Leviticus 23:5

THE PASSOVER. (Lev 23:5-8)

the Lord's passover--(See Exo 12:2, Exo 12:14, Exo 12:18). The institution of the passover was intended to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances attending the redemption of the Israelites, while it had a typical reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual people. On the first and last days of this feast, the people were forbidden to work [Lev 23:7-8]; but while on the Sabbath they were not to do any work, on feast days they were permitted to dress meat--and hence the prohibition is restricted to "no servile work." At the same time, those two days were devoted to "holy convocation"--special seasons of social devotion. In addition to the ordinary sacrifices of every day, there were to be "offerings by fire" on the altar (see Num 28:19), while unleavened bread was to be eaten in families all the seven days (see Co1 5:8).

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

(5) In the fourteenth day of the first month.—This month is called Abib in the Pentateuch (Exo_13:4; Exo_23:15; Deu_16:1), and Nisan in the later books of Scripture (Neh_2:1; Est_3:7). The fourteenth day of this month is about the beginning of April. On this day, which was called both “the preparation for the Passover” (Joh_19:14), and “the first day of Passover,” all handicraftsmen, with the exception of tailors, barbers, and laundresses, were obliged to relinquish work either from morning or from noon, according to the custom of the different places in Palestine. Leaven was only eaten till midday, and it had to be burned in the afternoon. The time for desisting from and burning the leaven was thus indicated: “Two desecrated cakes of thanksgiving offerings were placed on a bench in the Temple; as long as they were thus exposed all the people ate leaven. When one of them was removed they abstained from eating, but did not burn it; but when the other was taken away all the people began burning the leaven.” It was on this day that every Israelite who was not infirm, ceremonially defiled, uncircumcised, or beyond fifteen miles from the walls of Jerusalem, had to appear before the Lord in the holy city, with an offering in proportion to his means (Exo_23:5; Deu_16:16-17). Those who came from the country were gratuitously accommodated by the inhabitants with the necessary apartments (Luk_22:10-12; Mat_26:18), and the guests in acknowledgment of the hospitality they received left to their hosts the skins of the paschal lambs, and the vessels which they used in their religious ceremonies. Josephus, who was an eye-witness to the fact, tells us that at the Passover, in the reign of Nero, there were 2,700,000 people, when 256,500 lambs were sacrificed. Most of the Jews must therefore have encamped in tents without the walls of the city, as the Mohammedan pilgrims now do at Mecca. It was for this reason that the Romans took great precaution, using both force and conciliatory measures, during the festivals (Mat_26:5; Luk_13:1).

At even.—Or, in the evening, as the Authorised version renders this phrase in the parallel passage (Exo_12:6), literally, denotes between the two evenings. The interpretation of this expression constituted one of the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees during the second Temple, and seriously affected the time for offering up the paschal lamb and the evening sacrifices. According to the Sadducees it denotes the time between the setting of the sun and the moment when the stars become visible, or when darkness sets in, i.e., between six and seven o’clock, a space of about one hour and twenty minutes. According to the Pharisees, however, “between the two evenings” means from the afternoon to the disappearing of the sun. The first evening is from the time when the sun begins to decline towards the west, whilst the second is when it goes down and vanishes out of sight. This is the reason why the paschal lamb in the evening sacrifice began to be killed and the blood sprinkled at 12.30 p.m. This is more in harmony with the fact that the large number of sacrifices on this day could only be offered up in the longer period of time.

The Lord’s passover.—Also called “the feast of unleavened bread.” (See Lev_23:6.)

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

Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at even [is] the LORD’S passover.

Ver. 5. In the fourteenth day.] {See Trapp on "Exo 12:18"}

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.

In these verses, the Passover, or Paschal Supper, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, are plainly spoken of as distinct feasts. See Exo 12:6, Exo 12:15, Exo 12:17; Num 28:16-17.

Lev 23:5

See Exo 12:6. According to the Hebrew mode of reckoning, the 15th day of the month began on the evening of the 14th. The day of holy convocation with which the Feast of Unleavened Bread commenced Lev 23:7 was the 15th, and that with which it terminated was the 21st. Compare Num 28:16-17.

Lev 23:6

Feast - The three festivals (often called the Great Festivals), Passover, Pentecost and tabernacles, to which the name חג chag, i. e. a feast or rejoicing properly belongs Lev 23:6, Lev 23:34, Lev 23:39, Lev 23:41, were distinguished by the attendance of the male Israelites at the national sanctuary (compare Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23; Deu 16:16). In later times they were called by the rabbins “pilgrimage feasts.” It is worthy of note that the Hebrew word is identical with the Arabic “haj”, the name of the pilgrimage to Mecca, from which comes the well-known word for a pilgrim, “haji”.

Lev 23:7

No servile work - literally, no work of labor, no work that belongs to one’s worldly calling, such as labor in agriculture or handicraft. The preparation of food was permitted Exo 12:16, a licence not granted on the weekly Sabbath, or on the day of atonement Lev 23:28, Lev 23:30; Exo 20:10; Exo 35:3.

Lev 23:8

The sacrifices here meant are named in Num 28:19-24.

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

Lev_23:5

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lords passover.

The Passover

The typical character of the Old Testament is a subject full of instruction, and one which opens a very extensive field of investigation before the mind of the Christian student. It presents itself to our view not only in the ordinances of the Jewish people, their sacrifices and priesthood, and religious rites in general, but also in the historical parts of these lively oracles. Many of the events recorded in these sacred pages have not only an historical, but also a typical, or in other words a prophetic interest. They were, in fact, living prophecies, having each his manifest counterpart or antitype somewhere in the gospel scheme. But this observation particularly applies to the ordinances of the Ceremonial Law. These rites had, no doubt, a duty to accomplish on behalf of those who celebrated them, and subserved some moral purpose towards them who did the service. But they had also a higher object; they had all a Christian aspect, or, as the apostle to the Hebrews says, they were the shadows of good things to come. In the former bearing they have long since passed away, but in the latter they are still abiding. And what an important addition have we here to the prophetic evidence of Christi-unity! For these rites and ceremonies must, every one of them, be regarded as predictions of those things they typified. Every well-established type is an instance of fulfilled prophecy; and when we view them all combined we have a congeries of prophecies manifestly fulfilled, and affording an amount of accumulated evidence which must be convincing to any candid mind. In all the necessary elements of prophetic evidence the argument derived from these types is remarkably certain and facile. Their antiquity, or priority in point of time to their antitypes, is undoubted, it is admitted on all hands. They were celebrated by successive generations for centuries before those things which answered to them appeared to human observation, or could be known in any other way than by Divine revelation. Their fulfilment, also, is equally certain; we compare the antitypes with the types, and find them answer the one to the other in an immense variety of particulars. It is utterly impossible that this agreement should be the result of accident; it is so minute, and carried out into such numerous ramifications, that it exceeds even the credulity of infidelity itself to ascribe it to anything but design. Here, as in a kind of panorama, that gospel passes before us, so that we, as it were, behold with our eyes those very truths which are the source of our present and eternal peace. And this, perhaps, is one reason why these ordinances are so minutely enjoined; why we find so many, and sometimes such trifling particulars commanded. The sceptic smiles at this minuteness, and refuses to believe that God could condescend to be the author of such unimportant injunctions. The reply to this is at once suggested from the book of nature, where the Deist professes to become acquainted with his God. We bid him to consult that book which is open before his eyes, and behold the minuteness of detail which characterises all the works that meet him there. See the particularity of design and of execution which pervades its every part. Has not the same hand which restrains the billows of the mighty ocean in their proper bounds painted the tiny shells which are buried in its deep abyss? But to the believer, who recognises the gospel in these ordinances, this very minuteness with which they are prescribed constitutes their perfection. He sees in this a representation of that condescending love which has ordained every particular of that covenant of grace--the covenant ordered in all things, and sure. And not only so, but everything to him becomes significant; he could not part with one of them; and all together make up a perfect whole on which his faith is founded. We are to consider the feast of the Passover, instituted, as its name implies, in commemoration of that night in which the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites when He smote the first-born in the land of Egypt. In order, then, to understand aright the typical or prophetic bearing of this ordinance, we must recall to mind the transactions of that memorable night, and--

I. The land of Egypt exhibits a type of this present evil world--the world, i mean, as distinct from the church and people of God. Egypt was ripened for judgment, and was devoted to destruction. She had despised her opportunities and hardened herself against the warnings of Jehovah, and was now arrayed in hostility against God and His people. And such is the world in which we live, it is destined to destruction; and why? Because it has rejected alike the mercies and the warnings of the Lord; it has despised His counsel and will have none of His reproof. And there is one point of analogy between the case of Egypt and that of this present world which is especially deserving of attention; I mean the fact that the climax in either case is preceded by a succession of judgments. I feel persuaded, my dear brethren, that we ought to be prepared for an outpouring of Divine judgments upon the earth, the effect of which shall be, as in the case of Egypt, the hardening of the men of the earth against the Lord and against His anointed (Rev_9:20-21; Luk_21:35-36).

II. But God had a people in Egypt. They were in Egypt, but they were not of it; differing in their origin, their customs, their laws, their worship, and their God. They were the people of Jehovah; His by covenant arrangement; His chosen ones, His own. And why were they chosen? Was it because of their own goodness? because they were better than the other nations? No; for they were a stiff-necked people. Why, then, were they chosen? Simply because He loved them, and took them to Himself out of all the nations of the earth. And so it is at the present time. The Lord has a people in the world, but yet not of the world. Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. But if He has loved His people, He has made them to differ from Egypt. As they are His by sovereign grace, so also are they His by manifest consecration to Him and separation from the world. Their origin is from above. They are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

III. But what was the means by which the Israelites were saved from the judgment of Egypt? It was the sprinkled blood (Exo_12:12-13). And so if we escape the righteous judgment of God it can only be by the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb--the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1Pe_1:19). Outside of Christ is wrath, in Him is perfect peace and safety. Not that this sprinkled blood is the exciting cause of Gods love unto His people. No; He needed not this inducement. God did not love the children of Israel because the blood was sprinkled on their houses; no, the blood was sprinkled there because He loved them. They misunderstand the doctrine of the atonement who represent it as appeasing a God of vengeance and stimulating Him to mercy. God is love.

IV. The israelites were commanded to feast upon the lamb. The lamb was to be the food of them for whom his blood was sprinkled. And what is the spiritual food supplied to the Church of God? It is the Lamb that was slain (Joh_6:57). If we would have spiritual strength to do the work of God we can derive it only by feeding on, that is, by habitually contemplating and confiding in the work of Jesus. A living faith in Him will appropriate Him. And when the Passover is called a feast we are reminded that those who feed on Jesus have in Him not only necessaries, but abundance; not only salvation, but peace and happiness and joy--fat things full of marrow, wines on the lees well refined (Isa_25:6). You see we are supposed to be ever feasting. And if our souls are not abundantly satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, the fault is entirely our own. The provision is made; all things are ready; everything that the hospitality of eternal love, aided by the counsels of infinite wisdom and the resources of infinite power could procure to make glad the shiners heart. Why do we go so heavily on our way? Why have we so little peace and joy? It is because we do not feed, as we should, upon the Lamb. We do not make Him our daily bread, and incorporate Him, by a living faith, with our souls. And mark, the whole of the paschal lamb was eaten; not one particle of it was to be left. Tis thus the Saviour gives Himself altogether to be His peoples food; it is not a part, but the whole of a precious Christ that is provided for us. All the holiness of His life, all the devotedness of His death, all the efficacy of His blood, all the power of His resurrection--the dignity of His ascension--the influence of His intercession, and the glory of His coming again; everything He does--He has--He is; the whole is given unto us to feast upon; and we need it all. I must have Him all to meet the exigency of my case, the necessities of my soul.

V. But let us remark the adjuncts of this feast. They were to eat it with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs; with staves in their hands and shoes on their feet. Each particular is significant. Are they to eat it with unleavened bread? If we would have communion with Jesus it must be in the Spirit. The carnal mind cannot find enjoyment in Him; and if we are walking after the flesh we cannot feed on Him. We must put it out of our houses, so as not to follow or be led by it. Again, too, the bitter herbs. Oh! how significant is this! The paschal feast is not a feast of self-indulgence; it is not to gratify the carnal mind. They that feed on Jesus must deny themselves, and take up the cross and follow Him. The path He leads in is not that of self-gratification and carnal ease. If these be the objects we pursue we are not--we cannot be feeding on the Lamb (Gal_2:20). It is impossible for the true believer to escape the taste of the bitter herbs. The very principles which actuate him, the motives of which he is conscious, the tastes implanted in his mind are such as to render his life in this world a scene of constant trial. There are trials peculiar to the Christian which others have not, and cannot even understand. Beloved, let us search our hearts diligently; let us examine our motives. Are we indeed sincere before God? Are we really humbled before the Cross, and has every other shadow of dependence been put away? And are we dressed, too, in the garb of pilgrims? Or rather have we the pilgrims heart? Or are our thoughts and affections given to the things of earth--the flesh-pots of Egypt? (J. B. Lowe, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 23:5. In the fourteenth day — See Exo 12:18. At even — For all the Jewish festivals were kept from evening to evening, their day beginning in the evening. Is the Lord’s passover — Exo 12:11. Though Moses had often before mentioned this, and several other of their solemnities, he here sets them down all together, according to the order of time in which they were kept, that this chapter might serve the Jews for a general table of all their religious festivals.

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

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord"s passover. The month of Nisan was made the first month of the religious year in consequence of the original Passover having taken place in it. (Exo_12:2) On the occasion of the first, or Egyptian, Passover, all heads of a family, either singly or two or three heads of families in conjunction, provided themselves with a lamb or a kid on the 10th day of Nisan, killed it in the evening of the 14th, and, taking a bunch of hyssop, dipped it in the blood and struck the lintel and two side posts of the doors of their houses with the blood. They then roasted the animal whole for eating, added to it unleavened bread, and garnished it with bitter herbs. They made themselves ready to eat it by dressing themselves for a journey, "with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hands", (Exo_12:11) and thus they ate it in haste, in a standing position. The meaning of the ceremony is explained by what was taking place at the same time. On the same night, after the blood had been sprinkled upon the lintel and side posts, God slew the firstborn of all who had not exhibited this symbol of their having been brought into covenant with himself, and the Israelites set off hurriedly on their departure from Egypt. It was commanded that the day should be kept hereafter in like manner as a memorial, and that the following seven days should be kept as a Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Exo_12:14, Exo_12:15) This command is here concisely repeated, as it is again repeated in Deu_16:1-8. One very considerable change was, however, necessarily made in the method of its observance. Originally, each head of a household or combination of households sacrificed the lamb himself, and sprinkled the blood upon the doorposts and lintel. But after the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood and the withdrawal of the priestly authority previously vested in each head of a house (chapters 8, 9), and after the stringent prohibition of sacrificing elsewhere than in the court of the tabernacle had been issued (chapter 17), this could not continue. Accordingly, we find in the Book of Deuteronomy the direct injunction, "Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his Name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt". (Deu_16:5, Deu_16:6) A result from this rule was that every male Israelite had to present himself at Jerusalem, and there slay his lamb on the day of the Passover, which in the time of Nero, brought between two and three million pilgrims to Jerusalem each year. The crowd of pilgrims took their way to the temple, and were admitted into the court in three divisions. There they slew each man his lamb, while the priests offered the blood on the altar, and the Levites sang the Hallel (Psalm 113-118). Then they bore away the lambs, roasted them whole on a spit of pomegranate wood, taking care that no bone should be broken, and prepared the Paschal supper. At the supper, as well as at the sacrifice, a change of manner was introduced. "As the guests gathered round the Paschal table, they came no longer, as at the first celebration, with their loins girded, with shoes on their feet, and a staff in their hands; that is, as travelers waiting to take their departure. On the contrary, they were arrayed in their best festive garments, joyous and at rest, as became the children of a king. To express this idea, the rabbis also insisted that the Paschal supper, or at least part of it, must be eaten in that recumbent position with which we are familiar from the New Testament. "For," say they, "they use this leaning posture, as free men do, in memorial of their freedom." And again, "Because it is the manner of slaves to eat standing, therefore now they eat sitting and leaning, in order to show that they have been delivered from bondage into freedom." And finally, "No, not the poorest in Israel may eat till he has sat down, leaning." But though it was deemed desirable to sit leaning during the whole Paschal supper, it was only absolutely enjoined while partaking of the bread and the wine" (Edersheim, "Temple Service"). The essentials of the Paschal feast were the Paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. (Exo_12:8) To these were afterwards added a dish formed from an animal sacrificed on the Passover day, a composition of dates and other dried fruits, and four cups of red wine mixed with water, the last of which came to be regarded as essential as that which had been commanded in the Law. The Rabbi Gamaliel is reported by the Mishna to have said, "Whoever fails to explain three things in the Passover fails to fulfill his duty. These are the Paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. The Paschal lamb means that God passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt, which were sprinkled with blood; the unleavened bread, that our fathers were hurried out of Egypt; the bitter herbs, that the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers in Egypt bitter" (Pes. 10:15). The wine was regarded so necessary an adjunct, that it is ordered that every householder must provide himself with four cups, even if he had to sell or pawn his coat, or hire himself out for a servant, or receive money from the poor"s box, in order to do so (Pes. 1). The supper began with drinking the first cup of wine, before which a grace, or thanksgiving, of the following character was said: art thou, Jehovah our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine! Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, King of the universe, who hast chosen us from among all people, and exalted us from among all languages, and sanctified us with thy commandments! And thou hast given us, in love, the solemn days for joy, and the festivals and appointed seasons for gladness, and this, the day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the season of our freedom, a holy convocation, the memorial of our departure from Egypt. For us hast thou chosen; and us hast thou sanctified from among all nations, and thy holy festivals with joy and with gladness hast thou caused us to inherit. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who sanctifiest Israel and the appointed seasons! Blessed art thou, Lord, King of the universe, who hast preserved us alive, and sustained us, and brought us to this season" (Edersheim, "Temple Service"). After drinking the first cup, there followed a general washing of hands, after which the company ate some of the bitter herbs. Then the second cup was filled, and in order to carry out the injunction of Exo_12:26, Exo_12:27, the youngest member of the company inquired, "What mean ye by this service?" And the president of the feast replied, "It is the sacrifice of the Lord"s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." At the same time, he explained the purport of the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, and called upon the company to give thanks for what God had wrought for them and for their fathers, ending with Ps 113 Ps 114, sung by all present. The second cup was then drunk, and after second washing of hands, the unleavened bread was broken, and thanks again given, after which the pieces of bread, the bitter herbs, the other sacrificial dish (if any), and the Paschal lamb were partaken of in turn. The third cup was then filled, thanks were again given, and the cup was drunk. This cup had the name of the "cup of blessing," owing to the blessing said over it, and it was succeeded after an interval by the fourth cup, when Psalm 115-118 (which, with Ps 113 Ps 114, made up the Hallel) were sung, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving.

The Paschal supper was observed by our Lord

in obedience to the command in Exo_12:14 Lev_23:5 Deu_16:1-8, in the following manner, so far as we are able to gather from the narrative of the gospel.

I HE SENT PETER AND JOHN BEFOREHAND TO PREPARE THE PASSOVER. The first step in the preparation of the Passover was the purchase of the Paschal lamb. We may see the two disciples, after they had been led by the man bearing a pitcher of water to the house where the feast was to be held, providing themselves with a lamb, unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and that other dish into which the sop was afterwards dipped; then carrying the lamb to the temple, to be sacrificed in the court. This was on the afternoon of Nisan 14. Admitted into the court of the temple, in one or other of the three divisions into which the maps of the pilgrims and residents were divided, they would have slain the lamb, and, after the blood had. been thrown on the altar by the priests, they would have carried the body to the house in which the preparations for the Master"s eating the Passover were being made.

II HE SELECTED HIS PASCHAL COMPANY. The rule was that the company should not consist of less than ten persons. In the present case it amounted to thirteen. Around him were gathered his twelve disciples, with whom "he desired with desire to eat the Passover before he suffered". (Luk_22:15)

III HE ENTERED INTO JERUSALEM IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT EAT THE PASSOVER IN THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD HAD CHOSEN. (Deu_16:7) "It was probably as the sun was beginning to decline in the horizon that Jesus and the other ten disciples descended once more over the Mount of Olives into the holy city. Before them lay Jerusalem in her festive attire. All around pilgrims were hastening towards it. White tents dotted the sward, gay with the bright flowers of early spring, or poured out from the gardens and the darker foliage of the olive plantations. From the gorgeous temple buildings, dazzling in their snow-white marble and gold, on which the slanting rays of the sun were reflected, rose the smoke of the altar of burnt offering. These courts were now crowded with eager worshippers, offering for the last time, in a real sense, their Paschal lambs. The streets must have been thronged with strangers, and the fiat roofs covered with eager gazers, who either feasted Their eyes with a first sight of the sacred city for which they had so often longed, or else once more rejoiced in view of the well-remembered localities. It was the last day view which the Lord had of the holy city till his resurrection. Only once more in the approaching night of his betrayal was he to look upon it in the pale light of the full moon. He was going forward to "accomplish his death" in Jerusalem; to fulfill type and prophecy, and to offer himself up as the true Passover Lamb Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." They who followed him were busy with many thoughts. They knew that terrible events awaited them, and they had only a few days before been told that these glorious temple buildings, to which, with a national pride not unnatural, they had directed the attention of their Master, were to become desolate, not one stone being left upon the other. Among them, revolving his dark plans and goaded on by the great enemy, moved the betrayer. And now they were within the city. Its temple, its royal bridge, its splendid palaces, its busy marts, its streets filled with festive pilgrims, were well known to them as they made their way to the house where the guest-chamber had been prepared for them" (Edersheim, "Temple Service").

IV HE ATE THE PASSOVER MEAL IN THE CUSTOMARY MANNER, YET WITH SUCH ALTERATIONS AS MADE IT A NEW INSTITUTION. For example:

1. He began with the first cup, over which he gave thanks as usual, and then gave it to the company to drink. It is of this cup that we read in St. Luke, "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves". (Luk_22:17)

2. Instead of the first washing of hands, he "began to wash the disciples" feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded". (Joh_13:5)

3. The feast then continued in its usual order. The second cup, the unleavened bread (part of which was "the sop" given to Judas), the hitter herbs, and the eating of the lamb followed in order.

4. The Lord then took some of the unleavened bread, and when he had given thanks over it, or blessed it, he brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat, this is my body". (Mat_26:26 Luk_22:19 1Co_11:24)

5. He took the third cup, called "the cup of blessing", (cf. 1Co_10:16) "and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins". (Mat_26:27, 28 Mar_14:23, 24 Luk_22:20 1Co_11:25)

6. The fourth cup, accompanied by the "hymn," or Hallel, (Mat_26:30 Mar_14:26) no doubt finished the supper in the usual manner.

V THE PASCHAL SUPPER THUS CEASED FOR EVER, AND THE LORD"S SUPPER WAS "INSTITUTED IN ITS PLACE. The blood of the original lambs slain in Egypt received its efficacy in covering the people of Israel and delivering them from the visitation of God"s angel of wrath, by its anticipatory representation of the blood of the true Lamb of God, which was shed for the deliverance of God"s redeemed upon the cross. The time had now come for that blood to he shed, and therefore the memorial and typical sacrifices offered year by year necessarily ceased, the shadow being swallowed up in the substance, the type in the antitype. In like manner, the feast on the body of the lamb, which represented the body of Christ, necessarily ceased when there was no longer a lamb to be sacrificed. The Paschal feast, if continued longer, would have bees an unmeaning form, because its meaning had become exhausted.

Yet, just as Christianity grew by God"s will out of Judaism, so a new memorial of Christ sprang out of the old type. He took the bread that was before him, an accessory of the old feast, and consecrated it, together with the third cup, to represent his body and blood in the future, for a memorial, just as the body of the lamb which was eaten and the blood of the lamb that was shed had typically and by anticipation represented them in the past. Thus the dead wood of the old form, at the moment of perishing blossomed into new life.

The Passover was to be kept as "a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever"; (Exo_12:14) and any one who did not keep the feast was to "be cut off from Israel". (Exo_12:15) In like manner, the Lord"s Supper is to continue, the bread is to be eaten and the cup to be drunk, as the means of showing forth the Lord"s death "till he come." The one ordinance is of as permanent a nature as the other, and the neglect of it may cause people to incur a no less penalty in the second case than in the first.

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

Passover

The Passover, Lev 23:4; Lev 23:5. This feast is memorial and brings into view redemption, upon which all blessing rests. Typically, it stands for "Christ our passover, sacrificed for us." 1Co 5:7.

first month i.e. April.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:5-8 Passover . . . Unleavened Bread: These feasts were instituted on the eve of the exodus from Egypt (see Exod 12:1-28). Passover was the first of three great festivals (Deut 16:16), followed by the Festival of Harvest (Lev 23:15-21) and the Festival of Shelters (23:34-43).

23:5 Passover began at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month, as the new day was beginning (see study note on 11:24-25). The Passover feast included a roast lamb, bitter salad greens, and bread made without yeast (Exod 12:8), all representing Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. • The first month marked the beginning of the Jewish calendar as late as Ezra 6:19. The month’s earliest name, Abib (“spring, fresh grain”; Exod 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1), was partially replaced by the name Nisan after the Babylonian exile (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. The Lord's passover.] See this largely explained in the notes on Ex 12:21-27.

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

Feasts of the Passover and Unleavened Bread (5–8)

The law in detail is set forth Exodus 12, and is accordingly here assumed as known, and only the chief regulations are mentioned.

5. the first month] corresponding to the latter part of March with the former part of April. Here, as elsewhere, P denotes the months by numbers only, whereas JE and Deut. give them the names by which they were known in Canaan or Phoenicia, in this case Abib (Exo_13:4; Exo_23:15; Exo_34:18; Deu_16:1), while in Neh_2:1; Est_3:7 it is called by its Babylonian name Nisan. See further in Driver (C.B.), Exo_12:2.

on the fourteenth day of the month at even] The Jewish day commencing at sunset, the Passover lamb was to be killed before sunset on the day which both by their reckoning and ours was the 14th, and eaten on what we should call the night between the fourteenth and fifteenth days.

passover] The etymological meaning of the Heb. word peṣaḥ is obscure. See Driver, Exod. p. 408 for the various conjectures. The LXX. (πάσχα, Pascha, whence the adjective paschal) and so the N.T. (e.g. Mat_26:17) transliterate it. Our word is taken from the explanation in Exo_12:13 which refers it to the sparing of the Israelitish houses on the occasion of the slaying of the Egyptians’ firstborn.

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.

In the fourteenth day of the first month,.... The month Nisan, the same with Abib, the month in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt, for which reason it was made the first month in the year, answering to part of our March and part of April; and for the same reason was the passover kept at this time, as follows:

at even is the Lord's passover; that is, that was the time for the keeping the passover, even "between the two evenings", as it may be rendered; from the sixth hour and onward, as Jarchi, trial is, after noon or twelve o'clock the middle of the day, as Gersom, when the sun began to decline; See Gill on Exo 12:6.

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

THE PASSOVER, Lev_23:4-8.

5. First month — This was called Abib previous to the Babylonish captivity, and Nisan afterward. The passover and the exode from Egypt were events of so great importance that the Israelites were instructed to reckon the ecclesiastical year from that point of time. Exo_12:2. The months were lunar, and began at the announcement of the new moon. The cycle of religious feasts, commencing with the passover, depended not simply on the month, but on the moon; the fourteenth of Nisan was coincident with the full moon.

The Lord’s passover — Because the Lord passed by the blood-stained doors of the Hebrews when he smote the firstborn of Egypt. Exo_12:6.

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

בין הערבים AT EVENTIDE — i. e. the period from six hours onwards (reckoning from six o’clock in the morning) (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 11 1; cf. Rashi on Exodus 12:6).

פסח לה׳ [AT EVENTIDE] IS THE פסח OF THE LORD — i. e. the offering of the sacrifice which bears the name פסח‎.

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.