And ye shall observe this as an ordinance for thee and for thy sons for ever.
This command comes with the first Passover, and it looks far beyond that night. Why does God bind His people to a practice for ever, and what does it ask of their sons?
One writer collects the names the chapter gives to this one day.
Israel was to remember this day for ever (v. 14) with a feast each year. Several different names show how important it is: (1) "the Lord's Passover" (v. 11); (2) "a memorial" (v. 14); (3) "a feast" (v. 14); (4) "an ordinance" (v. 24); (5) "a service" (v. 25); and (6) "the sacrifice" (v. 27).
Where that list says "an ordinance," the ESV reads "statute."
The first Passover sheltered Israel while judgment fell that night. Every later Passover was different, and one writer presses that difference.
They were to keep the Passover every year as a remembrance at a time when there was no passing over. They were in the land by then, as we are in heavenly places in Christ. They were celebrating a deliverance and redemption accomplished long ago… It was (v. 24) "a statute for you and for your sons forever."… It was a remembrance that never ends.
Why command the same feast for ever? One writer points to a weakness in us.
There is a dangerous tendency in the human heart to forget, particularly in matters relating to God. Think of Deuteronomy, the book that gives us Moses' final addresses to the people. Again and again we meet warnings there: beware in case you forget, be careful to remember.… Peter says one mark of a backslider is that he has "forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins" (2 Peter 1:9).
The same writer moves from Israel's yearly feast to the memorial the Lord left His own.
The Lord's Supper comes to mind here. Even One so unique as the Saviour, and a sacrifice so great as the sacrifice of Himself, would be in danger of being forgotten by His own. So He gave His disciples first the bread, and then the cup, saying, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19-20). While He is away on high, the Lord's Supper stays with the Church as the memorial of her once-slain Lord and Saviour.
Verse 24 also answers two questions: who keeps the memorial, and for how long.
Notice too, "All the congregation of Israel shall keep it" (v. 47). Take that with verse 24, "You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever." Together they teach us that every redeemed one, knowing peace, is called to the memorial feast, without exception. They also teach that this observance goes on until the moment comes when memorials are needed no more. Forgetfulness and indifference toward redeeming grace can never enter the Father's house, though sadly we know all too well that they creep in here.
Whether the children ever ask about the feast depends on how their parents keep it.
So much would depend on the way the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children would surely be interested and ask, Why? If they treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, they would not. But once their interest woke up, the parents had a gripping story to tell. They could tell of God's care for them, and how He delivered them from slavery and made them a free people. Their homes at those times would have a joyful ring about them. Songs of praise to their Redeemer-God would break out, and the children's voices would join in.
One writer takes up both what the children are told and where they stand.
God had the children of Israel in His thoughts too. Parents were to teach them carefully what the Passover feast meant. The chapter pictures the children asking at a later time, "What do you mean by this service?" The parents were to answer, "It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses." Let us in our day make sure that we are under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb ourselves. And let us make sure our children stand in the same place of safety with God. The wrath of God against all ungodliness is a tremendous reality. Nothing can screen us or our children from it but the Saviour's blood.
- Blood first. The ordinance points back to the sheltering blood. Children need to be under that blood, not just told about it.
- Ordinance. The chapter gives the day six names: Passover, memorial, feast, ordinance, service, sacrifice. Verse 24 supplies one of them.
- Memory. The human heart forgets, so God sets up a memorial: the yearly Passover for Israel, and the Lord's Supper for the Church while He is away.
- Sons. How the parents keep the feast is itself the teaching. Eagerness and reverence make children ask; indifference keeps them silent.
- For ever. Every redeemed person is called to the memorial, without exception. It goes on until the day memorials are needed no more.
And it shall come to pass, when ye are come into the land that Jehovah will give you, as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service.
God gives this command while Israel is still in Egypt, with blood on the doorposts. The land He promises is nowhere in sight. The command reaches past Egypt into settled life. The night of rescue is to become a lasting service, kept in a country they have not yet seen.
One writer traces what the feast came to mean once Israel was settled in the land.
In the land the Passover took on another character still, and one that should also have its match for the believer now. To the Israelite it would clearly have a much fuller meaning across the Jordan than in the desert. It would now be to him the memorial, not simply of deliverance from Egypt and Egypt's slavery and power, but of accomplished salvation. His position in the land was to the glory of God's faithfulness and grace in performing all that He had promised. But in truth that position was the result of the shed blood. In other words, the blood of the Passover lamb laid the foundation for the carrying out of God's purposes.
One writer draws a sharp line between that first night and the yearly feast that followed.
Israel was to keep the Passover every year as a remembrance, at a time when there was no passing over. They were in the land then, as we are in heavenly places in Christ, and they celebrated a deliverance and redemption accomplished long ago… It was a perpetual remembrance. At this season of the Passover, which recalled Israel's deliverance from Egypt, the Lord set up the remembrance of a better sacrifice and a better deliverance.
The verse calls the feast a service. That is only one of six names the chapter gives it.
Israel was to remember this day forever (v. 14) with a yearly feast. The various names given to it show its importance: (1) "the LORD's Passover" (v. 11); (2) "a memorial" (v. 14); (3) "a feast" (v. 14); (4) "an ordinance" (v. 24); (5) "a service" (v. 25); and (6) "the sacrifice" (v. 27).
The next verse expects a child's question. Whether it ever gets asked, one writer notes, depends on how the parents keep the feast.
So much would depend on the way the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children would surely be interested and ask why. If the parents treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, the children would not. But once their interest was awake, what a gripping story the parents would have to tell! They would tell of God's care for them, and how He delivered them from slavery and made them a free people.
Another writer gives the reply the parents were to make, then turns it on parents today.
The children of the Israelites came into the divine thought too. They were to be carefully taught the meaning of the Passover feast. Exodus 12:26-27 supposes the children asking at a later date, "What do you mean by this service?" The parents were to reply, "It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses." Let us today make sure that we ourselves shelter under the blood of the Lamb. And let us make sure our children are in the same place of divine safety.
The same writer carries this duty of telling over to Christian parents.
Israel's deliverance from Egypt was only a shadow of the greater deliverance God has worked for us. The Lord's Supper is the remembrance of how He has done it. So should not this "telling to the children" matter even more to us?… If the children see that the parents highly value the Lord's Supper and prepare for it, they will want to know what it means. And what a story the parents have to tell them! "This is My body, which is given for you… Do this in remembrance of Me." The whole story of the great love of our Lord and Saviour lies in those words, and each generation must tell it to the next.
- Promise. God commands the feast for a land Israel has not yet entered. It rests on what He promised to give, not on what they can see.
- Foundation. Their place in the land was the result of the shed blood. So there the feast became the memorial of an accomplished salvation.
- Remembrance. God passed over no one a second time. The yearly feast looked back on a deliverance long finished — and at that same feast He set up the remembrance of a better one.
- Question. God writes a child's question into the ordinance. Parents who keep the feast with eagerness are the ones whose children ask.
- Telling. The answer is the sacrifice itself, and the aim is that the children stand under the shelter of that blood too.
And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say to you, What mean ye by this service?
The Passover was not meant to end with the generation it rescued. God looks ahead to children in the land who watch a feast they never lived through and ask what it means.
The way Israel ate the Passover was strange enough to make a child curious, and that was part of God's design.
Israel had to keep the anniversary of their deliverance in the same way they ate the Passover in Egypt. They wore belts fastened and sandals on, held a staff in hand, and ate in haste. "And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the Lord's Passover.'" It was an unusual way to keep a feast. They stood and ate in a hurry. No wonder the children asked what it meant. But it was God's way of bringing their old slavery back to mind, and with it the wonderful way He rescued them. It was also a picture of a far greater deliverance, so a lasting memorial was fitting. The Red Sea had no memorial, though God's power was openly displayed there. The blood on the doorpost is the foundation of it all. The Passover is God's feast, and its memorial lasts forever.
The chapter gives this day several names. "Service" is only one of them.
Israel was to remember this day forever (v. 14) with a feast each year. The different titles given to it show how important it was: (1) "the Lord's Passover" (v. 11); (2) "a memorial" (v. 14); (3) "a feast" (v. 14); (4) "an ordinance" (v. 24); (5) "a service" (v. 25); and (6) "the sacrifice" (v. 27).
The verse says when your children ask. Whether they do depends on how the parents keep the feast.
So much would depend on the way the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children were sure to take an interest and ask why. If they treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, the children would not ask. But once the children were interested, what a gripping story the parents had to tell! They spoke of God's care for them, how He freed them from slavery and made them a free people... The children's interest would come alive. It would stir up the parents too, and reawaken their gratitude to God.
God does not leave the parents to invent a reply. The words He gives them hold three things at once.
Just before God set up the Passover in Egypt, Moses told the Israelites what to answer their children: "It is the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and spared our houses." And the people bowed their heads and worshipped. (Ex. 12:26-27.) This Scripture presents three things: salvation, judgment, and worship. Salvation for Israel, judgment for the Egyptians, and worship for God.
The children who ask are living in the land, long after the night of the death of the firstborn. The feast they see is a memorial of something finished.
Israel was to keep the Passover every year as a remembrance, at a time when there was no passing over. They were in the land, as we are in heavenly places in Christ. We celebrate a deliverance and redemption accomplished long ago. "And when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service."... It was a remembrance that lasts forever.
Telling children the meaning is one thing. Seeing them safe is another.
In our day, let us make sure that we ourselves are under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb. And let us make sure that our children are in the same place of safety with God. The wrath of God against all ungodliness is a tremendous reality. Nothing can shield us or our children from it except the Saviour's blood.
Children still ask when they watch believers remember the death of Christ.
We should stir up questions in the minds of our children. Oh, that we could get them to ask questions about the things of God!... It is good for our children to often see the Lord's Supper, and for us to explain what it means. It shows the death of Christ in symbol. Put the Lord's Supper in view of the rising generation, so that they may ask us, "What do you mean by this?"
- Designed — God made the feast strange enough to leave children curious and asking.
- Depends — The question comes when parents keep the feast with joy. It dies when they treat it as a chore.
- Declared — The answer God gives holds three things: salvation for Israel, judgment for Egypt, and worship for God.
- Distant — The children live in the land, far from that night. The feast looks back on a redemption already accomplished.
- Delivered — Explaining is not the goal; the aim is that our children are under the shelter of the blood, as we are.
that ye shall say, It is a sacrifice of passover to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped.
This verse hands parents the answer to give when a child asks what the Passover means. Two things stand together here: a lesson to hand on, and a people bowed in worship.
The answer God puts in the parents' mouths is short, and all of it is about what He did that night. The children were in God's thoughts too when He set this feast up.
The children of the Israelites came into God's thoughts too. They were to be carefully taught what the Passover feast meant. ... Let us make sure today that we ourselves are under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb. Let us make sure our children are in the same place of divine safety. The wrath of God against all ungodliness is a tremendous reality. Nothing can screen us or our children from it but the Saviour's blood.
Israel's houses were spared, but not because the people inside them were better than the Egyptians.
On the night of the Passover the question was how God could pass over the guilty, even if they were His people. God was carrying out judgment that night. Yet the blood of the lamb sprinkled on Israel's doorposts declared that He could not touch those the blood screened. His truth and justice were stayed and satisfied before that blood. The destroyer was kept from entering. Not one Israelite died within the blood-sprinkled doorframes.
Generations later, a father would still call it "the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover." Yet the Lord had passed over long before that child was born.
God, when redeeming Israel out of Egypt, had the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the doorposts and said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you"; and they ate the lamb. They were to keep up the memorial of this. If their children asked, they were to say "This is the Lord's Passover," even though He was not passing over then. They were celebrating the memorial of it. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Note that the apostle has no thought except the one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished long ago.
The question in the verse assumes the children are watching. Whether they ask at all depends on what they see at home.
So much would depend on the way the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children would surely be interested and ask, Why? If they treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, the children would not ask. But once the children were interested, what a gripping story the parents had to tell! They could tell of God's care for them, and how He delivered them from slavery and made them a free people.
One writer applies the same lesson to the Lord's Supper:
We should stir up questions in the minds of our children. Oh, that we could get them to ask about the things of God! ... It is good for our children to watch the Lord's Supper often, and for us to explain to them what it means, because it shows the death of Christ in symbol. The Lord's Supper should be placed in view of the rising generation, so that they may then ask us, "What do you mean by this?"
The people bowed at what God had spoken through Moses. One writer places this bowing among the great moments of worship in Scripture:
Israel worshipped when they bowed the head at God's revelation through Moses (Ex. 4:30-31; 12:27); as Moses did at another revelation (Ex. 34:8) ... What were all these acts but the thankful acknowledgment of God, according to what He had either done or spoken, and the acceptance of His mercy accordingly?
Yet worship at the doorpost is not proof of settled faith. A few days later the same people panicked at the Red Sea.
A few days before, "the people bowed their heads and worshiped" (Exodus 12:27). How different now! The moment danger appears they show their lack of faith and claim they had asked to be left alone to serve the Egyptians. Here at once we see the seed of that unbelief which finally left their bodies in the wilderness.
- Judgment. The night's question was not whether Egypt deserved judgment, but how God could pass over anyone at all.
- Blood. What stayed His hand was the blood on the doorposts — His justice satisfied, the destroyer shut out, and not one Israelite lost.
- Answer. The reply for a child is a fact, not a feeling: God passed over our houses when He struck Egypt.
- Memorial. Later generations still called it "the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover," long after that night. It remembers one finished work; it never repeats it.
- Worship. Bowed heads were the fitting answer to what God had done and said. Yet the same people soon faltered, so each generation needs the telling again.