The First Passover - Word Foundations

After Moses obeyed God’s call to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let God’s people go, Pharaoh resisted—repeatedly. God brought 10 severe plagues on Egypt to motivate Pharaoh to obey (see Ex. 7:14–12:42)

In the tenth plague, the firstborn among families and livestock perished, but God gave His people instructions so the firstborn among them would be spared (see 11:1–12:42). When the angel of death saw a certain mark or sign on entrance to a home, he “passed over” that home, taking no lives. The name Passover is thus fitting for this event and its annual observation. The mark was the blood of a slaughtered lamb. We’ll consider this more thoroughly in just a moment.

What was the Passover all about? Consider these four things.

First, it was about life and death. Egyptians died. Also, lambs were slaughtered, sparing the lives of Hebrews (see Ex. 12:12-13).
Second, it was about appreciation to Yahweh (see vv. 24-27).
Third, it was a memorial. God’s people were never to forget His protection and provision (see v. 14).
Finally, the Passover was about a blood sacrifice. Through Moses, God directed that each household would take “an unblemished…year-old male…from either the sheep or the goats” (v. 5). Families were to slaughter the animals, and they were to “take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them” (v. 7).

The lintel was the horizontal part of the doorframe, and of course the doorposts were the vertical posts, one on each side of the door. So when a father marked his home with the lamb’s blood according to God’s instructions, he made a cross with the motions of his hand and arm.

The Passover, therefore, didn’t just focus on the here-and-now on the night it actually occurred, nor merely on the past when it was celebrated annually. It also pointed to the future—to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God (see John 1:29), on the cross. It is His blood on our lives that causes God to pass over us when He otherwise would judge us for our sins. Jesus used the Passover to inaugurate for His followers a new observance, the Lord’s Supper (see Luke 22:7-8,19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25). As we observe it and remember His past sacrifice and our present standing with God, we also look forward to our Lord’s second coming (see Luke 22:14-18; 1 Cor. 11:26).

You see, the Passover is really ultimately all about the Lamb—Jesus, the Lamb of God. (Note that the first letters of the bulleted items listed above [life and death, appreciation, memorial, and blood sacrifice] spell LAMB.)

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article have been taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.