Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Here is prescribed the rite of sacrificing and eating the paschal lamb. Second, in verse 29, the destroying angel strikes the firstborn of the Egyptians, leaving the Hebrews untouched. Third, in verse 33, the Hebrews depart from Egypt with the spoils and wealth of the Egyptians.
Note: Concerning the paschal lamb, Moses here treats six topics: First, the quality of the lamb, verse 5. Second, the time for sacrificing it, verse 6. Third, the smearing of its blood on the doorposts to escape the destroying angel, verses 7 and 13. Fourth, verse 8, the rite and manner of eating it. Fifth, the name both of the lamb and of the feast, which is Phase or Passover, verse 11. Sixth, the persons fit to eat the lamb, verse 43.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 12:1-51
1. The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2. This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year. 3. Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. 4. But if the number is too small to be able to suffice for eating the lamb, he shall take his neighbor who is joined to his house, according to the number of souls that can suffice for eating the lamb. 5. And the lamb shall be without blemish, a male, one year old: according to which rite you shall also take a kid. 6. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. 7. And they shall take of its blood, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper doorposts of the houses in which they shall eat it. 8. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted by fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce. 9. You shall not eat of it anything raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted by fire: the head with its feet and entrails you shall devour. 10. Neither shall there remain anything of it until morning. If anything is left over, you shall burn it with fire. 11. And thus you shall eat it: You shall gird your loins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste; for it is the Phase (that is, the Passover) of the Lord. 12. And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man even to beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13. And the blood shall be to you for a sign in the houses in which you shall be; and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt. 14. And this day shall be for a memorial to you, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations with an everlasting observance. 15. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread: on the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses; whoever shall eat anything leavened, that soul shall perish from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day. 16. The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be venerable with the same festivity: you shall do no work in them, except those things which pertain to eating. 17. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread: for on this very day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual rite. 18. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the same month at evening. 19. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses: whoever shall eat anything leavened, his soul shall perish from the assembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or native of the land. 20. You shall eat nothing leavened: in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. 21. And Moses called all the elders of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go, take an animal by your families, and sacrifice the Phase. 22. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the threshold, and sprinkle with it the upper doorpost, and both the side posts: let none of you go out of the door of his house until morning. 23. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when He shall see the blood on the upper doorpost and on both the side posts, He will pass over the door of the house, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and injure you. 24. Keep this word as a law for you and your children forever. 25. And when you shall have entered the land which the Lord will give you as He promised, you shall observe these ceremonies. 26. And when your children shall say to you: What is this observance? 27. You shall say to them: It is the victim of the Lord's Passover, when He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians and delivering our houses. And the people bowed down and adored. 28. And the children of Israel went and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 29. And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive woman who was in prison, and every firstborn of the cattle. 30. And Pharaoh rose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt, and there arose a great cry in Egypt: for there was not a house in which there did not lie one dead. 31. And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron in the night, and said: Arise, and go forth from among my people, you and the children of Israel: go, sacrifice to the Lord as you say. 32. Take your sheep and herds as you desired, and departing, bless me. 33. And the Egyptians pressed the people to go out of the land quickly, saying: We shall all die. 34. The people therefore took dough before it was leavened: and tying it in their cloaks, put it upon their shoulders. 35. And the children of Israel did as Moses had commanded; and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and gold, and very much raiment. 36. And the Lord gave favor to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent to them: and they despoiled the Egyptians. 37. And the children of Israel set forward from Ramesses to Socoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38. And a mixed multitude without number went up also with them, sheep and herds and cattle of various kinds, exceedingly many. 39. And they baked the meal which a while before they had brought out of Egypt in dough: and they made unleavened bread baked under ashes: for it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart, and not allowing them to make any delay; nor had they thought to prepare any food. 40. And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41. Which being expired, the same day all the army of the Lord went forth out of the land of Egypt. 42. This is the observable night of the Lord, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt: this night all the children of Israel must observe in their generations. 43. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the service of the Phase: no foreigner shall eat of it. 44. But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so shall eat. 45. The stranger and the hired servant shall not eat thereof. 46. In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. 47. All the assembly of the children of Israel shall keep it. 48. And if any stranger is willing to dwell among you, and to keep the Phase of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then shall he celebrate it according to the rite: and he shall be as he that is born in the land; but if any man be not circumcised, he shall not eat thereof. 49. The same law shall be for him that is born in the land, and for the proselyte that sojourns among you. 50. And all the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51. And the same day the Lord brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.
Verse 1: And the Lord Said to Moses and Aaron
Verse 1. 1. And the Lord said — in the same first month, namely Nisan, that is, March, some days before the departure from Egypt and before the slaying of the firstborn; for this occurred on the 15th day of the month, but here it is commanded on the tenth day of the same month to take the lamb, to be sacrificed on the 14th day. Therefore before the slaying, and consequently before the tenth day, these things were said by God and promulgated by Moses. Hence also before the last conversation of Moses with Pharaoh, about which at the end of chapter 10. This is therefore a hysteron proteron [reversal of order]; for Moses wished to weave together the whole history of the signs and plagues of Egypt first, and then to narrate the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, to which he prefixes the rite of the Phase, or paschal lamb, which was the symbol and token of the departure and liberation.
Verse 2: This Month Shall Be to You the Beginning of Months
Verse 2. 2. This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year. — This month is Nisan, which corresponds to our March, or partly to March, partly to April. Josephus states that the Greeks called it Xanthicus, and the Egyptians Pharmuthi.
For the Hebrews used lunar months, namely those which the moon describes by its course; but this course of the moon is not the traversal of the Zodiac — for the moon traverses this in 27 days — nor of illumination, for this is completed in 28 days; but of the conjunction of the moon with the sun. For by counting the days that flow between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next conjunction, when the moon again, having departed from the sun, begins to appear and makes the neomenia or new moon, which is the first day of the month, a lunar month is produced, which consists of 29 days and 12 additional hours. These 12 hours are joined to alternate months so that a whole day is formed — for example, if 29 days are given to this month, 30 will be given to the next, then 29 again to the third, 30 to the fourth, and so on in succession. Hence it happens that the lunar year, consisting of twelve lunations or months, has 354 days, and is less than the solar year by eleven days. Therefore, to equalize the lunar year with the solar, they added a thirteenth month now every third, now every second year, by doubling the last month Adar, that is, February, which they accordingly called Veadar, as if a second Adar, and that year was called embolismal or intercalary. Thus it happened that every 19 years, the beginning of the solar and lunar year was exactly the same; for by doubling Adar seven times, namely in the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth year, the 209 days by which the solar year had exceeded the lunar over 19 years were all restored by these seven inserted months, as you will easily see if you do the calculation, and assign 30 days to the six months that are intercalated, but 29 days to the seventh month, the last of the nineteenth year. So says Bede, book On the Reckoning of Times, chapter 43, and Abulensis, on Leviticus 23, Question 19. See Ribera, book 5 On the Temple, chapter 2.
Hence this is the canon of embolism or intercalation among the Hebrews: three, three, two, three, three, three, two — meaning: a month must be intercalated in the third year, and the sixth, and the eighth, and the 11th, and the 14th, and the 17th, and the 19th. Therefore in 19 years they inserted seven intercalary months; thus the embolism fell every third or second year. In this way they equalized their lunar years with the solar years that other nations commonly used, so that they might accommodate themselves and their seasons to them.
It shall be the first. — Therefore before this it had not been the first; and so before the Passover, and before this liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, the first month was Tishri (which word among the Chaldeans signifies "beginning," says Josephus), which corresponds partly to our September, partly to October. This is clearly gathered from chapter 23, verse 16, where the Lord, speaking of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is celebrated in the seventh month, namely Tishri, says: "You shall keep the solemnity at the end of the year." But where the preceding year ends and ceases, there the following one begins: therefore in Tishri, namely in September, the year used to end and begin. Hence also in chapter 24, verse 22, He calls the same solemnity that which occurs "when at the return of the year all things are gathered in." Hence also St. Jerome, on Ezekiel chapter 1, writes that the month of October was the first among all the Orientals.
Note in passing: The Athenians began the year from the summer solstice, the Asians from the autumnal equinox, the Arabs and Damascenes from the vernal equinox, from which also the Romans before Numa Pompilius reckoned the beginning of the year, defining the year with only ten months. But Numa added January and February: hence Ovid, Fasti 1: "The month that follows Janus was the last of the old year." After Numa, Julius Caesar reduced the year to the calculation that we now use, namely that the year begins shortly after the winter solstice, that is, from January. See Solinus, Polyhistor, book On Intercalary Days, chapter 1.
Therefore here at the departure of the Hebrews, the common or civil year began to be distinguished from the sacred year. The civil year began from Tishri, or September, and served for the jubilee, as is clear from Leviticus 25:9-10, and also for contracts and secular affairs, as Josephus teaches, Antiquities 1.4. But the sacred year is here instituted and commanded to begin from Nisan, that is, March (for in this month both Jews and Christians celebrate the Passover), so that it might serve for the feasts, and this in memory of the salvation received and the liberation from Egypt. For God willed that the beginning of the year should be the beginning of His salvation and benefits: for just as after Noah and the flood He willed the rainbow to be the beginning of the new age, a perpetual monument of the covenant, mercy, and divine grace, that He would never again overwhelm the world with a flood, so also now we begin the year from the Circumcision of Christ, that is, from the beginning of His redemption.
Scripture, however, always uses the sacred year, as is clear from Zechariah 7:1; 1 Maccabees 4:52; Esther 3:7. See Ribera, on Haggai 2, at the beginning.
Note the praises of the month Nisan. The first is that in Nisan the Passover, the most celebrated feast, is observed. Second, in Nisan the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, as is clear from Joshua 4. Third, in Nisan the world was created. Fourth, in Nisan Christ was conceived, suffered, and rose again. Fifth, Nisan is called the month of new fruits, because around March in Palestine the crops, especially barley, begin to ripen. And these are the reasons why God willed the Passover to be celebrated in spring, namely in Nisan. Hear St. Ambrose, On the Paschal Mystery 2: "The Passover," he says, "is in the spring, the beginning of the year, the start of the first month, the renewal of new growth, and when the night of grim winter has been dispelled, the restored delight of early spring. In this season God, the Creator of things visible and invisible, suspending from the fixed earth the mechanism of the heavens, illuminated the day with the heat of the sun," etc.
You may ask how the first month, or Nisan, in which the Passover must be celebrated, can be known and identified. I answer: the first and paschal month is that whose 14th day, or full moon, falls either on the vernal equinox itself or on the first day after it. This means that the new moon of the first month can be neither before the 8th day of March nor after the 5th day of April. The vernal equinox at the time of the Council of Nicaea fell on March 21st, where it also now falls after the Gregorian correction of the calendar. Hence it happens that Nisan can never be entirely within March, but always extends into April; although it can happen that it is sometimes entirely outside March, it can never be entirely outside April; it can, however, sometimes be entirely within April. Most often, though, it partly coincides with March and partly with April, and sometimes extends into May, namely if it is an embolismal year, augmented by one month of Veadar, which precedes Nisan. So Pererius from Clavius. Finally, hear St. Ambrose, epistle 83, to the Bishops of Emilia: "If," he says, "the fourteenth day falls on a Sunday — because we ought neither to fast on Sunday, nor to break the fast when the thirteenth moon falls on a Saturday, which fast must especially be observed on the day of Christ's Passion — then the celebration of Easter must be deferred to the following week. Since the fifteenth moon follows, on which Christ suffered, and it will be a Monday: and Tuesday will also be the sixteenth moon, when the body of the Lord rested in the tomb; while Wednesday of that week will be the seventeenth moon, on which the Lord rose again."
In the months of the year. — Note: The first month of the Hebrews is Nisan, which corresponds to March; the second is Iyyar, which corresponds to April; the third Sivan, which corresponds to May; the fourth Tammuz, which corresponds to June; the fifth Ab, which corresponds to July; the sixth Elul, which corresponds to August; the seventh Tishri, which corresponds to September; the eighth Marcheshvan, which corresponds to October; the ninth Kislev or Kaslev, which corresponds to November; the tenth Tevet, which corresponds to December; the eleventh Shebat, which corresponds to January; the twelfth Adar, which corresponds to February.
Note that these names — Nisan, Iyyar, Sivan, and the rest — are not Hebrew but Chaldean, which the Hebrews received from the Chaldeans during the Babylonian captivity. Hence they are found only in books written after the captivity, namely in Zechariah, Ezra, Esther, and Maccabees. For before that they were called by ordinal number: the first month, the second, the third, and so on, beginning from March; just as the Romans also call Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth month from March, which was formerly also the first month of the year among the Romans.
Verse 3: On the Tenth Day Let Every Man Take a Lamb
3. Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel. — Speak to the elders, so that they individually may proclaim the same to each person among the people. For Pharaoh would never have allowed the whole assembly of the Hebrews to be gathered together; and to gather this assembly secretly without his knowledge was impossible. Thus in chapter 4, verse 29, Moses is said to have assembled the elders of Israel, and yet immediately in verse 30, he is said to have spoken to the people — namely the people whom the elders represented. For what he said to the elders was considered as said to the whole people.
On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb — that is, four days before the sacrifice of the lamb, which was to take place on the 14th day. God commanded this, first, so that during these four days any defect, if there were one in the lamb, might show itself — for it had to be one year old, whole, free from every blemish. Second, because on the very fourteenth day, the Hebrews, all preparing themselves for departure, would not have had leisure to seek out a lamb. Third, so that by the sight and voice of the lamb they might be reminded to prepare themselves for its sacrifice and feast, and at the same time for the departure from Egypt. "For as often as the lamb uttered a bleat, so often like the sound of a trumpet it roused the ranks of the camp about to march out," says Rupert. Fourth, so that from the frequent sight of the lamb they might have occasion to converse among themselves about their redemption from Egypt, and give thanks to God for it, and with all their hope fixed on Him, not fear the Egyptians. St. Epiphanius adds, in Heresy 50, that the Jews were accustomed to fast for five days from this tenth day until the fourteenth.
Moreover, not only in this first year of the departure, as Pererius holds, but afterward every year on this tenth day the lamb was customarily obtained by the Jews, as Epiphanius already cited indicates, along with St. Chrysostom in the Catena, St. Thomas and Lyra on John 12, Rupert on John chapters 10 and 11, Anselm on Matthew chapter 21, and Bede in his homily on Palm Sunday. Hence also on this tenth day, that is, Palm Sunday, Christ, prefigured by this lamb, entered Jerusalem with palm branches, to be sacrificed after the fourth day, that is on Friday, as Tolet on John chapter 12 and others have observed.
Let every man take — that is, the head of the household, unless his family is so small that it must be joined to another, because it would not suffice to eat a whole lamb: for nothing of the lamb was permitted to remain. The Rabbis and Josephus (Jewish War 7.17) report that no fewer than ten were customarily required for eating one lamb. Hence from the 256,500 lambs sacrificed at the Passover in the time of the governor Cestius, under whom the Jews began to rebel against the Romans, Josephus calculates that there were then three million seven hundred thousand Jews in Jerusalem, besides the unclean; for these were barred from eating the lamb.
A lamb. — The Hebrew word seh signifies a beast of the flock, both sheep and goats, that is, both a kid and a lamb. Therefore either a kid or a lamb could be sacrificed and serve as the Passover, as I shall say at verses 5 and 21, and this in order to signify Christ, who in Himself is a lamb, but to us is a goat, because He took upon Himself our sins to be expiated. So says Rupert.
You may ask why God chose a lamb or kid rather than a calf or pig for the Passover. Lyra answers: to destroy the idolatry of the Egyptians and to call the Hebrews away from it. For the Egyptians worshipped Jupiter in the form of a ram; therefore God commanded a lamb, or small ram, to be killed and sacrificed. But in that case He would rather have chosen a calf: for the Egyptians worshipped above all Apis in the form of a bull or calf.
I say therefore that God chose the lamb because it was of small price and could be purchased even by any poor family. Second, because the lamb is a clean and simple animal; hence Festus Pompeius says: "The lamb (agnus) is so called from the Greek hagnos, which means chaste, because the lamb is a pure victim and suitable for sacrifice." Hence also St. Cyprian, in his treatise On Envy: "Christ," he says, "calls His people lambs, so that simplicity of mind may imitate the simple nature of lambs." Third, because the lamb was an express type of Christ, who at the Passover was sacrificed for us as a meek, innocent, and most pure lamb, Isaiah 53:7 and Jeremiah 11:19; hence also John the Baptist, John chapter 1: "Behold," he says, "the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world." Finally, they aptly sacrificed the lamb in Nisan, when the sun is in Aries: for the animal ram corresponds to the constellation Aries in the heavens, and the ram is the parent of the lamb. So says Burgensis.
By their families and houses. — For in the same house there could be several families, each of which, if it was large, had and ate its own lamb.
Verse 5: The Lamb Shall Be Without Blemish, a Male, One Year Old
Verse 5. 5. And the lamb shall be without blemish, a male, one year old. — "Without blemish," not of color, but of deformity, lameness, scab, or any other defect or disease; for it must be tamim, that is, whole or perfect, as the Hebrew has it. For this is what is said of any victim in Leviticus 22: "There shall be no blemish in it: if it be blind, or broken, or having a scar, or blisters, or scab, or mange, you shall not offer them to the Lord."
Tropologically, the victim of God must be pure and innocent. "Nothing," says Lactantius, Divine Institutes 6, "does that holy and singular Majesty desire from man other than innocence alone; and if anyone offers this, he has made sacrifice to God with sufficient piety and devotion." St. Gregory piously says, Moralia 2: "I have so lived," he says, "that I do not fear an accuser from without: would that I had so lived that I did not have within myself the accusing conscience!" Socrates, condemned to death, when Apollodorus wept and said: "Will you die innocent?" replied, "What, would you prefer that I die guilty?" That death, therefore, is to be willingly undergone in which a man is acquitted of the charge of crime, as Xenophon witnesses in his Apology for Socrates. For thus lambs die innocent.
"Christ," says St. Cyprian above, "calls His people sheep, so that Christian innocence may be equal to that of sheep." And St. Lawrence Justinian, On Monastic Discipline, chapter 7: "The Lord Jesus," he says, "delights in gravity of life, in purity of hearts, and in the perfection of His servants." And St. Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Matthew: "Just as," he says, "in the sight of men a beautiful face is pleasing, so in the eyes of God a clean conscience is beautiful." Moreover, Sextus the Pythagorean says: "A holy temple to God is the mind of the pious, and the best altar to Him is a clean heart without sin." And the Emperor Titus: "No one," he says, "can injure or insult me, because I do nothing that could harm others." King Agis, condemned to death, said to the lictor who wept for him: "Spare me these tears; for dying unjustly I am better than those who condemned me to death." And Phocion to a companion who wept: "Is it not enough for you, Evippus," he said, "to die with Phocion?" — namely, with an innocent man.
Second, it must be a male, because the male is superior to the female, and what is more excellent must be offered to God. Again, because it is a type of Christ the Lord, who is that male hated by the dragon, Revelation 12; for He has nothing feminine, that is, soft, fickle, or unstable. Hence He is said to rule the nations with an iron rod, says Rupert.
Tropologically, God wills that manly spirits and manly works be offered to Him; such victims He demands for Himself; He desires men, not women. "A man," says Cassiodorus on Psalm 1, "is so called from his strength (vires), who does not know how to fail in enduring adversity, or to boast with any elation in prosperity, but fixed with a steadfast spirit and strengthened by the contemplation of heavenly things, remains always fearless." And St. Gregory, Moralia 5: "Fortitude," he says, "is shown only in adversity; for each person demonstrates that he has advanced in fortitude to the degree that he bears the evils of others more stoutly. For he has less strength in himself whom the iniquity of others lays low, who in that which he cannot bear lies pierced by the sword of his own pusillanimity." The same again: "The Saints," he says, "have been made strong; they subdue the flesh, they shine with virtues, they strengthen the spirit, they despise earthly things, they desire heavenly things; they can be killed, but they cannot be bent. Nor do they fear through weakness to endure falsehood, nor when injured do they ever fall silent from the truth."
Moses adds "male" to the lamb; for although among Grammarians "agnus" (lamb) is distinguished by gender from "agna" (ewe lamb), yet among Rhetoricians "agnus" often discriminates not the sex but the species of animal, as when we say: "It is a lamb, not a calf" — that is, it is of the lamb species, whether it be a male lamb or a female lamb. Especially because the Hebrew seh signifies both sexes, both a ewe lamb and a ram lamb.
Third, this lamb must be one year old — in Hebrew, a "son of a year," that is, having or being within a year, such that it does not exceed a year in age, even if it has not completed a full year; for it could be sacrificed after the eighth day from birth, as is clear from Leviticus 22:27. God required a one-year-old lamb because, as Nicetas says on Gregory of Nazianzus's second oration On the Passover, lambs grow to full maturity within the space of one year, so that they can reproduce, as Hesychius says on Leviticus chapter 14.
Symbolically, just as the sun completes its course through the year, brings forth all things, and returns to its starting point, so Christ, who is the Sun of Justice, always like Himself, returning into Himself, brings forth the circle of virtues. So says Gregory of Nazianzus in the same place.
Tropologically, God wills that we serve Him from our tender years and dedicate our first age to Him, as Christ, the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas, St. Agnes, and other illustrious Saints did. Hear Hugh of St. Victor, On the Cloister of the Soul 3.10: "At that age when the hair turns golden, the flesh gleams like ivory, the rosy face is adorned with the gems of the eyes, bodily health supplies strength, and youthful age promises a longer span of life; when reason flourishes, the bodily senses also flourish — sight is keener, hearing readier, gait straighter, countenance more joyful: those who at this age subdue themselves and unite themselves to God may expect the reward of John." And again: "Such persons," he says, "offer a living sacrifice, pleasing to God, unblemished, lacking neither ear, nor eye, nor foot, nor tail. Let the late conversion of the elderly hear this — those whose ears are stopped by the failure of old age, whose eyes grow dim, and, to touch on everything briefly, who fail in themselves by themselves. They do not offer an unblemished lamb but, so to speak, a fattened pig. For as a pig wallows in filth, so does an old man lying in vices; and as a pig feeds on husks, so an old man delights in fables and rumors."
Note: The Jews at the Passover still in our time eat unleavened bread, but they do not sacrifice a lamb, because according to the law of Deuteronomy 16:2, the lamb must be sacrificed in Jerusalem, where the temple was. But now the Jews lack both temple and Jerusalem.
Here observe that the Jews do not keep those ceremonial prescriptions which God commanded to be done in the temple, or which relate to the temple: such are offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the jubilee year, purifications and cleansings, the sacrifice of the firstborn and their redemption. For all these things had to be done in the temple; since therefore the Jews lack the temple, they cannot now perform them. But other things that were not commanded to be done in the temple, these the Jews still observe today: such are circumcision, eating unleavened bread, fasts, the rest of the Sabbath and other festivals. For the Jews keep the festivals as far as rest is concerned, but not as far as the sacrifices that by law should be offered on those festivals; for these can only be done in the temple. The Jews would also observe the judicial precepts wherever among their own people they had a tribunal and judges who would judge and punish according to the law of Moses.
According to which rite you shall also take a kid. — Namely, if a lamb is not available, then instead of a lamb you shall take a kid that is, like the lamb, unblemished, male, and one year old. For God does not command that they take a lamb and a kid together (nor did the Hebrews ever do this), but either a lamb or a kid. This is clear from the Hebrew, which reads: "The animal shall be a male; from the lambs and (that is, or) from the goats you shall take it." And from the Septuagint, which reads: "The lamb shall be perfect, male, unblemished; from lambs and (that is, or) from kids you shall take it." For they could not take one and the same animal from both kids and sheep at the same time. So say Theodoret, Rupert, Hugh, Abulensis, Cajetan, and Lipomanus.
Therefore, first, certain Jews err who think that in large families a calf could be sacrificed instead of a lamb, and they prove this from Deuteronomy 16: "You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord from sheep and cattle." But the meaning of that passage is different, as I shall explain there.
Second, Burgensis errs in denying that a kid could be sacrificed instead of a lamb. The Hebrew, he says, reads: "from rams and goats you shall take it," meaning: you shall take a lamb from the flock in which rams and goats are customarily associated. But our translator [the Vulgate translator] expressly refutes this here when he renders: "according to which rite you shall also take a kid." And all interpreters, both Latin and Hebrew, refute this same view.
Third, others err who thought that a lamb had to be sacrificed by individual families on the fourteenth day, but a kid by the whole people on the fifteenth day: these are refuted at length by Abulensis and Lyra.
Verse 6: The Whole Multitude Shall Sacrifice It in the Evening
Verse 6. 6. And the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. — Therefore the lamb was a victim, and its sacrifice was a true offering, as is clear from chapter 13, verse 5, and Numbers chapter 9, verse 7.
Note first: "He shall sacrifice," namely on the fourteenth day, as preceded. The Jews therefore sacrificed their Passover on the very fourteenth moon, whatever day it fell on. But Christians, after the Council of Nicaea, celebrate their Easter not on the fourteenth moon, but on the Sunday immediately following it, in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. For our Passover is not a passage from life to death, as was that of the old lamb, but from death to life, which was the culmination of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. "For our Passover is not of passion but of joy and resurrection," says St. Ambrose, epistle 83.
Note second: There was a tradition among the ancient Hebrews that the Messiah would bring full liberty to the Hebrews on the same day on which they had been freed from Egypt through the Passover, as Andreas Masius reports on Joshua 5:10. Just as on that day there was a full moon, when the moon opposite the sun shone in its entirety to the world: so Christ, dying at that time, illuminated the whole world; whence even now the Jews, as Eugubinus testifies, believe their Messiah will come on this same day and will redeem Israel.
Allegorically concerning Christ. Allegorically, Rupert says: The lamb is sacrificed at the full moon, that is, Christ came and was sacrificed in the fullness of times, Galatians 4:4. Second, the lamb was sacrificed after the vernal equinox, when light and day increase and overcome night and darkness; that is, from the sacrifice of Christ the light of justice began to overcome the darkness of sins. Third, "Does not the very month of Nisan, that is, the mild spring weather of April, when the earth blooms again and the whole world grows young again after winter as if after old age — does it not teach any sensible person how far, with his spirit of mind renewed, and green with faith, joyful with hope, and blooming with charity, he should participate in the spiritual banquet of the paschal lamb?" says Rupert.
THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY. — Hence it is clear that the priests did not sacrifice these paschal lambs in the temple, as Claudius Sainctes thought (I Repetit. Eucharist. ch. 7), Abulensis on Exodus 16, and from him Serarius on Joshua 5, Question 22; but rather each father of the family sacrificed the lamb at his own home in the name of the whole family: for at this time the Aaronic legal priests and their sacrifices had not yet been established. Philo expressly teaches this in Book III of The Life of Moses, as does Josephus, whom Francisco Suarez follows (III Part., vol. II, disp. 40, sect. 2); and although the Aaronic priests were later established, nevertheless the fathers of families remained in their ancient right and rite of sacrificing the Passover, and in that respect they retained the ancient right of the priesthood which belonged to the firstborn or to the fathers of families. This is confirmed by the fact that the families were more numerous, and consequently the paschal lambs were more than the Levites; for under Cestius, as I have already said, the paschal lambs were numbered at 256,500; and it is clear that the Levites were far fewer.
You will object: In 1 Ezra 6:20, the priests and Levites are said to have been purified to sacrifice the Passover for all the children of the exile. I answer: "Passover" there is taken for every paschal sacrifice, both of the lamb and of other victims; for other victims only the priests sacrificed, even at the Passover; but the lamb the father of the family sacrificed, unless he was polluted by legal uncleanness: for then it seems that Ezra gave this task to the Levites, just as the same task was given to them in 2 Chronicles 30:17-18.
You will ask second, whether the lamb ought to have been sacrificed at the earlier evening of the fourteenth day, or at the later one? Certain modern scholars in Spain, whom Ribera thoroughly refutes (Book V, On the Temple, ch. 3), and Suarez in his treatise On the Eucharist to be Confected in Unleavened Bread, held that the lamb ought to have been sacrificed at the earlier evening of the fourteenth day. But this opinion is plainly false, as is proved by multiple arguments from Scripture, from the context of the history in this chapter, from the counting of the seven days of unleavened bread, and from the Passion of Christ.
AT EVENING — that is, at sunset, as it is said in Deuteronomy 16:6. In Hebrew it is "between two evenings"; in Chaldean, "between two suns." I say therefore that the first evening is when the sun is already declining toward sunset, and the second is the sunset itself. Josephus explicitly teaches that the Hebrews were accustomed to sacrifice the paschal victims from the ninth hour to the eleventh hour; now the ninth hour corresponds to our third hour in the afternoon. Therefore about two hours before sunset the lamb was sacrificed and roasted; but after sunset, at night when the fifteenth day had already begun, it was eaten, so that before midnight the eating of the lamb and the entire supper was finished.
Allegorically, as the world's evening was drawing on, at the consummation of the ages, Christ was offered, says Hesychius on Leviticus 23, and this at the full moon, when the moon, having received the fullness of its light, rises in the East as the sun is already setting; because when the Sun of justice was dying, the Church, which is understood by the moon, dispelling the darkness of sin, rises with new light and rises to life. So Rupert and Radulphus on Leviticus 10. Third, just as the Hebrews ate the lamb at night, so also Christ gave us the Sacrament of His body to eat on that same night. Fourth, just as on the following day, that is, on the first solemn day of unleavened bread, burnt offerings were sacrificed, so also Christ on the cross offered Himself as a living victim to God the Father: therefore in one day, namely the first paschal day, He offered both sacrifices, the bloody and the unbloody. Hence the Fathers teach that the sacrifice of the lamb exhibited no less a type of the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is performed in the Mass, than of the sacrifice of the cross. So Saint Leo, Sermon 7 On the Passion; Cyprian, Sermon On the Supper; Gregory, Homily 22 on the Gospels; Nazianzen, Oration 2 On Easter; Chrysostom, Homily On the Betrayal of Judas; Rupert and others.
Anagogically, Saint Jerome on Mark 14 says: "The evening of the day indicates the end of the world: for about the eleventh hour the last will come, who will be the first to receive the denarius of eternal life."
Verse 7: They Shall Take of Its Blood and Put It on the Doorposts
7. And they shall take of its blood and put it on both doorposts and on the lintels of the houses in which they shall eat it — so that when the angel sees this blood of the lamb, he would pass by those houses of the Hebrews and not strike their firstborn, as is clear from verse 23. Saint Jerome on Isaiah 66, speaking of the sign of the cross: "By this also the doorposts of the houses in Egypt were marked, when Egypt was being struck and Israel alone remained unharmed" — as if the blood of the lamb was applied to the doorposts in the form of a cross.
Note: "of the houses in which they shall eat it." For from this it seems that those who had joined themselves to another household, because they were too few in number, and had eaten the lamb there, also spent the night in the same house: for if they had returned to their own house, which was not marked with the blood of the lamb, they would have been struck by the angel in it. Such indeed were almost all those Hebrews who lived in the houses of Egyptians: for all of these went to the houses of Hebrews. But if any Egyptian firstborn were then in the houses of the Hebrews, they were sent out before nightfall; otherwise either not all the Egyptian firstborn would have been struck, or some would have been struck in the houses of the Hebrews marked with the blood of the lamb — either of which was contrary to God's decree and command.
Epiphanius narrates (Heresy 18) that the Egyptians, mindful of that day on which the Israelites were freed from the slaughter of the angel — the Israelites who had smeared the doorposts of their houses with the blood of the lamb — were accustomed, at the approach of the vernal equinox, to take red ochre and smear all the trees and houses, crying out: "Because at this time fire devastated everything," against which plague they consider the fiery blood-colored red ochre a remedy.
Verse 8: They Shall Eat the Flesh Roasted with Fire and Unleavened Bread
8. And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread with bitter herbs. — Note: This lamb represented a twofold benefit of liberation: first, from the striking angel; second, from Egypt, from which the Egyptians, fearing greater plagues, compelled the Hebrews to depart in haste. Again, in the eating of the lamb two things were represented to the Jews. First, the harsh servitude with which they served in Egypt; the symbols of this were the unleavened bread, and therefore tasteless, the roasting of the lamb, and the bitter herbs. Second, the haste with which they departed: the symbols of this were, first, the unleavened bread, because they did not have time to leaven it; second, the roasting of the lamb; third, that they could not break its bones (for those who are in haste have no leisure for this) to suck out the marrow; fourth, that they ate the lamb girded, holding staffs in their hands; fifth, that they could not keep the remainder, but burned it with fire.
Note here first, that the lamb was to be eaten at night: and this night was of the fifteenth day. Second, by "flesh" understand also the sinews, innards, and whatever was edible in the lamb.
ROASTED WITH FIRE. — Note: This was the rite of sacrificing the lamb: first, the lamb was slaughtered; second, the doorposts and lintel were sprinkled with its blood; third, the skin having been removed, the intestines were either taken out of the lamb and then put back, as Abulensis holds, or left in the lamb itself, as Cajetan holds, and they were washed so that they could be roasted with the lamb and in the lamb. For everything roasted was to be eaten except the gall and the intestines containing feces, which were thrown away. Fourth, the whole lamb, not cut apart (lest any bone be injured), was roasted with its head and feet. To which add that the lamb could not be eaten except by the circumcised, as is clear from verse 48, and only in the certain place where the tabernacle was, and later the temple, namely Jerusalem, Deuteronomy 16:6. Finally, with the rite that follows.
WITH BITTER HERBS — in Hebrew al merorim, that is, "with bitter things," namely with any bitter herbs whatsoever. But the Septuagint translates a specific species, namely pikrides, which Theodorus Gaza renders sometimes as "amaragine" and sometimes as "wild lettuce," which, according to Dioscorides, is bitter in taste. Hence, although Ruellius thinks this lettuce is endive, nevertheless it seems more truly to have been properly this wild lettuce, which, says Abulensis, is like garden lettuce, but smaller and of a harsh and bitter flavor. God commanded these bitter herbs to be used with the lamb so that through them the Hebrews would remember, says Theodoret, the most bitter servitude in Egypt from which He was leading them out, so that they might thus be stirred to praise and thanksgiving to God. Hence Saint Ambrose reads "with bitterness," as if the Hebrews were commanded to eat the lamb with a certain bitterness of soul.
Tropologically, the Lord commanded that the bitter words of Christ's commandments be devoured together with the Sacrament of the Lord's passion (says Saint Ambrose, Sermon On the Mustard Seed), and specifically that contrition and penance must precede the Eucharist, especially in the holy week of Easter itself. On which Saint Epiphanius (Heresy 70) says: "In the days of Easter, when among us during the Passover there are sleeping on the ground, acts of chastity, afflictions, eating of dry foods, prayers, vigils, fasts, and all the salvations of souls through holy afflictions." And Saint Chrysostom (Homily 30 on Genesis): "Now the faithful both intensify their fasting and keep vigils and sacred all-night watches and give alms, so that they may honor this week." And Saint Bernard (Sermon for Wednesday of the Sorrowful Week): "All Christians in this week either more than usual or beyond their custom practice piety; they show modesty, pursue humility, put on gravity, so that they may seem in some way to suffer with the suffering Christ. For who is so irreligious as not to feel compunction? Who so insolent as not to humble himself? Who so wrathful as not to forgive? Who so self-indulgent as not to abstain? Who so malicious as not to repent in these days?"
Verse 9: You Shall Not Eat of It Raw, Nor Boiled in Water
9. You shall not eat of it anything raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted with fire. — "Raw": so the Septuagint translates it, and the Hebrews and Latins generally; therefore Oleaster rashly renders the Hebrew na as "broken" or "cut apart." God forbids the raw lamb to be eaten: both because this is inhuman, for a person shrinks from eating raw flesh; and because raw flesh is unwholesome and can scarcely be digested by a person; and lest afterward while eating they should reject the raw flesh in disgust. For in some, though few, people and nations there is this savage and barbarous appetite for eating raw flesh, which God here wishes to be restrained and abolished: for to the uneducated Hebrews, as if to children, He prescribes each and every thing, even ordinary, customary, and obvious matters, minutely and exactly.
Tropologically, raw flesh, says Saint Gregory (Homily 22 on the Gospels), is an inconsiderate and irreverent consideration of the divine goodness and excellence, or rather a forgetfulness of it: thus they eat it raw in the Eucharist who do not consider the excellence of so great a Sacrament, and the condescension and presence of God our Lord, who feeds us with His body and His divinity.
NOR BOILED IN WATER, BUT ONLY ROASTED WITH FIRE. — Both because meat is roasted more quickly than it is boiled: therefore roasting was a symbol of the haste of the Hebrews preparing themselves for departure; and because roasting signified that the Hebrews in Egypt had been, as it were, roasted and scorched in the heat of brick and mortar, and were now being freed from that through the eating of this roasted lamb; and because roasted meat is of more solid nourishment, and therefore better strengthens those who labor, as the Hebrews were about to undertake a great journey: for boiled meat dissolves into a watery broth, and therefore loses and wastes much of its substance into it.
The allegorical and chief reason was that the roasted lamb might signify Christ scorched on the cross by love for us; for the lamb was roasted stretched out in the form of a cross: for one upright stake was thrust from below all the way to the head; while another transverse one stretched out the shoulders of the lamb being roasted, says Saint Justin in Against Trypho. For Christ on the cross had nothing of water, that is, nothing of mitigation, nothing of consolation in His sufferings, but was roasted and scorched both by pain and by love for us. Again, the Jews, denying Christ's divinity and taking crudely what Scripture says about the kingdom and glory of the Messiah, eat Christ raw. Heretics eat Christ boiled in water, because they want to investigate and comprehend all His mysteries by their own intellect and human reason (for this is the water): and so through human wisdom they empty out the sacraments of His humanity and divinity. But Catholics, soberly and piously meditating on the mysteries of Christ, and through them kindling faith and charity, and fervently serving Christ, eat Christ roasted. So Pererius from Saint Gregory.
YOU SHALL DEVOUR THE HEAD WITH ITS FEET AND ENTRAILS. — God specifies this because we do not ordinarily roast the head, entrails, and feet, since they are bony and cartilaginous; but in the lamb God willed these to be roasted, both because the Hebrews in their haste did not have time to boil them; and because God willed the lamb to remain whole; and because it signified Christ, in whom these parts were especially roasted — namely the entrails by compassion and love for us, the feet by nails, and the head by the crown of thorns.
Verse 10: Nor Shall Anything Remain Until Morning
10. Nor shall anything of it remain until morning: if anything is left over, you shall burn it with fire — because you will depart in haste at dawn. Hence, lest you be occupied with eating or packing up the remains of the lamb, or lest those remains happen to be eaten profanely by profane people outside the time of the sacrifice, or devoured by dogs, or even rot, I will that they be consumed by fire in honor of God, just as they were roasted by fire for God; and I will that this be observed in the same manner in the following years hereafter, so that you may continually recall the memory of this first departure and haste.
Verse 11: You Shall Gird Your Loins and Eat in Haste
11. And thus you shall eat it: You shall gird your loins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staffs in your hands, and you shall eat in haste. — All these things indicate haste, and are those of travelers girded for a long and laborious journey; hence they are commanded to put on shoes.
Add: the shoe was a sign of freedom, as I said on Ephesians 6:13. For until now the Hebrews had gone barefoot as slaves in Egypt to the fields and to their most harsh labors; now they are commanded to walk shod, like freeborn and free people. Note the Hebrew hypallage: "you shall have shoes on your feet," that is, "you shall have your feet in shoes," or shod.
Some add that the ancients of old did not sit at table but reclined, as is clear from Esther 1:6; Tobit 2:3; 1 Samuel 19:22; and so that they would not soil the cushions, and might dine more comfortably, and after dining might rest on their couches or dining beds, they would take off their shoes and even wash their feet, as is clear from Judges 19:21. Hence also Magdalene washed the feet of Christ as He reclined. But the Hebrews here, because they are being prepared not for rest but for departure, are therefore commanded to put on their shoes.
Note: From the fact that it says "holding staffs in their hands," it seems that the Hebrews ate the lamb standing, as if in haste, and Philo expressly teaches this in his book On the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel, and Nyssenus implies it. For why would they be holding staffs in their hands, girded about the loins, and shod, if they were not standing ready for the journey? The Apostle certainly seems to have alluded to this, or rather to have given the allegorical sense of this passage, in Ephesians 6:14, when he says: "Stand, having your loins girded with truth, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace."
You will object: in Matthew 26:20, Christ celebrating the Passover is said to have reclined; therefore He did not stand. Maldonatus answers there that "to recline" means to be present at table, in whatever posture. But since it is expressly said of Christ in John 13: "He rises from supper and lays aside His garments," and shortly after: "When He had reclined again, He said to them," hence it can more aptly be said that Christ stood, as was the custom, at the supper of the lamb, but reclined at the common supper which followed the supper of the lamb, and from there He rose for the washing of feet, and when that was completed, He immediately reclined again.
Symbolically, Philo says: Those who aspire to the summit of virtues should be girded about the loins, that is, ready to minister to God and to labor in the exercise of virtues; and they should be shod with shoes by which they may restrain the mass of flesh by reason; and they should stand upright with firm feet; and they should have discipline as a rod in their hands, to direct all the affairs of life without error, and they should hasten in this pursuit of virtue.
Tropologically, Saint Gregory (Homily 22 on the Gospels): Whoever wishes to eat the Christian Passover should gird his loins, that is, subdue his pleasures and restrain the flesh from luxury; he should have shoes on his feet, that is, should contemplate the life and examples of the dead saints, so as to guard his steps from the wound of sin; third, he should hold a staff in his hand, that is, exercise pastoral care over those entrusted to him; fourth, he should eat in haste, that is, yearn for the solemnity of the heavenly homeland. Hear also Blessed Alger (Book I, On the Sacrament of the Altar, ch. 22): "The Law gave in the shoes a caution, lest we be deceived by vices; in the staff, discipline, by which we may correct what we have done wrong; in the lettuce, compunction; in the haste, the ardor of desire, by which we may sigh for heavenly things; in the girded loins, continence and chastity, because nothing so opposes Christ the immaculate Lamb, the Son of the Virgin crucified, and union with Him, as pleasure and the unity of a fornicating alliance."
Finally, the shoe signifies continence, the girdle modesty, and the staff hope, says Nyssenus in The Life of Moses: "From the thorns of sins let the shoe defend by means of a most continent, austere and hard life. The trailing and loose garment, that is, the luxurious way of living, must be gathered in by a certain girdle, that is, by modesty, which reminds us to use things for necessity, not for pleasure. And the staff, by which we both repel the wild beasts of the heretics and sustain ourselves, is hope."
Verse 12: For It Is the Phase, the Passover of the Lord
FOR IT IS THE PHASE, THAT IS, THE PASSAGE OF THE LORD, AND (that is, because) I WILL PASS THROUGH THE LAND OF EGYPT THAT NIGHT, AND I WILL STRIKE EVERY FIRSTBORN — as if to say: You shall eat the lamb in haste, because this eating of the lamb signifies the swift and hurried passage of the Angel, to strike the firstborn of Egypt.
Note first: For "phase" the Hebrew is pesach; Theodotion translates it phoix; the Syrians and Chaldeans, adding aleph according to their custom, render it pischa or pascha. The Septuagint followed this, rendering it pascha. Our translator renders it "phase," because the final guttural chet in the Hebrew pesach, being difficult to pronounce, is usually dropped by the Greeks and Latins.
Note second: Pesach, pascha, and phase signify a passing over, or more properly a leaping across; for the root pasach means "to leap over," as our translator renders it in verse 23 and in 3 Kings 18:26. Hence also pisseach means "lame," because he walks as if hopping. It is therefore called pascha, that is, a leaping over, because the Passover signified that the Angel would leap over the houses of the Hebrews, leaving them untouched, and would leap into the houses of the Egyptians, killing their firstborn.
You will object: Tertullian, in his book Against the Jews, seems to say that pascha is not a Hebrew but a Greek word; for he derives it from tou paschein, that is, from "suffering." I answer: These Fathers speak not literally but mystically, and explain this passage symbolically; for they hold that not without God's design was this word pascha coined, which has an etymology most fitting to the thing both in Greek and in Hebrew.
Note third: there was a threefold passage here: first, of the destroying Angel; second, of the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan; third, of the same through the Red Sea. I say that pascha first and proximately signifies the passage of the destroying Angel — for that is what is said here; but mediately and ultimately it signifies the passage of the Hebrews from Egypt, for this passage of the Angel was directed toward that as its end. So Saint Jerome and Josephus here, Book II.
Note fourth: Phase or pascha properly signifies a passage or rather a leaping over; from that, second, it signifies by metonymy the lamb sacrificed for this passage. Third, from there it was extended to the paschal feast. Fourth, pascha signifies any victims of sheep and cattle that were sacrificed during those seven days, about which see Numbers 28.
Allegorically, the lamb is Christ, who passed from death to life, from earth to heaven, so that we might pass from sin to grace, from hell to heaven. Hence tropologically, the soul celebrates phase, that is, a passage, when it goes forth from the thoughts of Egypt, that is, from the endeavor of sin, says Saint Augustine (Tractate 55 on John). "Pascha," says Saint Ambrose (Book I, On Cain, ch. 8), "is a passage from passions to the exercises of virtue." And more clearly in Book I of the Hexameron, ch. 8: "The Pascha of the Lord is celebrated annually, that is, the passage of souls from vices to virtue, from the passions of the flesh to the grace and sobriety of the mind, from the leaven of malice and wickedness to the truth and sincerity of regeneration." And Saint Gregory (Homily 10 on the Gospels): "From our homeland," he says, "we departed by being proud, by disobeying, by following visible things, by tasting forbidden food; but to it we must return by weeping, by obeying, by despising visible things, and by restraining the appetite of the flesh. Therefore by another way we return to our homeland: for we who departed from the joys of paradise through pleasure are recalled to them through lamentations."
Hence fifthly, Zwingli argues cleverly: If this proposition is true: "The lamb is the Passover," and in it the metonymy already mentioned must be admitted; then the same must be admitted in these words of Christ: "This is My body," so that the sense would be: This is the figure of My body. But I respond first, the antecedent is false; for the lamb is called the Passover, that is, the paschal victim, properly, not metonymically. I respond secondly, by denying the consequence: for the lamb cannot properly be the Passover, that is, the passing over, because the passing over and the lamb are two entirely disparate things; but when I say: "This is My body," "this" and "body" are not disparate.
Verse 13: The Blood Shall Be to You for a Sign
13. And the blood shall be to you for a sign — This blood shall be to you a sign and token of your salvation, that the destroying angel shall not strike you; not that the angel needs this bodily sign: for he himself sees well enough which are the houses of the Hebrews in which the Passover is eaten, and which are those of the Egyptians; but that He wills that by this sign you should expect protection, safeguard, and salvation, and this on account of the type of that Lamb who by His blood will free you from the wrath to come and from eternal death. Therefore by this rite the Hebrews implicitly professed that they would be freed from eternal death by the blood of the Messiah; hence also the doorposts with the lintel, which rests upon both posts (all of which were to be sprinkled with the blood of the lamb), displayed the type and form of the cross, as St. Cyprian teaches, Book II of Testimonies Against the Jews, chapter XXII. So in Ezekiel IX, the angel is commanded to kill all except those who were marked with the sign of Tau, which bore the figure of the cross.
Therefore the Hebrews are commanded here, not only at this first Passover of their liberation and departure, but also at all those to be celebrated annually thereafter, to sprinkle the posts and lintel of their door with the blood of the lamb, so that they might remember that once they were freed by a similar sprinkling from the destroying angel.
AND AGAINST ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENTS. — The Septuagint has: I will execute vengeance. Hence it seems, says Cajetan, that Apis or Serapis, and all the other images of the gods in Egypt, were cast down and shattered on the Passover night, either by an earthquake or by lightning, as St. Jerome asserts from Hebrew tradition in his letter to Fabiola, On the 42 Stations, at the first station. The Hebrews further relate that the stone idols of Egypt were then ground to powder; the wooden ones rotted or were reduced to ashes; and the metal ones were dissolved and melted.
Verse 15: Seven Days You Shall Eat Unleavened Bread
For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. — "Unleavened bread" is the name for bread without leaven: for zyme is leaven. Leaven is so called because it grows as if by fermenting: hence unleavened bread is baked immediately. "You shall eat unleavened bread," that is, so that every year you might recall the first unleavened bread of the Passover, which you ate as you were about to depart from Egypt: for when on that night you had made dough for baking bread, in your haste you did not have time to leaven it, since the Egyptians were pressing you to depart immediately: hence Deuteronomy XVI, 3, says: "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of affliction (because unleavened bread is tasteless, heavy, unwholesome, and hard to digest), because in fear you departed from Egypt, so that you may remember the day of your departure from Egypt, all the days of your life."
WHOEVER EATS LEAVEN, THAT SOUL SHALL PERISH FROM ISRAEL. — "Shall perish," namely by the sentence of judges, if the matter is established, as if to say: Let him be condemned to death by the judges; if they neglect this, or are unaware, I God as avenger will punish him with death, either present death, or eternal death, or both. Hence it is clear that it was a capital offense for the Hebrews to eat leaven during the days of unleavened bread.
Note here that the days of unleavened bread began with the Passover, and at evening, namely at the beginning of the fifteenth day, which is therefore called the first day of unleavened bread. Hence it is clear that Christ, most observant of the law, instituted the Eucharist in unleavened bread; for He instituted it after the supper of the lamb, at which the eating of unleavened bread began, which lasted for seven days. Therefore rightly, and following the example of Christ, the Latin Church prescribes that its members celebrate the Eucharist in unleavened bread.
Tropologically, by unleavened bread, says Theodoret, is signified not only the diligence and urgency of departing, and the ease and readiness of preparing food; but also that it was fitting for them to retain no trace of Egyptian life: hence Christ says, Matthew XVI: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees."
Verse 16: The First Day Shall Be Holy and Solemn
16. The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be venerable with the same festivity: you shall do no work on them. — Hence it is clear that of the 7 days of unleavened bread, the first and last were the more celebrated, and they alone were properly feast days, and equally so; for on those days it was not permitted to work, which was permitted on the other five intermediate days; hence the first day is called holy, that is, dedicated to the worship of God. This first day is also called solemn, because it was a feast day on account of the public and solemn sacrifices which were performed on that day, as is clear from Numbers chapter XXVIII, verse 16 and following; hence the Jews then wore finer clothing and ate richer food.
Verse 17: You Shall Keep This Day as a Perpetual Rite
17. You shall keep this day throughout your generations as a perpetual rite — that is, as long as the rite, worship, and religion of your race and the Jewish nation, namely Judaism, shall endure: for when it shall be abolished by the supervening religion of Christ, then the rite of the Passover will also be abolished. Therefore this rite lasted for 1,530 years; for that is the number from the departure from Egypt to the passion of Christ, who fulfilled and abolished this rite and all the other ancient ones. Hence St. Justin Against Trypho: "That the commandment of the paschal lamb was temporary," he says, "is apparent from the fact that God did not permit it to be sacrificed except in the place where His name is invoked," namely Jerusalem, where the temple was; "evidently because He knew that days would come after the passion of Christ, when Jerusalem would be handed over to enemies, and all sacrifices would cease at the same time."
Therefore the Armenian Christians err, who sacrifice a lamb, anoint their doorposts with its blood, burn the bones, and keep the ashes mixed with blood for expiation, as St. Nicon reports, in his book On the Errors of the Armenians.
Superstitious also were those Christians who, placing the flesh of a lamb beside the altar at Easter, consecrated it with their own blessing, and on Easter day ate from the lamb's flesh before other foods, as Walafrid Strabo reports, On Ecclesiastical Matters, chapter XVIII; for, as he himself says, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed: hence Paul wants us to feast, not with old leaven, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Note: Josephus reports that the Hebrews departing from Egypt ate unleavened bread for 30 days; for the dough which they carried with them lasted that long, from which in Succoth and afterward they baked bread under ashes, and when it ran out God gave them manna from heaven; just as conversely the manna ceased when the children of Israel entered Canaan and ate the fruits of the land, as is said in Joshua V. For God does not fail a person in necessity, nor conversely does He provide superfluously where there is no need.
Verse 20: In All Your Dwelling Places You Shall Eat Unleavened Bread
20. In all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread. — Note the word "dwelling places," which those who were on a journey could not always have, and consequently could not always eat unleavened bread. So says Cajetan.
Verse 21: Take an Animal and Sacrifice the Phase
21. TAKE AN ANIMAL. — In Hebrew, draw out a beast, namely from the sheepfold; behold, not only a lamb, but also a kid (for here in Hebrew it is called seh, just as a lamb) could be sacrificed in place of the lamb.
Verse 22: Dip a Bunch of Hyssop in the Blood
22. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is on the threshold. — The Septuagint has: that is at the door. Therefore the lamb, says St. Augustine, had to be either killed near the door of the house, or rather its blood had to be brought to the door, so that they might dip the hyssop in the fresh and liquid blood, with which they would sprinkle the doorposts and the lintel. For the hyssop here served in place of a sprinkler, as I shall discuss at Leviticus XIV, 4. The Hebrew word saph signifies not only a threshold, but also a basin: hence some, following the Chaldean, translate it as: with the blood that is in the vessel, or basin, in which it was caught when the lamb was slaughtered. However, our translator better renders saph as "threshold"; for this is its common meaning, from the root soph, that is, to finish.
LET NO ONE GO OUT UNTIL MORNING — or at least until it was certain that the destroying angel had passed: for Moses warned them of this so that they would be careful not to go out, lest they encounter this destroyer; and so after the Egyptians had attested to the striking and slaughter done by him with their lamentation, and had urged the Hebrews to depart, they immediately went out that same night, as is clear from verse 31, namely after midnight, before morning.
Verse 23: He Will Not Allow the Destroyer to Enter
23. And He will not allow the destroyer. — Hence some think this destroying angel was an evil angel: for it says, God "will not allow," as if this angel would have wanted to kill the Hebrews too, if God had permitted it; but this would be foreign to a good angel. Hence Rupert says: "Rightly they are handed over to the evil destroying angel, after they refused to submit to God Himself who was correcting them, and who by ten plagues was inviting them to repentance." However, it is equally probable, or more probable, that this plague, like the preceding ones, was inflicted by good angels. Hence for "will not allow," the Hebrew has "will not give," namely an order or ordinance; He will not ordain that he should strike the Hebrews, but only the Egyptians.
Verse 26: What Is This Rite?
26. WHAT IS THIS RITE? — In Hebrew, what is this worship? To what end, why do you celebrate this Passover?
Verse 29: At Midnight the Lord Struck Every Firstborn
Verse 29. And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord struck every firstborn. — For at midnight even the blind silence itself terrifies; therefore this punishment was all the more terrible; such also will be the coming of Christ to judgment, as I said at chapter XI, verse 5.
Every firstborn — that which was born first, even if it was an only child, even if it was aged; hence in one house several were sometimes struck, namely grandfather, father, son, wife, if all were firstborn: I say the same of servants and animals.
FROM THE FIRSTBORN OF PHARAOH. — Here Pharaoh is punished in his son, but he himself was being reserved for greater suffering and vengeance, to be drowned with all his people in the Red Sea.
EVEN TO THE FIRSTBORN OF THE CAPTIVE WOMAN — the captive slave woman condemned to the mill, as is clear from chapter XI, verse 5.
Verse 30: Pharaoh Arose in the Night
30. And Pharaoh arose, etc., and having called Moses and Aaron at night he said: Arise and go forth. — It is likely that Pharaoh himself, struck by such great slaughter, and fearing worse, arose to go to Moses, whom he found sleeping peacefully in his house, and by calling aroused him, and said: Arise, go forth; the Hebrew expresses this more clearly.
32. Bless me also — pray for me, as the Chaldean translates it.
Morally, learn here that hard and obstinate hearts are not broken and softened by blandishments, not by threats, not by scourges, but by death and terrible disasters: just as a diamond is not softened except by the blood of a he-goat, so by the slaughter of all the firstborn Pharaoh was broken and bent, and all the Egyptians. So the proud Nebuchadnezzar bowed his neck when he was changed into a beast. So Saul, cast down to the earth, became Paul and said: "Lord, what do You wish me to do?" So Mary Magdalene, possessed by seven demons, sought Christ the physician.
A remarkable example among the pagans is narrated by Plutarch, in his book On the Late Vengeance of the Divinity, near the end: Thespesius, he says, was a man of wicked and desperate life; when the oracle was consulted about him, whether there was any hope of his amendment, it replied: "He will be better after he is dead." Shortly afterward Thespesius, struck down by a severe fall, lay lifeless: on the third day, coming to himself, he said that in this fall his soul had been drawn from his body, and had seen and perceived all other things, and therefore had immediately become entirely different. And so it happened: for he who before was impious, lustful, drunken, etc., by this fall and rapture became pious, chaste, sober, just, and a mirror of virtues. Thus for a hard knot a hard wedge must be sought, and by sharp punishment the confirmed habit of an evil mind must be broken.
Verse 33: The Egyptians Urged the People to Leave Quickly
33. And the Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly — namely struck with fear from the great slaughter of their own. Hence you may see the fables and calumnies of the pagans, such as Cornelius Tacitus, Book V, and Trogus Pompeius, or rather Justin, Book XXXVI, who assert that the Hebrews were expelled from Egypt by the Egyptians on account of scabs and itching, at the bidding of an oracle. Similar is what Manetho, Chaeremon, and Lysimachus, Egyptian historians, relate in Josephus, Book I Against Apion, namely that Moses had carried off the idols of the Egyptians — whereas on the contrary Sacred Scripture teaches us that they were all to a man swallowed up by the Red Sea.
Such also is Tacitus's claim that the Jews are called as if "Idaeans," because they descended from Mount Ida in Crete; secondly, that the Jews do not eat pork, because pigs like Jews are subject to scabies; thirdly, that donkeys showed the way to the Jews departing from Egypt, and therefore they worship donkeys. Such also is Justin's claim that Joseph was a magician, and that Moses was his son. Hence you may see how hostile and unjust the pagans were toward the Jews, or how ignorant and unskilled in Jewish affairs.
Verse 34: The People Took the Dough Before It Was Leavened
34. Therefore the people took the kneaded flour before it was leavened. — "Kneaded," and worked with great labor by hand or foot, namely the mass or dough, as the Hebrew text says, because they did not have time to leaven and bake it, intending to bake it at the first opportunity.
And binding it in cloaks. — The Hebrew word simlah properly signifies a wrapper or mantle, by which something is covered or wrapped. And so these cloaks of the Hebrews seem to have been linen cloths; for dough is usually wrapped in these.
Verse 36: The Lord Gave Favor to the People
Verse 36. 36. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. — Therefore the Egyptians lent these goods of theirs to the Hebrews, not so much out of fear, by which they were struck because of the slaughter of the firstborn, as because God gave them favor in the sight of the Egyptians. This favor, says Tostatus, was either a certain quality produced by God in the Hebrews, shining wonderfully in their faces and throughout their bodies, and in their words and behavior, which made the Hebrews lovable, pleasant, and gracious to the Egyptians. For this reason Plato admonished his student Xenocrates, who bore a sad and severe countenance, "to sacrifice to the Graces," meaning that he should add pleasing elegance of courtesy for winning people over.
Or rather, "God gave favor," that is, God inclined the hearts of the Egyptians to a certain tender love for the Hebrews, and to wishing them well and doing them good, so that the Hebrews appeared to the Egyptians worthy not only of compassion, but of love, honor, and indeed of all manner of gifts and benefits; which resulted in their willingly lending them their goods, indeed offering them, says Cajetan, urging them to ask confidently for whatever they wished.
THAT THEY MIGHT LEND TO THEM. — Therefore Josephus errs, who says that these things were given as gifts by the Egyptians to the Hebrews; for Scripture says these things were not given as gifts, but lent, and that the Hebrews by appropriating them spoiled Egypt.
See here the mutability of riches, which pass as if on loan from one to another. Saladin had gained the empire of Egypt and Syria with great labor: as he lay dying he ordered his undershirt to be fixed to a spear and carried through the camp, and to be proclaimed by a herald: "This one tunic is all that remains to the prince Saladin from such great wealth and empire."
AND THEY DESPOILED THE EGYPTIANS. — You will say: therefore the Hebrews committed spoliation, that is, theft and plunder. I respond: Spoliation, when commanded by God, is just and holy. For God, by commanding you to despoil someone, by that very act grants you the right and ownership over his goods. So St. Augustine, Rupert, St. Thomas, Abulensis, and others.
Secondly, even apart from God's command, the Hebrews could take the goods of the Egyptians by spoliation, both by right of wages: for they had served them with the most laborious work; and by right of a just war: for the Egyptians were public enemies of the Hebrews. Hence Wisdom X says: "God rendered to the just the reward of their labors."
Tropologically, the Catholic Fathers and Doctors despoiled Egypt when they transferred the wisdom and eloquence drawn from the pagans to illuminating the faith and the Church of Christ. And indeed we see that now all eloquence, knowledge, and wisdom have departed from the pagans, Turks, and Saracens, and have passed to the Christians, who alone now flourish in the whole world in every art, science, eloquence, and discipline.
Verse 37: They Set Out from Rameses to Succoth
Verse 37. 37. And the children of Israel set out from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot. — "They set out" with God as their leader, showing the way by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, as is clear from the following chapter, verse 21.
Note: The Hebrews, heading from Egypt to Canaan, made 42 stations or encampments in the desert, about which St. Jerome wrote a treatise to Fabiola. The first station or encampment was at Rameses: for the Hebrews who were about to depart gathered there from all of Egypt: hence Rameses aptly signifies in Hebrew "thunder of joy," says St. Jerome. For the Hebrews were filled with a wonderful, new, and extraordinary joy there, because they saw that they had now escaped from the harsh slavery of Egypt into freedom. "The value of freedom," says Justinian, "is incomparable."
TO SUCCOTH. — Therefore the second encampment was at Succoth, which was situated between the Red Sea and the cultivated part of Egypt. It was called Succoth, that is, "tabernacles" (tents), because the Hebrews departing from Egypt first pitched their tents there, says St. Jerome to Fabiola.
ABOUT SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND ON FOOT. — "About," that is, more or less. Note: These six hundred thousand were armed foot soldiers, or men of military age, namely those who had reached or exceeded the age of 20. Therefore neither children nor adolescents who had not yet reached the age of twenty are counted here, nor women, nor the very old, who all together usually make up another half and more of the population; by which computation the entire Hebrew people here would have numbered one million five hundred thousand persons. Indeed, the Hebrews relate there were one million eight hundred thousand, to whom was added an innumerable multitude of Egyptians, who, adhering to the Jews, wished to accompany those departing; so that many believe the total number of those going out was three million men, all of whom God fed with heavenly manna in the desert for 40 years. All of these on one day, not in confusion, but arranged in order by their divisions, as if in battle formation, went forth — which Moses notes and celebrates in verse 41 as a marvel.
WITHOUT THE LITTLE ONES. — The Seventy render it: besides the baggage — not only things that are moved, but also things that move themselves, namely little children and women, says St. Augustine, Question 47.
Verse 39. WHICH THEY HAD BROUGHT ALREADY KNEADED FROM EGYPT. — "Already," for it had been kneaded for more than a whole day, and had not been leavened.
NOR ANYTHING COOKED. — A pulmentum is a side dish, such as meat, fish, vegetables, and whatever is eaten with bread; for the ancients used porridge instead of bread.
Verse 40: The Dwelling in Egypt Was Four Hundred and Thirty Years
40. Now the dwelling of the children of Israel which they dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. — It is certain, and all the Hebrew and Latin Doctors agree, except Eugubinus and Genebrardus, that the Hebrews did not dwell in Egypt for the full 430 years. This is clear even from this fact: for when Jacob, the father of the Hebrews, first descended into Egypt with his family, Kohath the son of Levi descended likewise with him. But Kohath lived only 133 years, whose son Amram lived only 137 years. Amram begot Moses, and Moses in the 81st year of his age departed from Egypt with the Hebrews. Now add up the years of each individual, even taking them as complete — namely 133, 137, 81 — and you will not reach 430, but only 351.
You will ask, therefore, from what point these 430 years should begin, and how they should be calculated? I say briefly, with St. Augustine, Eusebius, Rupert, Abulensis, and Cajetan, that these 430 years should not begin from the descent of Jacob into Egypt, but from the 75th year of Abraham, in which year Abraham, called by God, began from his home and fatherland — namely Haran — to journey toward the land of Canaan: for in this year he received those blessings and promises about which the Apostle treats in Galatians chapter 3.
This is clear first: for it is evident that the Hebrews, from the descent of Jacob, did not dwell 430 years in Egypt. From this it follows that these 430 years must be reckoned and begun not from the descent of Jacob, but from much earlier — namely from the journey of Abraham from Haran toward Canaan, and this the Septuagint expressly states in this place, when they translate: "But the dwelling of the children of Israel which they and their fathers dwelt in the land of Egypt and Canaan was 430 years."
Second, because the Apostle in Galatians 3 says the law was given after 430 years to be counted not from Jacob's but from Abraham's calling, journey, and promise.
Third, because in this way we will most conveniently calculate this number. For Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran. From there to the birth of Isaac, 25 years elapsed. From Isaac to the birth of Jacob are 60 years. And Jacob descended into Egypt in his 130th year. Now add up 25, 60, 130, and you will have 215 years — so that the same number, that is 215, remain from the entry of Jacob to the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt. Join these to the former 215, and you will arrive at 430 — as many as both Moses and the Apostle count.
Note: The departure of the Hebrews from Egypt occurred in the year of the world 2454, in the year 797 from the flood, in the year 505 from the birth of Abraham, 215 from the descent of Jacob into Egypt, 144 from the death of Joseph, 480 before the building of Solomon's temple, 1496 before Christ, and 356 before the Trojan War.
Verse 41: On That Same Day All the Army of the Lord Went Forth
41. ON THAT SAME DAY — on which, 430 years before, Abraham began his pilgrimage into Egypt. So some say. Second and more genuinely, "on that same day" — namely of the Passover; unless you prefer to refer this to the whole army of the Hebrews, as if to say: All together, though they were of such great number, on the same day in ordered formation departed from Egypt. So Abulensis says. For this was like a miracle.
Note: This day of the Passover, or the first day of unleavened bread, on which the Hebrews departed from Egypt, was a Friday, God so disposing it to fittingly signify the Friday on which Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed, and led us out from sin and hell and freed us. That this is so is clear from the fact that on the thirty-first day after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, manna began to rain down upon them; but that day was a Sunday, as will be evident from chapter 16, verses 1 and 5. Now if the thirty-first day was a Sunday, then the first day (namely of the Passover, on which they departed) was a Friday. From this it follows that the Hebrews sacrificed this first typical Passover of theirs on the day before, namely on a Thursday, just as Christ celebrated His own Passover and the Eucharist on a Thursday shortly before His death.
Verse 42: This Night Is the Observance of the Lord
This night is the observance of the Lord, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. — In Hebrew, lel schimmurim, that is, the night of watchings — that is, a night to be kept, which all must keep, that is, observe and celebrate. "When He brought them out," that is, when He caused them to be led out, when namely He compelled Pharaoh through the slaughter of the firstborn to release the Hebrews. For at night messengers were sent to all the Hebrews to depart; and then they, packing up their belongings already prepared and gathered, made ready for the departure, so that by dawn all assembled at the city of Ramesses, as had been decreed. Therefore at night they departed in an inchoate fashion — that is, they began to depart, they prepared themselves for the departure; but in the morning they in fact completely departed, as is clearly stated in Numbers chapter 33, verse 3.
Mystically, by this night it was signified that Christ would transfer the people of God from the kingdom of night and darkness, that is of sin and death, into the kingdom of the light of eternal life.
Verse 43: This Is the Rite of the Passover
43. And the Lord said — some time after the departure.
THIS IS THE RITE — this is the ritual of the Passover: so the Chaldean paraphrase; or, as the Septuagint has it, this is the law of the Passover.
EVERY FOREIGNER — who is of another nation, who is not a Hebrew. The Chaldean paraphrase here Judaizes, for it translates: every destroyed son, that is, every Christian. For the Jews call "destroyed" those who convert from Judaism to Christ.
HE SHALL NOT EAT OF IT — unless through circumcision he passes into your community and nation and becomes a proselyte; for such a one could eat the Passover, as is clear from verse 48.
Note: Just as the Eucharist is not given except to the baptized, so no one ate the Passover unless circumcised; for the Passover was the primary Sacrament of the Jews, just as the Eucharist is of Christians. Those who celebrated the Passover the following year after the departure, Numbers chapter 9, had all been circumcised previously in Egypt. But from then on, for 39 years while journeying in the desert, they did not celebrate the Passover, because all who were subsequently born remained uncircumcised until they arrived in Canaan, and there at Gilgal they were circumcised and ate the Passover, as is clear from Joshua chapter 5. Except women — for they were not circumcised, and yet they ate the Passover with the men.
Verse 44: Every Purchased Slave Shall Be Circumcised
44. Every purchased slave shall be circumcised — that is, he must be circumcised; I command that he be circumcised, and so let him eat of the lamb. For Scripture here distinguishes the slave from the stranger and the hired worker, and decrees that the slave may eat of the lamb but not the hired worker. Circumcision, therefore, for the servants or slaves of the Hebrews was not optional and at their discretion, as some hold, but was commanded and necessarily to be undergone — and this not only insofar as it was the cutting off of the foreskin and a distinguishing sign of the people of God, but also insofar as it was a Sacrament and a profession of Judaism.
Verse 45: The Stranger and Hired Worker Shall Not Eat of It
45. A STRANGER (a Gentile, a merchant, for example a Canaanite who dwells among you) AND A HIRED WORKER (a servant or laborer who hires out his work to you) SHALL NOT EAT OF IT — unless they wish to be circumcised; for to these circumcision is free and optional.
Verse 46: It Shall Be Eaten in One House
46. In one house shall it be eaten, nor shall you carry any of its flesh outside. — From this it is clear that the lamb was sacrificed not in the temple, but in a house, both on this first occasion and afterwards. Therefore the entire lamb had to be eaten in the house in which it had been sacrificed and roasted; nor could any part of it be sent to those who were in other houses — and this as a sign that on that night, while the destroying angel passed through, no one went out of the house, as Scripture teaches.
Allegorically, to signify that the true lamb — namely Christ in the Eucharist — must be eaten in one Church, and that it is not lawful for those who are outside the Church, or who are separated from it by schism or excommunication, to partake of and enjoy this sacred communion. So St. Cyprian, in his book On the Unity of the Church; Procopius, Rabanus, and Rupert.
NOR SHALL YOU BREAK A BONE OF IT. — Understand literally the bone or bones of the lamb, not of Christ the Lord, as some have wished; for this entire discourse is literally about the lamb. You will object: in John chapter 19, verse 36, of Christ crucified it is said: "For these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of Him." I answer that this Scripture of Exodus is said to have been fulfilled in Christ not in the literal sense, but in the typical and allegorical sense.
Note here: God commanded in the literal sense that no bone of the lamb be broken, so that through this the haste and the hurried passing of the angel might be signified. But the mystical reason was to signify that the most holy body of Christ the Lord would remain unbroken and whole in the Passion, and that the soldiers would not break His legs as was customary with other crucified men.
For the tropological sense, see St. Bernard, sermon On the Skin, Flesh, and Bones of the Soul.
Verse 47: All the Assembly Shall Keep It
47. HE SHALL DO IT — that is, he shall sacrifice it through his head of household, and by the rite here prescribed he shall eat and celebrate it.
Allegorical Summary: The Lamb as Type of Christ
Allegorically, to embrace everything briefly all at once: the sacrifice of the lamb was a clear type of Christ to be sacrificed on the cross, through whom we have been freed from the captivity of Pharaoh — that is, of the devil — and through His blood and cross (which were signified by the doorposts and lintels stained with the blood of the lamb) we escape the divine vengeance and are freed from the destroying angel. For this is what the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5: "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed." For first, the lamb was sacrificed in the evening: because long awaited, Christ was finally sacrificed at the end of the ages. Second, the entire multitude of the children of Israel sacrifices it: because all the Jews demanded from Pilate that Christ be crucified. Third, on the 14th day, when there is a full moon, the lamb is sacrificed: because Christ, slain, illuminated the entire Church. Fourth, Christ was like a lamb because of His purity, meekness, and patience more than lamb-like; hence Isaiah says, chapter 53: "Like a lamb before its shearer He will be silent, and will not open His mouth." Fifth, it is a male because of strength; a yearling, because He was in the flower of His age; unblemished, because of His innocence. Sixth, Christ was also like a goat, because He was reckoned among the wicked, because He Himself was a victim for sin, and because He took upon Himself our sins. Seventh, this lamb we sacrifice and consume in the Eucharist. Hence St. Andrew, when the proconsul of Achaea threatened him with the punishment of the cross unless he sacrificed to idols, replied: "I sacrifice every day to Almighty God, who is the one and true God, not the smoke of incense, nor the flesh of bellowing bulls, but the unblemished lamb, whose flesh after all the people of believers have eaten, the lamb that has been sacrificed persists whole and living."
Eighth, both doorposts are stained with the blood of the lamb, when the memory of Christ's Passion is placed in the heart through faith and on the lips through profession: "for with the heart one believes unto justice, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The lintel too is stained, when our heart is raised to the hope of heavenly things through the merit of Christ's Passion. Ninth, the blood daubed on the doorposts delivers from the destroyer: because all who are not saved by the merits of Christ are condemned by eternal death. Tenth, its flesh is eaten at night: because we do not see Christ in the Eucharist, but resting in the obscurity of faith we believe. Eleventh, the flesh is not eaten raw or boiled, but roasted: he eats raw flesh who believes Christ to be only a man; boiled in water, he who examines the mysteries of the Passion and the Eucharist with human reason and wisdom; he eats roasted flesh who considers and embraces the fiery charity with which Christ was roasted for us. For Christ, as St. Thomas sings:
Being born, He gave Himself as a companion,
Dining together, as food,
Dying, as a ransom,
Reigning, He gives Himself as a reward.
Twelfth, if anything remains of it until morning, it is burned with fire: because what we cannot understand of the mysteries of Christ, we humbly reserve to the power of the Holy Spirit, says St. Gregory, Homily 22 on the Gospel. Thirteenth, the entire lamb must be eaten: because the whole Christ, with everything the Church teaches about Him, must be believed, nor can any article of faith be rejected. Fourteenth, only Hebrews and the circumcised — that is, Christians and the baptized — eat of it, and whoever has contracted the foreskin of sin must circumcise it before partaking. Fifteenth, the lamb must be eaten with unleavened bread and wild lettuce: so the Eucharist must be received with purity of soul and sorrow for sins; likewise the Passion of Christ must be meditated upon with great purity of mind and compunction. Hear Ambrose in the prayer to be said before Mass: "With what contrition of heart, and fountain of tears, with what reverence and trembling, with what chastity of body and purity of soul must that divine and heavenly mystery be celebrated, O Lord God, where Your flesh is truly received, where Your blood is truly drunk, where the lowest things are joined to the highest, human things to divine, where the presence of holy angels is at hand, where You are both priest and sacrifice wonderfully and ineffably! Who could worthily celebrate this mystery, unless You, Almighty God, have made the offerer worthy?"
Sixteenth, the head with the feet and entrails must be consumed: the head signifies the divinity of Christ; the feet, His humanity; the inner parts, the more secret mysteries — all of which we must consume, that is, believe. "The Sacrament of the Most High God," says St. Bernard in his Letter, "must be received, not examined; venerated, not judged; obtained by faith, not innate; sanctioned by tradition, not invented." And in Sermon 20 on the Song of Songs: "Christ," he says, "can be touched; but by affection, not by hand; by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. You touch Him with the hand of faith, the finger of desire, the embrace of devotion; you touch Him with the eye of the mind."
Seventeenth, the lamb is eaten in many houses: because in many churches Christ is sacrificed and received. Eighteenth, it is not permitted to carry a portion of the lamb outside the house: because it is not permitted to give the Eucharist to unbelievers, schismatics, and others who are outside the Church. Nineteenth, no bone is broken: because the legs of Christ hanging on the cross were not to be broken, as was done to the thieves, John 19:36. Again, the bone — that is, the strength of Christ's virtue and excellence — was not to be broken in the Passion, but only His weak flesh. Twentieth, he who eats the lamb should gird his loins: he who eats Christ in the Eucharist should restrain lust and the pleasures of the flesh, says St. Gregory. Twenty-first, the same person should hold a staff, as a traveler heading toward heaven: for the Eucharist is the viaticum of pilgrims and the dying. Thus Paulinus narrates of Ambrose in his Life that when he was about to die, he received the Eucharist as viaticum from Honoratus, Bishop of Vercelli, who had been divinely admonished. Hear also St. Chrysostom, in his book On the Priesthood: "Someone," he says, "told me, who had seen and heard it, that those who are about to depart this life, if they have partaken of these mysteries with a pure conscience, when about to breathe their last, are led straight to heaven by angels attending their bodies like guards on account of that Sacrament they have received." For this reason the Eucharist is called by the Fathers the "Medicine of immortality," because by its power not only is the soul made blessed, but the body too will rise from death to glory. Twenty-second, let him be shod, so that through stones and thorns — that is, all difficulties — he may penetrate into heaven with unhurt foot. Twenty-third, the lamb is eaten with haste: because in the Eucharist pleasure is not so much sought as nourishment and strength for enduring labors on the way of God, and for hastening to the heavenly fatherland. Twenty-fourth, the firstborn of the Egyptians, because they did not eat of the lamb, died: so he who neglects the Eucharist will perish by eternal death. Hence Christ says, John 6: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you." So from St. Gregory, Bede, and others, Abulensis, Question 50, and Ribera, book 5 On the Temple, chapter 4.