26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?'
26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
26 And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'
26 And when your children say to you, 'Why are we doing this?'
26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'
26 Then your children will ask, 'What does this ceremony mean?'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 12:26
Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
(Read Exodus 12:21-28)
That night, when the first-born were to be destroyed, no Israelite must stir out of doors till called to march out of Egypt. Their safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling. If they put themselves from under the protection of that, it was at their peril. They must stay within, to wait for the salvation of the Lord; it is good to do so. In after-times they should carefully teach their children the meaning of this service. It is good for children to ask about the things of God; they that ask for the way will find it. The keeping of this solemnity every year was, 1. To look backward, that they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. Old mercies, to ourselves, or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, that God may be praised, and our faith in him encouraged. 2. It was designed to look forward, as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time. Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; his death was our life.