Exodus 12:8

Exo 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it.

Ver. 8. In that night.] By candle light. So must we feed upon Christ, lumine supernaturali. "By his knowledge doth God’s righteous servant justify many." {Isa 53:11}

Roast withfire.] Not raw: we may not grossly conceive of Christ, nor rashly receive him. Not boiled, but roast: to show that Christ was roasted in the fire of his Father’s wrath: et sicut tostis cibariis non adhibentur alia, ut in elixis fieri consuevlt: ira solum Christum debemus apprehendere fide, saith an interpreter. {a}

And unleavened bread,] {See Trapp on "1Co 5:7"} {See Trapp on "1Co 5:8"}

And with bitter herbs.] To teach that, "looking upon Christ whom they have pierced," men must be "in bitterness," {Zec 12:10} and feel what "an evil and bitter thing sin is," {Jer 2:19} being ready to suffer hardship with Christ, though he should feed us to the full with bitter herbs, and "make us drunken with wormwood." {Lam 3:15}

{a} Alsted.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 12:8-9. Eat it not raw — Nor half dressed; but roast with fire — Not only because it might be sooner roasted than boiled, and they were in haste to be gone; but because it was thus the better type of him who endured the fierceness of divine wrath for us, Lam 1:13. Unleavened bread — Partly to remind them of their hardships in Egypt, unleavened bread being more heavy and unsavoury; and partly to commemorate their hasty deliverance, which did not allow them time to leaven it, Exo 12:39;

Deu 16:3. But as the original word for unleavened signifies pure, unmixed, uncorrupted, leaven being a kind of corruption, the use of unleavened bread, no doubt, was enjoined to show them the necessity of sincerity and uprightness: to which quality of leaven the apostle alludes, Gal 5:2, and 1Co 5:8. With bitter herbs — To remind them of their Egyptian bondage, which made their lives bitter to them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

roast with fire--for the sake of expedition; and this difference was always observed between the cooking of the paschal lamb and the other offerings (Ch2 35:13).

unleavened bread--also for the sake of despatch (Deu 16:3), but as a kind of corruption (Luk 12:1) there seems to have been a typical meaning under it (Co1 5:8).

bitter herbs--literally, "bitters"--to remind the Israelites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to which God's people are subject on account of sin.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. They shall eat the flesh - roast with fire] As it was the ordinary custom of the Jews to boil their flesh, some think that the command given here was in opposition to the custom of the Egyptians, who ate raw flesh in honour of Osiris. The AEthiopians are to this day remarkable for eating raw flesh, as is the case with most savage nations.

Unleavened bread] מצות matstsoth, from מצה matsah, to squeeze or compress, because the bread prepared without leaven or yeast was generally compressed, sad or heavy, as we term it. The word here properly signifies unleavened cakes; the word for leaven in Hebrew is חמץ chamets, which simply signifies to ferment. It is supposed that leaven was forbidden on this and other occasions, that the bread being less agreeable to the taste, it might be emblematical of their bondage and bitter servitude, as this seems to have been one design of the bitter herbs which were commanded to be used on this occasion; but this certainly was not the sole design of the prohibition: leaven itself is a species of corruption, being produced by fermentation, which in such cases tends to putrefaction. In this very light St. Paul considers the subject in this place; hence, alluding to the passover as a type of Christ, he says: Purge out therefore the old leaven - for 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; 1Co 5:6-8.

Bitter herbs] What kind of herbs or salad is intended by the word מררים merorim, which literally signifies bitters, is not well known. The Jews think chicory, wild lettuce, horehound, and the like are intended. Whatever may be implied under the term, whether bitter herbs or bitter ingredients in general, it was designed to put them in mind of their bitter and severe bondage in the land of Egypt, from which God was now about to deliver them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Roast with fire.—Roasting is the simplest, the easiest, and the most primitive mode of cooking meat. It was also the only mode open to all the Hebrews, since the generality would not possess cauldrons large enough to receive an entire lamb. Further, the requirement put a difference between this and other victims, which were generally cut up and boiled (1Sa_2:14-15).

Unleavened bread . . . bitter herbs.—As partaking of the lamb typified feeding on Christ, so the putting away of leaven and eating unleavened bread signified the putting away of all defilement and corruption ere we approach Christ to feed on Him (1Co_5:8). As for the bitter herbs, they probably represented “self-denial” or “repentance”—fitting concomitants of the holy feast, where the Lamb of God is our food. At any rate, they were a protest against that animalism which turns a sacred banquet into a means of gratifying the appetite (1Co_11:20-22).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. in that (Heb. this) night] the night between the 14th and the 15th.

roast with fire] over the fire, on a spit, not in an oven.

unleavened cakes] not ‘bread,’ for the Heb. word is plural. They were a kind of biscuit, which could be baked rapidly, as for an unexpected visitor (Gen_19:3, Jdg_6:19-21, 1Sa_28:24), or when there was no time to use leaven (below, v. 39); and they are still the ordinary food of the Bedawin. They were used in other ritual besides that of the Passover (v. 15, Exo_29:2, Lev_2:4; Lev_7:12, Num_6:15 al.). Unleavened cakes are now usually made in Syria by the thin dough being clapped on to the heated interior side of the tannûr (Exo_8:3), after the embers have been removed: they may be thinner than pasteboard, and 1–1½ ft. in diameter (EB. s.v. Bread; L. and B. iii. 219). The unleavened cakes made by modern Jews for the Passover are round, about ¼ in. thick, and 12 in. in diameter (Jewish Encycl. viii. 394). For the probable reason why leavened bread was avoided, see on Exo_23:18 a. In Deu_16:3 the unleavened cakes (of the Passover and Maẓẓoth together) are called the ‘bread of affliction,’ and explained symbolically as a memorial of the mingled hurry and alarm (ḥippâẓôn) with which the Israelites left Egypt (cf. below, vv. 11, 34, 39), and as adapted to lead Israel to a grateful recollection of its deliverance.

bitter herbs] only besides Num_9:11 (also of the Passover); and Lam_3:15 (fig. of severe suffering). LXX. πικρίδες, which is differently explained by the ancients (see Kn. ap. Di.; Nowack, Arch. ii. 173) as meaning either wild lettuce (cf. Vulg. lạctuca agrestis) or wild endive,—both plants indigenous in Egypt and Syria. The Mishna (Pes. ii. 6) mentions five species of herbs any one of which would satisfy the present injunction: lettuce, wild endive, garden endive (?), nettles, and bitter coriander (?). The intention of the bitter herbs is uncertain: perhaps they were meant simply as a condiment, or salad: the later Jews (Gamaliel in Pesâḥim Exo_10:5; Rashi) explained them as a memorial of the Israelites’ lives being ‘made bitter’ in bondage (ch. Exo_1:14).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire,.... The night of the fourteenth of Nisan; and as the Jews reckoned their days from the evening preceding, this must be the beginning of the fifteenth day, which being observed, will serve to reconcile some passages relating to this ordinance. The lamb was to be roasted, not only because its flesh thereby would be more palatable and savoury, but because soonest dressed that way, their present circumstances requiring haste; but chiefly to denote the sufferings of Christ, the antitype of it, when he endured the wrath of God, poured out as fire upon him; and also to show, that he is to be fed upon by faith, which works by love, or to be received with hearts inflamed with love to him:

and unleavened bread; this also was to be eaten at the same time, and for seven days running, even to the twenty first day of the month, Exo 12:15, where see more concerning this: the reason of this also was, because they were then in haste, and could not stay to leaven the dough that was in their troughs; and was significative of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, with which the true passover lamb is to be eaten, in opposition to the leaven of error, hypocrisy, and malice, Co1 5:7,

and with bitter herbs they shall eat it; the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "with wild lettuces", which are very bitter; and the worst sort of which, for bitterness, Pliny says (p), is what they call "picris", which has its name from the bitterness of it, and is the same by which the Septuagint render the word here: the Targum of Jonathan is,"with horehound and endive they shall eat it;''and so the Targum on Sol 2:9. Wild endive; of which Pliny says (q), there is a wild endive, which in Egypt they call cichory, and bids fair to be one of these herbs; according to the Misnah (r) and Maimonides (s), there were five sorts of them, and anyone, or all of them, might be eaten; their names with both are these, Chazoreth, Ulshin, Thamcah, Charcabinah, and Maror; the four first of which may be the wild lettuce, endive, horehound, or perhaps "tansie"; and cichory the last. Maror has its name from bitterness, and is by the Misnic commentators (t) said to be a sort of the most bitter coriander; it seems to be the same with "picris": but whatever they were, for it is uncertain what they were, they were expressive of the bitter afflictions of the children of Israel in Egypt, with which their lives were made bitter; and of those bitter afflictions and persecutions in the world, which they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect to endure; as well as they may signify that as a crucified Christ must be looked upon, and lived upon by faith, so with mourning and humiliation for sin, and with true repentance for it as an evil and bitter thing, see Zac 12:10.

(p) Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 8. & 21. 17. & 32. 22. (q) Ibid. (r) Misn. Pesach. c. 2. sect. 6. (s) Hilchot, Chametz Umetzah, c. 7. sect. 13. (t) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Pesach. ut supra. (c. 2. sect. 6.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In that night - The night is thus clearly distinguished from the evening when the lamb was slain. It was slain before sunset, on the 14th, and eaten after sunset, the beginning of the 15th.

With fire - Among various reasons given for this injunction the most probable and satisfactory seems to be the special sanctity attached to fire from the first institution of sacrifice (compare Gen 4:4).

And unleavened bread - On account of the hasty departure, allowing no time for the process of leavening: but the meaning discerned by Paul, 1Co 5:7-8, and recognized by the Church in all ages, was assuredly implied, though not expressly declared in the original institution. Compare our Lord’s words, Mat 16:6, Mat 16:12, as to the symbolism of leaven.

Bitter herbs - The word occurs only here and in Num 9:11, in reference to herbs. The symbolic reference to the previous sufferings of the Israelites is generally admitted.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Unleavened, in testimony of innocence, 1 Corinthians v. 7. The priests of Jupiter did the like. (Servius) --- Lettuce, or some "bitter herbs," Hebrew and Septuagint. The Jews allow of five sorts.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In that night, i.e. the night following the fourteenth, and beginning the fifteenth day. The lamb was killed upon the fourteenth day, in the evening or close thereof, but it was eaten upon the fifteenth day, to wit, in the beginning of it; whence the passover is said to be offered sometimes upon the fourteenth, and sometimes upon the fifteenth day, which may serve for the reconciliation of some seemingly contrary scriptures.

Roast with fire; partly for expedition, Exo 12:11; and principally to be a type of the Lamb of God, Christ, and of the sharp and dreadful pains which he suffered, not only from men, but from God too, and from the fire of his sore displeasure against sinners, whose place and person Christ sustained in his sufferings.

Unleavened bread; partly, as a monument of their speedy departure out of Egypt, which gave them not time to leaven their bread, Exo 12:34, which is the reason alleged for it, Deu 16:3; partly, to teach us how men should be qualified that come to the sacrament, they should be purged from error, and pride, and malice, and hypocrisy, which are called and compared to leaven, Mat 16:6,11; Lu 12:1; 1Co 5:8; and partly, to signify the singular purity of Christ from all kind of spiritual leaven.

And with bitter herbs; both to remind them of their hard service and bitter usage in Egypt, Exo 1:14, from which God delivered them, Deu 16:3; and to prefigure the further crosses and troubles which they were to expect between their going out of Egypt and coming to Canaan. Or, with bitternesses, i.e. with great bitterness, or with grief of heart, that together with faith in God and in Christ, and hope and joy for their approaching deliverance, they might exercise bitter and hearty repentance for their idolatries, and other sinful practices whereof they were guilty in Egypt. And this instructs us as well as them of the absolute necessity of true and bitter repentance in all those that would profitably feed upon Christ our Passover.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8, 9. In that night — The night following the sunset of the fourteenth of Nisan, or Abib. Roast… not… raw, (under-done,) nor sodden (boiled) — The lamb was to be roasted whole, not a bone broken, the entrails being cleansed and put back, and all the viscera, as heart, liver, etc., (purtenance, inwards,) included. Boiling would be liable to separate the members, but the typical wholeness of the lamb was an essential thing, as setting forth the oneness of the chosen people, and this was preserved in roasting. As they gathered about the table, the lamb was to symbolize to all who ate of it the spiritual oneness into which they were then by faith to enter. Thus says the Apostle, speaking of the Christian Passover, “We being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one Bread.” 1Co_10:17. The lamb was to be fastened to the spit, as afterwards the Lamb of God was fastened to the cross. Jahn says that it was transfixed upon two spits, the one lengthwise and the other crosswise, (Arch., § 353,) and it is significant that the Samaritans at Nablous now fasten the lamb to a spit in the form of a cross. (Stanley’s Jewish Church, lect. 5.) Justin Martyr records that this was the Jewish usage. (Dialogue with Trypho, chap. 40.) Christ’s body was preserved unbroken, as a symbol of the same unity of the members and the Head. See note on Mat_26:2.

Unleavened bread — This specially symbolized three things: the haste in which they fled, not waiting for the bread to rise, (vers. 34 and 39;) their sufferings in Egypt, for such bread was called “bread of affliction,” (Deu_16:3;) but chiefly their purity as a consecrated nation, since fermentation is incipient putrefaction, and leaven was thus a symbol of impurity. With bitter herbs they shall eat it — A symbol of their bitter bondage. On (not “with”) bitter herbs — That is, these, with the unleavened bread, were to constitute the basis, the chief part, of the supper, while a morsel of the lamb gave it flavour. The meal as a whole was a memento both of the “passing over” of the destroying angel, and of the bondage, while the savory accompaniment of the lamb’s flesh commemorated their deliverance. It was also to be eaten as a feast, with cheerfulness and gratitude.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Roast with firs. The meat of sacrificial meals was commonly boiled by the Hebrews. (1Sa_2:14, 1Sa_2:15) The command to roast the Paschal lamb is accounted for:

1. By its being a simpler and quicker process than boiling;

2. By a special sanctity being regarded as attaching to fire;

3. By the difficulty of cooking the animal whole unless it were roasted. Justin Martyr"s statement that for roasting two wooden spits were required, placed at right angles the one to the other, and thus extending the victim on a cross, will seem to many a better ground for the direction than any of these. And unleavened bread. See below, ver. 18. With bitter herbs. Literally, "with bitternesses." That herbs, or vegetables of some kind, are intended, there is no reasonable doubt. The Mishna enumerates endive, chicory, wild lettuce, and nettles among the herbs that might be eaten. It is a strange notion of Kurtz"s, that the bitter herbs were a condiment, and "communicated a more agreeable flavour to the food." Undoubtedly they were a disagreeable accompaniment, and represented at once the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage (Exo_1:14) and the need of self-denial, if we would feed on Christ.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

את הבשר AND THEY SHALL EAT] THE FLESH — but not the sinews and bones (Mekhilta).

ומצות על מררים AND UNLEAVENED BREAD WITH מררים — Every bitter herb is called מרור. He commanded them to eat something bitter as a reminder of: (Exodus 1:14) “And they made their lives bitter” (Pesachim 116b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND UNLEAVENED BREAD, ‘AL’ (WITH) BITTER HERBS THEY SHALL EAT IT. The purport of the verse is as follows: And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and with unleavened bread with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. [The word al here thus means “with,” and not “upon,” as it generally does.] Similarly: ‘al’ unleavened bread and bitter herbs means “with”; And they came both men ‘al’ women [means “with” the women]; its head ‘al’ its legs ‘v’al’ the inwards thereof [means its head “with” its legs “and with” the inwards thereof]. Scripture does not say im (with) [but instead uses al] in order to instruct that it is not obligatory to wrap them together, [i.e., insert the paschal meat and the bitter herbs between the unleavened bread], and eat them. on the night of Passover, the wrapping together of unleavened bread and bitter herbs is observed “according to the custom of Hillel.” Thus [the word umatzoth (and unleavened bread)] is missing the letter beth, [which would make it ubematzoth (and with unleavened bread)], similar to the expressions: they shall wash ‘mayim’ (water) [the word missing a beth, which would make it b’mayim, (with water)]; And Seled died ‘lo’ (no) children, [the word lo missing a beth, which would make it b’lo (without) children]. Thus Scripture teaches that there is no commandment for eating the bitter herbs alone, but only with the eating of the flesh of the Passover-offering. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Chametz Umatzah, 7:12). Concerning unleavened bread, however, Scripture repeated it by commanding, At even ye shall eat unleavened bread, even by itself [when there is no Passover-offering], as is the opinion of our Rabbis. A more correct interpretation is that we say that the word, umatzoth (and unleavened bread), is connected with the earlier part of the verse: And they shall eat the flesh … and unleavened bread. The verse then continues to command that the flesh mentioned be eaten with bitter herbs. Thus He commanded the eating of the flesh with the eating of the unleavened bread, but He did not command the eating of bitter herbs, except by saying that they should eat the meat with bitter herbs, thus hinting that there is no [separate] commandment regarding the bitter herbs. It is only that the meat must be eaten with them, and when there is no Passover-offering there is no specific commandment [of the Torah] regarding the eating of the bitter herbs. It also teaches us that the bitter herbs do not invalidate the meat. Thus, if one ate the meat of the Passover-offering and did not eat bitter herbs, he has [nevertheless] fulfilled his duty of eating the Passover-offering, since the commandment concerning the eating of the Passover-offering is like the commandment of eating unleavened bread, each one an independent commandment in itself.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.