“Throughout Your Generations”:Celebrating Passover
In Exodus 12, we see a patient Father’s “counting to ten” has reached the limit. The oppressive Pharaoh repeatedly had been warned of impending judgment by the G-d of Israel. In the tenth and final plague, every firstborn male – from the palace to the servant’s quarters and in the pasture as well – will be struck dead.
But first, the L-RD has a final set of instructions for the Hebrews (as the Jewish people then were known). A major change in Israel’s condition is about to unfold – one that will be commemorated for millennia to come!
A new calendar
Great empires have a way of seeing history through very parochial eyes. For example, in the Roman Empire, Year 1 on the calendar (753 BC on the Gregorian calendar used widely today) began with the founding of the city of Rome (Ab urbe condita or AUC).
We may suppose during the hundreds of years Jacob’s descendants had been living in Egypt they had grown accustomed to the Egyptian calendar tracking the dynasties of the pharaohs. Now G-d is going to institute a new way for His people to mark time: “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you” (12:2).
The L-RD continues with very specific instructions through Moses:
Count 10 days into this first month on your new calendar. Every family must select an unblemished year-old lamb or goat. Observe it for four days to be certain it has no illness or defect.
At twilight on the 14th of the month everyone is to kill their lamb and collect the blood in a basin. Some of that blood must be applied with a hyssop branch to the doorposts and lintel of each home. Roast the lamb over fire and eat it, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, at home with your family. But eat quickly, ready to leave at a moment’s notice (Exodus 12:1–11, paraphrased).
Pretty strange way to prepare a meal before a trip, we might think. But this is no ordinary going-away dinner; it is “the L-RD’s Passover.”
“I will pass over you”
The sand in G-d’s 400-year[1] hourglass has run out. After generations of bitter bondage, the Hebrews are more than ready to leave Egypt. But Pharaoh is unrelenting in his stubborn refusal to release his slaves. So, G-d has one final plague to unleash on the Egyptians.
For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the G-ds of Egypt I will execute judgments – I am the L-RD (12:12).
Since the fourth plague, the G-d of Abraham has made a distinction between the Jewish people and the Egyptians, sparing Goshen from devastation. He intends to provide protection for His chosen nation from the final judgment. But this time He requires action on their part: applying lamb’s blood to the entrances of each family’s home.
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 befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (12:13).
A memorial Feast of Unleavened Bread
G-d will fill out the Jewish calendar with additional days of annual celebration and observance[2], but Passover is the first to be initiated. A perpetual ordinance to be kept throughout ensuing generations; this is a memorial feast with specific elements. For seven days the Jewish people are to eat bread without leaven, recalling that when escaping Egypt there was no time for dough to rise. In fact, no leaven should be found in the house for that week (12:14–20).
To underscore the seriousness of this permanent regulation, G-d states (then reaffirms) that “whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel[3], whether he is an alien or a native of the land” (12:15, 19b).
Moses then relates G-d’s instructions to the elders of Israel, including the key element of putting lamb’s blood on the entrances of their dwellings.
For the L-RD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the L-RD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer[4] to come in to your houses to smite you (12:23).
The importance of understanding the significance of the L-RD’s redeeming His people from Egyptian bondage is underscored throughout this text. Not only are Jewish people to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread annually, but also each generation is obligated to retell the story to the next.
“… You shall say [to your children who inquire], ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the L-RD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes’” (12:27).
The Hebrews responded to Moses by bowing and worshiping the L-RD. They then went and did so; just as the L-RD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did (12:28). Faith in action – worship and obedience – would bring deliverance from death for the firstborn of the Hebrews.
A Final Meal
After all the years of sighing and crying, toiling and boiling in the North African sun, the long nightmare of slavery is about to end. A final barbecue is planned, with a rather sparse menu. The meal must be eaten hurriedly because there is much to do before departing in the morning.
Was it a long or short night, huddled inside the home one last time? Were you the firstborn male in your family, would you have double-checked to make sure the blood had been daubed on the doorposts and lintel as instructed?
Where is G-d?
Exodus opens with the Hebrews in misery, crying out for relief amidst their bondage and suffering – including the death sentence on newborn sons. “And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out”(Exodus 2:23).
At this point, G-d seems silent, absent, perhaps uncaring. Perhaps this is your experience in difficult seasons of life, as well.
But G-d truly is never absent, uncaring – or asleep (Psalm 121:4). Exodus 2:23 continues, “…and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to G-d. 24 So G-d heard their groaning; and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 And G-d saw the sons of Israel, and G-d took notice of them.
After His demonstrations of divine power and the protection from Plague 4 onward for the Jewish people, we now find Him being worshiped. And the Creator of the Universe is establishing the Jewish calendar to begin with the annual recounting of this amazing chapter of history so future generations will know Him as “the L-RD our G-d who brought us out of bondage in Egypt.”
The question remains for us today: do we know the G-d who revealed Himself to the Exodus generation in such a personal way? That He came down to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt points ahead to Him sending His only Son, Yeshua, to deliver mankind from our bondage to sin and the judgment our sinfulness deserves. What better time than Passover to explore the story of redemption that is recorded in the Brit Chadasha – the New Covenant/Testament.
We’d love to chat if you have questions.
See Genesis 15:12-16 for G-d’s disclosure to Abram of the timeline that would unfold.
See Leviticus 23 for the complete list of “G-d’s appointed times.” Purim was added to the calendar in the days of Esther and Mordechai to celebrate deliverance from Haman’s evil plot to annihilate the Jewish people. Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication) occurs after the closing of the Tanakh; it is mentioned in John 10:22.
This is only the second time the Torah levies this serious punishment. The first time is for the failure to circumcise one’s son, thus breaking G-d’s covenant (17:14).
The Passover Haggadah emphasizes G-d’s personal involvement in the slaying of the firstborn: “I Myself and not another.” Our text (Exodus 12:23) indicates the L-RD indeed will pass through to smite the Egyptians. It also references “the destroyer” whom He will not allow into the homes of the Hebrews to smite them. In 2 Samuel 24:15 we also see the L-RD sending a pestilence (dever, the same word used of the fifth plague in Exodus 9:3) which killed 70,000 Israelites. 2 Samuel 24:16–17 refers to “the angel who destroyed the people” and “the Angel of the L-RD” – the same language used of the divine appearance at the burning bush. Some connect these two passages to identify “the destroyer” of Exodus 3 to be the angel of the L-RD as the instrument of divine judgment.