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Why was it forbidden to break the lamb’s bones in Exodus 12:46?
Lou Newton, former Steel Mill Crane Designer and Physics Teacher
Exodus 12 NIV
46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
John 1 NIV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Because of this prophecy that David was going to write later the passover lamb was not to have it’s legs broken. Jesus was the passover Lamb.
Psalm 22
21st Century King James Version
22 My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent.
3 But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto Thee and were delivered; they trusted in Thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out their lip, they shake their head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord that He would deliver him; let Him deliver him, seeing He delighted in him!”
9 But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb; Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon Thee from the womb; Thou art My God from My mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed Me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round.
13 They gaped at Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My body.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet.
17 I can count all My bones; they look and stare upon Me.
18 They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.
19 But be Thou not far from Me, O Lord; O My Strength, hasten Thee to help Me!
20 Deliver My soul from the sword, My only one from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth; for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him! All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath He hid His face from Him, but when He cried unto Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation; I will pay My vows before them that fear Him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’S, and He is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that are fat upon the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, for none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this.
NOTICE it says that all My bones are out of joint, if any were broken that would surely be mentioned. Then later he says I can count all My bones; That confirms that none of his bones were broken. A bone broken in two would mean the count would not be the same.
But who is this psalm about: they pierced My hands and My feet. This reveals the psalm is about Christ.
Plus we have the historical record that Roman soldiers were experts at crucifixion. They beat victims terribly but were very careful not to break bones because then the victim would die too quickly. The whole purpose of crucifixion was to make the victim suffer a long slow death to make everyone fear that kind of death.
David wrote this Psalm describing the crucifixion of Christ a 1000 years before Jesus died on the cross.
Ps 34 NIV
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
Jesus is the only righteous person who lived. He knew no sin. So he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
NOTE: God allows us to go through many troubles to help us mature and be like Him. Jesus learned obedience by suffering, certainly we need to suffer also to learn to obey God. BUT God sees to it that we are not permanently injured so that we can not walk with Him. Or none of our bones are broken. Our bones support our body and we can not walk without them.
John 19 NIV
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He died for our sin. Just as the Israelite's put the blood of the lamb on their door, where everyone could see ,and God passed over their house and death did not come to their house; if we trust in the blood of Jesus, death will passover us on judgement day and we will have eternal life.
Lou Newton, former Steel Mill Crane Designer and Physics Teacher
Exodus 12 NIV
46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
John 1 NIV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Because of this prophecy that David was going to write later the passover lamb was not to have it’s legs broken. Jesus was the passover Lamb.
Psalm 22
21st Century King James Version
22 My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent.
3 But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto Thee and were delivered; they trusted in Thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.
7 All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out their lip, they shake their head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord that He would deliver him; let Him deliver him, seeing He delighted in him!”
9 But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb; Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon Thee from the womb; Thou art My God from My mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed Me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round.
13 They gaped at Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My body.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet.
17 I can count all My bones; they look and stare upon Me.
18 They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.
19 But be Thou not far from Me, O Lord; O My Strength, hasten Thee to help Me!
20 Deliver My soul from the sword, My only one from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth; for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him! All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath He hid His face from Him, but when He cried unto Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation; I will pay My vows before them that fear Him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’S, and He is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that are fat upon the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, for none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this.
NOTICE it says that all My bones are out of joint, if any were broken that would surely be mentioned. Then later he says I can count all My bones; That confirms that none of his bones were broken. A bone broken in two would mean the count would not be the same.
But who is this psalm about: they pierced My hands and My feet. This reveals the psalm is about Christ.
Plus we have the historical record that Roman soldiers were experts at crucifixion. They beat victims terribly but were very careful not to break bones because then the victim would die too quickly. The whole purpose of crucifixion was to make the victim suffer a long slow death to make everyone fear that kind of death.
David wrote this Psalm describing the crucifixion of Christ a 1000 years before Jesus died on the cross.
Ps 34 NIV
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
Jesus is the only righteous person who lived. He knew no sin. So he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
NOTE: God allows us to go through many troubles to help us mature and be like Him. Jesus learned obedience by suffering, certainly we need to suffer also to learn to obey God. BUT God sees to it that we are not permanently injured so that we can not walk with Him. Or none of our bones are broken. Our bones support our body and we can not walk without them.
John 19 NIV
The Crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He died for our sin. Just as the Israelite's put the blood of the lamb on their door, where everyone could see ,and God passed over their house and death did not come to their house; if we trust in the blood of Jesus, death will passover us on judgement day and we will have eternal life.