John Calvin Commentary Exodus 12:21

"Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover." — Exodus 12:21 (ASV)

I have omitted here what Moses has related in the beginning of the chapter up to this verse, because it pertains to the perpetual doctrine of the Law. I will hereafter insert it in its proper place. But, since God here also gave precepts concerning the observation of the Passover, I have thought it right to interweave them with the history. This is because Moses does not merely teach here what God wanted His people to observe in all ages, but relates what He required on a particular occasion. My readers should be reminded that some precepts are temporary, and some are perpetual, like the Law itself. We can see a clear and familiar example of this in the chapter before us. For until this point, Moses had explained what the proper observation of the Passover would be, year by year, forever; but now he only relates historically that on the night in which the people went out, they celebrated the Passover according to God’s command. I will, therefore, lightly touch upon what is repeated here, since a more fitting place for a full exposition will be when we come to the doctrine of the Law.

The word פסה,¹⁴⁰pesech, means a passing-over, not of the people (as many have falsely thought), but of God Himself, who passed over the houses of the Israelites without harm when He killed the first-born in all Egypt. Since then the wrath of God, which at that time covered all of Egypt like a flood, left the Israelites untouched, He instituted a memorial of His passing-over, by which they had been preserved in safety amidst the public destruction of the whole land. He is also said to have passed over the Egyptians, whom He deprived of their first-born, but in a different manner, because He spared His chosen ones, as if they had been far away or protected in places of sure refuge.

Then Moses called for all the elders. His address is especially directed to the elders, so that they might afterwards repeat it to the multitude, for he could not have been heard at the same time by such a large number of people. But although the disorganization of the people had been terrible under that severe tyranny, God still wanted certain remnants of order to be preserved and did not allow those whom He had adopted to be deprived of all government. This also had been an effective means of preserving their unity, so that the chosen seed of Abraham would not be lost.

But Moses here only speaks of the sprinkling of the blood, because he had already addressed them concerning the eating of the lamb. He therefore commands branches of hyssop to be dipped in the blood that had been caught in the basin, and for everyone’s lintel and two side-posts to be sprinkled with this. By this sign, God testified that He will preserve His people from the common destruction, because they will be discerned from the wicked by the mark of blood. For it was necessary that the Israelites should first be reminded that by the expiation of the sacrifice they were delivered from the plague and their houses preserved untouched; and secondly, that the sacrifice would benefit them only if its conspicuous sign existed among them.

We elsewhere see that the Paschal lamb was a type of Christ, who by His death propitiated His Father, so that we should not perish with the rest of the world. But already, long ago, He desired to bear witness to the ancients under the Law that He would not be reconciled to them in any other way than through the sacrifice of a victim. And there is no doubt that by this visible symbol He raised their minds to that true and heavenly Exemplar, whom it would be absurd and profane to separate from the ceremonies of the Law. For what could be more childish than to offer the blood of an animal as a protection against the hand of God, or to seek from that a basis for safety? God then shows that He spares the Israelites on no other condition than that of sacrifice; from this it follows that the death of Christ was set before them in this ordinance, which alone constituted the difference between them and the Egyptians.

But at the same time He taught that no advantage was to be expected from the blood poured out without the sprinkling. This was not because the external and visible sprinkling produced any good effect in itself, but because by this familiar rite it was useful for the ignorant to be brought to perceive the truth, and for them to know that what was put before them Visibly must be spiritually fulfilled. It is well-known from the testimony of Peter (1 Peter 1:2) that our souls are sprinkled with the blood of Christ by the Spirit. This was typified by the bunch of hyssop,¹⁴¹ which herb possesses great cleansing power and therefore was often used in other sacrifices also, as we will later see in the proper places.

¹⁴⁰ פסח. So. Seb M. A leaping, or passing-over. It is well known that this version has been discussed and defended at considerable length by Archbishop Magee, in No. 35 of the Illustrations to his First Discourse on the Atonement. See Calvin’s farther explanations, when he comments on verse 1 of this chapter. — W

¹⁴¹ There has been much discussion as to the plant to which this name is given. “In no instance,” says the Illustrated Commentary, “has any plant been suggested, that at the same time had a sufficient length of stem, to answer the purpose of a wand or pole, and such detergent qualities, as to render it a fit emblem of purification.” The author himself has no question but. that it was of the genus Phytolacca; which combines, in a remarkable manner, these two qualities. Dr. Royle, however, considers it to have been the caper-plant, (; which combines, in a remarkable manner, these two qualities. Dr. Royle, however, considers it to have been the caper-plant, (Capparis spinosa,), which possesses another important condition wanting in the ,), which possesses another important condition wanting in the Phytolacca, viz., that it still grows in the countries to which it is attributed in Scripture., viz., that it still grows in the countries to which it is attributed in Scripture.