The First Passover

In the land of Egypt, Yahweh informed Moses and Aaron that the current month would be the first month of the year for the congregation of Israel (Exodus 12:1-2). On the tenth day of this month, each man was to take a lamb for his household, or share one with a neighbor if the household was too small to consume it (Exodus 12:3-4). The animal was required to be a year-old male without blemish, selected from the sheep or goats (Exodus 12:5). The text specifies the animals were to be kept until the fourteenth day of the month, at which time the entire assembly of Israel would kill them at twilight (Exodus 12:6).

The Israelites were instructed to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they ate the meat (Exodus 12:7). The meat was to be roasted over fire and eaten that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; no portion was to be eaten raw or boiled in water (Exodus 12:8-9). Any remains left until morning were to be burned (Exodus 12:10). The participants were commanded to eat in haste, with their belts fastened, sandals on their feet, and staffs in their hands, as it was Yahweh's Passover (Exodus 12:11). The text states that Yahweh would strike all the firstborn in Egypt, both man and beast, but the blood on the houses would serve as a sign to pass over them (Exodus 12:12-13).

Moses summoned the elders of Israel and relayed these instructions, including the prohibition against leaving the house until morning (Exodus 12:21-22). At midnight, Yahweh struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon (Exodus 12:29). Pharaoh, his servants, and all the Egyptians rose up in the night because there was a great cry, for the text says there was not a house where someone was not dead (Exodus 12:30).