Exodus chapter 12 part 1

After reading Exodus chapter 12:

*Moses has just left Pharoah after telling him that at midnight every firstborn son would die. In the first part of chapter 12, Yahweh gives Moses instructions on how to annually commemorate the "Passover" which hasn't happened yet. The instructions are given as though it has already occurred.

*The month of these events is to be the first month of the Israelite year from now on. On the tenth day of the month, a young, unblemished, male goat or sheep is to be selected and saved to be slaughtered on the fourteen day of that month. The blood of the lamb is to be painted on the door frames of the houses in which the lamb is eaten. The meat is to be roasted over a fire and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Every bit is to be consumed or burnt. It is to be eaten in a hurry in traveling clothes.

*Verses 12-13 are written as though Passover hasn't happened yet. That night God will kill all the firstborn Egyptians and animals. (Even though the animals have already been killed in previous chapters) God will pass over the houses with blood on the door frames. The people inside them will not be harmed. Yahweh will bring judgement on the gods of Egypt. Does he say the gods of Egypt don't exist and he is the only God? Nope.

 *With verse 14 we are back to how these events will be commemorated in the future as a lasting ordinance. For seven days they will eat unleavened bread. Yeast is to be removed from the house on the first day and anyone who eats yeast from the first to the seventh days is to be cut off from Israel. (Harsh. I wonder if that sentence has ever been carried out.) There will be a sacred assembly on the first and seventh days. In between that, no work will be done, except for food preparation. This is called the feast of unleavened bread and commemorates God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, even though it hasn't happened yet. Verses 18-20 are a repetion of the previous instructions with slightly different wording.

*In verse 21, Moses repeats god's instructions about the lamb and the blood to the Israelites. He tells them to make sure they stay indoors and God will not let the destroyer get them. Sounds like a child's worst nightmare. We are not told who or what the destroyer is. Moses tells the Israelites to make sure they keep this ceremony and explain it to their children when they get to the land he promised them. Then the people bowed down and worshipped. They did what Moses said. At midnight all the firstborn of Egypt from the throne to the prison, plus the non-existent livestock, were killed by Yahweh. There was loud wailing in Egypt. No kidding. I wonder if the Egyptians were still favorably disposed to the Israelites after that.

*After reading the bible this far, one might get the idea that God doesn't like firstborn males very much. Oddly enough, Pharoah himself should have been a firstborn son, but he didn't die. Maybe he got off on a technicality.