Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the instructions for the festival of Passover. No outsiders are allowed to eat the Passover meal. But any slave who has been purchased may eat it if he has been circumcised. Temporary residents and hired servants may not eat it. Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones. The whole community of Israel must celebrate this Passover festival. “If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised. Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite. But no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal. This instruction applies to everyone, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner living among you.” So all the people of Israel followed all the LORD’s commands to Moses and Aaron. On that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt like an army. [Exodus 12.43-51]
I noted the passage above for a different reason than usual. I noted the passage above because of its placement in the book of Exodus.
Obviously, the passage above is a little out of timing with the immediately preceding it. Actually the instructions for the Passover had already been given in the first part of chapter 12. The passage above seems like an addendum or an afterthought.
With this noted, it is important for modern readers of Exodus to understand a couple of things. First, Moses is assumed to be he author of Exodus. There are also ideas that perhaps Moses served as editor of Exodus compiling writings of others along with those of his own.
We must remember that the Ten Commandments were inscribed on tablets of stone - there were no mass printing methods! Written texts were at a premium in Moses' day (and for years to follow for that matter). Jewish culture must also not be ruled out in its dependence upon oral history. The fact that we have ANY history of Israel is, in itself, a miracle.
Why is this important? Because if we forget all of this, we can get entirely too dogmatic about the details of the Bible at the expense of understanding the "story" of the Bible.
The second note worthy of remembering is that Exodus was not originally written in English! Because Exodus manuscripts were surely written in the language of the people of Israel, the Hebrew language must be the original method of record. I am not basing this on broad academic knowledge, but more upon basic understanding of the obvious. Only a quick review of historical Hebrew language (as indicated largely in popular Bibles with footnotes) will reveal that there is much that is unknown about it.
So, it is not worth "the argument" as to who's interpretation of certain passages in the Bible is right. What must be studied is the Message of the Bible - the Story, if you will. That Story is indeed consistent! God loves the world! God instituted a Plan, from the beginning, for the Redemption of man. God is a God of faith, and those who will please Him will live by faith. God further confirmed and revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Unequivocally, Jesus is the example for how to live a life pleasing to God on earth. God's Plan, from the beginning was, and is, to be in intimate fellowship with His creation - those who approach Him in faith according to His terms. His terms are to repent and believe that Jesus accomplished legal redemption for man's waywardness (sin).
I personally do not believe God ever intended for His Story to become an academic study. His Story was meant to convey His love for the world and His plan for its redemption. Frankly, Jesus never instructed His followers to withdraw to academic excellence. He did however, instruct His followers to reach the world with His Message of repentance (justice) and redemption (love). "Fact" was portrayed as unimportant by Jesus because He taught that "faith" could and should overcome any fact. To be sure, Jesus studied God's Message (remember His 12-yr old experience in the Temple), however, He scolded academia for their 'straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel!' To be sure, Jesus placed no premium on ignorance! However, Jesus marveled not at knowledge, but He marveled at faith.
Father, help us all to see Your Story throughout the book of Exodus and the entire Bible.
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