John Calvin Commentary Exodus 12:5

"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:" — Exodus 12:5 (ASV)

Your lamb shall be without blemish. We will see elsewhere that in all their sacrifices prescribed by the Law they were diligently to beware lest there be any spot or fault in them. By this, the people were reminded that the expiation was not legitimate unless it possessed the utmost perfection, such as is never to be found in humans. It is no wonder, therefore, that God should now require the Passover to be of one year old and without blemish, so that the Israelites might know that to propitiate God, a more excellent price was required than could be discovered in the whole human race. Since such excellence could much less exist in an animal, the celestial perfection and purity of Christ was shown forth by this visible perfection of the lamb or kid. It was with reference to this also that they were commanded to keep it separate from the rest of the flock, from the tenth until the fourteenth day of the month.

Regarding God’s will that the side-posts and lintel should be sprinkled with blood, by this sign He plainly taught them that the sacrifice would profit no one but those who were stained and marked with Christ’s blood. This sprinkling was equivalent to each one of them bearing the mark of His blood upon their forehead. And, in effect, Christ, by the outpouring of His blood, has not delivered all but only the faithful, who sanctify themselves with it. That internal sprinkling indeed holds the first place, which Peter teaches us is effected by the power of the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2), yet by this external sign the Israelites were instructed that they could not be protected from God’s wrath except by holding up against it the shield of the blood.

This corresponds with the lesson learned above, that the same universal sacrifice was offered particularly in every house, so that its specific instruction might affect them more seriously, when generally it would have been uninteresting and ineffective. I prefer to be ignorant as to why He required the flesh to be roasted and not boiled, rather than to invent such unfounded subtleties as that Christ was, in a manner, roasted on the Cross. A nearer approach to the truth, it seems to me, is that God desired in this way to mark their haste, because, when their implements were all packed up, the meat would be more easily roasted on a spit than cooked in a pot.

And this also is the purpose of the precept respecting the manner of eating it, in which three things are to be observed: the unleavened bread, the sauce of bitter herbs, and the girded loins, together with the rest of the attire of travelers. Undoubtedly, God commanded the bread to be made without leaven on account of their sudden departure, because He would snatch His people out of Egypt, as it were, in a moment. Therefore, they baked unleavened loaves out of flour hurriedly kneaded.³¹⁵ It was required that the remembrance of this should be renewed every year, so that their posterity might know that their deliverance was given to them from above, since their fathers hastily took flight without having made any preparation for their journey. For any greater preparation would have cast some shadow upon the divine grace, which shone forth more brightly on account of their lack of food.

God would have them be content with bitter herbs because hasty travelers, especially in an enemy’s country, are satisfied without delicacies. Whatever sauce they encounter is very pleasing to their taste, nor does its bitterness seem offensive to them, as it does in times of abundance and ease. Possibly, too, they were reminded of their former condition, for under so dire and bitter a tyranny nothing could be sweet or pleasant. But their haste was still more plainly represented by their eating the lamb hurriedly with their shoes on their feet, their loins girded, and leaning on their staffs.

People pass from their suppers to bed and to rest; therefore, the ancients used to both take off their shoes and lie down for it. But the people’s necessity inverted this order, since they were compelled to flee immediately from their supper. And hence the reason is added, it is the Lord’s passover; since they escaped in safety amidst the confusion and when the sword of God was raging. We must, however, bear in mind what we have already said: that the use of this sacrament was twofold, both to exercise the people in the recollection of their past deliverance and to nourish in them the hope of future redemption. Therefore, the Passover not only reminded them of what God had already done for His people but also of what they were hereafter to expect from Him. Consequently, there is no doubt that the Israelites ought to have learned from this rite that they were redeemed from the tyranny of Egypt on these terms, namely, that a much more excellent salvation still awaited them.

But this spiritual mystery was more clearly revealed by the coming of Christ. Therefore Paul, adapting this ancient figure to us, commands us, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, to keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice, and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).

God, therefore, formerly wished the houses in which the Passover was celebrated to be free from all corruption; and far more does it become us now to take care of this, lest the sacrifice with which Christ has redeemed us from eternal death should be polluted by any leaven of wickedness. To the same effect³¹⁶ is what follows: warning us that we should not be devoted to the attractions of the world, and that our course should not be delayed by the enticements of pleasure; but that we are pilgrims on earth and should always be girded and ready to make haste; and that although the cross of Christ is bitter, we should not refuse to taste it.

³¹⁵ “N’ayant pas logsir d’avoir du pain ordinaire;” not having time to make ordinary bread — Fr.

³¹⁶ “Nous avons aussi a prendre instruction touchant les herbes ameres, et equipages des voyageurs,” etc.; we must also receive instruction from the bitter herbs, and their equipment as travelers. —— Fr.