Original Word: מַשְׁקוֹף
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: mashqowph
Pronunciation: mash-KOHF
Phonetic Spelling: (mash-kofe')
KJV: lintel
NASB: lintel
Word Origin: [from H8259 (שָׁקַף - looked down) in its original sense of overhanging]

1. a lintel

lintel

From shaqaph in its original sense of overhanging; a lintel -- lintel.

see HEBREW shaqaph

Word Origin
from the same as sheqeph
Definition
probably lintel (of a door)
NASB Translation
lintel (3).

מַשְׁקוֺף noun [masculine] probably lintel of door; — ׳הַמּ Exodus 12:7(P), Exodus 12:22; Exodus 12:23(J).

שׁקץ (√ of following; compare Assyrian šikƒu, apparently a (skin-?) disease; Late Hebrew Pi`el שַׁקֵּץ, Aramaic Pa`el שַׁקֵּץ detest are denominative; RS^{Jphil.xiv. 71ff.} conjecture original meaning let fall, throw away, compare Arabic fall, drop down, but very dubious).

Architectural context

The מַשְׁקוֹף is the horizontal beam that spans the top of a doorway, joining the upright side-posts and bearing their combined weight. In the mud-brick and stone houses of New Kingdom Egypt and the Sinai wilderness, the lintel was usually a single dressed timber or hewn stone set in place before the walls were completed. Its position—eye-level or slightly above—made it the most visible structural member of an entrance and an ideal surface for any inscription, paint, or symbolic mark intended to be seen by all who passed beneath.

Usage in the Passover narrative

All three biblical appearances occur in the institution of the first Passover (Exodus 12:7, 22, 23). The lintel, along with the two doorposts, received the blood of the unblemished lamb. The instructions are emphatic and personal, binding every household in Israel to the same simple act of faith:

• Exodus 12:7: “They are to take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat the lamb.”
• Exodus 12:22: “…dip the bundle in the blood that is in the basin and apply some of the blood to the lintel and the two side posts.”
• Exodus 12:23 specifies the protective result: the LORD “will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.”

The repetition underlines the lintel’s role as the central, crowning element that completes the protective blood-marked frame.

Historical and cultural insights

1. Egyptian threshold cults often painted protective deities on doorways; Israel’s God replaced all such pagan charms with covenant blood.
2. The rigid geometry of the doorway (two uprights and a crosspiece) meant the applied blood formed an unmistakable sign—visually enclosing the entrance in a crimson “frame.”
3. Later Jewish lore remembered the miracle as proof that salvation is enacted at the very threshold of ordinary family life, not merely in temple precincts.

Theological significance

• Salvation by substitution. The lintel declares that judgment already fell on the lamb; therefore the destroyer must pass over.
• Household solidarity. Every occupant was covered by the same sign, prefiguring the New Testament household baptisms (Acts 16:31-34).
• Covenant boundary. The doorway becomes a line of demarcation: inside is life, outside is death. This anticipates the “in Christ”/“outside” distinction (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:12-13).

Christological typology

The crossbar blood of the first Passover foreshadows the cross-beam of Calvary. As the lintel bore the lamb’s blood overhead, so the cross-beam bore Christ, “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The location—above the heads yet inescapably visible—mirrors the public display of the crucified Savior (John 19:19-20). Hebrews 9:22 affirms that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” grounding the typology in apostolic doctrine.

Related Old Testament imagery

Though מַשְׁקוֹף appears only in Exodus 12, other passages extend the doorway motif:
• Deuteronomy 6:9; 11:20 command the Law to be written “on the doorposts of your houses,” shifting the focus from blood to Torah, yet maintaining the entrance as a place of covenant identity.
• Ezekiel 9:4 marks foreheads, not lintels, with a protective sign, suggesting that what was once on wood must finally be on persons.

These connections enrich the lintel’s symbolism without conflating distinct Hebrew terms.

Ministry application

1. Family worship: Just as the lintel was marked before the meal was eaten, parents today are urged to establish visible, Gospel-centered reminders in the home before feeding minds and hearts.
2. Evangelism: The simple directive “apply the blood” calls preachers to clarity—souls must personally trust Christ’s atoning work.
3. Spiritual warfare: The believer’s assurance stands not in emotional states but in God’s pledged recognition of the blood, echoed in Revelation 12:11, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.”

Devotional reflection

Every time an Israelite walked under that crimson-stained beam, he literally passed beneath grace into safety. Likewise, every day the Christian “enters” life by appropriating anew the blood of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20). The lintel of Exodus 12 therefore invites continual, conscious dependence on the finished work of the Lamb of God.

הַמַּשְׁק֑וֹף הַמַּשְׁק֔וֹף הַמַּשְׁקוֹף֙ המשקוף ham·maš·qō·wp̄ hammashKof hammašqōwp̄Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts