English speakers call it Easter. Most languages still call the Christian celebration the equivalent of Passover. What was the original Passover like? How did it foreshadow Christ? Let’s look at Exodus 12.
Did God begin to give Israel a calendar?
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. (Exodus 12:1-2 ESV)
What were they to do on the tenth of that Spring month?
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat. (Exodus 12 3-4 HCSB)
Do both the age and lack of blemish of the lamb picture the sinless innocence of Jesus? Though we normally think of Jesus as pictured by a lamb from the sheep, what other kind of animal could the Passover sacrifice be?
Your lamb is to be a year old male without blemish. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (Exodus 12:5 ISV)
What were the original ingredients? What were they to do with the blood of the lamb?
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. (Exodus 12:6-8 KJV)
Were they to eat all of it? Were they to be dressed for travel?
Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Passover of Yahweh [the Lord]. (Exodus 12:9-11 LSB)
What was to happen that night? Where did the word Passover come from?
For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:12-13 NASB)
How long was the festival to last? What else was to be eaten? On what days were there sacred assemblies?
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. (Exodus 12:14-16 NIV)
What was the whole festival called? Could leaven have been a picture of sin?
“Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation. The bread you eat must be made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month. During those seven days, there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during this week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These regulations apply both to the foreigners living among you and to the native-born Israelites. During those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread made without yeast.” (Exodus 12:17-20 NLT)
How did Moses instruct the elders of Israel? What were they to do with the blood?
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For Yahweh [the Lord] will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. (Exodus 12:21-23 WEB)
How long was this to be observed? The words forever or for all time can also be translated as indefinitely or long duration. Do Christians still observe this in the bread and wine of communion?
You should observe this ritual as a regulation for all time for you and your children. When you enter the land that the Lord has promised to give you, be sure that you observe this ritual. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’ you will say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck down the Egyptians, he spared our houses.’” The people then bowed down and worshipped. The Israelites went and did exactly what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron to do. (Exodus 12:24-28 CEB)
What great tragedy now befell the Egyptians?
At midnight the Lord killed the first-born son of every Egyptian family, from the son of the king to the son of every prisoner in jail. He also killed the first-born male of every animal that belonged to the Egyptians. That night the king, his officials, and everyone else in Egypt got up and started crying bitterly. In every Egyptian home, someone was dead. (Exodus 12:29-30 CEV)
Did Pharaoh finally relent and let the people go? Unlike many paintings, were there also many things to carry and great herds of domestic animals in the Exodus?
Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:31-36 ESV)
How many Israelites were there? Apart from their escape from sin, what else could the unleavened bread picture?
About 600,000 Israeli men traveled from Rameses to Succoth on foot, not counting children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with a very large number of livestock, including sheep and cattle. They baked the dough that they brought out of Egypt into thin cakes of unleavened bread. It had not been leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. (Exodus 12:37-39 ISV)
How long had Israel lived in Egypt? What kind of night did this become in Israel?
The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations. (Exodus 12:40-42 HCSB)
Who could eat the Passover? Is this similar to who can partake of communion in many churches?
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. (Exodus 12:43-47 KJV)
What about newcomers? Is being circumcised in some ways similar to being baptized (Colossians 2:11-12)? Do some churches give communion only to those who are baptized for similar reasons?
But if a sojourner sojourns with you and celebrates the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. The same law shall apply to the native as to the sojourner who sojourns among you.” So all the sons of Israel did; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, thus they did. And on that same day Yahweh brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. (Exodus 12:48-51 LSB)
English speakers call it Easter. Most languages still call the Christian celebration Passover. What was the original Passover like? How did it foreshadow Christ? You decide!
