We were told in yesterday's study that the Israelites traveled from the district of Rameses to Sukkoth and that 600,000 men plus women and children were in their group along with others who left Egypt with them. Now we begin to take a look at the things they did and were told by the Lord during their first few days of freedom.
"With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves." (Exodus 12:39) The last meal they ate before the exodus was Passover and the next time they eat they bake unleavened bread with the dough they brought out with them. This is why only unleavened bread can be eaten while observing Passover, to commemorate the way the Israelites ate their bread at the time of the exodus.
"Now the length of the time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come." (Exodus 12:40-42) At this point the Lord provides further instructions. through Moses and Aaron, for observing Passover during the generations to come.
"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'These are the regulations for the Passover meal: No foreigner may eat it. Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.'" (Exodus 12:43-45) Allowing someone who is not part of the body of believers of Israel to partake in Passover would be like allowing someone who is not a Christian to partake in a communion service. A slave would be considered part of the Israelite's household and, if he agreed to be circumcised and to follow the religion of his master, he would become a member of the congregation and could participate in the Passover meal. But a foreigner (a person of another religion, a visitor from some other nationality than Israel) was not to join in. Neither was a hired person who was temporarily staying on an Israelite's property while performing work. To take part in Passover a person must be from one of the tribes of Israel or a convert to the religion of Israel.
"It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. The whole community of Israel must eat it." (Exodus 12:46-47) The first Passover meal was eaten inside the house behind closed doors, so to honor that night the people must not eat it outside in picnic fashion. You will recall that the Passover lambs were roasted whole. The meal had to be prepared as hastily as possible and there was no time, after slaughter, to cut apart the animals and separate the bones from the meat.
It's important to stop here and note that the Apostle John applies verse 46 to the Lord Jesus Christ when comparing Him to the Passover lamb. None of the Lord's bones were broken while He gave His life on the cross for us, although it was common for the soldiers to eventually break the leg bones of those hanging on crosses in order to hasten death. A person hanging on a cross would begin to have difficulty breathing after a while due to the position of his outstretched arms and the hyper extension of the chest muscles. The crucifixion victim would need to push himself upward every few minutes, by pressing his feet against the nails that held them to the cross, so he could catch a deeper breath. But Jesus was crucified at Passover and the Sabbath was beginning that evening at 6pm, so it was important for the three men being crucified that day to perish and be taken down and buried before the Sabbath began. I think it's safe to conclude that the other two men being crucified with Jesus were Jews, for it was against Roman law to impose a sentence of crucifixion upon a Roman citizen, and because it appears as if the Romans wanted to keep the peace in Jerusalem by appeasing the Jews by making sure these men were dead and taken down in time for their relatives to claim and inter the bodies before the Sabbath began. When it came time to break the legs of the men so they could no longer push themselves upwards to breath, Jesus had already given up His spirit at 3pm, so John tells us, "The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs...These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of His bones will be broken.'" (John 19:32-33,36)
The regulation about not breaking the bones of the Passover lamb is repeated again in Numbers 9:12 when the people are reminded of the regulations for observing the religious holiday. David, the author of Psalm 34, prophetically looked forward to the crucifixion and made reference to Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12. About the Lamb of God David said that God would "protect all His bones, not one of them will be broken." (Psalm 34:20) The Lord Jesus Christ, the holy and spotless Lamb whose blood---when applied to our hearts---causes the wrath of God to pass over us in the day of judgment, was kept whole like a Passover lamb. None of His bones were broken. Like a sacrifice, His blood was poured out for us. Like a sin offering, He gave everything He had for us. He wholly, fully, completely, and willingly gave His body and blood and life to redeem us from sin and death.
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