What is the meaning of Exodus 12:6? You must keep it – The Passover lamb was selected and set apart four days earlier (Exodus 12:3-5). – Keeping the lamb in the home fostered identification and affection, heightening the sense of substitution when it died (cf. 2 Samuel 12:3-6 for the emotional bond between a family and a lamb). – Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), likewise lived among His people before His sacrifice. – The spotless condition demanded (Exodus 12:5) parallels Christ’s sinlessness (1 Peter 1:18-19; Hebrews 4:15). until the fourteenth day of the month – God fixed a precise moment for redemption: “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover” (Leviticus 23:5; Deuteronomy 16:6). – This date controlled Israel’s calendar and foreshadowed the exact timing of Christ’s crucifixion during Passover week (Luke 22:7-8; John 19:14). – The detail confirms God’s sovereignty over history and salvation (Galatians 4:4). the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel – Every household, tribe, and individual participated (Numbers 9:2-3). Salvation was personal yet corporate. – In the New Covenant, all believers—Jew and Gentile—form one body redeemed by the same Lamb (Acts 2:38-39; Ephesians 2:13-16). – The collective responsibility also anticipates the universal guilt that Christ bore (Romans 3:23-25) and the worldwide proclamation of the gospel (Acts 2:36). will slaughter the animals – The lamb’s death was substitutionary: life for life (Hebrews 9:22). – Isaiah pictured Messiah “led like a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7), fulfilled when Christ was crucified (1 Corinthians 5:7). – Each family applied the blood (Exodus 12:7); today each sinner must personally trust Christ’s blood for forgiveness (Romans 5:8-9). at twilight – “Between the evenings” marked the transition from daytime to night (Exodus 29:39). – Jesus died during those very hours, as darkness covered the land from noon until three o’clock (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33-37). – Twilight underscores urgency: no delay was allowed once God’s moment arrived (2 Corinthians 6:2). – The setting sun also hints at judgment passing over as night approached (Daniel 9:26-27). summary Exodus 12:6 establishes the Passover’s precise timing, communal participation, and sacrificial nature. Israel kept a flawless lamb, then, on God’s fixed day and hour, the entire nation killed it so that its blood would shield them from judgment. This literal event foreshadowed Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb who lived among us, was slain at the ordained Passover hour, and whose blood saves all who believe. |
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