Second Lesson of Good Friday

Exodus 12:1-11

In those days the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year: according to which rite also you shall take a kid. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month: and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire: and unleavened bread with wild lettuce. You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire. You shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be an thing left, you shall burn it with fire. And thus you shall eat it: You shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste; for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord.

Haydock

Verse 1. Said, some time before. Moses mentions all the plagues together. M.

Verse 2. Year, sacred or ecclesiastical, which is most commonly used in Scripture. The civil year commenced with Tisri, in September, and regulated the jubilee, contracts, &c. Lapide — January was the first month to determine the age of trees, and August to decide when cattle became liable to be tithed. C. xxii. 29. Levit. xix. 23. C. — Before the captivity, the months were not styled Nisan, &c. but abib, (C. xiii. 4,) the first…Bul the 11th, (1 K. vi.), &c. Sa.

Verse 3. Children; a word which has been dropped in the printed Heb. and in the Chaldee, which has been assimilated to it, though found still in some MSS. and in the Sam. Sept. Syr. and Arab. versions. Ken. — Day. This regarded only the present occasion. Jonathan. — The Jews no longer eat the paschal lamb, as they are banished from Chanaan. C. — Man, who has a family sufficient to eat a lamb; Heb. se, which means also a kid, (as either was lawful, v. 13,) and perhaps also a calf. Deut. xvi. 2.

Verse 4. Less. Moses does not specify the number. But in never comprised fewer than ten, nor more than twenty, in which number Menoch does not think women or children are comprised. The Jews satisfied the inquiry of Cestius, concerning the multitude which might be assembled at the paschal solemnity, by allowing ten for every victim; and finding that 250,600 victims had been sacrificed in the space of two hours, they concluded 2,700,000 people were collected at Jerusalem. Josep. Bel. vii. 16.

Verse 5. Lamb. Heb. se, which denotes the young of either sheep or goats. Kimchi. He who had not a lamb, was to sacrifice a kid. Theodoret. — A kid. The Phase might be performed, either with a lamb or with a kid; and all the same rites and ceremonies were to be used with the one as with the other. Ch. — Many have asserted, that both were to be sacrificed. But custom decides against them. All was to be perfect, Momim, as even the pagans required; (Grotius) and God (Lev. xxii. 22,) orders the victims in general must have no fault. The Egyptians rejected them, if they were even spotted, or twins. — A male, as all holocausts were to be. Pagans gave the preference to females. C. — One year, not older, though it would do if above eight days old. M. — The paschal lamb prefigured Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us by his death, being holy, set apart, and condescending to feed us with his sacred person, in the blessed Eucharist. Here we eat the lamb without breaking a bone, though we take the whole victim. Jo. xix. 36. 1 Cor. v. 7. C. — To fulfil this figure, Christ substituted his own body, and, making his apostles priests, ordered them to continue this sacrifice for ever. He came to Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nisan, on Sunday. He gave himself to his disciples on the evening of the 14th, and died at noon on the 15th. The unleavened bread, and the cup, (Lu. xxii. 17,) clearly denoted the blessed Sacrament, which was ordered to be eaten in the house or church of God. S. Cyp. Unit. See S. Greg. hom. 22. in Evang. Tert. c. Marc. iv. “The bread he made his own body.” If, therefore, the truth must surpass the figure, surely the blessed Sacrament must be more than bread and wine; otherwise it would yield in excellence and signification to the paschal lamb. W.

Verse 6. Sacrifice, not simply kill, as the Protestants would have it. W. — Evening. Heb. “between the two evenings,” or “suns,” according to the Chaldee, alluding to the sun when it declines and when it sets, including about the space of two hours. This time belonged to the evening of the 14th, at which time the lamb was to be sacrificed, though it was to be eaten in the night, which pertained to the 15th. M. — The Jews began the day at sun-set, and some began the first evening soon after mid-day. Matt. xiv. 15. and seq. C.

Verse 7. Houses. Those who joined their neighbours to eat the paschal lamb, were therefore to continue with them that night, if they would escape destruction, v. 23. M.

Verse 8. Unleavened, in testimony of innocence, 1 Cor. v. 7. The priests of Jupiter did the like. Servius. — Lettuce, or some “bitter herbs.” Heb. and Sept. The Jews allow of five sorts.

Verse 9. Raw. Some nations delighted in raw flesh, in the feasts of Bacchus, who hence received the title of Omadios. Porphyr. de Abstin. 3. The Heb. term na occurs no where else, and may perhaps signify half-roasted or boiled, semicoctum. It cannot be inferred from this prohibition, that the Hebrews commonly lived on such food. — In water, as the other victims usually were, 1 K. ii. 13. 2 Par. xxxv. 13. — You shall eat, is not in the original, nor in the Sept. We may supply it, however, or “you shall roast all, head,” &c. but in eating, you shall avoid breaking any bone, as the Sept. and Syr. express it, (v. 10,) and as we read, v. 46, and Num. ix. 12. These were to be burnt, that they might not be profaned. C.

Verse 11. Haste, as all the aforesaid prescriptions intimate. M. — Many of them regarded only this occasion, and were not required afterwards. — Phase, which the Chaldee writes Pascha, signifies the passing over (C.) of the destroying angel, when he spared those houses only which were marked with blood, to insinuate the necessity of faith in Christ’s death. Some have derived the word from the Greek Pascho, “to suffer,” on account of the similarity of sound. H.

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