Exodus 12:21

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out and take lambs according to your families and sacrifice the passover.

Exodus 12:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:21

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel
Not in age but in office, who were either heads of families, or at least principal men in the tribes; which explains in what manner he was to speak to the congregation of Israel, and convey to them the will of God concerning the observation of these feasts, ( Exodus 12:3 ) , and said unto them, draw out;
a lamb or a kid, out of the flocks on the tenth day of the month, and keep it up until the fourteenth, as in ( Exodus 12:3 Exodus 12:6 ) and take you a lamb, according to your families;
or "take ye of the flock" F18, whether a lamb or a kid; a lamb for every family, if there was a sufficient number in it to eat it up; if not, two or more families were to join and keep the feast together: and kill the passover;
the lamb for the passover, which was to be done on the fourteenth day of the month; and before the priesthood was established in the family of Aaron, and before the Israelites were possessed of the land of Canaan, and the temple was built at Jerusalem, the passover was killed by the heads of families, and in their own houses, but afterwards it was killed only by the priests, and at Jerusalem and in the temple there, see ( Deuteronomy 16:5 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (zau) "de filiis gregis", Onk. & Jon.

Exodus 12:21 In-Context

19 For seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or born in the land.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread.
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out and take lambs according to your families and sacrifice the passover.
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and touch the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23 For the LORD will pass through smiting the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010