---
title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah"
author: "Adam Clarke"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 85 of 914
url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/85/
cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 85. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/85/"
---

# Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah

*Adam Clarke*

Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2.

## 85. Exodus · 18 of 57

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/85/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/85/#p-N

[¶0] Your staff in your hand - The same writer observes that the eastern people universally make use of a staff when they travel on foot.

[¶1] Ye shall eat it in haste - Because they were suddenly to take their departure: the destroying angel was at hand, their enemies were coming against them, and they had not a moment to lose.

[¶2] It is the Lord's passover - That is, Jehovah is now about to pass over the land, and the houses only where the blood is sprinkled shall be safe from the stroke of death. The Hebrew word פסח pesach, which we very properly translate Passover, and which should always be pronounced as two words, has its name from the angel of God passing by or over the houses of the Israelites, on the posts and lintels of which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, while he stopped at the houses of the Egyptians to slay their first-born.

### Verse 12

[¶4] Against all the gods of Egypt, etc. - As different animals were sacred among the Egyptians, the slaying of the first-born of all the beasts might be called executing judgment upon the gods of Egypt. As this however does not appear very clear and satisfactory, some have imagined that the word אלהי elohey should be translated princes, which is the rendering in our margin; for as these princes, who were rulers of the kingdom under Pharaoh, were equally hostile to the Hebrews with Pharaoh himself, therefore these judgments fell equally heavy on them also. But we may ask, Did not these judgments fall equally on all the families of Egypt, though multitudes of them had no particular part either in the evil counsel against the Israelites or in their oppression? Why then distinguish those in calamities in which all equally shared? None of these interpretations therefore appear satisfactory. Houbigant, by a very simple and natural emendation, has, he thinks, restored the whole passage to sense and reason. He supposes that אלהי elohey, Gods, is a mistake for אהלי ahley, Tents or habitations, the ה he and the ל lamed being merely interchanged. This certainly gives a very consistent sense, and points out the universality of the desolation to which the whole context continually refers. He therefore contends that the text should be read thus: And on all the Tents (or Habitations) of Egypt I will execute judgment; by which words the Lord signified that not one dwelling in the whole land of Egypt should be exempted from the judgment here threatened. It is but justice to say that however probable this criticism may appear, it is not supported by any of the ancient versions, nor by any of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi. The parallel place also, [Num 33:4], is rather against Houbigant's interpretation: For the Egyptians buried all their first-born, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also [ובאלהיהם ubeloheyhem] the Lord executed judgments. But Houbigant amends the word in this place in the same way as he does that in Exodus. There appears also to be an allusion to this former judgment in [Isa 19:1] : Behold, the Lord - shall come into Egypt, and the idols [אלילי eliley] of Egypt shall be moved at his presence. And in [Jer 43:13] : The houses of the gods [בתי אלהי bottey elohey] of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire. The rabbins say that "when Israel came out of Egypt, the holy blessed God threw down all the images of their abominations, and they were broken to pieces." When a nation was conquered, it was always supposed that their gods had either abandoned them or were overcome. Thus Egypt was ruined, and their gods confounded and destroyed by Jehovah. See Clarke's note on [Exo 11:7].

### Verse 13

[¶6] The blood shall be to you for a token - It shall be the sign to the destroying angel, that the house on which he sees this blood sprinkled is under the protection of God, and that no person in it is to be injured. See Clarke on [Exo 12:11] (note).

### Verse 14

[¶8] A memorial - To keep up a remembrance of the severity and goodness, or justice and mercy, of God. Ye shall keep it a feast - it shall be annually observed, and shall be celebrated with solemn religious joy, throughout your generations - as long as ye continue to be a distinct people; an ordinance - a Divine appointment, an institution of God himself, neither to be altered nor set aside by any human authority.

[¶9] For ever - חקת עולם chukkath olam, an everlasting or endless statute, because representative of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world; whose mediation, in consequence of his sacrifice, shall endure while time itself lasts; and to whose merits and efficacy the salvation of the soul shall be ascribable throughout eternity. This, therefore, is a statute and ordinance that can have no end, either in this world or in the world to come. It is remarkable that though the Jews have ceased from the whole of their sacrificial system, so that sacrifices are no longer offered by them in any part of the world, yet they all, in all their generations and in all countries, keep up the remembrance of the passover, and observe the feast of unleavened bread. But no lamb is sacrificed. Their sacrifices have all totally ceased, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Even the flesh that is used on this occasion is partly roasted and partly boiled, that it may not even resemble the primitive sacrifice; for they deem it unlawful to sacrifice out of Jerusalem. The truth is, the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world has been offered, and they have no power to restore the ancient type. See Clarke on [Exo 12:27] (note).

### Verse 15

[¶11] Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread - This has been considered as a distinct ordinance, and not essentially connected with the passover. The passover was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month; the feast of unleavened bread began on the fifteenth and lasted seven days, the first and last of which were holy convocations.

[¶12] That soul shall be cut off - There are thirty-six places in which this excision or cutting off is threatened against the Jews for neglect of some particular duty; and what is implied in the thing itself is not well known. Some think it means a violent death, some a premature death, and some an eternal death. It is very likely that it means no more than a separation from the rights and privileges of an Israelite; so that after this excision the person was considered as a mere stranger, who had neither lot nor part in Israel, nor any right to the blessings of the covenant. This is probably what St. Paul means, [Rom 9:3]. But we naturally suppose this punishment was not inflicted but on those who had showed a marked and obstinate contempt for the Divine authority. This punishment appears to have been nearly the same with excommunication among the Christians; and from this general notion of the cutting off, the Christian excommunication seems to have been borrowed.

### Verse 16

[¶14] In the first day and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation - This is the first place where we meet with the account of an assembly collected for the mere purpose of religious worship. Such assemblies are called holy convocations, which is a very appropriate appellation for a religious assembly; they were called together by the express command of God, and were to be employed in a work of holiness. מקרא mikra, convocation, is a word of similar import with the Greek εκκλησια, which we commonly translate Church, and which properly signifies an assembly convened by public call.

### Verse 17

[¶16] Self-same day - בעצם beetsem, in the body of this day, or in the strength of this day; probably they began their march about day-break, called here the body or strength of the day, and in [Deu 16:1], by night - sometime before the sun rose.

### Verse 19

[¶18] No leaven found in your houses - To meet the letter of this precept in the fullest manner possible, the Jews, on the eve of this festival, institute the most rigorous search through every part of their houses, not only removing all leavened bread, but sweeping every part clean, that no crumb of bread shall be left that had any leaven in it. And so strict were they in the observance of the letter of this law, that if even a mouse was seen to run across the floor with a crumb of bread in its mouth, they considered the whole house as polluted, and began their purification afresh. We have already seen that leaven was an emblem of sin, because it proceeded from corruption; and the putting away of this implied the turning to God with simplicity and uprightness of heart. See on [Exo 12:8] (note), and [Exo 12:27] (note).

### Verse 21

[¶20] Kill the passover - That is, the lamb, which was called the paschal or passover lamb. The animal that was to be sacrificed on this occasion got the name of the institution itself: thus the word covenant is often put for the sacrifice offered in making the covenant; so the rock was Christ, [1Cor 10:4]; bread and wine the body and blood of Christ, [Mar 14:22], [Mar 14:24]. St. Paul copies the expression, [1Cor 5:7] : Christ our passover (that is, our paschal lamb) is sacrificed for us.

### Verse 22

[¶22] A bunch of hyssop - The original word אזוב ezob has been variously translated musk, rosemary, polypody of the wall, mint, origanum, marjoram, and Hyssop: the latter seems to be the most proper. Parkhurst says it is named from its detersive and cleansing qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb, in cleansing the leprosy, [Lev 14:4], [Lev 14:6], [Lev 14:51], [Lev 14:52]; in composing the water of purification, [Num 19:6], and sprinkling it, [Num 19:18]. It was a type of the purifying virtue of the bitter sufferings of Christ. And it is plain, from [Psa 51:7], that the psalmist understood its meaning. Among botanists hyssop is described as "a genus of the gymnospermia (naked-seeded) order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants. It has under-shrubby, low, bushy stalks, growing a foot and a half high, small, spear-shaped, close-sitting, opposite leaves, with several smaller ones rising from the same joint; and all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of flowers of different colors, in the varieties of the plant. The leaves have an aromatic smell, and a warm pungent taste. The leaves of this plant are particularly recommended in humoral asthmas, and other disorders of the breast and lungs, and greatly promote expectoration." Its medicinal qualities were probably the reason why this plant was so particularly recommended in the Scriptures.

### Verse 26

[¶24] What mean ye by this service? - The establishment of this service annually was a very wise provision to keep up in remembrance this wonderful deliverance. From the remotest antiquity the institution of feasts, games, etc., has been used to keep up the memory of past grand events. Hence God instituted the Sabbath, to keep up the remembrance of the creation; and the passover to keep up the remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt. All the other feasts were instituted on similar reasons. The Jews never took their sons to the tabernacle or temple till they were twelve years of age, nor suffered them to eat of the flesh of any victim till they had themselves offered a sacrifice at the temple, which they were not permitted to do before the twelfth year of their age. It was at this age that Joseph and Mary took our blessed Lord to the temple, probably for the first time, to offer his sacrifice. See Calmet.

### Verse 27

[¶26] It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover - We have already intimated that the paschal lamb was an illustrious type of Christ; and we shall find that every thing in this account is typical or representative. The bondage and affliction of the people of Israel may be considered as emblems of the hard slavery and wretchedness consequent on a state of sinfulness. Satan reigns over both body and soul, bringing the whole into subjection to the law of sin and death; while various evil tempers, passions, lusts, and irregular appetites, act as subordinate tormentors, making the lives of the vassals of sin bitter, because of the rigour by which they are obliged to serve. Reader, is this thy case? The mercy of God projects the redemption of man from this cruel bondage and oppression; and a sacrifice is appointed for the occasion by God himself, to be offered with particular and significant rites and ceremonies, all of which represent the passion and death of our blessed Lord, and the great end for which he became a sacrifice, viz., the redemption of a lost world from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin, etc. And it is worthy of remark,

[¶27] 1. That the anniversary or annual commemoration of the passover was strictly and religiously kept by the Jews on the day, and hour of the day, on which the original transaction took place, throughout all their succeeding generations.

[¶28] 2. That on one of these anniversaries, and, as many suppose, on the very day and hour on which the paschal lamb was originally offered, our blessed Lord expired on the cross for the salvation of the world.

[¶29] 3. That after the destruction of Jerusalem the paschal lamb ceased to be offered by the Jews throughout the world, though they continue to hold the anniversary of the passover, but without any sacrifice, notwithstanding their deep-rooted, inveterate antipathy against the author and grace of the Gospel.

[¶30] 4. That the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted to keep this true paschal sacrifice in commemoration, and that this has been religiously observed by the whole Christian world (one very small class of Christians excepted) from the foundation of Christianity to the present day!

[¶31] 5. That the Jews were commanded to eat the paschal lamb; and our Lord, commemorating the passover, commanded his disciples, saying, Take, eat, This is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the communion service of the Church of England, the spirit and design both of the type and antitype are most expressly condensed into one point of view, in the address to the communicant: "Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for Thee; and Feed upon Him, in thy heart, by Faith with Thanksgiving. Thus God continues the memorial of that grand transaction which he has said should be an ordinance for ever; evidently meaning thereby, that the paschal lamb should be the significator till the passion and death of Christ; and that afterwards bread and wine taken sacramentally, in commemoration of his crucifixion, should be the continual representatives of that sacrifice till the end of the world. Thus the passover in itself, and in its reference, is an ordinance for ever; and thus the words of the Lord are literally fulfilled.

[¶32] Reader, learn from this,

[¶33] 1. That if thou art not rescued from the thraldom of sin, thou must perish for ever.

[¶34] 2. That nothing less than the power and mercy of God can set thee free.

[¶35] 3. That God will save thee in no other way than by bringing thee out of thy sinful state, and from thy wicked practices and companions.

[¶36] 4. That in order to thy redemption it was absolutely necessary that the Son of God should take thy nature upon him, and die in thy stead.

[¶37] 5. That unless the blood of this sacrifice be sprinkled, in its atoning efficacy and merits, on thy heart and conscience, the guilt and power of thy sin cannot be taken away.

[¶38] 6. That as the blood of the paschal lamb must be sprinkled on every house, in order to the preservation of its inhabitants, so there must be a personal application of the blood of the cross to thy conscience, to take away thy sins.

[¶39] 7. As it was not enough that the passover was instituted, but the blood must be sprinkled on the lintels and door posts of every house to make the rite effectual to the salvation of each individual, so it is not enough that Christ should have taken human nature upon him, and died for the sin of the world; for no man who has the opportunity of hearing the Gospel is saved by that death, who does not, by faith, get a personal application of it to his own heart.

[¶40] 8. That those who wish for an application of the atoning blood, must receive this spiritual passover with a perfect readiness to depart from the land of their captivity, and travel to the rest that remains for the people of God; it being impossible, not only to a gross sinner, continuing such, to be finally saved, (however he may presume upon the mercy of God), but also to a worldly-minded man to get to the kingdom of God; for Christ died to save us from the present evil world, according to the will of God.

[¶41] 9. That in order to commemorate aright, in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the great atonement made for the sin of the world, all leaven of malice, bitterness, and insincerity, must be put away; as God will have no man to partake of this mystery who does not fully enter into its spirit and meaning. See [1Cor 5:7], [1Cor 5:8].

### Verse 29

[¶43] Smote all the first born - If we take the term first-born in its literal sense only, we shall be led to conclude that in a vast number of the houses of the Egyptians there could have been no death, as it is not at all likely that every first-born child of every Egyptian family was still alive, and that all the first-born of their cattle still remained. And yet it is said, [Exo 12:30], that there was not a house where there was not one dead. The word therefore must not be taken in its literal sense only. From its use in a great variety of places in the Scriptures it is evident that it means the chief, most excellent, best beloved, most distinguished, etc. In this sense our blessed Lord is called the First-Born of every creature, [Col 1:15], and the First-Born among many brethren, [Rom 8:29]; that is, he is more excellent than all creatures, and greater than all the children of men. In the same sense we may understand [Rev 1:5], where Christ is called the First-Begotten from the dead, i.e., the chief of all that have ever visited the empire of death, and on whom death has had any power; and the only one who by his own might quickened himself. In the same sense wisdom is represented as being brought forth before all the creatures, and being possessed by the Lord in the beginning of his ways, [Pro 8:22-30]; that is, the wisdom of God is peculiarly conspicuous in the production, arrangement, and government of every part of the creation. So Ephraim is called the Lord's First-Born, [Jer 31:9]. And the people of Israel are often called by the same name, see [Exo 4:22] : Israel is my son, my First-Born; that is, the people in whom I particularly delight, and whom I will especially support and defend. And because the first-born are in general peculiarly dear to their parents, and because among the Jews they had especial and peculiar privileges, whatever was most dear, most valuable, and most prized, was thus denominated. So [Mic 6:7] : Shall I give my First-Born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Shall I give up the most beloved child I have, he that is most dear and most necessary to me, in order to make an atonement for my sins! In like manner the Prophet Zechariah, speaking of the conversion of the Jews to the Gospel of Christ, represents them as looking on him whom they have pierced, and being as one that is in bitterness for his First-Born; that is, they shall feel distress and anguish as those who had lost their most beloved child. So the Church triumphant in the kingdom of God are called, [Heb 12:23], the general assembly and Church of the First-Born, i.e., the most noble and excellent of all human if not created beings. So Homer, Il. iv., ver. 102: Αρνων πρωτογονων ρεξειν κλειτην ἑκατομβην· "A hecatomb of lambs all firstlings of the flock." That is, the most excellent of their kind.

[¶44] In a contrary sense, when the word first-born is joined to another that signifies any kind of misery or disgrace, it then signifies the depth of misery, the utmost disgrace. So the First-Born of the poor, [Isa 14:30], signifies the most abject, destitute, and impoverished. The First-Born of death, [Job 18:13], means the most horrible kind of death. So in the threatening against Pharaoh, [Exo 11:5], where he informs him that he will slay all the first-born, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon the throne; to the first born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill, he takes in the very highest and lowest conditions of life. As there was no state in Egypt superior to the throne, so there was none inferior to that of the female slave that ground at the mill. The Prophet Habakkuk seems to fix this as the sense in which the word is used here; for speaking of the plagues of Egypt in general, and the salvation which God afforded his people, he says, [Hab 3:13] : Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people - thou woundedst the Head (ראש rosh, the chief, the most excellent) of the house of the wicked - of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And the author of the book of The Wisdom of Solomon understood it in the same way: The master and the servant were punished after one manner; and like as the king, so suffered the common people - for in one moment the Noblest Offspring of them was destroyed, The Wisdom of Solomon 18:11, 12. And in no other sense can we understand the word in [Psa 89:27], where, among the promises of God to David, we find the following: Also I will make him my First-Born, higher than the kings of the earth; in which passage the latter clause explains the former; David, as king, should be the First-Born, of God, i.e., he should be higher than the kings of the earth - the Most Eminent potentate in the universe. In this sense, therefore, we should understand the passage in question; the most eminent person in every family in Egypt, as well as those who were literally the first-born, being slain in this plague. Calmet and some other critics particularly contend for this sense.