Exodus 12:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Baptist bears witness to Him, proclaiming, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Lamb without a voice cannot eliminate sin, and thus the resulting death from sin, whereas the more sentient Lamb has liberated us from sin, conquering death in the process.

The sheep serves as a sacred offering. As it is written, “as a sheep, He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer, He remained silent” (Acts 8:32). John also states, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The act of selecting the lamb on the tenth day of the month bears immense symbolic significance. The period leading up to the gospel was dominated by the law, with the Ten Commandments being its pivotal doctrine, and it is following the Ten Commandments that the enigmatic Lamb from heaven arrives.

On the tenth day of the month, a lamb is chosen and kept until the fourteenth, when it is to be slain in the evening. This brings forth a question: why not take the lamb on the first of the month? The reasoning for this is indeed profound. What could have hindered it from being selected on the first day? Why did God ordain that the sacrifice, after being observed for five days, should only be offered at evening? The span of these five days starts from the tenth and culminates at the fourteenth. The fact that the lamb is chosen not on the first but on the tenth signifies the passage of many times and ages before us, through which God has always existed. Following this is our current age, which can also be divided into five periods.

The parable of the Savior aptly reflects this understanding: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard, and having agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, sent them into his vineyard. And they went. Going out again about the sixth and ninth hour, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idle, and he said to them, Why do you stand here all day idle? They said unto him, No man hath hired us. He said to them, Go ye also into my vineyard” (Matthew 20:1-7). Here we see our age clearly divided into five distinct times. The first period corresponds to the time when Adam existed in paradise. The second, represented as the “third hour,” corresponds to the age of Noah and his contemporaries. The third, denoted as the “sixth hour,” aligns with the time when God, who is supreme, called Abraham to the truth. The fourth, marked as “about the ninth hour,” corresponds to the era of Moses and the prophets. Finally, “about the eleventh hour,” which signifies the fifth hour, occurs as the day wanes, and at this time, Christ called the Gentiles, who had not been summoned to know God before this. Consequently, the last group declares, “no man hath hired us.” Thus, the lamb is taken beginning on the tenth day, symbolizing the dawn of an age, and it is kept and ultimately slain on the fourteenth at evening, signifying that the sacrament of Christ was not a new or recent practice but was foreknown by the Father since the foundation of the world (cf. Eph. 3:9).

Christ died for us during the final moments of this age, when divine illumination was not yet present, and the earth remained engulfed in ignorance, with worldly individuals tainting hearts with falsehood. Therefore, the Savior, who came to earth, declared: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; John 9:5). The saints, referred to as “lights in the world” and holding the word of life, rightly hear the calling: “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), as they have the power to sanctify those in darkness.

You may be surprised to observe an additional aspect in this sacramental event. The lamb is sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month, when the moon is full, illuminating the world with a deceptive light, yet beginning to wane gradually, thus forfeiting its inherent honor and grace. This analogy illustrates that the prince of darkness, the devil, was glorified throughout creation, symbolized by the moon (seen as the "beginning of the night," Genesis 1:16), representing a false light—the wisdom of this world—that deceives the hearts of the misguided and grants the enemy his fleeting glory. Yet, Christ, the true “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), died for us, abolishing the devil's glory. For it needed to diminish progressively as multitudes among the Gentiles turned towards peace and love for God through faith in Him (Psalm 71:7). The Psalms of old proclaimed of Christ: “In his days shall the righteous flourish, and there shall be an abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.” Indeed, in Christ’s era, righteousness illuminated through faith, while peace abounded through turning to God. Furthermore, the prince of darkness, the devil, is also removed from power.

Note, however, that it is stated that the moon is not merely taken away but replaced by something else; for the devil, who initially led humanity to death, is himself defeated in retribution. “Let each one take,” it is said, “one lamb according to his family.” For Christ is made whole in each believer through the communion of the Holy Spirit and shall not be divided, as Paul declares (1 Corinthians 1:13).

The law is ancient, but the Word is fresh; the image is fleeting, but grace is everlasting; the sacrificial lamb is corruptible, yet the Lord is incorruptible. He was slain as a lamb but rose as God. Even though ‘like a sheep he was led to the slaughter’ (Isaiah 53:7), he is not merely a sheep; although he resembled a silent lamb, he transcends that image. In truth, God took the place of the lamb, humanity took the place of the sheep, and in humanity resides Christ, who embodies all.

Look closely at the act of slaughter, the Passover celebration, and the commandments; all are fulfilled in Christ, through whom all was established under the old covenant and even more abundantly in the new revelation. The law transitioned into the Word, the old transformed into the new, descending from Zion and Jerusalem; the commandment turned into grace, the image into truth, the lamb into the Son, the sheep into humanity, and humanity into God.

As the Son, he was begotten; as a lamb, he was led away; as a sheep, he was sacrificed; as a man, he was buried; and as God, he rose from the dead, existing simultaneously as both God and man. He encompasses all: the Law as the one who judges, the Word as the teacher, Grace as the savior, the Father as the begetter, the Son as the born, the sheep as the sufferer, the man as the buried, and God as the resurrected.

This is Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.

In the context of the Passover, we observe its origins during a time when the Jewish people found themselves enslaved in a foreign land, feeling hopeless under the oppressive rule of their captors. In this moment of despair, Almighty God revealed to them the means of their liberation. The angel sent to strike down the firstborn of Egypt simultaneously became the instrument of salvation for God's chosen people. The blood of the lamb, which marked their homes, served as a symbol and assurance of their protection.

Just as sin entered the world through one man, corrupting human nature so that all fell short of God’s glory, humanity was enveloped in darkness and the pall of death, with no light to guide them. Yet, in a magnificent display of grace, God's love unveiled the path to salvation through the Divine Lamb, Jesus Christ, who serves as the mediator of eternal life and the shield against the wrath of divine justice.

9:7), and the slaughter of this lamb, like any sacrificial animal, was commanded to take place after the arrangements for public worship had been made, prior to the altar (Deut. 16:5).

"In accordance with the house of the fathers, each lamb was to be designated according to his household." The households designated to prepare the lamb were termed the houses of the fathers, as they were named after the patriarchs of the families residing within them, such as the house of Reuben and the house of Eli. The lamb was to be set apart four days before it was sacrificed—this early preparation allowed every Israelite the opportunity to reflect on the significance of this propitiatory sacrifice, acknowledging God's great mercy, which the sacrifice would commemorate for generations to come. Additionally, it emphasized that as they prepared for their imminent exodus from Egypt, attending to the paschal sacrifice was paramount above all else. Given the urgency of the Hebrews’ departure, it was crucial to prepare the paschal sacrifice beforehand; otherwise, the demands of their departure preparations could have left them without time for this vital act of worship. Had they postponed it, the many obligations involved in their journey might have consumed all their time, leaving no opportunity for the essential task.