Exodus 12:13; 1 Corinthians 5:7 - A Spiritual Lightning Rod

I held out my hand. "Look at what I found on the beach."

I was in Teslin, Yukon, visiting a household of Tlingits (pr. KLINK-it),  the indigenous people of the area.

My hand held a tiny black stone, almost perfectly proportioned and polished by the gentle, lapping waves of Lake Teslin.

"Oh, that's an ihn stone!" The older members of their community were always hospitable and glad to discuss their native life and customs.

I had to ask a couple times how to pronounce it. Does "ihn" refer to the color? To the shape or size? Or is "ihn" their word for obsidian, or whatever the stone is made of?

They patiently explained. When found in nature, an "ihn" stone is considered to have spiritual properties. When a new house is built, an "ihn" stone is mounted in the peak of the roof. It's like a spiritual lightning rod to deflect any evil forces or evil spirits.

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The Israelites needed spiritual protection. After warning upon warning that Pharaoh should let the Israelites leave Egypt, God said that all the first-born males of Egypt would die--both human and animal. 

There was protection for all the Israelites and any Egyptians ready to find refuge with them (Exodus 12:48). All they had to do was prepare a lamb for a sacrificial feast. Before eating the lamb, its blood was used to mark the door posts and top frame of their door.

God said, "...the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:13, New Living Translation, 2015)

The word translated as "passover," has also been translated,  “'to hover in compassionate protectiveness.' Thus, God is pictured, not as skipping over the Israelite homes, but as hovering over them to lovingly protect them.” https://www.kolemunah.net/torah-sparks/parashat-bo-2013/

Regardless of how the word is translated, it was God Himself--recognizing the sacrifice of a lamb--that protected the Israelites from the final plague sent on Egypt.

God still protects, still hovers over us because, "Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7b, NLT)

Father in heaven, Many things swirl around us, attacking both soul and body. Evil from the natural world or the supernatural world would try to destroy us and our relationship with You. That's why we hide in the refuge of Your goodness, Your holiness, and in the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.