All the assembly of Israel shall hold it.
The Passover chapter ends with law, not story: God sets out who may sit at this table and who may not. Verse 47 states the scope, and the verses around it answer two questions — who belongs to this congregation, and what happens to anyone who stays away.
The command covers the whole nation — the home-born and the outsider who had joined them. Refusing it carried a penalty:
Every one of the congregation, and the stranger who was circumcised, all alike had to keep the Passover. If they refused to do that they were cut off. Being cut off from the congregation of Israel corresponds to being outside this fellowship today — the fellowship that is according to God. It was to be a holy convocation, that is, a coming together to this feast of the Lord. That was what would draw them together in holy fellowship. They had this in common: they owed all their blessing to the lamb that had died.
The feast belonged to Israel alone, yet the outsider was not turned away. One writer finds in that a hint of how far God's gifts reach:
First, the foreigner was to be excluded: the Passover feast was to be for Israel alone. The seed of Abraham, the family of faith, alone can commemorate a deliverance which they only have known. Yet God kept a door open for the stranger who would submit to Israel's law; the terms for him were no harder than for the home-born. It is beautiful to see how all lines of division give way before the faith that asks, "Is He the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also?" What can the answer be but, "Yes, of Gentiles also"... God's choicest gifts are His most universal gifts.
Notice what God does not do. He commands Israel to keep the feast. He never commands the stranger — He only opens the way:
Suppose someone had no right to it — an outsider to the nation of Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise. If he wanted to keep the Passover to the Lord, he might do so, as long as he did it according to the ordinance... This is one of the striking early hints of grace found again and again even under the law. They announce very plainly that God was always looking on to the time when His grace could travel out in the gospel to all the world. And notice, as a foreshadowing of that blessed time, there was no command to the stranger to keep the feast. If he wanted to do so, the way was open. He only had to have the qualification for it, just as the children of Israel had.
Three kinds of people could sit down to the lamb. One requirement covered them all, and one kind of worker was shut out:
There were then three classes who might keep the Passover: the Israelites; their servants bought with money; and the stranger staying with them. But the condition for all of these alike was circumcision. None could have a place at the Passover table unless they had been circumcised. Only in this way could they come within the terms of the covenant which God had made with Abraham. A hired servant might not eat it, but a servant bought with money might, if he was circumcised. This feast had a household character. A servant bought with money became part of the family; a hired servant had no such place or standing.
That requirement meant more than a mark on the body:
Here we are taught that while it was the place and privilege of every true Israelite to eat the Passover, yet no uncircumcised stranger should share in it... Circumcision was necessary before the Passover could be eaten. In other words, the sentence of death must be written on our nature before we can feed on Christ with understanding, either as the ground of peace or the centre of unity.
The same rule covered the native and the visitor alike. One writer carries that straight into church life:
The following verse is another insistent reminder that "there shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you" (Ex. 12:49). This is just as true in the assembly of God today: there are to be no double standards. One who does not want to be subject to the order of the assembly is thereby disqualifying himself from fellowship with the assembly.
- One lamb — what drew the nation together was not kinship but a shared debt. They owed all their blessing to the lamb that had died.
- One congregation — the feast was a coming together, not a private meal. Refusing it meant being cut off from the people.
- One door — only Israel had known this rescue, so only Israel could celebrate it. Yet the door stayed open to the stranger, on the same terms as the home-born.
- One condition — Israelite, bought servant, or visitor, each one had to be circumcised. The sentence of death is written on our nature before anyone feeds on Christ.
- One law — one rule for native and stranger, and no double standards for those gathered today.
And when a sojourner sojourneth with thee, and would hold the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and hold it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
The Passover chapter closes with rules about who may eat the meal. Verse 48 answers the question of the outsider: the door stands open to him, but one condition guards it.
The rules could have shut the outsider out. Instead they make room for him, and the way they make room is the point.
These rules also make room for the stranger — for people who were not Israelites, but who were living among the children of Israel. God is God in every age, and His heart, not yet free to act in righteousness, was always longing to bless. So a man with no claim of his own, an outsider to Israel and a stranger to God's covenant promises, might still keep the Passover to the Lord if he wanted to. He only had to keep it the way God had commanded... And notice this early sign of the day of grace to come. The stranger was never ordered to keep the feast. If he wanted to, the way was open. But he had to meet the one requirement, just as the children of Israel did.
That open door tells us something about God Himself.
God kept a door open for the stranger who would submit to Israel's law. He asked no harder conditions of him than of those born in the land. It is beautiful to see how every line of separation gives way before the faith that asks whether He is the God of the Jews only, and not of the Gentiles too. What can the answer be but that He is the God of the Gentiles as well? It is man that has fallen away from God, not God from man; it is man who puts distance between them and builds barriers. God's choicest gifts are His most universal gifts.
The chapter names more than one group who could eat, and one condition covers them all.
Three groups might keep the Passover: the Israelites, their servants bought with money, and the stranger living among them. But the condition for all of them alike was circumcision. No one could have a place at the Passover table without it. Only in this way did they come within the terms of the covenant God had made with Abraham (see Gen. 17:9-14). That covenant was the ground on which He was now acting, bringing them out of Egypt and taking them to Himself as His people. A hired servant might not eat, but a servant bought with money might, if he was circumcised. This feast had the character of a household. A servant bought with money became part of the family, so he was included; a hired servant had no such place, and so had no share in the feast.
Circumcision was no formality. Commentators tie it to what must be true of a person before he can feed on Christ with understanding.
Circumcision had to come first, before anyone could eat the Passover. In other words, the sentence of death must be written on our nature before we can feed on Christ with understanding — either as the ground of peace or as the centre of unity. What circumcision pictured, the cross fulfils. Only the male was circumcised, and he stood for the female. So at the cross Christ stood for His Church... "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:8)
The same condition also flattened every human advantage.
A man's advantages of person or position did not matter in the least. He could have no part with Israel until he submitted to that cutting of the flesh. A circumcised beggar was nearer to God than an uncircumcised king. It is the same now. There can be no share in the joys of God's redeemed except by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all distinctions, and unites everyone in one holy congregation of blood-washed worshippers.
The verse promises the stranger that he will be "as a native of the land." That welcome carries both sides of belonging.
When the stranger settled among them and was circumcised, he was then "as a native of the land." Exodus 12:49 insists on one law for the native-born and for the stranger living among you. There was to be no double standard. The stranger had the same privileges as the native-born, and carried the same responsibilities.
- Door. No stranger was ordered to keep the Passover. If he wanted to, the way stood open — an early sign of grace reaching beyond Israel.
- Condition. That door had one requirement: circumcision. It was the same for Israelite, bought servant and stranger alike.
- Meaning. The requirement wrote the sentence of death on nature. Commentators point to the cross of Christ as what it pictured.
- Leveller. The condition cancelled every advantage of rank. A circumcised beggar stood nearer to God than an uncircumcised king.
- Result. Whoever came through that door stood as a native of the land — same privileges, same responsibilities, no double standard.