Exodus 23:18

“Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, etc.] This belongs to the feast of the passover; for, as all the Jewish writers agree, this sacrifice is the sacrifice of the passover, as it is sometimes called, (see <021227>Exodus 12:27) now when the paschal lamb was killed, and its blood shed, and its flesh eaten, there was to be no leaven along with it; it was to be eaten with unleavened bread, and there was to be no leaven in their houses at this time; nay, it was not to be slain until all was removed: this was the first thing the Jews did, as soon as the fourteenth day was come, to search for leaven, remove and burn it; and this sense of the law is confirmed by the…”

“The blood of my sacrifice - It is generally considered that this must refer to the Paschal Lamb. See Exodus 12:7, Exodus 12:11, Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:22-23, Exodus 12:27. The fat of my sacrifice - Strictly, the fat of my feast; the “best part” of the feast, that is, the Paschal lamb itself. Compare Exodus 34:25. return to 'Top of Page'”

“23:18 Blood symbolized life (Lev 17:11-14; Deut 12:23), so blood must not be mixed with yeast, which was not normally included in offerings (see study note on Lev 2:11). • The fat, considered the best part of the offering, was to be burned at once (see Lev 3:3-5).”

“blood: Exo 12:8, Exo 12:15, Exo 34:25; Lev 2:11, Lev 7:12; Deu 16:4 sacrifice: or, feast remain: Exo 12:10; Lev 7:15 Exodus 23:19”

“The blessing attending their appearing before the Lord was dependent upon the feasts being kept in the proper way, by the observance of the three rules laid down in Exo 23:18 and Exo 23:19. "Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice upon leavened bread." על upon, as in Exo 12:8, denoting the basis upon which the sacrifice was offered. The meaning has been correctly given by the early commentators, viz., "as long as there is any leavened bread in your houses," or "until the leaven has been entirely removed from your houses." The reference made here to the removal of leaven, and the expression "blood of My sacrifice," both point to the paschal lamb, which was regarded as the sacrifice of…”