The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 271

been found necessary, or at least desirable, in almost all countries, to establish, by authority, days of commemoration, when national deliverances, national triumphs, national recoveries, shall be brought prominently before the mind of the nation, and pressed upon its attention. The Passover must be regarded as one of the most effective of such co=emorative ceremonies. It has continued to be celebrated for above three thousand years. It brings vividly to the recollection of the Jew that night of trepidation and excitement, when the lamb was first killed, the blood dashed upon the doorposts, and the sequel waited for-that night, when "about midnight" was heard "a great cry," and in every house the Egyptians bewailed one dead-that night, in which, after the cry, a murmur arose, and the Egyptians became "urgent" (ver. 33), and insisted that the Israelites should quit the land forthwith. It has all the political advantage of a great national celebration; and it exalts the political idea by uniting it with religious enthusiasm. IT. As A FEAST OF THANKSGIVING. The sacrifices of the Paschal week, with the exception of the Paschal lamb and the daily goat, must be viewed ns thl\Ilk-offerings. They consisted of fourteen bullocks, seven rams, and forty-nine lambs of ihe first year, provided by the priests, and offered to God in the name of the nation. They were burnt on the altar as holocausts, accompanied by meat-offerings of flour mingled with oil. At the same time individuals offered their own private thank-offerings. So far, the special object of the thanksgiving was the great deliverance, with which might be conjoined, in thought, God's further mercies in the history of the nation. On the second day of the feast, however, another subject of thankfulness was introduced. The season of the year was that in which the earliest grain ripened in Palestine; according to a conjecture already made, it was the time when the return of spring had been long celebrated among the Semites by a traditional observance. .As " each return of the Pass- over festival was intended to remind the Israelites of their national regeneration" (Kalisch), it was thought appropriate to bring the festival into connection with the regeneration of nature, and the return of vernal vegetation. On the second day, there- fore, a sheaf of the first ripe barley was offered as the first-fruits of the coming harvest, and thanks were rendered to God for his bounty in once more bringing to perfection the fruits of the earth. During the remainder of the week, both subjects occupied the thoughts of the worshippers, who passed the time in innocent festivities, as songs, music, and dancing. Ill. ~ A 6YMJIOLICAL CEREMOJIY. We have not to guess at the symbolical meaning of the Passover,- of so much that is contained in the Jewish law. Scripture distinctly declares it. "Christ, our Passover, is slain," says St. Paul ; "therefore let us keep the feast." Christ, who was prefigured and foreshown in every sacrifice, was symbolised especially by the Paschal victim. He was "the Lamb of God" (John i. 29), "without spot or blemish" (1 Peter i. 19), "holy, harmless, undefiled" (Heb. vii. 26); offered to keep off" the destroyer," saving us by His blood from death (.Acts xx. 28); slain that we mi<Tht feed upon His flesh (John vi. 51). The Paschal lamb, when prepared for 6.'.I.Crifi;e, presented, as Justin Martyr informs us, a lively image of the Saviour upon "the accursed tree," being extended on a cross formed of two wooden spits, one longitudinal, and one transverse, placed at right angles each to the other. "Not a bone of it was to be broken," that it might the better typify Him whom God preserved from this indignity (Ps. :x.xxiv. 20; John xix. 33). It was to be consumed entirely, as Christ is to be taken entire into the heart of the faithful (Gal. iv. 19). Scripture also distinctly declares the symbolical meaning of the unleavened bread. "Let us keep the feast," says St. Paul, "not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." He who would feed on Christ must first put away from him all corruption and impurity, eject all leaven out of the house wherein his spirit dwells, ma.ke himselffit to sit down at that heavenly banquet, by getting rid of all those "evil things which come from within, and defile the man" (Mark vii. 23). There may be some doubt, however, as to the symbolism of the "bitter herbs," which Scrip- ture leaves unexplained. The exegesis, that the bitter herbs symbolised the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt, if taken as exhausting the meaning, is unsatisfactory. The memory of past sufferings inflicted by others is not a necessary accompaniment of present festal joy, though it may enhance that joy by contrast. The "bitterness" should be something that is always requisite before the soul can find in Christ rest, OH. Xll, 3-20.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 265