Commentary for Exodus 12:27

ויקד העם AND THE PEOPLE BOWED THE HEAD in thanksgiving for the tidings of the approaching deliverance and for the promise of their coming into the land, and for the tidings regarding the children whom they would have (since v. 26 implies that they would be blessed with children).

זבח פסח הוא, this offering commemorates the skipping over by G’d of each individual Jewish home, something that occurred at midnight. Accordingly, the offering should really have been brought after midnight when the Jewish firstborn had already experienced that G’d saved him. As a result it really would have been at night. However, since we have a rule that offerings must not be brought on the altar at night, it had to be brought at a time which is closely associated with the impending night, i.e. the period described here as בין הערבים.

אשר פסח, “who skipped over.”

זבח פסח הוא, “it is a Passover feast offering.” The term פסח expresses the concept of המלטה, escaping from something, being rescued, similar to the word פסוח. The term is used seeing that G’d, out of a feeling of pity, allowed the firstborn Israelites to survive this judgment of the idolaters. They qualified for this pity because they had demonstrated loyalty to G’d by offering the lamb. This is why the lamb itself is now referred to as פסח.

For the foretelling of the redemption. . . Rashi inferred that there were three reasons for being thankful because it is written, ויקוד העם וישתחוו , “they bowed (singular) and prostrated themselves (plural).” The verse should have simply said ויקדו (and they bowed, plural), similar to וישתחוו (which is plural). Thus, the verse’s wording indicates that there was one bowing and two prostrations. (Maharshal)

V. 27. ואמרתם וגו׳, nicht ואמרתם להם wie später ואמרת אליו ,והגדת לבנך sondern absolut. Für ein in materielle Gottentfremdung versunkenes Geschlecht erwartet das Gotteswort keine Besserung von direkter Belehrung, wohl aber von dem Beispiel eines in bewusstvoller Begeisterung sich aussprechenden Ernstes der Erfüllung. Unbekümmert um die verächtliche Einsprache eines Geschlechtes, dem in der Verknöcherung des Materialismus Geist und Sinn der göttlichen Übungen abhanden gekommen, sollt ihr es aussprechen, damit es höre, wer es hören will, dass es noch זבח פסח הוא לד׳, dass es noch ein aus dem Tode zum Leben führendes Mahl sei, dass für Israel Leben und Freiheit noch an denselben Bedingungen hängen, die ihm zuerst Leben und Freiheit gebracht, dass somit diese עבדה, dieses wiederholte symbolische Eintreten in den Dienst Gottes, eine Handlung von höchster, positivster Folgenschwere in aller Gegenwart sei und bleibe. Darum, weil dies זבח פסח וגו׳ keine direkte Antwort an den רשע ist, konnte auch die Peßach-Haggada die Erwiderung desselben in den Satz kleiden: בעבור זה עשה ד׳ לי וגו׳, der eben die folgenreiche Bedeutsamkeit dieser zu übenden symbolischen Mizwot enthält und sich in seiner Allgemeinheit auch auf die Chamez- und Mazzapflichtübung bezieht, die jederzeit zur Erfüllung kommt, auch wenn das Peßach, wie in den Zeiten des Galut, nicht zur Vollziehung kommen kann.

בנגפו את מצרים, “when He smote Egypt;” on the night of the 15th of Nissan;”

ואת בתינו הציל, “while at the same time saving our houses (from that plague). As a commemoration of this miracle we perform these rites.”An alternate interpretation: The question of the children in future generations does not apply to the rite of smearing blood on the doorposts but applies to the insistence that the meat of the Passover offering may be consumed only after having been roasted on the fire, and not when boiled in water, or half raw; the answer of the father is that this was a reminder of the haste in which all this had to be done.

ויקוד העם וישתחוו, the people upon hearing this bowed low and prostrated themselves. This was a rite indicating that the party performing it accepted the instructions the Torah described in this chapter. It was an internationally accepted way of indicating acceptance of a command.