And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought you out from this; and nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Moses gives a freed people their first instruction, and it is not a march order but a memory order. They must keep the day. They must name the hand that set them free. And one food is banned from their tables.
The command to remember has two objects: the day itself, and the One who made that day happen.
The feast of unleavened bread was to be tied for ever to the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." The Lord would always have His people remember the day of their deliverance. That was the day He brought them out of darkness into light. It was the day He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins, into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Secondly, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They owed everything to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains. No other arm could have struck down their oppressor, protected them from the destroyer, and set them free.
The place they came out of stands for more than one country. Commentators read Egypt as a picture of the world. The slavery is a condition a person does not even feel until God begins to work.
Egypt is the world of nature, in which our standing is "in the flesh," and in which sin reigns over us unto death, as Pharaoh reigned over Israel. It is a condition not realised as bondage until God works in the soul, but then an increasingly bitter one. Then the "law of sin" becomes a "law of death" as well, and the soul groans for deliverance. Only God's hand can bring that deliverance.
Israel owed everything to a rescue they had no part in. The same question presses on anyone God has rescued.
The beloved apostle could say to the saints at Corinth, "For who makes you to differ? and what do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). So in verse 3 of our chapter Moses urges the children of Israel, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Does this not speak with deeper meaning to us? God has delivered us from a bondage far greater than the one the children of Israel came out of.
The ban on leaven is not a dietary rule but a picture. Yeast spreads through dough the way sin spreads. The seven days stand for a whole Christian life.
Israel was to remember this day in which they were redeemed from the bondage of Egypt by the power of the hand of God. Then Moses first of all strongly forbids them to eat leaven (or yeast) during the seven days of the feast. These seven days are symbolic of our complete Christian life. For leaven is corrupting, a little of it leavening the whole lump (Gal. 5:9), so that it symbolises sin. In the sacrifice of Christ (pictured by the Passover) sin has been fully judged. We today are to recognise this by honestly judging any sin in our own lives. We keep the feast "not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
Rescue comes first in the verse, and the change of diet second. Reverse that order and holiness becomes a way to earn what God has already given.
The more fully we enter into the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, the more decided our separation will be. And the more whole-hearted our devotedness will be. The effort to produce either the one or the other, until redemption is known, will prove the most hopeless labour possible. All our doings must be "because of that which the Lord has done," not to get anything from Him.
The rescue happened once. Keeping it in memory goes on for generations, long after that night has passed.
Israel was to keep the Passover every year as a remembrance, at a time when there was no passing over, once they were in the land. It is the same with us. We are in heavenly places in Christ, and we celebrate a deliverance and redemption accomplished long ago… It was a lasting remembrance.
- Remember the day. The command points to one dated event. It is the day they walked out of slavery, out from under judgment into God's favour.
- Remember the hand. No other arm could have broken those chains. The strength was God's alone. The freed are debtors, not achievers.
- Remember what you left. Egypt pictures a bondage a person does not feel until God stirs the soul. Only God's hand can free anyone from it.
- Remember by what you eat. Leaven pictures evil that spreads. Seven days of unleavened bread mean a whole life kept clear of it.
- Remember, then live. Devotedness follows rescue; it never earns it. And the memorial outlasts the night it marks.
Ye come out to-day, in the month Abib.
This verse dates Israel's escape from Egypt: they walked out in the month Abib. That one detail matters — a named month, a yearly anniversary, and a year that starts over because God has redeemed a people.
The name Abib describes what the fields looked like when God brought His people out.
Israel's new first month received the name Abib — "the month of the ears of corn." For Israel it was the month of life out of death, the fruitful month. The name suited a people at their birth into national life. You can see this important principle about their year all through the books of Moses, Joshua, and Judges. Only Abib has a name there. All the other months are spoken of by number in relation to it — the "second," the "third," and so on.
After Israel's time in captivity, the same month went by another name.
The month that marks Israel's new beginning is Abib, the "green ear" month, because the corn was then in the ear. After the captivity it was called Nissan (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7). It is our April.
Abib had not always been the first month of the year.
The month in question was Abib, otherwise Nisan (Ex. 13:4), and corresponded to our March–April. Until then it had been counted the seventh month. From the time of Israel's deliverance from Egypt it was to be counted the first. So redemption gave the people a new start with God. It is just the same now. A man may admit that he is a sinner in God's sight, exposed to eternal wrath. If he then takes refuge in simple faith under the blood of the Lamb, he begins life anew. God wipes out his past of sin and guilt.
Israel's year had two starting points, and the new one falls where winter ends.
It had two beginnings, each of them in the seventh month dating from the other. The month Tizri began the civil year. From there we pass through the cold and barren season until we come to the seventh month, Abib. Abib then becomes the first month of the new era (Ex. 12:2; Ex. 16:1), and everything is changed: "for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come." All is in resurrection life.
The date mattered for the future: once Israel reached the land, they had to keep this day every year.
On this day they were going out, in the month Abib (v. 4). In time the Lord would bring them into the land He had promised. There they were to keep this service of the Passover in the same month every year. Verses 6 and 7 insist again, twice over, that they must keep leaven out of their homes during the seven days of the Passover. On the seventh day there was to be a feast to the Lord. This is written for our instruction. On the negative side, we are to shut sin out. On the positive side, we are to honour the Lord.
The command to remember a dated deliverance has a counterpart among Christians.
In verses 3 and 4, Israel is told to "remember" the day of their deliverance. This is, as I say, in the spirit of the New Testament. It is so much so that the standing ordinance among believers in this gospel age is a feast of remembrance (1 Cor. 11:23-26). Other scriptures in the same New Testament teach us more. This remembering is to be the very business of eternity — of the life of the redeemed in glory (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:9).
Devotion follows redemption. It never comes first.
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we enter into it, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption will prove the most hopeless work possible. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him. Working to gain life and peace proves that we are still strangers to the power of the blood.
- Named. Abib means the month of the ears of corn — the only month in the early books given a name, all others numbered from it.
- Moved. Abib had been the seventh month. Deliverance made it the first, so the calendar itself marked a new start with God.
- Green. The year now opens where winter ends and the fields are in ear — the picture is life out of death, resurrection life.
- Kept. Israel had to keep the day every year in the same month, with leaven shut out and the Lord honoured. The Christian's standing feast is also a remembrance of deliverance.
- Ordered. Conduct comes after rescue. What Israel does is "because of what the Lord has done," never to earn it.
And it shall be when Jehovah hath brought thee into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
The command about the feast does not stop at the border of Egypt. It reaches forward to a land Israel had never seen. God swore that land to their fathers, and He sets the same feast there: same service, same month, kept by a people who are home.
The verse assumes an arrival. God speaks of the moment He brings them in, not of a chance that He might.
For the people redeemed from Egypt the wilderness was not Jehovah's purpose, only His way. The Jordan sets forth our death and resurrection with Christ, as the Red Sea does Christ's death and resurrection for us.
God names the land by what it grows on its own. Two words carry the whole picture.
The land is a good land and a large one, flowing with milk and honey. It is not a land of narrowness, as Egypt is, and heaven is not shaped by the needs and struggles of earth. The "river" is not at war with the desert there. There is all "fatness," which the word for milk literally means, and all sweetness, as the honey implies. Salvation for us must issue in satisfaction, or it is not salvation.
That land worked differently from Egypt.
The blessings of that land were earthly, but they came from the hand of God and were not won as the result of irrigation and toil as in the case of Egypt.
The land already had owners, and they are listed by name. Their removal is not presented as an accident of war.
"Out of Egypt I called my son," said Jehovah. He carried the nation out of the house of slavery into the land of plenty, a land flowing with milk and honey. The original inhabitants of Canaan were driven out because of their gross idolatry and moral depravity. This made room for those known in prophetic language as "sons of the living God."
Chapter 12 gave the feast at the moment of rescue. Chapter 13 gives it again, and ties it to the inheritance.
It is remarkable how the feast of unleavened bread is introduced in chapter 13. In the chapter before, God commanded the feast right after the sprinkling of the blood of the passover lamb. This was to show that only a holy life fits people who have been redeemed by blood. The feast comes up again in chapter 13. This time God adds instructions for keeping it once He brings them into their inheritance, and a special word about setting apart the firstborn.
The feast was not only for the day of rescue. One writer sets it beside the Lord's Supper.
Verses 3-10 made one thing clear to Israel. They were not to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread just as they came out of Egypt and then treat it as finished. It was for all time, as a memorial of the great deliverance. Three Gospels record how the Lord's Supper began. If we had only those, we might think it mattered no further than the night He was betrayed. But the fourth record, in 1 Corinthians 11, settles the point. It is to be observed "until He comes."
Kept in Egypt, the feast was eaten in haste, with the destroyer outside. Kept in Canaan, the same sacrifice is remembered by people in no danger at all.
It is no longer leaving Egypt, nor the wilderness they passed through. It is Jehovah putting forth His power in new and, if possible, richer ways, bringing His people into the full accomplishment of the blessing... When we are first awakened, our sense of danger presses hard on us. We urgently need Christ's work to shelter us from judgment for our sins. But He and that work lead us on to appreciate far deeper things. So now we have the calm and peaceful enjoyment of a work that is in itself the very same, and infinite in its value.
- Sworn — God promised the land on oath to the fathers. The wilderness is only His road, never His goal.
- Given — Milk means fatness and honey means sweetness. God handed that land over; no one watered it into fruitfulness by toil.
- Cleared — Idolatry and moral corruption cost the old inhabitants their place. God made room there for a people called His sons.
- Kept — God commands the feast a second time, now for the land. It stands for all time, as the Lord's Supper stands "until He comes."
- Deepened — The danger passes, but the work does not shrink. Fear gives way to calm enjoyment of a value that never changes.
Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread; and in the seventh day is a feast to Jehovah.
Israel has just left Egypt, sheltered by the blood of the lamb. The first instruction God gives His redeemed people concerns bread: seven days without leaven, ending in a feast. Why a week? And why does God tie a feast to removing something as ordinary as yeast?
Commentators take both parts of the command as a picture — the leaven, and the length of time.
First of all, Moses strongly forbids them to eat leaven (yeast) during the seven days of the feast (v. 3). These seven days picture the whole of our Christian life. Leaven corrupts, and a little of it leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5:9), so it stands for sin. In the sacrifice of Christ, which the Passover pictures, God has fully judged sin. We are to own this today by honestly judging any sin in our own lives, and so keep the feast "not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
The timing matters as much as the length.
As we may see elsewhere, the two are so bound together that both are sometimes called the Passover. Not one day is allowed to come between them. God will not have the forgiveness of our sins, brought in by the blood of the Lamb, separated even in the smallest degree from our responsibility to holiness. The moment the Israelite was under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, God forbade him to eat leavened bread, or to keep leaven of any kind in his house.
That leaves the question of motive. What is a redeemed person's obedience for?
The more fully we enter, by the power of the Spirit of God, into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the clearer our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless work there is. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not a way to get something from Him. Straining after life and peace shows that we are still strangers to the power of the blood.
Another writer puts the purpose positively:
You are not keeping this feast of unleavened bread in order to get saved. No — that is all clear, and secured by the death of Christ. You keep this feast so that you may enjoy what is already yours.
The command has two halves — a week without leaven, and a day kept for the Lord.
Verses 6 and 7 insist twice over that leaven must be kept out of their homes during the seven days of the Passover. On the seventh day there was to be a feast to the Lord. This is written to instruct us. On the negative side, we are to shut sin out; on the positive side, we are to honor the Lord.
That negative side reaches further than the kitchen.
We must remember about leaven that keeping company with evil is itself leavening. No leaven was to be found in any of the houses of Israel. This tells us that all the surroundings and company of anyone who would keep the feast must be kept in line with the truth and will of God.
The week is called a feast, not a fast — and that shapes how it is kept.
Keeping the feast of Unleavened Bread is the practical answer in us to the work of Christ for us. We gladly refuse the evil He had to suffer for on our behalf, and we walk in practical sanctification before God, with Christ the Holy One as our food. No slave-like work was to be done during the feast. The life of sanctification to God is not a life of legalism, or a weary round of irritating duties and useless ceremonies. The love of Christ moves us, and we serve the Lord with gladness and a single heart. Self-will is what brings in the misery; obedience means blessing and joy.
Keeping it takes daily food, not just daily watchfulness:
The seven days carry us from one Lord's Day to the next, right through the week, walking through the world conformed to His death. The thought of His death governing every detail of life, so that I may be apart from all He died to, would be the answer to keeping the feast "seven days." But let us not forget: if I am to have power to keep apart from all that is evil, I must feed on Christ daily.
- Blood first. Redemption comes first. Not one day separates the Passover from the week that follows.
- Bread next. Leaven pictures sin, and the seven unleavened days stand for the whole span of a believer's life.
- Because, not in order to. Everything in the feast answers what the Lord has already done. It never tries to win anything from Him.
- Every quarter. No house may keep leaven, so our company and surroundings come under the same rule as our table.
- A feast, not a burden. The week ends in a feast to the Lord, and the power to keep it comes from feeding on Christ daily.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten the seven days; and leavened bread shall not be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy borders.
This command goes further than "do not eat it": for seven days no leaven may even be seen, anywhere in Israel's land. What does leaven stand for, why is the ban so total, and where do redeemed people find the power to keep it?
Where does the power to keep such a command come from? One writer traces it back to redemption.
We enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit of God. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one before we know redemption is the most hopeless work possible. All we do must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get something from Him. Efforts after life and peace prove that we are, as yet, strangers to the power of the blood.
Leaven is yeast — a small amount changes a whole batch of dough. One writer explains the picture, the seven days, and the wrong conclusion a heart can draw from grace.
Leaven, as explained before, is a picture of evil. Evil spreads, and it makes whatever it spreads through take on its own character. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." So eating unleavened bread stands for separation from evil — practical holiness. Note, too, that the feast was to last seven days — that is, a complete period of time. The lesson, then, is that holiness is the duty of everyone sheltered by the blood of the Passover Lamb, for the whole of their life on earth… Our wretched hearts might reason that we can go on sinning so that grace may abound. "No!" says the Spirit of God. "As soon as you are under the value of the death of Christ, you are under the responsibility to be separate from evil."
The feast starts the moment the Passover ends. One writer sees that timing as deliberate.
Not one day is allowed to come between them. God will not let the forgiveness of our sins, brought in by the blood of the Lamb, be separated even slightly from our responsibility to holiness. The moment an Israelite came under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, he could not eat leavened bread, or keep leaven in any form in his house.
The wording moves outward from the mouth to the whole land. That widening makes the demand searching.
The Israelites had a solemn command, for that time and for later. During this feast they were to take the greatest care to free themselves and their houses from every trace of leaven. Every household was to search thoroughly and systematically. They were to put any leaven they found out of the house at once, so that not a crumb could be seen anywhere in their borders.
One writer warns against being strict in private life while careless about the church.
Leaven was to be banished from the house as well as from the individual. You may often find people rightly careful about their own walk, yet very lax about impurity in the church. The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But purity in the church is a worthless claim if we do not care about personal holiness. … The feast of "unleavened bread" takes in the whole journey — our whole course, public as well as private.
Clearing crumbs out of a house is straightforward work. Doing the same with what the crumbs picture is not.
Real leaven is easy to look for, find, and throw away. Dealing with what it stands for takes an eye of spiritual discernment, an honest heart for God, and holy zeal that puts His great Name first at any cost. Searching cupboards and corners for leaven, or cleaning the outside, is work anyone can do. But too few are willing to examine themselves and search their own hearts in the light of God's word.
The verse commands two things: leaven out, unleavened bread in. Removal alone leaves a person empty.
All this, important as it is, is negative. It is more what we have finished with in our former life. … Christianity is not only a putting off; there is also a putting on. … They were to eat unleavened bread. If we are to spread a feast of unleavened bread for the Lord, we must take Christ in daily as food for the soul. Only as we feed upon Him will we grow to be like Him.
- Blood first. Separation grows out of redemption already received. It never buys it. We act "because of what the Lord has done."
- Then at once. Not one day comes between Passover and unleavened bread. God never separates forgiveness through the blood from the call to holiness.
- Then everywhere. Not eaten, not seen, nowhere in your territory. Personal life and church life both, and neither excuses the other.
- Then always. Seven days is a complete period, standing for the believer's whole life on earth.
- And fed, not just emptied. Putting leaven out is only half. We must take Christ in daily as the soul's food, or the house is swept but bare.
And thou shalt inform thy son in that day, saying, It is because of what Jehovah did to me when I came out of Egypt.
Exodus 13:8 sits inside the instructions for the week of unleavened bread. It tells a father what to say to his son: the family lives this way because of what God did when He brought Israel out of Egypt.
The feast is not a price paid for freedom. It is what freed people do because they are free.
Look at the reason given for eating unleavened bread. It is the response of affection: "It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt." You are not keeping this feast to get saved. No — that is all clear, and secured by the death of Christ. You are keeping this feast so that you may enjoy what is already yours. Grace gives me a good conscience by the blood of the Lamb, but it is by a tender, holy walk that I keep that good conscience.
The order cannot be reversed. Separation and devotion grow out of the rescue. They never come first.
By the power of the Spirit of God we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The more fully we enter, the more decided our separation and the more whole-hearted our devotedness. Try to produce either one before you know redemption, and the labour will be the most hopeless there is. All our doings must be "because of what the Lord has done," and not to get anything from Him. Efforts to win life and peace prove that we are still strangers to the power of the blood. But the pure fruits of a redemption we have experienced give praise to Him who has redeemed us. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8).
The command reaches past the generation that walked out of Egypt. Children who never saw that night are still meant to know it.
This was also to be handed on from generation to generation. The children were to be well informed of the power and grace of God in bringing Israel out of Egypt's bondage (v. 8). In the same way, children of believers today should be taught carefully about the grace and power of God in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, which has delivered us from all the bondage of the enemy.
Whether a child asks at all depends on how the parents keep the day.
So much would depend on how the Israelites looked forward to the Passover. If they were eager for it, and kept it with reverence and warmth, the children were bound to be interested and ask, "Why?" If the parents treated it with indifference, or as a tiresome duty, the children would not ask. But once their interest was awake, 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. The children's interest would then revive the parents' own interest and stir their gratitude to God.
The same writer applies this to the Lord's Supper:
One thing is sure: what moves the parents will make an impression on the children. If the children see that their parents prize the Lord's Supper and prepare for it, they will want to know what it means… So the spirit of gratitude and worship that belongs to the Supper travels from the gathering to the home. There the children will see, in the gladness of it, how good a thing it is to be redeemed by the Lord, and that the Lord who redeemed their parents does not overlook them.
The telling passes on more than a memory. It puts the child under the same claim as the father.
The father was to impress this truth on his son too. Then the son would learn that the Lord's claims rested on him just as much as on his father. Both alike, as redeemed ones, owed their service to the Redeemer. It is an immense point gained when the believer looks on himself and his family as belonging to the Lord. Whether each of them owns that claim is another matter. We cannot stress too strongly that there is no salvation apart from individual faith.
- Because — the whole feast hangs on one word. It is kept because of what the Lord did, never to get something from Him.
- Enjoy — keeping the feast does not buy the rescue. It lets rescued people enjoy what is already theirs.
- Order — separation and devotedness grow out of redemption known. Work for them before that, and the labour is hopeless.
- Tell — pass the rescue on to the next generation. Children ask when they see that their parents value it.
- Belong — the son learns the same claim as his father. Both, as redeemed people, owe their service to the Redeemer. Each must still come to faith himself.
And it shall be for a sign to thee on thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth; for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt.
Israel had just walked out of Egypt. God ties that night to a yearly feast, and Israel is to wear its sign — on the hand, before the eyes, in the mouth. How does a past rescue keep shaping a person's work, thoughts and speech long after the event?
The verse names three places, and together they cover a person's whole active life.
The feast of unleavened bread was to be a sign to them too (v. 9). First, it would affect their hands. That is, it would have an influence over their works. Second, it would be a memorial between their eyes, influencing all their thoughts. Third, the Lord's law would be in their mouth, influencing their words to agree with the Word of God. How true all this is also when we rightly regard the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus! For in this we see the strength of the hand of God. For this reason we too are to keep a feast of remembrance to the Lord at its proper time (v. 10).
The verse ends by naming the reason: a strong hand brought them out. That closing clause guards them against crediting the rescue to themselves.
They were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." They owed everything to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains. No other arm could have struck down their oppressor, protected them from the destroyer, or set them free. He alone could have ransomed them from the hand of the enemy.
The sign points back to something already finished. The feast never looks forward to a rescue still being earned.
The more fully we enter into the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, the more decided our separation will be, and the more whole-hearted our devotion. Trying to produce either one, before a person knows redemption, is the most hopeless work possible. All our doings must be "because of that which the Lord has done," and not in order to get anything from Him.
Another writer traces it back a step further, to the heart.
The heart must be taken captive if the life is to be surrendered. Service must be the fruit of love, for love is the constraining spirit of service... Let us note here that certainly a known salvation, not a doubtful one, was the basis of this feast for Israel. The feast was also for them a sign on the hand, and it set that hand apart to God. It was a memorial between the eyes, plain to everyone as an unashamed confession of separation. And so the mouth too would be called on to give its testimony of obedience.
A sign on the hand marks that hand as someone's property. One writer links this with the ceremonies that put blood on ear, thumb and toe.
"And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand." Beautiful — the hand that used to do what its owner liked, that hand belongs to Jesus now. So with the eyes and the mouth. When the priests were set apart, and when the leper was cleansed, blood was put on the tip of the right ear. It was also put on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the foot. The moment you are redeemed, God looks on you as belonging completely to Him. The eyes, the mouth, the ear, the hand and the foot are all His servants.
Some people took the wording as an object to wear.
They made broad phylacteries — head-bands with the law written in them. They took Exodus 13:9 literally ("a memorial between your eyes"), instead of having their eyes opened to see its moral meaning.
This feast did not stop with the night it recalls. Israel kept it year after year in the land, when no one was passing over anything.
The passover was to be kept 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 completed long ago... It was a remembrance that went on for ever.
- Strong hand. The verse names the cause of everything else. Israel did not break out. No other arm could have broken their chains or kept the destroyer away.
- Known hand. That deliverance must be settled and certain, not doubtful, before it can become the basis of a feast at all.
- Owned hand. The hand that once did whatever its owner liked now belongs to God — and with it the eyes, the mouth and the ear.
- Working hand. From there the sign reaches out three ways: works, thoughts, and words that match God's Word.
- Remembering hand. The feast keeps going year after year in the land, long after the night it recalls. It dies the moment it becomes a head-band instead of a life.
And thou shalt keep this ordinance at its set time from year to year.
This verse closes the rules for the feast of unleavened bread with a command about timing: Israel was to keep it at its set date, year after year. Why would God fix a date for remembering, and what does a repeated appointment teach people He has already rescued?
Verses 3-10 could sound like emergency rules for the week Israel walked out of Egypt. This verse says otherwise. One writer sets the feast beside the meal the Lord gave His followers on the night He was betrayed:
Verses 3-10 made clear to Israel that the feast of Unleavened Bread was not just for the moment they came out of Egypt. They were not to keep it once and then treat it as done with. It was for all time, as a memorial of the great deliverance. Suppose we had only the account in the three Gospels of the giving of the Lord's Supper. We might then think it reached no further than the night in which He was betrayed. But the fourth record, in 1 Corinthians 11, settles the point. We are to keep it "until He comes." Israel was to "keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year." We observe the Lord's Supper from Lord's Day to Lord's Day.
The command holds content, not just a date. It ties the feast to two facts: when God freed them, and who freed them:
It was to be connected for ever with the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery." The Lord would always have His people remember the day of their deliverance. On that day He brought them out of darkness into light. He brought them out from under the judgment due to their sins into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Secondly, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place." They owed it all to Him alone. No other arm could have broken their chains or struck down their oppressor. No one else could have shielded them from the destroyer and set them free.
Keeping the feast every year raises a question: was the rescue incomplete? One writer separates the rescue itself from the memorial of it:
The passover and "the feast of the passover" are distinct. One is the deliverance itself, which took place in Egypt. The other is the memorial of that deliverance. There was but one passover, while the feast of the passover was annual. The passover was once for all; the feast of it, as frequent as the years of freedom. Christ's blood was shed once and for ever. Our redemption by His precious blood is complete. But the memorial, the feast of remembrance, goes on.
Verse 9 had just described the feast reaching hands, eyes and mouth. The "therefore" of verse 10 rests on that:
The feast of unleavened bread was to be a sign to them as well (v. 9). First, it would affect their hands, that is, it would influence their works. Second, it would be a memorial between their eyes, shaping all their thoughts. Third, the Lord's law would be in their mouth, so that their words agreed with the Word of God. How true all this is also when we rightly regard the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus! For in this we see the strength of the hand of God. For this reason we too are to keep a feast of remembrance to the Lord at its proper time (v. 10).
Commentators differ on how the timing carries over. Hole matches it to a weekly Lord's Supper. Another writer sees the fixed date give way to something with no gaps:
God's Church has no yearly remembrances. To the believer, Israel's appointed feasts picture permanent realities... The yearly passover was solemnly commanded, but soon neglected. For those who share the heavenly calling, the unceasing ordinance of faith takes its place. To live by Christ, we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is not an occasional act of remembrance only, but something continual.
One writer takes God's ruling on a missed offering and applies it to Christians today:
"That person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin." So it is a very solemn thing to neglect the memorial of our redemption. It means neglecting the remembrance of Him whose death and resurrection have secured it, in His own appointed way. Many Christians might well take the warning to heart.
- Rescued once. The deliverance happened in Egypt and never repeats. Christ's blood was shed once and for ever.
- Remembered always. What repeats is the memorial — "as frequent as the years of freedom," never dismissed as done with.
- Two facts fixed. Every keeping holds the same two things: the day they came out, and the strong hand that brought them.
- Hands, eyes, mouth. The sign shapes works, thoughts and words, so we keep the feast at its proper time.
- Neglect is serious. Missing the appointed season was no small thing. Writers apply that warning to remembering the Lord's death today.