by which Israel was introduced into the new life of fellowship with Jehovah. גּר, a stranger, was a non-Israelite who lived for a time, or possibly for his whole life, in the midst of the Israelitish nation, but without being incorporated into it by circumcision. הארץ אזרח, a tree that grows upon the soil in which it was planted; hence indigena, the native of a country. This term was applied to the Israelites, “because they had sprung from Isaac and Jacob, who were born in the land of Canaan, and had received it from God as a permanent settlement” (Clericus). The feast of Mazzoth, the commemoration of Israel's creation as the people of Jehovah (Isa 43:15-17), was fixed for seven days, to stamp upon it in the number seven the seal of the covenant relationship. This heptad of days was made holy through the sanctification of the first and last days by the holding of a holy assembly, and the entire suspension of work. The beginning and the end comprehended the whole. In the eating of unleavened bread Israel laboured for meat for the new life (Joh 6:27), whilst the seal of worship was impressed upon this new life in the holy convocation, and the suspension of labour was the symbol of rest in the Lord.
verses 21-28
Of the directions given by Moses to the elders of the nation, the leading points only are mentioned here, viz., the slaying of the lamb and the application of the blood (Exo 12:21, Exo 12:22). The reason for this is then explained in Exo 12:23, and the rule laid down in Exo 12:24-27 for its observance in the future.
verses 21-22
“Withdraw and take:” משׁך is intransitive here, to draw away, withdraw, as in Jdg 4:6; Jdg 5:14; Jdg 20:37. אזוב אגדּת: a bunch or bundle of hyssop: according to Maimonides, “quantum quis comprehendit manu sua.” אזוב (ὕσσωπος) was probably not the plant which we call hyssop, the hyssopus officinalis, for it is uncertain whether this is to be found in Syria and Arabia, but a species of origanum resembling hyssop, the Arabian zâter, either wild marjoram or a kind of thyme, Thymus serpyllum, mentioned in Forsk. flora Aeg. p. 107, which is very common in Syria and Arabia, and is called zâter, or zatureya, the pepper or bean plant. “That is in the bason;” viz the bason in which the blood had been caught when the animal was killed. והגּעתּם, “and let it reach to, i.e., strike, the lintel:” in ordinary purifications the blood was sprinkled with the bunch of hyssop (Lev 14:51; Num 19:18). The reason
