"IT IS A NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED" SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON Say - Welcome to Sabbath School class, let s bow our head and ask God for understanding as we study today. Our lesson today is about a time to be preserved in our hearts and minds forever! "It is a night to be much observed" Exodus 12:42. Say - What is this "night" spoken of in Exodus 12 which God never wants us to forget? It is the night of the "Exodus" of God's people, all twelve tribes, being set free from their bondage of slavery under Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, Exodus 11:1. Say - The slavery in Egypt of God's people had been predicted and revealed by God through Abraham. He said, "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years" Genesis 15:13. Say - But God saw "the affliction of His people...and He heard their cry...for I know their sorrows...and I have seen the oppression by the Egyptians" Exodus 3:7, 9. God answered their cry and commissioned Moses and eventually Aaron "to go unto Pharaoh and bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt" Exodus 3:11. I will be with you, "now go, and I will be your mouth and teach you what you shall say" Exodus 4:12. Say - Finally Moses and Aaron were ready to go to Pharaoh with the message from the God of Israel. But Pharaoh did not recognize the True God over himself and said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go" Exodus 5:2. Unfortunately for Pharaoh he did not realize how God would teach him who the True God was. Pharaoh had chosen to learn the hard way; it was going to be through some very tough calamities or plagues which would fall upon Egypt before Pharaoh would allow God's people to be set free. The plagues which fell upon Egypt are recorded in Exodus 5-10. Say - Now the night of the final plague had arrived. God told Moses "about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die...even the first born of the maidservants...and the firstborn of the beasts in the land. It is the night Pharaoh will "surely thrust or chase you out of Egypt" Exodus 1:1, 5.
Say - Of all the plagues which had fallen on Pharaoh and Egypt, this final plague would bring the greatest calamity and panic to Pharaoh, to the slaves working at the mill grinders and to every animal in the land. The Bible tells us, it would bring a "great cry throughout all the land of Egypt like none other before or after" Exodus 11:6. Say - God told Moses, "I will stretch out my hand, and smite with all my wonders...and after that (Pharaoh) will let you go" Exodus 3:20. God continued, "But to my people, the twelve tribes of Israel, I will give favor in the sight of the Egyptians... and you shall not go empty" Exodus 3:21. "For the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel" Exodus 11:7. The difference would be the Law and "Marriage Covenant" He would make with them at Mt. Sinai. Say - The time of the great calamity to hit Pharaoh and Egypt was growing closer and this night is the night Pharaoh and Egypt would get a taste of their own medicine for there would be total devastation! But God (Christ) had further instructions for His people. Say - Still in Egypt God said to Moses and Aaron, "this month (Abib and was later changed to Nisan after the Babylonian captivity) shall be the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you" Exodus 12:2. Say - "...in the 10th day of the month (Israel) shall take a lamb...and your lamb shall be without blemish, (an innocent lamb) of its first year... and keep it up until the 14th day of the same month and...israel shall kill it in the evening (the daylight part of the 14th at the evening sacrifice)" Exodus 12:3, 5, 6. Why was this to be done? Say - God wanted His people to know for future understanding this was all directed to Jesus Christ the who would be chosen by God the Father four days before He was to lay down His life for the sins of the world as the perfect, "without blemish" innocent Lamb of God when "...Christ our Passover would be sacrificed for us" I Corinthians 5 :7. Say - God continued with His instructions to Moses and Aaron. "And with a bunch of hyssop they shall take the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. Remember this was a one-time event because in the wilderness they lived in tents not houses.
Say - "And they shall eat the flesh in that night (the end or night of the 14th, beginning of the 15th), roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden meaning boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof". In other words the entire body, Exodus 12:8, 9. Say - "...any that remains until morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand: and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD"S Passover"; God's people were to be prepared for a long journey and they were to leave in a hurry, Exodus 12:11. Say - "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night (night of the 15th), and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD" Exodus 12:12. The Egyptians had an animal god for everything, fertility, rain, even the Nile River. But this night all their idols would be "smashed to pieces in the houses of the false gods and burned" Numbers 33:4, Isaiah 19:1, Jeremiah 43:12. Just as God said, "I am the LORD", this is how they would learn who the True God was as they stood by and saw how helpless their false gods were in this great calamity and it is the same for our world today. Say - "And the blood (innocent blood) shall be to you a token (a token or sign of things to come, the bread and wine when we renew the covenant with God each year at the Lord's Supper) upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you (not Easter over you) and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I (fatally) smite the land of Egypt" Exodus 12:13. Say - "And this day (vs. 8) shall be unto you for a memorial, a day we are to engrave in our mind; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations;... by an ordinance for ever (without change)" "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread (not if we feel like it or do not replace it with Lent and Easter)... The first and the seventh day shall be a holy convocation or Sabbath to you... and you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; Why? For in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day...forever" Exodus 12:14-17. In God's own words we are told WHY we are to remember "The Night to be Much Observed". Say - "In the first month, on the fourteenth day... at even (end of the 14th day beginning of the 15th day) you shall eat unleavened
bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even (7 days) whether he be a stranger or foreigner, or born in the land, (there is one law for all people)" Exodus 12:18, 19, 49. Say - The observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread also revealed the foundation for worshipping God. "Ye shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations or dwellings ye shall eat unleavened bread" Exodus 12:20. Jesus' life and teachings are the epitome of "Unleavened Bread" or sinlessness which we are to "hunger and thirst" after in our daily life. It is a good time to consider how our nation, our schools, homes and churches have "engraved" this observance on our hearts. I think we would all agree there are many who have never heard of this observance yet God tells us to observe it "forever". Say - Then Moses told the people all God had instructed. "And 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 side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD (not an angel) will passover the door and will not suffer or allow the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to they sons for ever" Exodus 12:22-24. Say - "And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they " Exodus 12:25-29. Say - "And it came to pass, that at midnight (on the 15th) the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle" Exodus 12:29. Terror and great calamity had hit the land of Egypt just as God had said. No one could help their neighbor for the dying groans and wailing was heard everywhere. Say - For years the Egyptians had caused the male children of the Israelites to be cast into the river and now all the Egyptian families were feeling what God's people had felt for a very long time.
Say - "And Pharaoh rose up in the night (midnight already past), he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead" Exodus 12:30. Say - "And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people (go immediately, remember God had instructed His people to have their "shoes on their feet and their rod in hand". God wants us, when we are called to "come out of her (Babylon" immediately also, we are not to linger for fear we might turn back.), both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said". Say - Finally Pharaoh admitted God was the God of all Gods and this was complete fulfillment of Exodus 11:8 which said, "...get thee out..." "Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also", Pharaoh even asked for prayers for himself!. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, we be all dead men". For a moment Pharaoh's pride had been humbled; he recognized the hand of the true Living God, Exodus 12:31-33. Say - "And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders" Exodus 12:34. The kneading troughs were made of a wicker or reed type material and could be easily carried over their shoulders. Say - "And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians" Whatever the Israelites asked for the Egyptians gave them because of the hand of God in what they had just experienced. Exodus 12:35, 36. Say - The Israelites had been kept as slaves to the Egyptians and had received no wages for years, now they were being paid in jewels of gold and silver. The Bible tells us "Egypt was glad when they departed...and He brought them forth with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their tribes" Psalms 105:37. FINALLY A FREE PEOPLE BY OUR SAME DELIVERER! Say - "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses (Ramses was a city built by the Israelites in Goshen and means "child of the sun" and is known as the city of Cairo today) to Succoth (Succoth
means booth or tabernacles and was the first stopping place of the Israelites when they left Egypt. The Israelites built succoths or booths of boughs of trees and yearly they kept the Feast of Tabernacles in this manner), about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children" Exodus 12:37. (Commentaries say the total number more accurately would be about 3 million people including children and women.) Say - "And a mixed multitude (some Egyptians, Ethiopians among the Israelites, all slaves and all willing to leave) went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle" Exodus 12:38. Remember God had told Abraham "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs; and (they) shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with a great substance" and they certainly did, Genesis 15:13-14. Say - "And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual" Exodus 12:39. Remember God had told Moses "...with a strong hand shall he let them go and with a strong hand shall he drive or thrust, (as in a hurry) you out of Egypt" Exodus 6:1, 11:1. Say - "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years (the Septuagint says they were in slavery a little over 200 years but from the time of Abraham entering Canaan was 430 years). Say - "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt (implying an exact and literal period of time). Say - "It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt (the night of the 15th, the Exodus): this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations" Exodus 12:42. Say - "The Night to Much Observed" was a night of watching and waiting for God to passover yourself and your family. It was a night of solemn, sober watching for the death angel; a night of vigilance and being on guard. The Exodus from Egypt is a day to "engrave" in our minds and never forget the day our ancestors were brought
out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt, symbolic of the land of sin, nor are we to forget when God called us out of the world of sin and delivered us. Say - Tell the miracle of the story of the Passover and the Exodus to our families as if it happened to us; begin at a very early age. This is how we will learn the great lessons of our deliverance by Jesus Christ our "Passover" for it truly is a NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED! MEMORY VERSE "AND THE BLOOD SHALL BE TO YOU A TOKEN UPON THE HOUSE WHERE YOU ARE AND WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD I WILL PASSOVER AND THE PLAGUE SHALL NOT BE UPON YOU TO DESTROY YOU..." EXODUS 12:13 SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON FOR TOTS BELOW
IT IS A NIGHT TO BE MUCH OBSERVED IT WAS A SPECIAL NIGHT OF "DELIVERANCE" FOR GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE; FOR THEY WERE SLAVES IN THE LAND OF SIN, EGYPT, BUT GOD HEARD THEIR CRY AND LED THEM OUT, THERE WAS NOT ONE WEAK OR FEEBLE. THEY WERE IN BONDAGE TO PHARAOH; HE WORKED THEM NIGHT AND DAY; MOSES AND AARON WERE GOD'S SERVANTS, "GO UNTO PHARAOH AND TELL HIM, "LET MY PEOPLE GO" IS WHAT YOU ARE TO SAY. BUT TELL MY PEOPLE "TONIGHT SPRINKLE BLOOD UPON YOUR DOORPOSTS IN ALL YOUR HOMES THROUGHOUT THE LAND"; AND AT MIDNIGHT I WILL COME TO EGYPT AND SMITE THE FIRSTBORN OF MAN AND BEAST BUT MY PEOPLE I WILL SET FREE BY THE POWER OF MY MIGHTY HAND. GOD'S CHILDREN WAITED AND WATCHED JUST AS GOD HAD SAID WITH "THEIR ROD IN HAND AND SHOES UPON THEIR FEET; AT MIDNIGHT CAME THE DEATH ANGEL, THE GOD OF HEAVEN ABOVE, AND "PASSED OVER" THEIR HOMES, IT WAS A MIRACLE INDEED! IN THE LAND OF EGYPT THE CRYING AND WAILING WAS LOUD FOR THE FIRSTBORN HAD DIED IN EVERY HOME; FINALLY PHARAOH LET GOD'S PEOPLE GO, FREE AT LAST FROM THE BONDAGE OF SLAVERY AND BY GOD'S DIVINE HAND WITH HIM, IN THE WILDERNESS HIS PEOPLE WOULD FREELY ROAM. BY B. R. B.