Israel's First Passover

We're also going to be observing, again, I've appreciated Dr. Komet's sermonette. It certainly goes very timely for this time of the year that we're entering into, as we'll soon be observing the Passover, the night to be remembered, or much observed as we sometimes call it, and also, of course, the first day of Unleavened Bread and the days of Unleavened Bread coming up. Over the years, there's been some confusion regarding the sequence and the timing of events that occurred during that period of time, during the Passover, into the first day of Unleavened Bread in the Old Testament.

And because of that confusion, there are some who understand the truth in various groups who believe the Passover was observed originally on the night of the 15th, rather than on the night of the 14th. This, then, is a good time to review that sequence and timing of events that occurred during that first Passover that Israel observed in the Old Testament, which God was calling them out of Egypt.

Several sermons can be given on that, cover all those events. I'm just going to condense it down to one sermon by addressing the following questions. When was the Old Testament Passover lamb killed? What does the Old Testament Passover commemorate? What did they do after they ate the lamb? About when did they eat the lamb? When did they leave their houses? When did they spoil the Egyptians? How large was the land of Goshen? Because the Israelites all lived there, given the land, it's called the land of Goshen. One portion of Egypt is called the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, where they were given by a previous pharaoh.

How large was that lamb? From where and when did they begin leaving Egypt? How many of them were there that left Egypt? Part of that contingency that left. Actually, God's Word answers all those questions for us. Today, we're going to look at the events surrounding Israel's first Passover as they prepare to leave Egypt.

We're going to look at basically two periods of time. We're going to look at the nighttime portion of that first Passover day, and then we're going to look at the daytime portion of that first Passover day. Of course, the Passover day being from sunset to sunset. The title of my sermon here this afternoon is just simply Israel's first Passover. I want to begin by looking at the nighttime portion of Israel's first Passover.

I want to begin with this question. When were the Old Testament Passover lambs killed? It seems like a simple question, but actually among some, in various churches of God, it has been somewhat controversial. To prove when they were killed, we'll take maybe an entire sermon. We want to get into really details and answer all the questions that people have about it. But the very simple answer is given in Exodus 12. Let's begin then in Exodus 12, beginning in verse 1.

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall now be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. Going to verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. And then verse 6, And now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Of course, the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover day. So when were the old Testament lambs killed? It says here, they were killed, I'm reading from the New King James. New King James at twilight. They were killed at twilight. The old King James says, In the evening. So when was twilight or when was in the evening?

The word twilight, or translated in the evening, in the old King James, is actually the English translation of a Hebrew phrase. That Hebrew phrase is b'in ha'abarein, which certainly means between the two evenings. The three Hebrew phrases b'in b'in ha'ar b'ayim, b'in ha'abarein, I don't know if they're pronouncing it right or not, but in many of the little means between the two evenings.

Some margins will say that, that means between the two evenings, and the New Jerusalem Bible actually translates it that way. It translates as being between the two evenings when that lamb was killed. Now, there's a little bit of controversy there. People disagree when that time period was. But what it really means, in my view, and the Bible supports this, it means between sunset and darkness.

Days begin at sunset. So when the Passover day begins at sunset, you have a period of time that's twilight. I think twilight is a good translation in the New King James. It gives a period of twilight between when the sun sets and when it becomes dark. That's the twilight period. So that's what it really means.

I think we should show that from God's word. It means that period of time between darkness and twilight. That's the first evening being sunset, the second evening being when it becomes dark, totally dark. So again, twilight is a good translation. So the Old Testament Passover lambs were killed right after sunset, as the Passover day was just beginning. Again, a day being from sunset to sunset.

And then that's when the Passover lambs were then killed, right after sunset as the Passover day began, before it got totally dark. Where were the Passover lambs killed? Again, Exodus 12 answers that for us. Verse 7, And they shall take some of the blood of the lambs and put it on the doorposts and on the length of the houses where they eat it.

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. So where were the Passover lambs killed and eaten? It says in the houses where they eat it. So in their households. They killed and ate the Passover lambs at their household, or at their neighbor's household, as it says in verse 4 in the same chapter.

They then put some of the blood of that Passover lamb on the two-door posts and on the lentil of the household in which they ate the lamb.

So this then is referred to, you want to look at it because there's another Passover, which I'm not going to go into today, but this is referred to as the domestic Passover because the Passover they ate it in their homes, in their households.

In contrast to the temple Passover, which was initiated much later at the temple, which was then that Passover was killed in the afternoon. But this is a domestic Passover which was eaten and killed right as Passover day began.

Also, this is another whole very interesting history and story that you can tell how this all came about. But at the time of Christ, both Passovers were being observed. Christ observed the domestic Passover with his disciples before he was betrayed. And let's just read that. Two scriptures I want to show you here are the New Testament that reveal that. The first one is in Matthew 26. Let's turn to Matthew 26 and we'll just read verses 17 and 18. I was just going to quote it, but I will read it because it says something at the beginning of verse 17.

It obviously is a mistake and the way it's translated. I can't mean that. I want to explain that. Matthew 26 verse 17 says, and I mean for the New King James, it's very similar I think in the Old King James, almost identical. Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? Well, we know the Passover day is the day before the first day of Unleavened Bread. They never prepared the Passover or ate the Passover on the first day of Unleavened Bread. Actually, if you want to go into Greek, which I'm not good at Greek, but others have been, gone into it, what's translated here is that on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the red really means, in the Greek, it's just on the first of the unleavened, or the first of unleavened. Basically, the history behind that is that back 2,000 years ago at the time of Christ, the Passover day was called the first of the unleavened, or the first of unleavened, because it was on the Passover day. That day, by the time the Passover day ended at sunset, and you began the first day of Unleavened Bread, all leavening had to be out of your household. By the time the Passover day ended, all leavening had to be out of your household. That's why I was sometimes referred to as the first of unleavened, because that was the day you had to have all the leaven removed before that day ended. So that's what it really means. On the first of the unleavened, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? He said, go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand, I will keep the Passover, notice, at your house with my disciples, at your house. This is a domestic Passover. It kept at the same time it was initiated back in Exodus, as the Passover day was beginning, right after sunset. I'll keep the Passover at your house. So it was kept in their household, a domestic Passover kept in the household.

So they killed and ate the Passover lamb at their household, or at their neighbor's household, I said, in verse 4. So Christ observed the Old Testament domestic Passover with the disciples just prior to initiating the New Testament Passover. Now, my original question was, where were the Passover lambs killed? Well, they were both killed and eaten at their households. Now, one final note I want to make, to show that Christ actually did keep that Old Testament domestic Passover with his disciples, because there's some controversy around that. But I think this scripture nails it down, saying that that's exactly what he did. Was a lamb killed for the domestic Passover that Christ observed with his disciples? Let's just look at the one scripture that tells us. Let's go to Mark 14. Mark 14, we'll just look at one verse, verse 12. Mark 14, verse 12. Again, this is a mistranslation here. On the first of the unleavened, when they killed the Passover lamb, because we know they never killed the Passover lamb on the first day of the leavened bread, you know that's not correct. Again, that's just a new mistranslation of what the Greek really means. On the first of the leavened, when they killed the Passover lamb. So this says here that they actually took a lamb and they killed the lamb for that Passover that Christ observed with the disciples when they killed the Passover lamb. The disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover? So this shows they actually did work keeping Christ initiated. Before he initiated the New Testament Passover service with the disciples that we observe. They first ate the Old Testament Passover meal together and actually had a lamb that had been killed. Now, what does the Old Testament Passover commemorate? It may seem like a simple question, but there's confusion over that. Somebody asked this, does it commemorate Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, as many assume? No, it doesn't. It doesn't commemorate that. Well, it doesn't commemorate. Let's go to Exodus 12 and read it for ourselves. Exodus 12. Again, let's read two verses here. Exodus 12. First we'll read verse 13.

Exodus 12. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. And then verse 23.

For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lentil and on two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. So the Passover commemorates God passing over all the houses of Israelites who had the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts.

Now let me ask another question. After they killed the Passover Lamb, what did they do? Exodus 12, verses 8, 9, and 10. Exodus 12, beginning in verse 8.

What does that insinuate? It insinuates that they remained in their households all that night and didn't go out of their households until the next morning. Exodus 12, verse 22.

The blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. None of you should go out of the door of his house until morning. Now, did the children of Israel do that? Did they stay in their houses all that night and not go out of the door of their houses until the next morning? Exodus 12, verse 28. Then the children of Israel went away and did so just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

But my original question was, after they killed the Passover Lamb, what did they do? They roasted it in fire. Verse 9. Now, why is that important? What's all this leading up to? Well, it leads up to the answer to this next question. How long would it have taken to kill, roast, eat, and then burn the remains?

Why is that an important question? Because it will show there was not sufficient time for the Israelites to do all of that, which we just read about here, and to then also leave Egypt on the very same night as the advocates of a 15th Passover. They advocate. All these things happen during the night of the 15th. It just wouldn't be time for doing that whole night. It couldn't happen. How much time would all that I just mentioned have taken? Well, sizzled lambs were a meal of the first year, verse 5. And if you do a little research, they tell you that a birth of a lamb... At birth, I should say, a little baby lamb at birth weighs between 8-10 pounds.

By the time it was a one-year-old, it weighs usually about 20 pounds at the end of the first year. Remember, this lamb had to be no longer older than one year. It had to be the first year. So it had to weigh somewhere between 8-20 pounds, very maximum.

So then, to kill and prepare and roast a 12-20 pound lamb would probably take about 4-5 hours to make sure it was well done. It's on a scooter. And so the meat was thoroughly done. And by the way, I want to mention something else here. All of this could have been done without them leaving their households. Because their households had a central room, this is according to the dual research, this is according to Nelson's Illustrated Bible of Manners and Customs, that time the Israelites' houses had a central courtyard.

The houses were built around a central courtyard when that central courtyard was open to the sky so they could do their cooking out there in that central courtyard. So they would have been able to roast that lamb without having to leave their houses. But with all that taking 4-5 hours, about what time of the night, because they had to kill the lamb, bleed it, then they would have to prepare on the scooter and roast it. With all that cooking that would take at least 4-5 hours, about what time of the night would it have been before they actually sat down to eat the Passover meal?

Well, it would have to have been very late. I'm saying, well, have you done the research? At that time of the year in Jerusalem, sunset was around 6 p.m. Thus the lamb would have been slain shortly after 6 p.m., if that was the case. And therefore they would not have begun eating the lamb, because it would take 4-5 hours to roast it, they wouldn't have begun eating it until probably around 11 p.m.

that night. Be late. What happened at midnight? Exodus 12, verse 29, And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. This is in the night, this is around midnight. And then the Passover, probably this cry went on for a while, I don't know how long, but one household discovered somebody dead, maybe their wife sending nips to them, or maybe their husband, or maybe a child in the other room, they discovered it.

Who knows? But then maybe that would wake other people up and they would discover somebody dead, and then maybe another household would. And so these cries might have been going on for a while, and how long we don't know. But this is the still of the night, midnight. Don't have any traffic sounds like we have here, you don't have a big city, any kind of noises, it's quiet, it's still, sound carries a long ways at night, when it's quiet, and it would have been quiet.

So, would they have heard it in the land of Goshen? You bet they would. They would have heard that. Israelites would have heard that cry. Now, if you had been in Israelite, who would have heard that cry, would you have then been anxious for morning to come, so you could burn the remains of the lamb and go out of your house? I mean, how would that, what kind of feelings of emotion would that have here, would you have when you're in Israelite in your house, all of a sudden you hear horrendous cries from these Egyptians who are living on the border of the land of Goshen that you would hear?

You might have been crying, you might have been going on for an hour or more. You'd wonder, what in the world is that? What's happened? You'd be, you'd be, boy, I sure, you'd kind of be anxious for morning to come, wouldn't you? Find out what's going on. Would you have been ready then to probably, you probably have a hard time sleeping the rest of that night if you're in Israelite, have a difficult time, but you've been anxious to probably go at the break of day.

Let's, because that looks at another, I want to look at another scripture here that's controversial. Exodus 12, beginning verse 10, this is 10 and 11, Exodus 12 verse 10, you shall not ever remain until morning, you shall burn with fire.

Then verse 11, and thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, you shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. See, the advocates of the 15th Passover say, hey, yeah, they ate it in haste and they left right then immediately. But that's not what the Bible says. It says they had to remain in their houses until morning.

But what kind of emotional feelings would cause you to want to eat it in haste?

The Hebrew word translated haste here is derived from a prime root Hebrew word meaning to fear or to tremble.

I'm sure the Israelites were now harboring feelings of fear and trepidation when they heard all these cries coming from the land of Egypt as they waited for the morning to come.

But before moving to the daytime portion of Israel's first Passover, let's first ask this. Where did the Israelites live? Let's go back just a few chapters to Exodus 8, just one verse, Exodus 8, verse 22. Exodus 8, verse 22, in that day is the times of the plagues here, but it shows where they lived. And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen in which my people dwell.

So the Israelites lived in the land of Goshen, which was a portion of Egypt that a former pharaoh had given to Joseph at a previous time, Genesis 47, verses 4-6, where it is also called the best of the land of Egypt.

In the land of Goshen, if you do a little research, it encompasses nearly about 300 square miles. It's about 20 miles from north to south, 20 miles long north to south and 15 miles east to west. Genesis 47-11 adds this, The land of Ramses was the area surrounding the city of Ramses. And the city of Ramses had been built by the slave labor, the children of Israel, when they were slaves in Egypt, as a supply city where they stored supplies.

Exodus 1, verse 11. And the city of Ramses bordered the land of Goshen. I have a Bible Explorer 3, a CD-ROM, which includes maps of biblical time periods. And according to this map of the Middle East during the time of Abraham and Moses, the city of Ramses was located on the eastern border of the land of Goshen. Now, the reason that information is important is because it was from the city of Ramses that the Israelites began their journey out of Egypt on the day after the Passover, Numbers 33, verse 3, which we'll read a little later.

But where did the Israelites live? They lived in the land of Goshen, which is a 300-square-mile area located west of the city of Ramses. Now, then, let's move on to the next question. Let's move on to the next period, I should say, to the daytime portion of Israel's first Passover and ask this first question. When did the Israelites leave their houses? Well, we already read, None of you should go out of the door of his house until morning, Exodus 12, verse 22.

Now, why am I asking this again? Because advocates of a 15th Passover say, morning can be any time after midnight. What does Scripture tell us, though? And what is the definition of the Hebrew word translated morning? The Hebrew word translated morning is bokeh, B-O-Q-E-R.

You can look it up as number 1242 in Strong's Concordance, which defines a bokeh as dawn, a break of day, or morning. Now, not just after midnight, is there a Scripture that supports that definition? Yes, there is. Let's go back just a little bit to 1 Samuel 14.

There's a portion of this Scripture here, 1 Samuel 14, verse 36, in the time of Saul. Saul said, let's go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light. The Hebrew word translated morning here is the same word as translated morning in Exodus 12, 22. It's the Hebrew word bokeh. And it's usage here clearly associates it with light, or with dawn, or the break of day.

So that usage of that word indicates it does mean as the sun is starting to come up, it's starting to get light at the break of day, morning. So there's no doubt in regards to when the Israelites left their houses. They left their houses at the break of day as the morning light was just beginning to dawn. Next question. How many Israelites were there, the left Egypt? How many left Ramses to begin their journey out of Egypt? Let's go back to Exodus 12 because it gives us the exact number. Exodus 12, verses 37 and 38. Exodus 12, verse 37. Then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkot, about 600,000 men on foot besides children.

And it doesn't mention the wives, but maybe besides wives and children. It says men. And then verse 38 adds, A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds and a great deal, livestock.

So now if we add women and children and a mixed multitude to the 600,000, the total must probably, in all estimates, would be probably 2 million or more. Plus their flocks and herds and a great deal of livestock. Now, why is that important and why is it significant? It's significant, I believe, for two reasons. Number one, they would have had to travel by day to guide the animals and to see where they were going and make sure they didn't lose any animals or livestock. They would keep track of everyone and everything. It would have been hard to do that.

It would have been night. And B, it would take the entire daylight portion of that Passover day to journey from their houses to Ramses on foot, as is emphasized there in verse 37. 600,000 men on foot. They had to walk. They walked. Now, you can't walk too fast with all that. Keep track of your livestock and make sure you don't lose them and keep them and so on. Now, remember, I already mentioned the land of Gosha was an area that encompassed 300 square miles, being 15 miles wide and about 20 miles long.

That means that some of the Israelites had to travel probably at least, like an estimate, between 12 to 15 miles from their houses to get to Ramses so they could assemble in Ramses to leave Egypt. So, 15 miles, some of them had to travel. How long would that take on foot with their flocks and herds and livestock? To go 12 to 15 miles on foot with their flocks and herds and livestock would probably take, I would guess, probably six to eight hours.

That's of course for those who might have lived closer to Ramses. All of them to get to Ramses, to assemble to where they could then be ready to leave Ramses, would have required most, if not nearly all, the daylight portion of that Passover day, including, as we'll see in a moment, time to assemble in Ramses in an organized way. Now, next question. When did they plunder the Egyptians? Why is this an important question?

It's important because those who claim all these events occurred on the night of the 15th, then also claim that the Israelites plundered the Egyptians sometime prior to the death of the firstborn. They based that on Exodus 12, verse 35 to 36, as it is translated in both the New King James and the Old King James.

Let's read it. That's the way you take it, the way it's translated here. Exodus 12, verse 35. Now the children of Israel had done, according to the word of Moses, and they had asked for the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the Egyptians favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians. But is that really how it occurred?

The Hebrew conveys a slightly different meaning, as some other translations properly indicate. And there are several, but I just want to quote from two of them. This is how the American Standard Version translates this verse. The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked for the Egyptians jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment. And Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so they let them have what they asked.

Not necessarily indicating that this happened in the past. It's just like it happened prior to us. It doesn't really indicate that it was in the past. It just occurred. Also, the New Jerusalem Bible says, The sons of Israel did as Moses had them, and asked the Egyptians for silver ornaments and gold and for clothing. And Yahweh gave the people such prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians that they gave them what they asked. Not necessarily indicating that this happened in the past. It doesn't really tell you when the time period might have happened. But what do scriptures indicate? There's a scripture that tells us when they pointed to the Egyptians about the time period that it was after the tenth plague, not before. Let's go there. Let's go to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3, beginning in verse 19. This is God telling Moses what was going to occur.

The tenth plague, of course, being the death of all the Egyptian firstborn. And then it says, After that, I will let you go. It indicates that they would plunder the Egyptians after all, after the tenth plague. Verse 21 here in Exodus 3. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall be, When you go, that you shall not go, empty-handed.

Now, when did they go? When did they leave their homes? They began to go. They began to leave their houses after daybreak during the daylight portion of the Passover day, as we've already shown. Right about the daybreak, after the sun was coming up. Verse 22, But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely of her who dwells near her house, Articles of the talking about the Egyptians, the Egyptian neighbors, who are surrounding the land of Goshen, lived on the border of the land of Goshen, of her who dwells near her house, Articles of silver, Articles of gold and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, So shall you, you shall plunder the Egyptians.

So they plundered the Egyptians as they were leaving for Ramses. I mean, think of it this way. Would the Egyptians have given their valuables, their gold and their silver and their nice clothing, would they have given that, just handed it over to the Israelites, before the tenth plague, before the death of all their firstborn? Not likely. However, after the death of their firstborn, they thought they might all die, and they would want them to leave at any cost.

They'd be willing to give them anything they wanted to get rid of them, because they're afraid they're all going to die. So would they have plundered the Egyptians? They would have plundered the Egyptians after they left their houses during the daylight portion of the fourteenth, as they begin to travel to Ramses. That then covers the major events that occurred during the daytime portion of the Israelites' first Passover, then leads to this question. When and where did their exodus out of Egypt begin? Well, it began in Ramses, as we read in Exodus 1237.

Then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkot. They all assembled in Ramses, which is where their journey out of Egypt began. Now let's go to Numbers 33. Numbers 33, verse 1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. The Hebrew word translated armies means an organized mass of persons.

In other words, they left in an organized manner. Each group had a leader. They went in an organized way, not just a mass, people just leaving. They left in an organized manner under the hand of Moses and Aaron. To do that, to organize in that way, would have taken whatever daylight portion of that Passover day remained, as they began time and time, getting into this area of Ramses.

That would have taken some time, as again whatever daylight portion of the Passover day was left. But again, when and where did they begin their journey? Where did their ex-Sabbath of Egypt begin? Verse 2 tells us, Now, Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. Now, before we go on, I want to pause here for a moment because it's an extremely important lesson here. Why would God command them to write down the starting points of their journeys? Why would that matter hundreds of years later?

Why would it matter to know exactly where they stopped here, and then they stopped here for the night, and they went here? Why would that be important? God obviously wanted future generations to know the route He took in leading them out of Egypt. Why would He want future generations to know the route that He took in leading them out of Egypt? Why would that be important for future generations to understand? Because, as God told Isaiah, as we recorded in Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9, He said, Where did God promise to take the children of Israel?

He promised to take them and give them the land of Canaan, didn't He?

He had promised to give them the land of Canaan. That's invegs this question. In what direction from Ramses was the land of Canaan?

The land of Canaan was northeast of Ramses, to the northeast of Ramses.

But in Exodus 12, 37, it says, The children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkoth. Go get out of battle, Matt. You've got a chance. In what direction from Ramses was Sukkoth? Sukkoth was southeast of Ramses. Take this curtain here. We'll say this land of the ocean right here. This is the land of the ocean here. This is the land of the ocean here. Ramses right about here.

Canaan is up here. Sukkoth is down here.

In other words, instead of leading them north toward the land of Canaan, God instead led them south away from the land of Canaan. Now, if you've been in Israel, you say, What in the world is God doing? We're not going the right direction. We're going exactly the wrong direction. Can we follow this Moses and Aaron and this God?

Why did God do that? It's a fascinating story which could easily take an entire sermon because there's more to it than that. God not only led them in the wrong direction, He also led them into the wilderness where there was no food or water. He led them into the Sinai wilderness. Right in down here, you go to the map, look at the Sinai Peninsula. He led them into the Sinai Peninsula. It was nothing but wilderness. There was no food there. There was not much water there. And even beyond that, where did He lead them to when He finally got down there in the Sinai Peninsula? Where did He lead them to? He led them to the Red Sea. He led them to a place where there's mountains on the south, mountains on the north. There's a Red Sea before them, and now they're being pursued by the Egyptian army, and they're in a trap. God led them into a trap. He led them in the wrong direction. He led them in a trap, and it looked like they were all going to die. They thought that was the end of this. Why are we following this God? It's crazy. But that forced the children of Israel to do what? It forced them to have to live by faith.

And to rely solely on the power of God to save them. They had to live by faith, and they had to rely on the power of God, and they had to realize that God knows what He's doing, even if we can't figure it out, it doesn't make any sense. See, all of us have to learn some of these same lessons, and that is why God commanded them to write down the starting points of their journeys. So when nothing makes sense, realize, well, God, it makes sense to God, and someday I'll understand why this happened to me.

But now let's go back to Ramses, again, when did their excess out of Egypt begin? Numbers 33, verse 2. Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting points. They departed from Ramses on the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of the Egyptians. So it's absolutely clear, then, from this verse, the children of Israel began their journey out of Egypt on the first day of Unleavened Bread. In the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover. Of course, the first day of Unleavened Bread, as we know, begins the sunset. So since they went out on the first day of Unleavened Bread and began the sunset, did Israel then begin going out of Egypt at night? Deuteronomy 16, verse 1. Deuteronomy 16, verse 1. Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. So Numbers 33, verses 1-3, clearly tells us that the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt and departed from Ramses on the first day of Unleavened Bread. And here in Deuteronomy 16.1, we're told they were brought out of Egypt by night. So that tells us they began to leave Egypt from Ramses during the nighttime portion of the first day of Unleavened Bread. But now, let me ask this.

Was it totally dark when they left? Or was it twilight? Or about the same time during which the Passover lambs were sacrificed on the previous evening? We don't have to guess. We're told right here in Deuteronomy 16, precisely when they began to leave Ramses on the first day of Unleavened Bread. Deuteronomy 16, verse 6.

But at the place where the Lord your God chose to make his name abide, there you shall sacrifice to pass over twilight as we already covered. At the going down of the sun, again, it shows when twilight was, was the going down of the sun. At the time you came out of Egypt, or more clearly stated, at the same time you came out of Egypt.

Just as they killed the Passover lambs at twilight, at the going down of the sun, so they also began to leave Ramses on their journey out of Egypt at twilight, at the going down of the sun. That's what this is really saying. And that's what this verse implies, and it's the only explanation that fits the rest of the narrative as well. At the same time, it clarifies what would otherwise be a confusing scripture back in Numbers 33. Let's go back to Numbers 33.

Numbers 33, back to verse 3 again. We'll start in verse 3. They departed from Ramses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians, says they went out in the sight of all the Egyptians, for the Egyptians were still bearing all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them.

So here it says, Israel went out. They went out of Egypt. It says, in the sight of all the Egyptians, implying that they also saw that the Egyptians were still bearing all their firstborn at the time they began leaving Egypt. But if they went out by night, as we just read, then how could they have gone out in the sight of all the Egyptians, and have also seen them bearing all their firstborn? Well, we just read the answer in Deuteronomy 16.6. It was after sunset, but it was not yet dark. It was during that twilight portion of the fifteenth, when they began their journey out of Egypt from Ramses. So it was still light enough for the Egyptians, who were still, even after bearing their dead probably all that day, and on into now beginning the fifteenth of twilight, they're still bearing their dead. It was still light enough for the Egyptians, who were still in the process of bearing all their firstborn, to see the Israelites as they began to leave Egypt. What else does God say about that? First, we tie into the night to be remembered or observed. Let's go real quickly to Exodus 12, verse 42, to see what else God says of this. Exodus 12, just one verse, Exodus 12, verse 42, It is the night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt, for beginning to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. Or as the old King James has it, it is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt, a night to be much observed throughout their generations, which is why we still observe it and celebrate today, but only for a far greater reason than they did. We celebrate it, the night to be, for God's calling and delivering us out of spiritual Egypt, out of sin, and out of the ways of the world. One final point. What was the Passover and the first day of 11 bread memorialize? Just to clarify, they memorialized two separate events. The Passover memorialized God passing over the house of the Israelites, who had the blood of the slain Passover lamb on their doorposts. The first day of 11 bread memorializes God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. Or more probably the beginning of their deliverance out of Egypt, because it took a while to get them all delivered.

In conclusion, that is an overview of Israel's first Passover. To summarize, they killed the Passover lamb at the beginning of the 14th, between sunset and darkness, at their houses in the land of Goshen. It would have taken approximately four or five hours before they would have been ready to begin eating the Passover lamb, which would have probably taken up to about 11 p.m. that night or later. They would have still been in the process of eating their Passover meal when the Lord passed over around midnight. From that time on, and during the remainder of that night, they would have then heard the cry of the Egyptians as they discovered the death of their firstborns, which in turn would have caused the Israelites to have to eat the remainder of their Passover meal in haste, or it should be with fear and trepidation and a lot of anxiety. As they anxiously awaited for the break of day, at which time they could then leave their houses to begin their journey through the land of Goshen, to all assemble in organized manner at Ramses. As they journeyed to Ramses during that daytime portion of Israel's first Passover again, that was when they wanted the Egyptians, who were now ready to give them anything they asked for. And then at the end of that Passover day, they assembled in organized manner so they could then be ready to begin leaving Egypt from Ramses, immediately after sunset. They then began departing from Ramses as the sunset to end the 14th and begin the 15th. And they left the twilight in the sight of all the Egyptians, who were still in the process of burying their firstborn, making it a night to be much observed for their deliverance out of Egypt, and also making it, as it says, a day to be remembered, Exodus 13, verse 3. So that, then, is how all the events took place on Israel's first Passover.