"Let the old leaven be purged away that a new resurrection may be celebrated purely. This is the day of our hope; wonderful is the power of this day by the testimony of the law.
"This day despoiled Egypt, and liberated the Hebrews from the fiery furnace; for them in wretched straits the work of servitude was mud and brick and straw.[1]
"Now as praise of divine virtue, of triumph, of salvation, let the voice break free! This is the day which the Lord made, the day ending our grief, the day bringing salvation.
"The Law is the shadow of things to come, Christ the goal of promises, who completes all. Christ's blood blunts the sword the guardians removed.[2]
"The Boy, type of our laughter, in whose stead the ram was slain, seals life's joy.[3] Joseph issues from the pit;[4] Christ returns above after death's punishment
"This serpent devours the serpents of Pharaoh secure from the serpent's spite.[5] Whom the fire wounded, them the brazen serpent's presence freed.[6]
"The hook and ring of Christ pierce the dragon's jaw;[7] the sucking child puts his hand into the cockatrice's den, and the old tenant of the world flees affrighted.[8]
"The mockers of Elisha ascending the house of God, feel the bald-head's wrath;[9] David, feigning madness, the goat cast forth, and the sparrow escape.[10]
"With a jaw-bone Samson slays a thousand and spurns the marriage of his tribe. Samson bursts the bars of Gaza, and, carrying its gates, scales the mountain's crest.[11]
- ↑ The Hebrews in bondage to the Egyptians are the symbol of all men in the bonds of sin.
- ↑ As Christ expires the cherubim at the gate of Eden lower the flaming sword, so that the men bathed with His blood may pass in.
- ↑ Isaac was always a type of Christ; his name was interpreted laughter (risus) from Gen. xxi. 6: "And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me."
- ↑ Joseph another type of Christ.
- ↑ This serpent, i.e. Christ the rod of Aaron, safe from the devil's spite, consumes the false idols.
- ↑ The Brazen Serpent, a type of Christ. Cf. John iii. 14.
- ↑ Cf. Job xli. 1. The hook (hamus) is Christ's divinity, whereby He pierces the devil's jaw.
- ↑ Cf. Isa. xi. 8. The guiltless child is Christ, and the cockatrice is the devil.
- ↑ The children who mocked Elisha represent the Jews mocking Christ as He ascended Calvary; the bear is Vespasian and Titus who destroy Jerusalem.
- ↑ These again are types of Christ: David feigning madness among the Philistines, 1 Sam. xxi. 12-15; the goat cast forth for the people's sins, Lev. xvi. 21, 22; and the sparrow in the rite of cleansing from leprosy, Lev. xiv. 2-7.
- ↑ Samson a type of Christ, will not wed a woman of his tribe (Judges xiv. 1-3) as Christ chooses the Gentiles; Samson bursts open Gaza's gates as Christ the gates of death and hell.
