Exodus 12 Study Notes

12:24-28 The Lord expected the Israelites to teach their children about him in the process of regularly celebrating what he had done for them (10:2; 13:8-9,14-15).

12:29-30 The prisoner who was in the dungeon was another person opposite Pharaoh in social standing, like “the servant girl who is at the grindstones” (11:5). Mention of both extremes encompassed all people in between.

12:31-32 Pharaoh had one last encounter with Moses and Aaron. He had declared that Moses would die if they met again, but he could not keep that resolve. Instead, he capitulated and gave unconditional release of all the Israelites to go and worship, but he himself made no mention of worshiping the Lord (cp. 2Kg 5:17-18). Pharaoh’s desire for blessing recalls earlier dealings of Egyptians and others with God’s people that show things could have been far different for him (Gn 12:3; 21:22-24; 26:28-31; 39:5; 47:7,10).

12:33-34 We’re all going to die! is the last recorded statement to Moses by ordinary Egyptians. It uses just two words in Hebrew and assesses the situation without any pretense, the expectation being that all the Egyptians were about to die if the Israelites stayed any longer in Egypt.

12:35-36 These verses describe what the statements in 3:21-22 and 11:2-3 had looked toward.

12:37 Rameses and Succoth are thought to have been in eastern Egypt (1:11), with Succoth east of Rameses in an area that the ancient Egyptians called Tjeku. This was at the eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat and contained fortifications because the area was a trade route with access to the Sinai Peninsula. The large number of people who left Egypt contrasts with the small number who had entered it (1:1-5). The census of about six hundred thousand able-bodied men implies a total population of more than two million. See also note at Nm 1:44-46.

12:38 The mixed crowd may have included other laborers who saw an opportunity to escape from Egyptian servitude, but who had not necessarily come to faith in the Lord (Nm 11:4).

12:39 See 12:14-20.

12:40-41 Starting from 966 BC, when Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple, and adding 480 years (1Kg 6:1) yields 1446 BC for the date of the exodus. Adding 430 years to that brings Jacob to Egypt in 1876 BC, during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom era.

12:42 Because the Lord had watched over Israel on Passover night, they would hold a vigil in commemoration.

Babylonian (eighteenth century bc) and Assyrian (fourteenth and fifteenth century bc) inheritance laws usually gave the firstborn son a portion twice as big as the other sons. This was true in Israel (Dt 21:15-17). The firstborn son was prized (Mc 6:7; Zch 12:10) because he embodied the father’s strength (Gn 49:3). Bekor is used entirely with reference to males. Bekor could also indicate status since Israel was God’s firstborn son among the nations (Ex 4:22-23). God judged the firstborn in Egypt for Egypt’s mistreatment of his firstborn. He then claimed the Israelite firstborn, whether man or beast (Nm 3:13). He took the Levites in place of the firstborn, but firstborn sons and the firstborn among unclean animals had to be monetarily redeemed (Nm 3:41; 18:15). The firstborn of the flock and herd became sacrifices (Lv 27:26; Dt 15:19). Later the Davidic king was God’s firstborn among earth’s kings (Ps 89:27).

12:43-49 Passover was a family event for those who belonged to the covenant community of Israel, to whom circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God was in the process of fulfilling (2:24; Gn 17:9-13). The whole community of Israel must celebrate the Passover, and one law would apply to anyone who was part of the covenant community, whether by birth (and membership in a family through purchase) or by choice of affiliation. A woman’s participation would normally depend on her family connections. The restriction against breaking the bones of the lamb foreshadows Jesus, the true Passover lamb (Jn 19:33-36; cp. Ps 34:20).