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From: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

The Institution of the Passover

[1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] “This month shall
be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
[3] Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall
take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;
[4] and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next
to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what
each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. [5] Your lamb shall be with-
out blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats;
[6] and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole as-
sembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. [7] Then
they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel
of the houses in which they eat them. [8] They shall eat the flesh that night, roa-
sted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. [11] In this manner
you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in
your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s passover. [12] For I will
pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgments: I am the Lord. [13] The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the hou-
ses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague
shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

[14] “This day shalt be for you a memorial day, and you shalt keep it as a feast
to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for
ever.”

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Commentary:

12:1-14 This discourse of the Lord contains a number of rules for celebrating the
Passover and the events commemorated in it; it is a kind of catechetical-liturgi-
cal text which admirably summarizes the profound meaning of that feast.

The Passover probably originated as a shepherds’ feast held in springtime, when
lambs are born and the migration to summer pastures was beginning; a new-born
lamb was sacrificed and its blood used to perform a special rite in petition for the
protection and fertility of the flocks. But once this feast became connected with
the history of the Exodus it acquired a much deeper meaning, as did the rites
attaching to it.

Thus, the “congregation” (v. 3) comprises all the Israelites organized as a reli-
gious community to commemorate the most important event in their history, de-
liverance from bondage.

The victim will be a lamb, without blemish (v. 5) because it is to be offered to God.
Smearing the doorposts and lintel with the blood of the victim (vv 7, 13), an essen-
tial part of the rite, signifies protection from dangers. The Passover is essentially
sacrificial from the very start. The meal (v. 11) is also a necessary part, and the
manner in which it is held is a very appropriate way of showing the urgency im-
posed by circumstances: there is no time to season it (v. 9); no other food is ea-
ten with it, except for the bread and desert herbs (a sign of indigence); the dress
and posture of those taking part (standing, wearing sandals and holding a staff)
how that they are on a journey. In the later liturgical commemoration of the Pass-
over, these things indicate that the Lord is passing among his people.

The rules laid down for the Passover are evocative of very ancient nomadic desert
rites, where there was no priest or temple or altar. When the Israelites had set-
tled in Palestine, the Passover continued to be celebrated at home, always retai-
ning the features of a sacrifice, a family meal and, very especially, a memorial of
the deliverance the Lord brought about on that night.

Our Lord chose the context of the Passover Supper to institute the Eucharist:
“By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover
meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus’ passing
over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipa-
ted in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Pass-
over and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom”
(”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 1340).

12:2. This event is so important that it is going to mark the starting point in the
reckoning of time. In the history of Israel there are two types of calendar, both
based on the moon—one which begins the year in the autumn, after the feast of
Weeks (cf. 23:16; 34:22), and the other beginning it in spring, between March
and April. This second calendar probably held sway for quite a long time, for we
know that the first month, known, as Abib (spring) — cf. 13:4: 23:18; 34:18 —
was called, in the post-exilic period (from the 6th century BC onwards) by the
Babylonian name of Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esther 3:7). Be that as it may, the fact that
this month is called the first month is a way of highlighting the importance of the
event which is going to be commemorated (the Passover).

12:11. Even now it is difficult to work out the etymology of the word “Passover”.

In other Semitic languages it means “joy” or “festive joy” or also “ritual and fes-
tive leap”. In the Bible the same root means “dancing or limping” in an idolatrous
rite (cf. 1 Kings 18:21, 26) and “protecting” (cf. Is 31:5), so it could mean “punish-
ment, lash” and also “salvation, protection”. In the present text the writer is provi-
ding a popular, non-scholarly etymology, and it is taken as meaning that “the
Lord passes through”, slaying Egyptians and sparing the Israelites.

In the New Testament it will be applied to Christ’s passage to the Father by
death and resurrection, and the Church’s “passage” to the eternal Kingdom: “The
Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when
she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection” (”Catechism of the Catho-
lic Church”, 677).

12:14. The formal tone of these words gives an idea of the importance the Pass-
over always had. If the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) har-
dly mention it, the reason is that they allude only to sacrifices in the temple, and
the Passover was always celebrated in people’s homes. When the temple ceased
to be (6th century BC), the feast acquired more prominence, as can be seen from
the post-exilic biblical texts (cf. Ezra 6:19-22; 2 Chron 30:1-27; 35:1-19) and ex-
trabiblical texts such as the famous “Passover papyrus of Elephantine” (Egypt) of
the 5th century BC. In Jesus’ time a solemn passover sacrifice was celebrated in
the temple and the passover meal was held at home.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.