Exodus 12:7-8

Read Exodus 12:7-8

Here we have the instructions to Israel regarding the blood of the lamb. The blood which was to be placed on the doorposts and the lintel of the houses so that when the Destroyer came He would pass over and not kill the first born.

Regading the placement of the blood, note that it was to be placed in a very visual place, the above mentioned doorposts and the lintel of the house. Again, this was so the Angel of the Lord could note clearly which houses were marked for mercy, but what is the symbolic representation?

The blood on the outside of the house may be seen as apicture of how the blood of Christ, when applied to the sins of people, transforms us so that people know we are marked by something! It also points to the trust that God’s people have! We know, without a shadow of a doubt, that because the blood of Jesus was shed for us that God will someday welcome us into His arms with the greeting, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”!

Similarly, the Jews had this trust in God. They knew the Angel of Death was to pass their home seeking the firstborn to kill, yet they also knew that the simple act of sprinkling the blood was sufficient to keep the angel away. The Jews trusted and believed God. Still, remember what we we've already discussed...despite all of this, they continued to worship false gods, even in the Promised land!

Do you not realize that we too behave as the Jews? Having been purchased by the blood of the Lamb, we continue to sin against our Lord!

Now look at how verse 8 says that the people were to eat the lamb with unleavened bread. What does this represent?

Is leaven good?

That depends.

Leaven is, of course, what was (and is) used to make dough rise. In Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, it says that leaven was often “a piece of fermented dough retained from a previous baking that was placed in the new dough to cause it to rise.” The Bible uses it as examples of a substance that can permeate whatever it touches, and it is used as an example of both good and evil.

In this example, I think it is properly used as a form of something unwanted, something bad, which is why it is to be left out of the meal.

Let us look at an application for this metaphor of the leaven.

How does it apply to us?

The leaven, you see, is something that takes control of what it is immersed in, so we must discard the leaven of sin in our lives. Whatever practices we have, whatever things we contemplate that we know keep us from being totally devoted to Godd...then we are to root them out of our lives. We all know what these things are in our lives...so let us strive to daily examine ourselves and make sure such leaven does not corrupt us!

God bless!