In furtherance of this purpose, the Lord asked for the sacrifice of the threshold cross-over by the Hebrews: “For the Lord will pass through [the land] to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts [of the Hebrew homes], the Lord will pass over [cross-over or through] the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.”[547] Obviously the figure here employed is of a sovereign accompanied by his executioner, a familiar figure in the ancient East. When he comes to a house marked by tokens of the welcoming covenant, the sovereign will covenant-cross that threshold, and enter the home as a guest, or as a member of the family; but where no such preparation has been made for him, his executioner will enter on his mission of judgment.[548] 3. BASON, OR THRESHOLD. It is strange that the Hebrew word for “threshold” (_saph_) in this narrative is translated “bason” in our English Bible. It is because of this that the identity of the passover sacrifice with the primitive Threshold Covenant is so generally lost sight of. This word _saph_ occurs many times in the Old Testament text, and in nine cases out of ten it is translated “threshold,” or “door,” or “door-post,” or the like.[549] It would seem that it should be so translated in this instance. In some cases where _saph_ is translated “bason,” or “cup,” the term “threshold” would be more appropriate, as when included in an enumeration of the temple furniture.[550] Bronze and silver thresholds were often mentioned in the furniture of Babylonian and Assyrian temples;[551] and they might well have had mention among the Hebrews. It is possible, however, that there was a cavity, as a blood receptacle, in the threshold of houses or temples where sacrifices were so frequent; and this would account for the use of the word _saph_ as “bason,” even where it referred to the threshold of the door. The translators of the Septuagint, living in Egypt and familiar with the customs of that land, rendered _saph_ by _thyra_, “doorway,”[552] in the story of the exodus. Jerome, with his understanding of Oriental life, gives _limen_, “threshold,” for _saph_, at this point.[553] Philo Judæus, out of his Egyptian Jewish experiences, describing the Jewish passover festival, speaks of it as “the feast _diabateria_, which the Jews called _paskha_.”[554] “_Diabateria_” are “offerings before crossing a border,”[555] or threshold sacrifices. Rabbi Ishmael, a Talmudist, in explaining the passage descriptive of the institution of the passover in Egypt, says: “One dug a hole in the [earthen] threshold, and slaughtered into that,” “for _saph_ signifies here nothing else than threshold.”[556]