In Exodus 12:1-28 the biblical narrative is temporarily interrupted with instructions on the first month of the calendar that God designed for Israel. Included are directions for the first Passover, which would be observed on Israel's last night in Egypt.
But much more is covered. In future years the celebration of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread would commemorate Israel's liberation from Egypt.
Everyone would participate in these festivals, with no one allowed to "opt out." In verse 15 God says, "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove the leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel."
Refusal to observe the Days of Unleavened Bread is one of several offenses for which one could be "cut off from Israel" (Ge 17:14; Ex 30:33, 38; 31:14; Lev 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 17:4,9,14; 19:8; 20:17-18; 22:3; 23:29; Num 9:13; 15:30; 19:13, 20). In these cases, God is not telling the Israelites to punish the offender. Instead, he is saying that he will take care of the situation.
Douglas Stuart in his NAC commentary on Exodus explains that such a person would be "cut off from God's benefits to Israel in the near future and cut off from eternal life with them in the ultimate future," since that person "had by his actions shown clearly that he not desire to keep covenant with the true God" (p. 285).
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