DOWN through the ages of time, the history of many nations relates signal and striking events which shall never be forgotten by succeeding generations to the end of the world. Outside the pages of the Bible, we may instance at random (so to speak) the mighty Reformation which took place in Germany during the days of Martin Luther, which may be a fact of little interest to the most to-day; yet, the days of Luther will continue to be remembered as a period of time during which God wrought wonders for His Church by breaking many of the bands of popery and bringing Luther and others out into the liberty of justification by faith in Christ Jesus. But now to revert to Bible history: such a blessed period of time was “the month Abib.”
Immediately preceding the announcement of the appointment of the passover to Israel, “The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you,'” (Exodus xii, 1, 2). Then there follows in the inspired record, the detailed instructions regarding the observance of the passover; the narrative of the actual celebration of it and of the destruction of all the first-born in the land of Egypt and the passing over the dwellings of the Israelites by the “destroyer” sent from the Lord. Thereafter we read of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Later, in chapter xiii, 3, 4, we read of Moses reminding the Israelites of the day when they came out of Egypt, “Remember this day, in the which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place . . . This day came ye out in the month Abib.”
Abib was the title of this memorable month during which the Lord commanded this great deliverance for Israel and was now the first month of the year to them; the memorial of the starting point of an entirely new era in their history as a nation. “Abib” means “ripe fruit”; and indeed Israel tasted the fruits of sweet, refreshing deliverance during this month. The month Abib was designed to recall to Israel from year to year, many trying, precious and blessed facts and experiences. Moses refers to two main matters which do embrace all the other wonderful and detailed events, under the divine supervision, during the month Abib.
One was, That they came out of the house of bondage. The Israelites as a people lived four hundred and thirty years in the land of Egypt; and the miseries of slavery had increased to such an extent that conditions were practically unbearable when Moses and Aaron arrived on the scene, as men commissioned of the Lord to lead His people out of this hard bondage according to His promise. Ultimately, the month Abib arrived; God’s time to favour His people came at last; and they came out of bondage, as a people distinguished and protected by the blood of the passover lamb, in the Lord’s great mercy. They left behind tyrannical and hard-hearted Pharaoh, the cruel task-masters, the intensive brick-making, and the misery and shame of the land of Egypt. No man, woman or child was left behind. It was the coming out of a favoured nation and a peculiar people. “All the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.” They came out to liberty and to be a people separate and apart from the heathen, with a view to worshipping, serving and honouring the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The other principal matter was, That by strength of hand the Lord brought them out. They were a weakened and impotent people prior to their coming out of the house of bondage, and truly they had no help of man at all against the powers of Pharaoh and his officers. We are told that “The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them,” (Exodus ii, 23-25). Here we see the beginnings of the activity of the strength of the Lord on their behalf. When God hears, looks upon them from His holy habitation, and has respect unto them, then Israel could humbly look for the exercising of divine and almighty strength to bring them out of bondage, and their oppressors had every reason to tremble. By the strength of His hand the Lord began working according to His own wisdom, to bring them out. This meant for the Egyptians, one terrible plague after another, and yet Pharaoh would not let Israel go. But the Lord finally weakened Pharaoh’s hands, that he let go his wicked and stubborn hold upon the Israelites. “And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt . . . And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead,” (Exodus xii, 29, 30). Here is the God of Israel in His holy indignation bringing to bear upon Israel’s enemies, that strength which could have destroyed them all. Pharaoh and the Egyptians now feared that they would all soon be dead men. Little wonder that at last Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Rise up and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel . . .” (Exodus xii, 31). And so the “gates” of Egyptian bondage were opened by the Lord’s strength, His hand, His work; and the children of Israel went forth as led by the Lord.
The month Abib, the first month of the year henceforward, to this so greatly blessed people, must always in future recall to remembrance, the passover, the deliverance and the strength of the Lord God of Israel. It also called for humility on the part of Israel and thanksgiving to “the Hope of Israel and Saviour thereof in time of trouble,” (Jeremiah xiv, 8). And surely the month Abib speaks to the spiritual seed of Jacob now, regarding spiritual and saving deliverance from sin, through Christ Jesus their passover sacrificed for them, and accomplished by the power of the Spirit of the Lord. Reader, have you had a month Abib in your soul’s experience? And poor, sin-laden Britain would be rightly engaged at the beginning of a new year, if there were cries from our midst to the God of our fathers, for a “month Abib.”