This chapter supplements the last. The blow is known to be impending. Uses of its delay, [167].—Israel shall claim wages. The menace, [168].—Parallel with St. John, [169]–[70].
[CHAPTER XII.]
The Passover, xii. 1–28.
Birthday of a nation. The calendar, [171].—“The congregation.” The feast is social, [172].—The nation is based upon the family. No Egyptian house escapes, [173].—National interdependence. The Passover a sacrifice, [174].—What does the blood mean? Rationalistic theories. Harvest festivals, [175].—The unbelieving point of view: what theories of sacrifice were then current? “A sacrifice was a meal,” [176].—Human sacrifices. The Passover “unhistorical.” Kuenen rejects this view, [177].—Phenomena irreconcilable with it, [178]–[9]. What is really expressed? Danger even to Jews, [179].—Salvation by grace. Not unbought, [180].—The lamb a ransom. All firstborn are forfeited. Tribe of Levi, [181].—Cash payment. Effect on Hebrew literature, [182].—Its prophetic import, [183].—The Jew must co-operate with God: must also become His guest, [184].—Sacred festivals. Lamb or kid. Four days reserved, [185].—Men are sheep. Heads of houses originally sacrifice. Transition to Levites in progress under Hezekiah, complete under Josiah, [186].—Unleavened bread. The lamb. Roast, not sodden, [187].—Complete consumption. Judgment upon gods of Egypt, [188].—The blood a token unto themselves. On their lintels, [189].—The word “pass-over,” [190].—Domestic teaching, [191].—Many who ate the feast perished. Aliens might share, [192].
The Tenth Plague, xii. 29–36.
The blow falls. Pharaoh was not “firstborn”: his son “sat upon his throne,” [193].—The scene, [194].—The demands of Israel. St. Augustine’s inference, [195].
The Exodus, xii. 37–42.
The route, [195].—Their cattle, a suggested explanation, [196].—“Four hundred and thirty years,” [197]–[8].