#43. The Beginning of Months (Exodus xii.).

     Nine plagues had descended upon Egypt afflicting man and beast and exposing the grossness of Egypt’s idolatry and the utter failure of their gods.  At the end of the ninth plague Pharaoh had brazenly told Moses that if he saw His face again he should die.  Moses went out from the royal presence saying, “Thou hast spoken well, i will see thy face again no more” (x. 29).  Nine separate solemn warnings had fallen upon deaf ears and a hard heart.  Before Moses entered into the presence of Pharaoh, the Lord had said:--

     “I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand” (iii. 19). 

     When Moses was ready to leave Midian and return to Egypt, the Lord said:--

     “See that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hands:  but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go” (iv. 21).

     One verse throws a strong light upon the vexed question of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart:--

“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart” (viii. 15).

     Again in  ix. 34:--

     “When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart” (Exod. ix. 34).

     It is not our intention to presume to defend the righteousness of God;  Romans ix.  silences all replies against God.  Some can only accept the teaching of  Romans ix.  concerning Pharaoh if it be allowed that God foresaw the salvation of Pharaoh at or before the reconciliation of all things.   Romans ix.  however cuts all argument short, and leaves us and all men as clay in the hands of the Potter.  Nevertheless be it noted that Pharaoh sinned when he hardened his heart, “as the Lord had said”.  To return however to  Exod.iv.21-23.   Moses was commanded to say to Pharaoh:--

     “Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My Son, even My firstborn:  and I say unto thee, let My Son go that he may serve Me! and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”

     And so, as we have seen, plague after plague fell, revealing the long-suffering and the goodness of God which should have led to repentance.  The destruction of the firstborn, though threatened first, falls only after nine plagues had revealed the obdurate character of Pharaoh’s heart:--

     “Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die” (xi. 4, 5).

     Before the stroke falls Israel is instructed concerning the Passover, the first great typical ordinance of redemption given to this people.  It is a matter of great importance to realize that indissolubly connected with the Passover is the unleavened bread.  The connection is maintained in the reference by Paul to this great chapter of Israel’s history in the epistle to the Corinthians.  How does he introduce this glorious type of redemption?  Does he speak of it in  chapter i.,  where he speaks of the gospel as the preaching of Christ crucified?  No, neither does he refer to it in  chapter ii.   It is in  chapter v.,  where he is dealing with moral evil in the assembly, that the Passover is brought to bear, and it is introduced by a reference to the unleavened bread:--

     “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  FOR even Christ our Passover hath been 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”  (I Cor. v. 7, 8).

     Possibly, in our view, the Passover appears so great, so essential, that it overshadows the associated feast, but not so in the eyes of God.  The sprinkled blood outside, and the unleavened bread inside, present a complete picture.  This relation between the Passover and the unleavened bread is shewn by the structure.

     Exodus   xii.   1-20.

A   |   1, 2.    The beginning of months.
     B   |   3-11.    The Passover.
          C   |   12, 13.    For I will pass through … I will pass over.
     B   |   14-17-.    The Unleavened Bread.
          C   |   -17.    For this day I brought you out.
A   |   18-20.    The first month.

     It will be noticed that the section is bounded by the reference to the month:--

     “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months:  it shall be the first month of the year to you” (xii. 2).

     It was not the first month naturally, the first month of the year was originally Tisri, corresponding to our October.  The Jews still keep their New Year at this date, in spite of the definite change instituted at the time of their redemption, sad evidence of their unregenerate condition.  From the Autumn of falling leaf and fading flower we are called to Springtime with its parable of resurrection.  Notice the words “To you”, indicating that the change was not intended to interfere with unredeemed Egypt.  In this change of time, made when the nation of Israel was born and redeemed, we have the great truth of regeneration.  The two “musts” of  John iii.  come to mind here:--

     “Ye must be born again” (7).

     “Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (14).

     Newness of life is the blessed fruit of redemption by blood.  We must pause here, and more carefully consider the further teaching of  Exodus xii.  in another paper;  but may the truth of the “beginning of months to you” be no strange doctrine to any of our readers.