Exodus 12:5

5 Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats.

Exodus 12:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:5

Your lamb shall be without blemish
Without any spot or defect in it. Maimonides F8 reckons no less than fifty blemishes in a creature, anyone of which makes it unfit for sacrifice, see ( Leviticus 21:21-24 ) . This lamb was a type of Christ, who is therefore said to be our passover sacrificed for us, ( 1 Corinthians 5:7 ) comparable to a lamb for his innocence and harmlessness, for his meekness, humility, and patience, for usefulness both for food and raiment, as well as for being fit for sacrifice; and who is a lamb without spot and blemish, either of original sin, or actual transgression, holy in his nature, harmless in his life: a male of the first year;
anyone within that time, but not beyond it; denoting the strength and vigour of Christ, in the flower of his age, his short continuance among men, and his being tender and savoury food for the faith of his people: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats;
it might be either a lamb, or a kid of the goats; for the most part, or generally, it was a lamb that was taken; so the Jewish canon runs F9,

``he that says to his servant, go and slay for me the passover, if he slays a kid he may eat it; if he slays a lamb he may eat of it; if he slays a kid and a lamb, he may eat of the first.''
The goat being of an ill smell may denote Christ being made sin, and a sin offering for his people; and the taking of a lamb from these may signify the choice of Christ from among the people in the council and covenant of God; the preordination of him to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world; the preservation of him from the infection of sin in his incarnation, and the separation of him from sinners in his conversation.
FOOTNOTES:

F8 Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 1.
F9 Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 2.

Exodus 12:5 In-Context

3 Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house.
4 If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat.
5 Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats.
6 Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it - the entire community of Israel will do this - at dusk.
7 Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.