The miraculous escape of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt is arguably the most retold stories in history. There are movies made about it. I am writing today on the day of Charleton Heston’s passing. It seems weird as he was bigger than life in the modern movie the 10 commandments.
The Passover event is so beautifully full of imagery of the original events but also of the Messiah and his redemptive story. I can in no way do the topic full justice and just a short blog, but I will try and hit the highlights.
Passover is considered one of the most important of the feasts to Jews of all types. Even non-practicing Jews that I know return home once a year at Passover. Each year in homes around the world the story is told how Yah through his servant Moses set the Israelites free from the tyranny of the Pharaoh of Egypt.
The telling of the story is called the Haggadah (literally, “the telling”). Sometimes people confuse it with the Seder. (the seder is the meal) I am told there are literally thousands of haggadah’s available to use for your Seder. With so many choices they all have the same basic elements that we will discuss.
We begin in Exodus chapter 6 verse 2.
“Yah spoke to Moses…I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, although I did not make myself known to them by my name, YHWH. Also with them I established my covenant to give them the land of Canaan ….Moreover I have heard the groaning of my people Israel, whom the Egyptians are keeping in slavery; and I have remembered my covenant.”
If we learn anything about Yah by reading the scriptures it had better be that he is a Promise Maker and more importantly a Promise Keeper.
We go on to read the fantastic story of Moses and Aaron pleading with Pharaoh to let the Israelites go and all of the plagues that followed.
Blood, Frogs, Lice, Insects (Flies), Livestock Plague, Sores or Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, and finally the death of the firstborn son.
I will minimize my comments to suffice it to say that Yah has declared his power over all of creation in the minds of the Egyptians through these plagues. Each of the plagues was a physical representation of one of the many gods that the Egyptians worshiped. It also demonstrated Yah’s power over creation in controlling the animals, insects, weather, darkness etc..
This emancipation from slavery was effected through the most powerful imagery man had ever and will ever see. I get so excited just thinking about it.
The emancipation is described and celebrated through the haggadah of the seder in 4 ways succinctly put in Exodus 6:6-7.
“I am Yah, I will FREE you from the forced labor of the Egyptians, RESCUE you from their oppression, and REDEEM you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will TAKE you as my people, and I will be your God. “
Bring, Deliver, Redeem and Take are the 4 expressions of Redemption that become the four cups of the Passover meal. These cups of sanctification, judgment, redemption and kingdom are based on these 4 expressions in Exodus 6.
Finally, comes the specific regulations regarding the 10th and final plague. The Israelites had to exercise their faith and do what was prescribed. Let me say it aloud and again, the Israelites were saved by faith by believing in the blood of the lamb on the doorpost.
On the 10th day they were to select a one year old lamb either from the sheep or the goats that was without blemish. If the family unit was too small they were to share with a neighbor. Then on the 14th day at dusk they were all to slaughter it and take some of the blood and smear it on the doorposts and the mantle of the entrance to the house. Then they were to roast the meat. They were instructed to eat the meat with matzah (unleavened bread) and maror (bitter herbs). They were to let none of it remain; if there were leftovers they were to be burned up in the fire. They were to eat it hurriedly with their belt fastened, their shoes on, and their staff in hand. For that night they would be delivered!
That night the angel of death would strike the first born of each household but would pass over any house with blood on the door posts.
Exodus 12:14 instructs the people that this will be a day of remembrance and celebration from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation.
In fact this very event is what constituted the calendar being changed. From this point on the Seventh month was now the first month in the spiritual calendar of the Hebrew people. This event above all others was of such importance that it defined who the nation of Israel would become.
The rest as they say is history. The events came to pass just as Yah had told Moses they would. The angel of death appeared and it was the final straw that broke the Pharaoh of Egypt and he let the people of Israel go.
To the jew this event is revered and honored and remembered for what it was, the deliverance of their people out of the bondage of slavery and the creation of the nation. To the believer in Yeshua this should be the event that is revered, honored, remembered and celebrated as Yeshua’s perfect fulfillment of our deliverance from the bondage of slavery to sin through the Lamb of Yah that takes away the sin of the world.
On to the expression of the remembrance and celebration, first to the jew.
Again there are many hagaddah (tellings) for the Passover seder (meal) but they all include the following basic elements.
The lighting of the candles and blessing.
The cup of sanctification is poured, blessed and drank.
The washing of our hands.
The 3 special pieces of matzah are in the matzah tash (special linen to hold them with 3 pockets). The center matzah is removed and held up for all to see. The leader then breaks the matzah in 2. One piece is put back in the matzah tash. The other piece is wrapped in linen and the leader goes and hides it somewhere. This hidden broken half of matzah has a name which is the Afikoman.
Then the youngest among the celebrants asks the 4 questions.
1) Why do we eat unleavened bread when other nights we don’t?
2) Why do we eat bitter herbs?
3) Why do we dip our vegetables twice on this night and not on other nights?
4) Why do we eat our meal reclining?
In answering the questions the whole story of the Passover is retold for all to hear.
The second cup of judgement is blessed and drank.
The matzah is blessed, broken and eaten.
The bitter herbs are blessed and eaten in remembrance of how bitter slavery is and was.
Finally the meal is served and eaten heartily.
The children hunt for the hidden Afikoman and it is ransomed to the leader for a price.
The 3rd cup of redemption is poured, and blessed and is drank.
The 4th cup of the kingdom is poured and is set aside for awhile for Elijah.
Songs like Deyanu ( it would have been enough ) are sung, Psalms recited, etc.
The 4th cup is drank.
The seder concludes usually with the statement “Next year in Jerusalem”
So, what is the Messianic significance of all this. I think it will be illustrative to show side by side the events of Passion Week described in Matthew lined up against the Passover celebration. Then we will need to look at some very specific passages from the whole of scripture to bring a complete understanding.
From Passover we will move quickly into Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Early First Fruits. As we need the whole package to completely understand the spring feasts.
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