We tend to categorize sins into big sins and little sins. For example, we believe that murder is much worse than telling a little white lie. There is some truth to that, but Exodus 12 teaches us that even little sins can have serious consequences. If the Israelites ate the wrong bread at the wrong time, they risked being cut off from the congregation. The lesson for us is that every one of God’s commands needs to be taken seriously, no matter how minor and insignificant it may be.
Learn more in the following video:
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Ex. 12:1 Now the LORD[Yahweh] said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
Ex. 12:2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you[Israel]; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
Ex. 12:3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they[Israel] are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
Ex. 12:4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he[an Israelite] and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
Ex. 12:5 ‘Your[Israel] lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Ex. 12:6 ‘You[Israel] shall keep it[lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
Ex. 12:7 ‘Moreover, they[Israel] shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it[lamb].
Ex. 12:8 ‘They[Israel] shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Ex. 12:9 ‘Do not eat any of it[lamb] raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.
Ex. 12:10 ‘And you[Israel] shall not leave any of it[lamb] over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.
Ex. 12:11 ‘Now you[Israel] shall eat it[lamb] in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste — it is the LORD’S[Yahweh’s] Passover.
Ex. 12:12 ‘For I[Yahweh] will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments — I am the LORD[Yahweh].
Ex. 12:13 ‘The blood shall be a sign for you[Israel] on the houses where you live; and when I[Yahweh] see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Ex. 12:14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you[Israel], and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD[Yahweh]; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
Ex. 12:15 ‘Seven days you[Israel] shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Ex. 12:16 ‘On the first day you[Israel] shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
Ex. 12:17 ‘You[Israel] shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I[Yahweh] brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.
Ex. 12:18 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you[Israel] shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Ex. 12:19 ‘Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your[Israel] houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
Ex. 12:20 ‘You[Israel] shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
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“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.”