Instructions to Prepare For The Final Plague

God had repeatedly warned the Egyptians what was coming.  When he warned them about the hail, some of them listened and some did not.  Many of the plagues did not hit the area where the Israelites lived so God had given them no special instructions.  The final plague would affect all the land, including Goshen.  As a result of it, God had said the Egyptians would almost drive them from Egypt.  He also knew that Pharaoh would change his mind within a few days, and that they needed to get out of Egypt as quickly as possible. 

He gave special instructions as to how they were to get ready for this plague, in Exodus 12:1-14.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

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 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.”

They were to kill a lamb that evening, and paint the blood on both sides of the door jamb and across the top of the house where they were going to eat.  They were to have everything packed and be ready to leave as soon as they were given permission.  The meat was to be roasted over the fire so there would be no need for pots, and it was to be served with unleavened bread and wild herbs they gathered so there would be no dishes to wash when they got done.  Any leftovers were to be burned rather than trying to carry them along.   If a family was too small to eat an entire lamb, they were free to go to another family’s home and share with them, but they had to remain in the home where they ate. 

This was crucial because that night God was going to send the death angel through the land in any house that did not have the blood on the door, the eldest son would die as well as all the firstborn of their livestock.   If the blood had been applied to the door jamb as specified the death angel would Passover without killing anyone.   As a result, the Egyptians would be desperate for them to leave.  They were to simply wait where they were until told to leave.    

In the future, Israel was to re-enact what they did that night as a reminder of what God had done in setting them  free.  It was to be done every year on that specific date., as Exodus 12:14-20 tells us.  “ 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.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.”

For the next seven days, they were to eat only unleavened bread  commemorating the seven days they would spend fleeing the Egyptians, when they would journey night and day, taking only a little time to mix up water and meal and cook it before going on.   Anyone who refused to keep the feast as specified was to be cut off or excommunicated from Israel.  On the first and last days of the feast there was to be a holy assembly of the entire nation, and during the feast there was to be no leaven allowed in their homes.