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ON THE FRONT DOOR

by Barri Cae Mallin

Shalom. My name is Barri Cae. I was raised in a Jewish home and was saved in 1980
in my cousin's Jewish delicatessen. To God be all the glory. Shalom.

Today is Nissan 10 in the Hebrew calendar, the day that all children of Israel were to take a lamb for themselves. That little lamb was to live with the family for a few days.

Exodus 12:3 says,
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household." This lamb was to be a male, unblemished, one year old. Perhaps it was a family pet of one of the children. Every Israelite was to do this. Every Israelite was to to take a lamb for themselves. This lamb became part of this family for these days.

This was a universal judgment. The entire congregation of Israel was to do this. This was a universal edict from God. This was an awesome edict from God. The children of Israel had been prisoners in the land of Egypt, under bondage to many Pharaohs. Moses, God’s spokesman, and Israel had witnessed nine plagues God had brought upon this country; here was the tenth. Unlike the other nine plagues where Israel had been protected, this was a universal edict. All Israel needed to heed God.

This was a peculiar edict. A lamb was to be selected. Meticulous orders had to be followed. Did you live in a poor home? Then you and your neighbor were to share in the sacrifice of the lamb. It was to be kept until Nissan 14.

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight (Exodus 12:6). God even gave the time of day when this lamb was to be killed. Not in the daylight, not at the darkness, but at twilight.

Specific instructions followed regarding the cooking preparation, the eating of the lamb, who was to partake and why.

They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire (Exodus 12:8-10).

Instructions were given on how one was to be dressed.
Now you shall eat it 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 Passover (Exodus 12:11). Note that this is not the Jews' Passover; this is the LORD’S Passover.

For I 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 (Exodus 12:12).

But the instructions included the following:
Moreover, they 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. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:7,13).

God required blood. The blood of the lamb. In preparing the lamb, the blood was to be drained from the lamb’s body. In Kosher food preparation, all blood is to be drained from meat. Leviticus 17:11 says,
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, so all life had to be drained from a dead animal before consumption. Blood is only used for religious purposes. But the blood of the lamb is used here in a much different way.

The blood was to be applied to the lintels and the two doorposts. The lintel is the horizontal crosspiece over the door. The doorposts are the vertical supports. Most homes in ancient times had only one main door. If there was another door, it was used for animals to go in and out, as in cold winters; animals would occupy the homes because of the warmth.

The blood of the lamb was to be applied on the crosspiece and the two sides. Some scholars note that this is the first sign of the cross. But what is interesting is that the blood is to be applied on the front door, not on a window, not on a back animal entrance (which one would think it would have been good as it was the larger entrance). No, the blood had to be placed on the front door, to proclaim that this home is redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13).

There are times when I place the blood on the back door. There are times in my own life when I want to keep my witness for Yeshua on the back burner, on the back of my shirt, on my back door, not on the front door. Do I watch something on TV that I should not? Do I read questionable content? Do I speak wrong against my neighbor?

LORD, forgive me for not giving the respect due to the Lamb of God. May we never be ashamed of the Blood of the Lamb, for Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)


Copyright © Barri Cae Mallin.

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This article has been edited and may be read in its original form here.
More devotionals by Barri Cae may be found at this location
and
at www.barricae.com. To receive them by email,
inquire at
barricae@comcast.net.

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