And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Read Chapter 12
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
But now then, can there be anybody who is not curious to know what the meaning can be of the fact that the Jews answered from Scripture the inquiry of the magi about where the Christ would be born and yet did not go with them to worship him themselves? Don’t we see the same thing even now, when by the very rites and sacraments to which they are subjected for their hardness of heart, nothing else is indicated but the very Christ in whom they refuse to believe? Even when they kill the sheep and eat the Passover, aren’t they demonstrating to the Gentiles the very Christ whom they themselves don’t worship along with them? And isn’t it the same sort of thing, when people have their doubts about the prophetic testimonies in which Christ was foretold and wonder if they haven’t perhaps been compiled by Christians after the event, not before? We appeal to the codices in the possession of the Jews to set the minds of doubters at rest. Don’t the Jews on such occasions too show the Gentiles the Ch...
It was fitting for Christ to offer the sacrifice in evening of the day in order that the very hour might show the setting and evening of the world as it is written in Exodus: “And the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall slaughter it in the evening.” And again in the Psalms: “The lifting up of my hands as evening sacrifice.” But we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord in the morning.
Sacrifice, not simply kill, as the Protestants would have it. (Worthington)
Evening. Hebrew, "between the two evenings "or "suns "according to the Chaldee, alluding to the sun when it declines and when it sets, including about the space of two hours. This time belonged to the evening of the 14th , at which time the lamb was to be sacrificed, though it was to be eaten in the night, which pertained to the 15th. (Menochius)
The Jews began the day at sun-set, and some began the first evening soon after mid-day. (Matthew xiv. 15, and seq.) (Calmet)
Why is this lamb offered up in the evening and not during the day? The reason is plain enough, for our Lord and Savior suffered his passion at the close of the ages. So John says in his letter: “Dear children, it is the last hour.” Since, moreover, it is the last hour, it is the beginning of night, for day has come to an end. It must be understood, however, that as long as we are in this world, as long as we abide in Egypt, we are not in a clear light but in a dark mist. Although the church shines as the moon in the nighttime, nevertheless we cannot yet dwell in the full splendor of the true sun.
We read in Exodus that on the fourteenth day a lamb is sacrificed; on the fourteenth day when the moon is a full moon, when its light is at its brightest. You see Christ is not immolated except in perfect and full light.
