Exodus 12:21-28

Exodus 12:21 J, Exodus 12:28 P. Rules for the Passover (second set) (for analysis see Exodus 11:1). These verses, though they come second, embody in the main J's account of the institution, which P has elaborated in Exodus 12:1, adding many details, but not mentioning the hyssop, or the basin, or the confinement to the house. Hyssop was a wall or rock plant (1 Kings 4:33), with pliant twigs, probably marjoram, a branch of which made a simple sprinkler for rites of purification. The Israelite elders were to draw out enough lambs (Exodus 12:21, cf. Exodus 12:3 *) from the flock, as the shepherd would catch the leg of a sheep with his crook to separate it from the rest. They are told to kill the Passover, as though it were a familiar rite employed for a special purpose. They were (Exodus 12:22) to apply (cf. Exodus 4:25) some of the blood to the lintel, and to remain all night within the guarded precincts. In Exodus 12:32 a it is Yahweh who is to smite the Egyptians, but in Exodus 12:23 b the destroyer (cf. 2 Samuel 24:16) is a distinct agent: Holzinger infers that J and E are both drawn upon here, and notes that the people in Exodus 12:27 b replace the elders of Exodus 12:21. Baentsch also doubts if this section, implying a risk of Israel sharing the most terrible plague upon Egypt, can have come from the author of Exodus 11:6, etc. But this may be an early supplement of J, of which there were not a few. The order for perpetual observance (Exodus 12:24) is probably P's sequel of Exodus 12:20, though the phrase an ordinance for ever (hoq - ad -ô lâ m) is not in P's usual form (huqqath -ô lâ m). The duplicate order for repetition is one of the few Deuteronomic additions (Exodus 12:25 a) that can certainly be traced in Ex. (cf. Exodus 13:3, etc.). The shrewd insistence on systematic instruction in Exodus 12:26 (see RV references) is characteristic of D, and is observed to this day (p. 109, Proverbs 4:3 f.*). The graphic touch, bowed the head and worshipped, connects Exodus 12:27 b with Exodus 4:31, cf. Exodus 12:35 f.* In Exodus 12:28 we have P's conclusion of Exodus 12:1. For the Christian application of the Passover, cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7 f.*

Exodus 12:22. bason: see 2 Samuel 17:28, etc.; elsewhere threshold, as in Judges 19:27, etc., and Gr. here. Trumbull (Threshold Covenant) ingeniously builds on this meaning a theory that the Passover was a threshold sacrifice, and that Yahweh crossed the threshold as a protective guest, and even as the Bridegroom of His people. Other theories being also conjectural, this merits attention. Driver ignores it, but M-' Neile calls it attractive. The belief in the sanctity of the threshold is widespread. The household deities were probably resident there. To step over it into the house brought whoever entered it into covenant with the inmates. This would prevent him from doing them harm. Thus, in the ceremony of manumission the slave is brought to the Elohim, to the door or doorpost (Exodus 21:6 *, Deuteronomy 15:17), and his ear is bored unto the door. Robbers dig through the clay walls of houses (Job 24:16; Matthew 6:19 f.) because their reverence, i.e. their superstitious dread of the consequences which might follow on a violation of the sanctity of the threshold, forbids them to enter by the door. The priests and worshippers of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of his temple (1 Samuel 5:5, cf. Zephaniah 1:9, all those that leap over the threshold). To step on the threshold, all the more when this was sanctified by blood, would be to reject the offered covenant with insult: a thought which gives a fuller meaning to Hebrews 10:29, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. The Roman bride was carried over the threshold of her husband's house, presumably to make it impossible for her to step on it by accident. It is customary even to-day to welcome an honoured guest with blood on the threshold.