Exodus 12 "Lamb"

Exodus 12:3 "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:"

The lamb was to be killed and the blood applied to the doorpost. They were to strike the sidepost and the upper door post of the house. The lamb was special. It was to be taken on the 10th and kept up until the 14th of the first month. It had to be a male, without blemish. There was a special way to eat the lamb on the night of the passover. It was to be roasted with fire and taken with unleavened bread. It could not be eaten raw or sodden. Nothing was to remain until morning and if it did, it was to be burned with fire.

Why apply the blood? v13 "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."

Judgment started with Pharaoh and Egypt in a comparatively smaller way. There were flies, frogs, lice, locust and others. Now, as a final plague, the firstborn are to be slain so that Pharaoh will believe God and let the people go. It has been a steady progression of events with a pause to allow Pharaoh time to let them go but he did not. We are now at 430 years since the great famine and the move of Israel to Egypt.

The Lord gave instructions in the first 20 verses which have carried on in Israel down through the generations. From verse 21 through 28 Moses tells the children of Israel what the Lord said and in v28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they."

Psalm 22:28 "For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations."