The First Passover (Exodus 12)

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)