Passover (Pesach)

Read Exodus 12; Leviticus 23:4-14

The word Pesach means to leap over and show mercy, this provides us with a beautiful picture of this first feast in the yearly feast cycle... "This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2)

The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years, just as the Lord had told their forefather Abraham (Genesis 15:13,14). A King arose who "did not know Joseph", and they were enslaved and forced to build the treasure cities of Pithoi and Rameses (Exodus 1:8-11). Thus the central theme for this feast is freedom from bondage and it is a picture of the first step on the road to redemption for the Jewish people as they out for the Promised Land, and also for Christians who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Out of their distress they began to cry out to the Lord for deliverance and we all know the story of the reluctant deliverer Moses, who was given the job of bringing the people out of bondage and leading them towards the Promised Land and Freedom.

He had the unenviable job of working with the Lord to transform a disorganised, complaining rabble of slaves into a nation, chosen by God as His own peculiar people to show His reality to a disbelieving world.

As Moses goes to Pharoah, God is at work to show His sovereignty - a sovereignty which includes Pharoah, who has worshipped as a god in his own right. All of the plagues which the Lord sent were His judgements on the gods of Egypt....the life giving Nile river was turned to blood, the sun god Ra was unable to stand when darkness fell over the land and the final and worst plague, the death of the first born was God's judgement on the practise of worshiping Pharoah as a god.

It is this plague which causes Pharoah to let the people go and the drama of Pesach begins to unfold. We must always see that God's judgement is a redemptive judgement, aimed at bringing people to a knowledge of Himself. Many Egyptians came to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as they were donfronted with His awesom power and they left for the Promised Land with the Children of Israel.

On the tenth of Nisan, which falls in March / April of our calendar, the people were told to select a perfect one year old lamb or kid; one for each household. If the family was too small, they were to join with their neighbours. They were to keep the animal until the fourteenth day of the month, when it was taken out to the doorstep of their homes and killed. The blood was to be sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts of their houses. That night the lamb was roasted on a cross shaped spit and eaten with unleavened bread and bitterherbs. Nothing of it was to be left for the moring with everything edible burnt up. None of it's bones were to be broken.

They were to eat the meal dressed and ready for a journey, and while they were inside eating the Lord passed over the land of Egypt, killing the firstborn males in every household, as a judgement on the practise of Pharoah worship. The blood on the doorposts was a sign tht the people inside belonged to the lord, and the plague could not touch them. No uncircumcised person could eat the meal with them (Exodus 12:1-14).

One can imagine the scene unfolding as the father took the little lamb to live with the family for 4 days. The children would have grown very fond of it and it would have been a heartwrenching scene as they trooped after their father, watching as he took the little lamb and cut its throat. As they watched the blood drip into the bowl they would be told that the blood was a sign fo the Lord that they were His children and nothing could hurt them because of the blood of the lamb.

After sprinkling the blood on the cross shaped door posts, the father led his children through that blood stained door to safety. It is good to remember that the first Passover lamb was sacrificed for a household. God is concerned with household salvation. He is also concerned with the lonely. No one was left out of His plan... if any household was too small, they were to join with their neighbours.

Passover's Fulfillment in Yeshua

1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and John 1:29 call Yeshua our Passover Lamb.

We are commanded to keep the Passover feast with pure hearts. Yeshua perfectly fulfilled his calling to be our Passover Lamb in a most amazing way.

By the first century the Temple had been built and the Passover lamb was not killed by the father in the home, but was bought when he arrived in Jerusalem with his family to celebrate the feast. The priests at the Temple killed the lambs which had been specially raised for the purpose near Bethlehem, Yeshua's birthplace, and brought up to Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan.

It was on this very day, which has come down to us in church tradition as Palm Sunday, although there is no reason to suppose that it was necessarily a Sunday, that Yeshua rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9 (Mark 11:1-10).

When Yeshua rode into Jerusalem that day He came in peace. The people cried out "Hosanna" which means "Save Now", but they did not understand that his kingdom was not of this world and that the salvation he was about to offer far transcended the deliverance from Rome's oppressive rule that they were concerned about.

Just as the lambs were kept by the priests to make sure they were perfect, so Yeshua remained in the household of Israel, being tested by the religious and political leaders until Pilate declared, "I find no fault in him". (Mark 11:27-33; Luke 23:14-15; Matt 21:23-27; John 19:4).

Much has been written, from the time of the early church fathers until the present day, concerning the involvement of the jews in the death of Jesus (Yeshua). From earliest times a doctrine developed in the church which said that the Jews were forever cursed by God and had forfeited the blessing of God because they Killed Yeshua. These blessings were, according to this doctrine, given to the church, which had replaced Israel in Gods affection and purposes. This doctrine was only recently rejected officially by the Catholic church.

People who have espoused this teaching show a tragic lack of understanding of the main reason for Yeshua's coming, which was to die as the Passover lamb whose shed blood would purchase our redemption. They also ignore Yeshua's words on the cross "Father forgive them. They know not what they do." Thirdly they ignore the fact that just as the religious leaders represented the Jewish people, so Pilate and herod were representatives of the Gentile nations, since Yeshua's mission was to die for ALL mankind. It is also impossible to blame the entire Jewish people, even at that time, for Yeshua's death as MOST jews did not live in Israel at that time. Just as is the case today, most Jews lived in Diaspora, in the nations , and had never even heard of the young rabbi who died at the hands of the Romans in one of the least important areas in their vast empire.

There is also one very important point which needs to be remembered by all who have been brought into a redemptive relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that is that there was no other way for the Passover Lamb to die than by the hands of the priests. It was their God given role to kill the passover lambs for the household of Israel and in fulfilling this calling they were indeed victims of God's sovereignty. Tragically they have suffered at the hands of a church ignorant of the true and deeper purposes of God for nearly two thousand years.

The Gospels go to great lengths to record the exact times during which the drama of the crucifixion was played out, (Mark 15:25 tells us that Yeshua was nailed to the cross at the third hour or 9 o'clock in the morning. This was the exact time that the lambs were being prepared for sacrifice. Mark also tells us (15:33-37) that Yeshua died at the ninth hour or 3pm, which was the time that the lambs were being killed. The Jewish historian Josephus also tells us that in the year that Yeshua died, more than 250,000 lambs were slaughtered and in order for them to all be killed in time the sacrifices began at 9am and finished at 3pm

We also find that , like the Passover lambs, none of his bones were broken (John 19:36). In fulfilment of God's word, he was taken down from the cross before the start of the new day (remember that the day started in the evening) so that nothing of the Passover lamb was left until morning. And he was roasted with the fire of God's judgement in our place.

Pesach or Passover represents salvation in the life of the believer, the start of our journey with God. It is a reminder of the redemptive plan of God which leads us to freedom from bondage. Freedom is not the end, however, but the beginning, as after Pesach came Sinai, when the people were called to be a servant nation. With freedom always comes responsibility. We are savedto serve. Just as no uncircumcised person could partake of the Passover meal, so our hearts must be cleansed and renewed as we allow the spirit of God to cut away all the fleshly parts of our lives after we accept the atoning work of Yeshua for ourselves and submit to his lordship.

The Passover Seder

Since the destruction of the Temple in 70ad, the Jewish people have returned to celebrating the Passover Seder in their own homes. The lamb is no longer killed and eaten. However, a lamb shankhouse is placed on the Pesach plate as a reminder of the Passover lamb.

The custom these days is to have chicken as the main meal. Many communities have a Seder on each of the first two nights of Passover. Often one may be with their synagogue and the second at home with the family.

In Yeshua's day the family celebrated their Passover Seder on the 14th day of Nisan. This was the same night that Yeshua kept the Last Supper with his disciples. The following morning the priests killed the passover sacrifice. This was the time that Yeshua became our perfect Passover lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Yeshua foretold this as he shared the four cups of wine with his disciples during his last Passover Seder. The four cups are called the cup of blessing and thanksgiving, the cup of plagues and the cup of redemption and the cup of praise which is followed by the singing of the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) (Mark 14:26). Yeshua used the cup of redemption to say to his disciples, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you (Luke 22:20).

Many christians are returning to an understanding of the richness of the meaning of this festival of freedom in their own beliefs. As has been alreadymentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, we are commanded to keep the feast. In fact all the early believers understood the importance of this biblical festival which carries such a powerful message of redemption. It was not until the fourth century that the Council of Nicea decreed taht the Lord's death was not to be celebrated the same time as the Jewish passover. Constantine wrote that, "it would be an unworthy thing for the death and resurrection of the Lord to be celebrated at the time of the Jewish passover." It came to be celebrated at the time of the pagan festival which honoured the fertility goddess Ishtar (hence Easter).

Passover is mentioned 50 times in the Hebrew scriptures and 27 times in the New Testament. This fact alone shows us the importance of this festival in God's plans

Many times throughout the scriptures it is revealed that God's purposes have been played out on the same day, down through the ages. These dates are of great importance as the drama of God's redemptive plan for mankind is played out. When we ignore God's appointed times or substitute man made dates and traditions we are in danger of losing a sense of the greatness and of the great drama of God's redemptive purposes.

First of Nisan - Theme - New Beginnings

Tenth of Nisan - Theme - Sanctification

Fourteenth of Nisan - Theme - Covenant Relationship with God