Single lesson
The First Passover and Its Observance
Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51
Exodus 12 gives Israel detailed instructions for the first Passover and for keeping it in later generations. The passage joins a household meal, God’s judgment in Egypt, and an ongoing act of worship and remembrance.
Before you teach
Yahweh speaks to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, sets the first month, and commands how the lamb is chosen, eaten, and marked by blood on the house. He explains that this relates to his striking of Egypt, and later adds rules for who may share the Passover. The passage also states that Yahweh brought Israel out that same day.
Explain the central teaching of The First Passover and Its Observance, using two details from the reading. The Passover is a carefully ordered memorial meal by which Israel remembers that Yahweh passed over their houses in Egypt and brought them out of the land that same day.
Welcome: The First Passover and Its Observance
5 minIntroduce “The First Passover and Its Observance” and locate Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51. The Passover is a carefully ordered memorial meal by which Israel remembers that Yahweh passed over their houses in Egypt and brought them out of the land that same day. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Exodus 12:1, Exodus 12:19, Exodus 12:51
Read and explain the passage
12 minYahweh marks this month as the beginning of Israel’s year. Each household is to take a lamb, or share with a neighbour if the household is too small. The lamb must be without defect, and it is kept until the fourteenth day and killed at evening. The meal begins with careful preparation and counting for those who will eat.
Yahweh says he will go through Egypt, strike the firstborn, and execute judgments against the gods of Egypt. The blood is the sign that he will pass over those houses. This day is to become a memorial feast. For seven days they are to eat unleavened bread, remove yeast from their houses, and hold holy convocations on the first and seventh days.
The later ordinance adds that no foreigner may eat the Passover. A bought servant may eat after circumcision, but a hired servant may not. The meal must be eaten in one house, with no meat taken outside and no bones broken. A stranger living among Israel may keep it after circumcision, and the same law applies to native-born and stranger. Alongside this ordinance, the passage says that same day Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “The First Passover and Its Observance”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Exodus 12:2, Exodus 12:3, Exodus 12:4, Exodus 12:5, Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:12, Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:16, Exodus 12:19, Exodus 12:20, Exodus 12:43, Exodus 12:44, Exodus 12:45, Exodus 12:46, Exodus 12:48, Exodus 12:49, Exodus 12:51
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “Why did the Israelites put blood on the doorposts and lintel?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. The Passover is a carefully ordered memorial meal by which Israel remembers that Yahweh passed over their houses in Egypt and brought them out of the land that same day. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:23, Exodus 12:11, Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:26, Exodus 12:27
Make and respond: Instruction and context chart
12 minWork on “The First Passover and Its Observance: Instruction and context chart”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “The First Passover and Its Observance” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Exodus 12:1, Exodus 12:19, Exodus 12:51
Closing: return to The First Passover and Its Observance
3 minRevisit Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about The First Passover and Its Observance and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Exodus 12:1, Exodus 12:19, Exodus 12:51
Questions to explore
Why did the Israelites put blood on the doorposts and lintel?
Yahweh says the blood would be a sign on the houses, and when he saw it, he would pass over them when he struck the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:23
What features of the meal showed that the people were to be ready to leave?
Look especially at the belt, sandals, staff, and the command to eat in haste.
Exodus 12:11
How does this passage show that Passover was meant to teach later generations?
Notice both the command to keep it as a memorial and the instruction for answering children who ask what the service means.
Exodus 12:14, Exodus 12:26, Exodus 12:27
Make, think or respond
The First Passover and Its Observance: Instruction and context chart
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “Who is addressed?”, “What is required?”, “What reason or purpose is given?”.
- Read Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51. Use “The First Passover and Its Observance” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Under the chart, distinguish instructions in their original setting from an application you could discuss today.
The finished sheet keeps the details of The First Passover and Its Observance connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “The First Passover and Its Observance” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Exodus 12
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;
4 and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls. You shall make your count for the lamb according to what everyone can eat.
5 Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.
6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.
7 They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it.
8 They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.
9 Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.
10 You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.
12 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. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh.
13 The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
15 “ ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, only that may be done by you.
17 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.
19 There shall be no yeast found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.
20 You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.
22 You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23 For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
24 You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.
25 It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service.
26 It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
27 that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’ ” The people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 The children of Israel went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
43 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,
44 but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
45 A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.
46 It must be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones.
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49 One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you.”
50 All the children of Israel did so. As Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51 That same day, Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.