Exodus 23:18

18 1"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

Exodus 23:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:18

Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened
bread
This belongs to the feast of the passover; for, as all the Jewish writers agree, this sacrifice is the sacrifice of the passover, as it is sometimes called, see ( Exodus 12:27 ) now when the paschal lamb was killed, and its blood shed, and its flesh eaten, there was to be no leaven along with it; it was to be eaten with unleavened bread, and there was to be no leaven in their houses at this time; nay, it was not to be slain until all was removed: this was the first thing the Jews did, as soon as the fourteenth day was come, to search for leaven, remove and burn it; and this sense of the law is confirmed by the Targum of Jonathan, which is,

``not a man shall slay, while there is leaven in your houses, the sacrifice of my passover;''

and to the same purpose is the note of Jarchi:

neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning;
and indeed no part of the passover lamb was to remain until the morning, what did was to be burnt with fire, ( Exodus 12:10 ) the Targum of Jonathan is,

``neither shall there remain without the altar the fat of the sacrifice of my passover until the morning, nor of the flesh which ye ate in the evening;''

and so Jarchi interprets it of its not remaining without the altar.

Exodus 23:18 In-Context

16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.
17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD.
18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.
19 "The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20 "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 12:8; Exodus 34:25; Leviticus 2:11
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.