12:11 Lord’s Passover. The Hebrew word for “Passover” is of uncertain etymology. The meaning “pass over” is attested here and probably in Is. 31:5. Some suggest a connection with the verb meaning “to limp, hobble,” and others propose a derivation from an Accadian word meaning “appease.”

The Passover observance is the oldest of the Jewish festivals and was celebrated at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month (12:6) and for the seven succeeding days (fifteenth through twenty-first). Later participants were garbed for travel to celebrate the exit of Israel from Egypt in haste and anxiety. The practice of ritual questions posed by the children during the Passover celebration is a later development rooted in vv. 26, 27.

Provision was later made for a second or minor Passover one month later for members of the community who missed the initial feast (Num. 9:1–14). The New Testament establishes a direct redemptive connection between the Passover and the death of Jesus, the supreme Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7).