Exodus 12:18 - Forerunner Commentary

Exodus 12:18

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus 12:18:

Exodus 12:15-20
Excerpted from: Unleavened Bread Basics

In verse 17, God gives the fundamental reason for this feast. It says, “for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt.” In other words, it is a memorial of God’s deliverance. That’s why God commands this Feast to be observed—to continually remember His deliverance. That’s the foundation. All the other aspects of this Feast build on top of it. The eating of unleavened bread and avoiding leavening are things we do in response, but the reason God gives for the feast is to memorialize His deliverance.

These verses contain something else. Even though rejoicing is not directly mentioned in the instructions, it is still a feast, and so rejoicing is implied. Granted, the food we eat is somewhat unusual compared to what we normally associate with a festive occasion. We have to rejoice without pretzels or pizza or cookies. Instead, our rejoicing includes the bread of affliction, which we will look at later. But nevertheless, this feast is an appointed time for us to remember God’s deliverance, and rejoicing should be the result.

This is a sidenote, but it relates here. We commonly refer to this week as the “Days of Unleavened Bread.” That phrase is only used in two places, both in Acts (Acts 12:3; 20:6). It refers to the time or season in which unleavened bread is used, and that span of time began before the seven-day Feast. But the Bible consistently calls the seven-day observance itself the “Feast of Unleavened Bread,” which shows that it is a time to celebrate. Physical Israel kept this Feast as a memorial of God’s deliverance from Egypt. Spiritual Israel keeps this Feast as a memorial of an even greater, spiritual deliverance.

Exodus 12:18-20
Excerpted from: Principled Living (Part 3): Growing in Righteousness

No leaven shall be found. Verse 18 said to eat unleavened bread. Verse 19 said no leavening shall be found, meaning do not eat anything leavened.

This reiteration of the command emphatically emphasizes these things about the Days of Unleavened Bread. It emphatically emphasizes the command regarding leavening. As we went through there we saw verse 18 was all about the positive aspects of eating unleavened bread. Verse 19 was all about the negative aspects of eating leavened products. And then, verse 20 hits them both, first the negative, and then the positive.

So you see, there is symmetry here: Positive negative; negative positive. God brackets the two negatives with the two positives. What we see here from just these three verses is that it is equally important not to eat leavened bread as it is to eat unleavened bread. We must do both of these things to fulfill God's command for this holy day season.

Articles
Countdown to Pentecost 2001  (2)
Pentecost Revisited (Part One): Counting Consistently

Bible Studies
Holy Days: God's Plan in the Holy Days

Essays
Is Passover on the First Day of Unleavened Bread? (Part One)
Making the Cut (Part Two)
Rehearsing God's Plan
Should Passover Be Observed for Seven Days?

Sermons
Principled Living (Part 3): Growing in Righteousness
Completing Sanctification
Do You Recognize This Man? (Part 2)
Considered Rather Than Commanded - Choose Life
Letters to Seven Churches (Part Seven): Repentance
Deleavening the Home
Sincerity and Truth (Part One)
Magic Doesn't Work (Part 3)
Deuteronomy 16, Passover, and the Night to be Much Observed
Principled Living (Part 2): Conquering Sin
Re-education (Part 2)
James and Unleavened Bread (Part 3)
James and Unleavened Bread (Part 1)

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