on what He had said.

Where can I study this further?

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