to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — perfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
passover
πάσχαpascha
G3957
the Passover (the meal · noun — accusative singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
sprinkling
πρόσχυσινproschusin
G4378
a shedding forth · noun — accusative singular feminine
blood
αἵματος,aimatos
G129
blood · noun — genitive singular neuter
lest
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
destroyed
ὀλοθρεύωνolothreuōn
G3645
to spoil · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
firstborn
πρωτότοκαprōtotoka
G4416
first-born (usually as noun · adjective — accusative plural neuter
touch
θίγῃthigē
G2345
to manipulate · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
them
αὐτῶν.¶autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 12:21-30 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the pa…
Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and sc…
Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of…
Exodus 12:3-14 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 11:4-31
The apostle, having given us a more general account of the grace of faith, now proceeds to set before us some illustrious examples of it in the Old Testament times, and these may be divided into two classes: - 1. Those whose names are mentioned, and the particular exercise and actings of whose faith are specified. 2. Those whose names are barely mentioned, and an account given in general of the exploits of their faith, which it is left to the reader to accommodate, and apply to the particular persons from what he gathers up in the sacred story. We have here those whose names are not only mentioned, but the particular trials and actings of their faith are subjoined.
I. The leading instance an…
kept--Greek, "hath kept," the Passover being, in Paul's day, still observed. His faith here was his belief in the invisible God's promise that the destroying angel should pass over, and not touch the inmates of the blood-sprinkled houses (Exo 12:23). "He acquiesced in the bare word of God where the thing itself was not apparent" [CALVIN].
the first-born--Greek neuter; both of man and beast.
Adam Clarke on Hebrews 11:28
He kept the passover - God told him that he would destroy the first-born of the Egyptians, but would spare all those whose doors were sprinkled with the blood of the paschal lamb. Moses believed this, kept the passover, and sprinkled the blood. See the notes on Exodus 12 (note). One of the Itala adds here, Fide praedaverunt Aegyptios exeuntes. "By faith, when they went out, they spoiled the Egyptians." This is any thing but genuine.
John Gill on Hebrews 11:28
Through faith he kept the passover,.... Which Moses made, or appointed by divine direction; he kept it, with all its rites and ceremonies, and caused the people of Israel to observe it; and which he did, in faith of the speedy deliverance of the children of Israel, from the house of bondage; and in the faith of the Messiah, of whom the passover was a type; See Gill on 1 Corinthians 5:7. The Syriac version reads, "through faith they kept the passover"; that is, the Israelites:
and the sprinkling of blood; of the paschal lamb; which was received into a basin, and was sprinkled upon the lintel, and two side posts of the doors of the houses, in which the Israelites dwelt; which was done with a…
The Church Fathers
How would he, without faith, have believed that death would be prevented by the blood of a sheep? He recognized in advance the reality in the type and had a premonition of the power of the Lord's blood.
"By faith, he kept the Passover." For Moses said: "Mark the doorposts so that you may be saved," (Ex. 12:23) and they believed that they were to be saved. Indeed, they believed that they would be saved through the blood of the lamb, he says, and they achieved this. Therefore, how will you not believe even more that you are to be saved through the blood of Christ, and you will be saved from all who lie in wait for you? "and the sprinkling of blood." He called the sprinkling of blood the anointing of the doorposts, so that the Destroyer angel would not touch them. This was, however, a type of the blood of the Lamb of God. For through His blood we drive away the destroyer Satan.
But what is "the sprinkling of blood"? A lamb was slain in every household, and the blood was smeared on the door-posts, and this was a means of warding off the Egyptian destruction. If then the blood of a lamb preserved the Jews unhurt in the midst of the Egyptians, and under so great a destruction, much more will the blood of Christ save us, who have had it sprinkled not on the door-posts, but in our souls. For even now also the Destroyer is going about in this depth of night: but let us be armed with that Sacrifice. (He calls the "sprinkling" anointing.) For God has brought us out from Egypt, from darkness, from idolatry. Although what was done, was nothing, what was achieved was great. For what was done was blood; but was achieved, was salvation, and the stopping, and preventing of destruction. The angel feared the blood; for he knew of what it was a Type; he shuddered, thinking on the Lord's death; therefore he did not touch the door-posts. Moses said, Smear, and they smeared, and were confident. And you, having the Blood of the Lamb Himself, are ye not confident?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Blood · .Sprinkled on door posts — .Sprinkled on door posts
Feast Of The Passover, The · Moses kept through faith — Moses kept through faith
Sacrifices · Were offered: In faith of a coming Saviour — Were offered: In faith of a coming Saviour
Sprinkling · Of blood — Of blood
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hebrews 11:28-31
28. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
28. Fide fecit pascha et aspersionem sanguinis, ut qui perdebat primogenita non tangeret eos.
29. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
29. Fide transierunt mare rubrum quasi per terram siccam; quod quum tentassent Egyptii adsorpti sunt.
30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
30. Fide conciderunt moenia Jericho, circumdata per septem dies.
31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had receiv…
Moses commanded . . . the Passover: See Exod 12:1-27. The first Passover (Exod 12:28-30) initiated the Exodus (Exod 12:31-42, 50-51) and instituted the annual Passover observance as a memorial (Exod 12:43-49; 13:1-16). • to sprinkle blood: The sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices under the old covenant was parallel to the sprinkling of Christ’s blood (see Heb 9:12-14, 18-22).
