For Christians, Jesus Christ’s death is intimately associated with the Passover. This connection is hardly coincidental, given the significant role that Passover plays in God’s liberation of the Israelites from oppression in Egypt.

God instructs the Israelites to commemorate the first Passover in Egypt in various ways since it’s so important. Annually, they’re to participate in a partial reenactment of Passover, followed by a seven-day feast associated with the eating of unleavened bread (12:14–20; 13:6–10). God also instructs the Israelites to sacrifice or ransom, as appropriate, all newly born firstborn males of both humans and animals (13:12–15). These commemorations shouldn’t be confused with the original event, which stands apart as unique.

While the Passover account in Exodus 12:1–13:16 is relatively concise, it highlights the significance of this unique occasion as the outstanding salvation event of the Old Testament. It marks the climax of God’s actions in Egypt when he comes to liberate the enslaved Israelites from Pharaoh’s control. And, as we shall see, the firstborn Israelite males are ransomed from death through the use of substitutionary sacrificial lambs.

Death of the Firstborn

An unexpected and peculiar feature of the first Passover is God’s threat to kill all the firstborn Israelite males. Previously, the Lord had carefully distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians when he struck Egypt with a series of supernatural events (9:4, 6, 26). In light of God’s words in 12:12, the threat of death would have been understood as an act of divine judgment. The rescue of the firstborn males from death is a crucial element of the first Passover.

Under the sentence of death, the firstborn Israelites are kept safe by a ritual that involves killing specially selected male animals, smearing their blood on the doorframes of the Israelite houses, and eating roasted meat along with unleavened bread.

Remarkably, the firstborn males aren’t merely protected from death. God sanctifies them so that they belong to him. Due to the Passover ritual, they’re distinguished from all the other Israelites by becoming holy. Exodus 13:2 alludes to this when it states, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine” (see also Num. 3:13; 8:17).

Sanctification Ritual

The sanctification of the firstborn is often overlooked in discussions about Passover. Yet it’s crucial for understanding what occurred. As Andrew J. Gehrig notes, “With little use of ‘theological’ terminology, the first Passover in Egypt is depicted as a sanctification ritual that delivers the firstborn Israelite males from death, purifies, and sanctifies them, resulting in them becoming Yahweh’s possession.”

God sanctifies the firstborn so that they belong to him.

As a sanctification ritual, Passover shares various features with other occasions when God sanctifies people. Particularly noteworthy are the parallels between Passover and the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests. Despite differences due to the level of holiness required by the high priest, striking similarities exist.

Apart from the use of animals without blemish (Ex. 12:5; 29:1), blood is used both to cleanse and to sanctify (12:7, 22; 29:20–21; Lev. 8:23–24, 30), and the cooked flesh of a sacrificed animal is eaten along with unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8; 29:32–33; Lev. 8:31). Any food that remains in the morning is to be burned (Ex. 12:10; 29:34; Lev. 8:32). These parallels underline that the first Passover is best understood as a sanctification ritual that makes the firstborn males holy.

Passover Lamb as a Substitute

When we reflect on Passover as a sanctification ritual that delivers the firstborn males from divine judgment, we have good reason to believe that the lambs are killed as substitutes in place of the firstborn males. This idea is reflected in God’s instructions regarding the commemoration of Passover in Exodus 13:11–16.

Looking ahead to their settlement in Canaan, God tells the Israelites, “All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD’s” (v. 12). As such, they’re to be sacrificed to the Lord. However, some animals, such as donkeys, are barred from being sacrificed. Consequently, God states, “Every firstborn of a donkey you shall ransom with a lamb, and if you do not ransom it, you shall break its neck” (v. 13, author’s translation). Without being ransomed, the donkey dies. Importantly, in this context, the Lord declares twice that the Israelites are to ransom every firstborn male (vv. 13, 15; see 34:20).

Ransomed from Death

It’s significant that a lamb must be offered as a ransom for a donkey to prevent its death. The use of the verb pādâ (“to ransom/redeem”) suggests deliverance from death comes primarily through a substitutionary payment—in this instance, a sacrifice. Importantly, the firstborn males are saved from death due to a ransom payment in the form of an unblemished sheep or goat and not merely by the application of blood to the doorframes, as is sometimes claimed.

The firstborn males are saved from death due to a ransom payment in the form of an unblemished sheep or goat.

While we must be cautious not to infer too much from the Exodus text, the use of unblemished male lambs suggests they’re sacrificial animals. The example given in 13:13 of a lamb being used to ransom a donkey from death strongly suggests the Passover lambs are used to ransom human firstborn males from death. And when Passover is viewed as a sanctification ritual, it becomes clear that (1) the blood applied to the doorframes is intended to cleanse and possibly sanctify those in the house, and (2) the eating of the sacrificial meat, which is holy, makes holy those who consume it.

The Passover sacrifice functions as a substitute for the firstborn males—the animal dies in place of the firstborn—and the Passover sacrifice purifies and sanctifies them.

As a result of being ransomed from death, then cleansed, and sanctified, the firstborn Israelite males become holy and belong to God. Not surprisingly, the first Passover in Egypt functions as the primary exemplar and prophetic pattern for understanding Jesus’s sacrificial death. As our Passover sacrifice (1 Cor. 5:7), he is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) by giving “his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; see 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:18–19).