SEV Biblia, Chapter 12:2
Este mes os será cabeza de los meses; éste os será primero en los meses del año.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Exodus 12:2
Verse 2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months] It is supposed that God now changed the commencement of the Jewish year. The month to which this verse refers, the month Abib, answers to a part of our March and April; whereas it is supposed that previously to this the year began with Tisri, which answers to a part of our September; for in this month the Jews suppose God created the world, when the earth appeared at once with all its fruits in perfection. From this circumstance the Jews have formed a twofold commencement of the year, which has given rise to a twofold denomination of the year itself, to which they afterwards attended in all their reckonings: that which began with Tisri or September was called their civil year; that which began with Abib or March was called the sacred or ecclesiastical year.
As the exodus of the Israelites formed a particular era, which is referred to in Jewish reckonings down to the building of the temple, I have marked it as such in the chronology in the margin; and shall carry it down to the time in which it ceased to be acknowledged.
Some very eminently learned men dispute this; and especially Houbigant, who contends with great plausibility of argument that no new commencement of the year is noted in this place; for that the year had always begun in this month, and that the words shall be, which are inserted by different versions, have nothing answering to them in the Hebrew, which he renders literally thus. Hic mensis vobis est caput mensium; hic vobis primus est anni mensis. "This month is to you the head or chief of the months; it is to you the first month of the year." And he observes farther that God only marks it thus, as is evident from the context, to show the people that this month, which was the beginning of their year, should be so designated as to point out to their posterity on what month and on what day of the month they were to celebrate the passover and the fast of unleavened bread. Hi words are these: "Ergo superest, et Hebr. ipso ex contextu efficitur, non hic novi ordinis annum constitui, sed eum anni mensem, qui esset primus, ideo commemorari, ut posteris constaret, quo mense, et quo die mensis paseha et azyma celebranda essent."
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-20 - The Lord makes all things new to those whom he delivers from the bondage of Satan, and takes to himself to be his people. The time when he does this is to them the beginning of a new life. God appointe that, on the night wherein they were to go out of Egypt, each famil should kill a lamb, or that two or three families, if small, shoul kill one lamb. This lamb was to be eaten in the manner here directed and the blood to be sprinkled on the door-posts, to mark the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians. The angel of the Lord, when destroying the first-born of the Egyptians, would pass over the house marked by the blood of the lamb: hence the name of this holy feast of ordinance. The passover was to be kept every year, both as remembrance of Israel's preservation and deliverance out of Egypt, an as a remarkable type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not reward of their own righteousness, but the gift of mercy. Of this the were reminded, and by this ordinance they were taught, that all blessings came to them through the shedding and sprinkling of blood Observe, 1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our passover, 1C 5:7. Christ is the Lamb of God, Joh 1:29; often in the Revelation he is called the Lamb. It was to be in its prime; Christ offered up himsel in the midst of his days, not when a babe at Bethlehem. It was to be without blemish; the Lord Jesus was a Lamb without spot: the judge wh condemned Christ declared him innocent. It was to be set apart fou days before, denoting the marking out of the Lord Jesus to be Saviour, both in the purpose and in the promise. It was to be slain and roasted with fire, denoting the painful sufferings of the Lor Jesus, even unto death, the death of the cross. The wrath of God is a fire, and Christ was made a curse for us. Not a bone of it must be broken, which was fulfilled in Christ, Joh 19:33, denoting the unbroke strength of the Lord Jesus. 2. The sprinkling of the blood was typical The blood of the lamb must be sprinkled, denoting the applying of the merits of Christ's death to our souls; we must receive the atonement Ro 5:11. Faith is the bunch of hyssop, by which we apply the promises and the benefits of the blood of Christ laid up in them, to ourselves It was to be sprinkled on the door-posts, denoting the open professio we are to make of faith in Christ. It was not to be sprinkled upon the threshold; which cautions us to take heed of trampling under foot the blood of the covenant. It is precious blood, and must be precious to us. The blood, thus sprinkled, was a means of preserving the Israelite from the destroying angel, who had nothing to do where the blood was The blood of Christ is the believer's protection from the wrath of God the curse of the law, and the damnation of hell, Ro 8:1. 3. The solem eating of the lamb was typical of our gospel duty to Christ. The paschal lamb was not to be looked upon only, but to be fed upon. So we must by faith make Christ our own; and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our food, see Joh 6:53, 55 It was all to be eaten; those who by faith feed upon Christ, must fee upon a whole Christ; they must take Christ and his yoke, Christ and his cross, as well as Christ and his crown. It was to be eaten at once, no put by till morning. To-day Christ is offered, and is to be accepte while it is called to-day, before we sleep the sleep of death. It wa to be eaten with bitter herbs, in remembrance of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt; we must feed upon Christ with sorrow an brokenness of heart, in remembrance of sin. Christ will be sweet to us if sin be bitter. It was to be eaten standing, with their staves in their hands, as being ready to depart. When we feed upon Christ by faith, we must forsake the rule and the dominion of sin; sit loose to the world, and every thing in it; forsake all for Christ, and reckon i no bad bargain, Heb 13:13, 14. 4. The feast of unleavened bread wa typical of the Christian life, 1Co 5:7, 8. Having received Christ Jesu the Lord, we must continually delight ourselves in Christ Jesus. N manner of work must be done, that is, no care admitted and indulged which does not agree with, or would lessen this holy joy. The Jews wer very strict as to the passover, so that no leaven should be found in their houses. It must be a feast kept in charity, without the leaven of malice; and in sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy. It was by a ordinance for ever; so long as we live we must continue feeding upo Christ, rejoicing in him always, with thankful mention of the grea things he has done for us.
Original Hebrew
החדשׁ 2320 הזה 2088 לכם ראשׁ 7218 חדשׁים 2320 ראשׁון 7223 הוא 1931 לכם לחדשׁי 2320 השׁנה׃ 8141
