The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Passover” it comes from the Hebrew Word “pesach” which means “to pass over, to spare.”
One night, one lamb, and blood on a doorframe changes the course of an entire nation. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Exodus 12.
God establishes an entirely new calendar for Israel, marking this month as the beginning of months. Each household is to select a lamb without blemish, keep it four days, then kill it at twilight and strike its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes. They are to eat the lamb roasted with fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, dressed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. God explains the reason for this ritual directly. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The Hebrew word for this passing over is “pesach,” meaning to pass over or spare, the origin of the feast’s name.
At midnight, the Lord strikes every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh’s own son to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and “there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” Pharaoh, finally broken, summons Moses and Aaron in the night and tells them to take the Israelites and go, even asking Moses to bless him as they leave. The Egyptians, eager to see them gone, urge the people out and give them articles of silver, gold, and clothing, exactly as God had promised earlier.
The Israelites, roughly six hundred thousand men on foot besides women and children, leave Egypt after four hundred and thirty years of dwelling there, on the very day their sojourn there began. God establishes the Passover as a permanent, annual memorial for all generations to come, along with strict instructions about who may participate in it.
The blood on the doorposts, not the family’s righteousness or effort, was what protected each household that night. Israel was spared simply because they trusted God’s instructions and applied the blood exactly as commanded. That same principle, protection through trust in what God provides rather than personal merit, echoes through the rest of the Bible.
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