Exodus: Unity of Law and Grace

The Tenth Plague – Blood and Blessing

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: The Tenth Plague – Blood and Blessing

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Track: 031

Dictation Name: RR171R31

Location/Venue:

Year: Early 70’s

Let us worship God. Thus saith the Lord, ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jesus said blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks that thou hast made known thy salvation and thy grace through Jesus Christ, and thy presence by thy Holy Spirit. Make us ever mindful, our Father, how great and marvelous thy ways are, how sure thy promises, and how great thy victory. Grant that we move, day by day, in the confidence that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.

Our scripture lesson is from Exodus 12:11-17 and our subject: The Tenth Plague, our third study of it, Blood and Blessing. Exodus 12:11-17. “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt [or princes it can be read] I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.”

The first instruction with regard to the Passover is that it is to be eaten with your loins girded, in verse 11. Both the later Rabbis and Christian commentators have usually disregarded this comment. It is routinely referred to the fact that they were going to leave very quickly and, as having no further significance for the meaning for the Passover or the communion.

To understand its implications, first of all, let’s look at the plain intent. The peoples of many, many nations in the Mediterranean world and elsewhere once wore robes, either short or in some instances long. Very often long. Trousers came in from the north of Europe where they were needed to protect men and women from the cold. The long, loose robe was practical. It did not cling to the body, and it was cool to wear around under a hot sun. When action or haste was required, a girdle around the waist fastened the robe and sometimes the robe was hitched up above the knees or higher for better freedom and work. To gird up one’s loins thus became an idiom for preparing for action. Thus, the idiom means that Israel was to gird up its loins to prepare for departure, for action. The departure however, was not that near. It did not follow the Passover immediately. The gird loins thus was required at the first Passover to indicate that God’s people must be ready for action. Since the action was into freedom, the gird loins indicate that the Passover was the prelude to victorious action.

In neither Passover nor communion observances is there any stress on the meaning of the rite, as a prelude to victory. The gird loins aspect is forgotten. Edersheim {?} wrote in the temple, and I quote, “It is a beautifully significant practice of the modern Jews that before fulfilling any special observance directed in their law, they always first bless God for the giving of it. One might almost compare the idea underlining this much else of a similar character in the present religious rite of Israel to the good fruits which the soil of Palestine bore even during the sabbatical years when it lay untilled. For it is intended to express that the law is felt not as a burden but a gift of God in which to rejoice.” Now, while the solemn aspect of the Passover is stressed, it is also a joyful occasion, because it was to be followed by deliverance and victory.

As a result, the Passover and now communion celebrate not an end, but a beginning. A victory. A victory begun and anticipated. A comedian of a few years ago, in a book which had a lot of practical wisdom in it, Sam Levinson, reported a levitical, or rather a rabbinic comment which is appropriate. He said, “When man ultimately faces his maker, he will have to account to him for those God-given pleasures of life of which he did not take full advantage.” Well, that’s a healthy emphasis. Passover communion celebrates the life of victory, of responsibility, and of joy in the Lord. A God who delivers, a God who makes the way straight before us, and together with the requirement that one’s loins be girded in the same verse as the summons, to have your shoes on your feet. Shoes were not normally worn in the house in Antiquity, and still in some parts of the Orient. To wear one’s shoes in the house, to have them on, meant you were getting ready for action. So, it is a misreading to see this as a preparation for flight as some do. Instead, because of the fact that on the night of the Passover, Egypt’s judgment would be complete. It was a sign of victory and acting on a triumph.

Then, there’s a third aspect; your staff in your hand. It also referred to this same fact, as well as the eating in haste. So, the Passover was in its first celebration, to be with loins gird, shoes on one’s feet, and a staff in one’s hand. What Passover, and now communion, celebrate is victory, and it is a victory to be acted on.

Then second, we are told that God would, in that one night, destroy all the firstborn in Egypt, both man and beast. We will return to that next time. But third, we are three times told in scripture that blood stands for life. Life is God’s creation and cannot be taken apart from His law. Permission is given to kill for certain offenses; in self-defense, war and so on, and also to kill certain animals for food. Animal blood could not be eaten because life belongs to God. Animal flesh is God’s gift to man for food, and it is to be eaten, we are told, with thanksgiving. A covenant was always made in blood to signify the death penalty for breaking the covenant, the forfeiture of life. Egypt’s firstborn died in this tenth plague. The firstborn male represents that which is prior, the strength of the family, its nearest future in carrying on a family’s responsibilities. To cut off the firstborn is thus a severe judgment. Communion marks the death of the firstborn and only begotten son of God, who died for the atonement of our sins and to reestablish us in God’s covenant.

Then fourth, the Passover was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month, Abib, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread from the fourteenth to the twenty-first for a week in the same month. All leaven was to be removed from the house on the day before the Passover. The leaven, or yeast, signified corruptibility, that which passes away, man’s work. Not the same as dispensationalists say that it signified corruption and sin, no. It is corruptibility, leavened bread is good, but it molds. Anything we do, in time, passes away. We build houses, we establish institutions, we do all kinds of things that last, sometimes for many, many generations, but not forever. Corruptibility marks all things that are human, and the Passover and communion set forth God’s work which cannot pass away, and therefore it is with unleavened bread, and the unleavened bread signifies our eternal security in God’s salvation. The seven days took place at the beginning of the barley harvest, annually. And in Leviticus 23:9-14, a sheaf of barley is offered at this time.

Then fifth, God says that the blood on the doors “shall be to you for a token,” that God will spare that house. It was not God who needed the sign or token, but the people. I make that point because a lot of Sunday School lessons say that when the angel of death came, he looked at the houses that had blood and spared them. It was not for God, it was for man. By recognizing the necessity of shed blood, they confessed their need for a substitutionary and vicarious sacrifice to spare them from the judgment of God. It is this token to you, and also an annual memorial, according to verse 14. They are to remember what God has done for them, and the blood is a witness to God that they remember. It is a witness to God that they put their trust in the blood, but it is designed for them to give that witness. It is like a public confession which God calls for. I must see it, I know that I must see it. There must be evidence.

Sixth, failure to observe the Passover properly, that is to eat leavened bread, for example, meant excommunication, according to verse 15. Basic to the life of a people is atonement, and the neglect of this fact or its careless treatment means an unregenerate man.

Then seventh, God declares that the death of the firstborn is a judgment on the gods and rulers of Egypt, on their faith and on their leadership.

Eighth, we are told that the event is to be observed annually as a memorial. The emphasis of the ritual is on action or responsible movement ahead. The gird loins, the shod feet, and a staff in the hand do not refer to normal table postures. Of course, at the same time, a ritual is very different from an armed march. The two emphases are inseparable and yet separate. The separation of the ritual from action, however, has seriously hurt the meaning of communion, both in Jewish and Christian circles. Mystical thought has clouded the meaning of Passover and now of communion. Blood is shed, signifying the shed blood of God’s substitute, God the Son, Jesus Christ. The shed blood signifies deliverance from death, but also much more. Deliverance from death unto life and blessings, and to admit this aspect is to cloud the meaning of the rite.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The word “feast” here is a Greek word for festival, and Hodge wrote a century or more ago, and I quote, “Let us therefore keep the feast, that is, since our Passover Christ is slain, let us keep the feast. This is not an exhortation to keep the Jewish Passover because the whole context is figurative, and because the death of Christ is no reason why the Corinthians should keep the Jewish Passover. Christians are no where exhorted to observe the festivals of the old dispensation, neither is the feast referred to the Lord’s Supper. There is nothing in the connection to suggest a reference to that ordinance. A feast was a portion of time consecrated to God. To keep the feast means that your whole lives be as a sacred festival consecrated to God.”

Now that’s a statement that is typical of so much that is written. First, he insists that Paul’s words have no connection with the Passover or with communion. But Paul uses the very word “passover,” he speaks of the unleavened bread. He’s obviously referring to the Passover and to communion. So Hodge is wrong there, but he’s very right in his conclusion. A feast was a portion of time consecrated to God. To keep the feast means that your whole lives be as a sacred festival, that is consecrated to God, and nothing could be better stated than that. So, what we have to see is that Christ is our Passover, He is sacrificed for us, and the word “passover” in Paul’s lines ties Christ’s work to the Jewish Passover and the Lord’s Supper, and tells us that the sacrifice of Christ and the ordinance require that our whole lives be as a sacred festival consecrated to God. That we partake of the rite because we are impelled to action, to action for the Lord, that it is not an end in itself as the churches have made it, but it is the fact that we come because we intend to go and to act. To be soldiers of Christ. There is, for us, therefore, a necessary connection between blood and blessing, and the necessary response of joy and gratitude, and action. Let us pray.

Oh Lord, our God thy word is truth, and thy word tells us the way wherein to walk, empowers us to battle for thy namesake, and makes us victorious by thy power and spirit. Make us zealous of thy service, more than conquerors in Christ, and joyful in all things because thou art the king of kings, and Lord of Lords. In His name we pray. Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all, to our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] Do you see any significance in the fact that blood transfusions are no longer the blessings that they were?

[Rushdoony] Very good question. They’re transmitting death, and I think it is interesting that a prominent surgeons has said that the value of transfusions needs to be questioned, even apart from the fact of AIDS, that they have been adamant in refusing to face the issues because the Jehovah’s Witnesses had taken so strong a stand on it, and they were going to be as stubborn in resisting them. Yes?

[Audience] Can you repeat the stand on the difference between old leaven and new leaven? Could you repeat and expand on the distinction between the old leaven and the new leaven?

[Rushdoony] Yes. The old leaven had reference to the fact that when a woman baked bread, she always kept a piece of it out to be the leaven for the new bread as she baked it. So that always there was a piece of the old bread that went into the new. So, what he is saying is, you’re not going to carry anything over from yourself, your life, because you’re going to be a new unleavened bread in Christ. This is your destiny, and in the new creation, we are totally the unleavened bread as it were, because we are then perfectly sanctified and free of any corruptibility and of course, of any sin. Are there any other questions?

Well, if not, let us conclude in prayer.

Oh Lord, our God, how great and marvelous are thy ways, how glorious thy word. We thank thee that we are in Christ a new creation, that we have been called to action. Action unto victory. That we are members of an army that shall triumph, and that all things shall be made new in and through Christ. We thank thee that that great restoration is at work in us and through us, and we praise thee for all thy blessings, all thy mercies unto us. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.