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Moses is linked with Israel in the keeping of the passover, `lest He that destroyed the firstborn should touch
them'. Israel pass unscathed through the Red Sea, `which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned'. `Rahab
perished not with them that believed not'.
The faith of Moses is very comprehensive, and at either end of the record in Hebrews 11 it overlaps and includes
the faith of others. In both it was a preserving faith, and connected with birth:
`By faith Moses, when he was born ...' (verse 23).
By `faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the firstborn should touch
them' (verse 28).
There is no warrant for the change of expression from `by faith' to `through faith' in verses 27 and 28. It was the
same faith acting in the same way that actuated Moses throughout. There is a real distinction intended between `by
faith' and `through faith' in Romans 3:30. Here, however, it is a variation in the English version only, and no
doctrinal difference is intended.
The passover
Several items of interest are given concerning Moses and the passover. `By faith he kept the passover' The
word `kept' here is poieo, and in its true translation has a wider significance than `kept'. It is used of the sprinkling
of blood just as much as the passover, and it would be hardly true to say, `he kept the sprinkling of blood'. Paul
follows the LXX version here, which in its turn faithfully translates the Hebrew. `To do the passover' (Exod.
12:47,48) does not seem good English, and it is not suggested as an alternative, but it points out the meaning, which
is expressed in Exodus 12:50:
`Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they'.
The faith that kept the passover found its warrant in the Word of God. We cannot too insistently bring this
forward. All sorts of things are said to be done by the Lord's people `by faith', but it is difficult sometimes to find
any warrant for their actions in the Word. Hebrews 11:1 declares faith to be the substance of things hoped for;
Romans 10:17 declares the Word of God to be the substance of that faith. The passover in Exodus 12 is of divine
institution. Moses simply `did' what he was told. `And the Lord spake unto Moses ... saying ... Speak ye unto all
the congregation of Israel' (Exod. 12:1-3). The whole passage (Exod. 12:1-20) is the actual spoken Word of the
Lord. Without break or introduction verses 12 and 13 say:
`For I will pass through the land'.
`When I see the blood'.
The sprinkling of blood
It is perhaps pardonable for the English reader to link these passages with the others in Hebrews that speak of
`sprinkling'. We have:
(1) The sprinkling of the water of purification (Heb. 9:13).
(2) The sprinkling of both the book and the people (Heb. 9:19).
(3) The sprinkling of the Tabernacle and its vessels (Heb. 9:21).
These find their fulfilment in:
(1) `The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel' (Heb. 12:24).
(2) `Our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience' (Heb. 10:22).
(3) `Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Pet. 1:2).
All these references use the word rhantizo or rhantismos. The word used in Hebrews 11:28, however, is
proschusis, a word occurring nowhere else in the New Testament. Believing that the choice of words to express the
truth is a part of that inspiration of God which characterizes the Scriptures, we feel that it is fatal to profitable
exegesis to confound what God distinguishes. We have, however, the key to the problem. Elsewhere we have