Exodus 12:17

I have brought out— This translation may be proper, as God may truly be said to have done what he has fully proposed and decreed to do. But perhaps it might have been as well rendered, in agreement with several of the versions, I will bring out, or I am about to bring out.

REFLECTIONS.—The deliverance of Israel advances. Orders are issued out concerning their departure, and the preparations for it. As they are now to begin new lives, they are to count from this day the new year. Note; That is emphatically our birth-day, and the beginning of years, in which we begin to escape from sin, and live to God.

1. The passover is instituted, with particular directions for present and future use; and the days of unleavened bread are to follow, in memory of this great event, their escape from the house of their prison. We must begin with God, whatever haste of business is upon our hands.
2. Observe God's visitation upon Egypt and her idols. All the vain confidence of sinners must perish with them
3. The respect these ordinances have to us in these gospel-times. (1.) Christ is our Passover; a lamb without blemish, appointed and set apart by God to be slain; enduring the fiercest fire of Divine wrath, and sacrificed for all his spiritual Israel. (2.) His blood must by faith be sprinkled on our consciences. Wherever it is found, there is no condemnation; and we must never be ashamed to profess our open dependance upon him. (3.) The Lamb of God is to be fed upon as our spiritual strength and nourishment. As the time is short, we must make haste to draw near to him. The bitter herbs of repentance should attend the feast, and give a greater relish to the food; and, as those who remember how near their departure is, we should be ready, not only to leave our sins behind, but our bodies in the dust, whenever he calls us away to his blessed Self. (4.) With these dispositions, we shall keep the feast with holy joy, as pardoned sinners; with fervent affection, as those who are going to possess the same land; with sincerity and truth, renouncing the leaven of malice and wickedness; and thus persevering, till we come to sit down in the true Canaan, the kingdom of eternal glory.