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The `passing over' here is synonymous with protecting. In I Kings 18: 21 we
meet the word in the question of the prophet "How long halt ye between two opinions".
The idea of `hovering' or `suspense' suits the thought better than `passing over' and
leaving. Isa. 31: 5 says:
"As birds flying, so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem: defending also He will
deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it."
The allusion to Deut. 32: 11 here seems clear:
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings."
Instead of repeating the word `fluttereth over', Isaiah goes to Exod. 12: for a
synonym, and says "passing over". This gives us the blessed meaning of "passover".
The Lord, like the eagle, spread abroad His wings, hovered over the house, and protected
it from the destroyer that went through the land. Psa. 91: 4 expresses the feeling of
pasach `To pass over' without using the word.
"He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust."
We would not suggest any alteration in the A.V., the words are too precious and have
too sacred associations, but we can keep in mind the meaning as we read as being "When
I see the blood I will PAUSE over you (not PASS over you)". "The two side posts and
the upper door post" were sprinkled with the blood, but not the threshold, not the floor.
The apostasy is characterized by "Trampling under foot the Son of God, and counting the
blood . . . . . common" (Heb. 10: 29).
The Jews reckoned a double evening, the first from noon to three, the second from
three until sunset. In Exod. 12: 6 the margin shews that the Passover Lamb was killed
`between the two evenings', which would be at three o'clock. Matt. 27: 46 shews
that the Lord Jesus died at the ninth hour, and after that "when even was come"
Joseph of Arimathea begged of Pilate the body. The sixth hour was noon, the ninth was
three o'clock.
Even such a detail as the exact time was fulfilled. John 19: 36 draws attention to yet
another feature which links type and Antitype together.
"These things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall
not be broken."
Roman practice must give place to the sure word of prophecy. The Roman soldiers
must bear their testimony together with the Centurion that `this was a righteous man', for
Psa. 34: 20 speaking of the righteous says:
"He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken."
When David was led to see his sinfulness before God, instead of saying, "I am
righteous" he said: