Free group study handout
Exodus 12: Group Study Handout
How to use: read Exodus 12 aloud together, then take the questions in order. One page is enough for an evening.
Overview
Yahweh gives Moses and Aaron detailed instructions for the Passover in Egypt (vv. 1-13). Each family must select a lamb on the tenth day of the month. This lamb must be without defect and kept until the fourteenth day. The blood of the lamb will be put on the doorposts. When Yahweh strikes Egypt, He will pass over these marked houses. This event will be a lasting memorial for Israel, celebrated each year as a feast.
Key verse
“For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh.”
Exodus 12:12 (WEB)
Outline
- Exodus 12:1–13 Instructions for the Passover
- Exodus 12:14–24 Establishing the Feast
- Exodus 12:25–30 Firstborn Deaths in Egypt
- Exodus 12:31–41 The Israelites Depart
- Exodus 12:42–51 Passover Regulations and Exodus
Discussion questions
- In v6, why is the lamb to be kept until the fourteenth day?
- What does Yahweh command the Israelites to put on their doorposts in v7?
- The phrase 'this is Yahweh’s Passover' in v11: what is the implication of calling it His?
- In v36, why do the Israelites plunder the Egyptians after their liberation?
- When has an important meal in your life required you to act in haste, like eating the Passover?
Go deeper
Passages that echo Exodus 12: Exodus 13, Deuteronomy 16, Numbers 9.
Before next time: read Exodus 13.