Exodus 12: 43-51: “And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.”
The Passover was for Israel and not for the Egyptians. While it is true that any Egyptian could have followed the procedures and been covered by the blood when the angel of death passed over, it is highly unlikely. Because Israelis were “covered by the blood” and allowed to keep their firstborn alive, it was important that they remember this event for as long as they survived as a nation. The Lord, miraculously, brought this nation into existence and they would be indebted to the Lord for this miracle forever. However, strangers were not part of the miracle and they had no indebtedness so they were not to eat the meal celebrating the Passover. Because Israel had to leave in a hurry they didn’t have time to share their meal with others but had to eat quickly in their own homes so that they could leave with full stomaches and not perish with hunger as they fled. This meant that the salvation was individual and only those in the households protected by the blood were saved. This was why each family was to remember this personally, consequential on their personal salvation. Because the meal had to be eaten quickly, they didn’t have time to break the bones so they were to remember that, even though the Lord allowed them to spend many years as slaves, they came out in a hurry when the Lord decided the time was right, for His own purpose. However, household servants were considered as part of the family so they were able to eat the Passover meal too. Remember, before Isaac was born, that Eliezer of Damascus was Abraham’s heir (see Gen 15: 2, “And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?”). They came out on the very day that the Lord promised.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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