ORIGINAL ARTICLE
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CHRIST IN THE PASSOVER
by Curt Sewell
This article describes the history and background of the Jewish
Passover Seder, or Order of Service, which is probably the oldest
ceremony still being celebrated anywhere in the world today. It's been
done for about 3500 years. We'll learn the meaning of each of the
strange items served. We'll discover the true meaning of the "Mystery
of the Aphikomen," which most modern Jews practice without knowing why.
This ritual is rich with meaning for Christians, and shows that the
Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, is actually the central figure in this
ancient Jewish feast. We end with a discussion of the timing of
Crucifixion Week events, and show how they fit the prophetic pattern of
three of the Seven Feasts of Israel.
INTRODUCTION
The Passover is an ancient Jewish celebration, that started in Egypt
about 3500 years ago. So why should modern Christians, most of whom
aren't Jewish, pay any attention to this feast of Judaism? Does it have
any significance to us today? Who is the central character in the
Passover?
Many people tend to think of Judaism and Christianity as two different
religions. Some Christians even think that since God's chosen people,
the Jews, rejected Y'shua (or Jesus), as their Messiah, God has
rejected them; they think that God then started over with Christians as
His chosen people. That's not so -- Christianity is actually a
continuation and fulfillment of God's original religion that He gave to
man.
Most of the Jews rejected God's new covenant when their Messiah came,
over 2000 years ago. They didn't recognize Y'Shua's fulfillment of many
of the prophesies in their Tenach, but preferred to stay in their old
religious habits, and not take advantage of the Saviour God sent. But
even so, God preserved a remnant of saved people among the nation of
Israel.
Look at Romans 11:25-29 (RSV). It shows that the Jews are still God's
chosen people, and that eventually all surviving Jews will be saved.
Lest you be wise in your
own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a
hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the
Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,
"The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from
Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their
sins." As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake;
but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their
forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
We'll see that Passover actually has a lot of importance to Christians,
because it is a picture of Jesus. He is really the central character,
even though that's not obvious to most Jews because they haven't
believed the New Testament.
THE NATION OF ISRAEL
The book of Genesis tells us about God's first covenant with Abraham,
in Genesis 12:1-3, 15:5,18, and 17:5-8. He renewed that covenant
relationship, first to Isaac in 17:21 and 26:2-4. Later Abraham's
grandson Jacob (whose name was changed to "Israel") and all of his
descendants received this covenant, in Genesis 28:13-15.
Genesis 37-50 describes how Jacob's descendants ("children of Israel")
migrated to Egypt. At first they were well-treated, but after many
years the government changed, they were enslaved by the new Pharaoh,
and life became miserable.
PREPARATION FOR DELIVERANCE
The book of Exodus tells how God heard the prayers of His people, and
sent a deliverer, Moses. He told Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, "Let
my people go." At first Pharaoh refused.
Then the Lord began to show his power to Pharaoh. He sent plagues on
the land -- first the water of the Nile was turned to blood, then the
land was covered with frogs, there were lice, then flies, then their
cattle died, then the people were infected with boils, hail devastated
their crops, locusts ate what was left, and the sun was turned to
darkness. Each of these plagues hit directly at one of the Egyptian
false gods.
As each plague came, Pharaoh first promised to let the people go, and
then broke his agreement. He had started by rejecting God (see Exodus
5:2), and God later used this hardness of heart to show His power.
Finally the last and worst plague became inevitable. This began with
the first Passover.
THE FIRST PASSOVER
God's instructions for preparing this last meal are told in Exodus 12:1-15. We read the following:
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
"This month ... shall be
the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, 'In the tenth day of this month they shall take to
them every man a lamb, ... your lamb shall be without blemish, a male
... ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month ...
and 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. ... in that night, roast
with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat
it. ... let nothing of it remain until the morning ... And thus shall
ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your
staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's
passover.
"For I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast; ... the blood shall be to you for a
token ... when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a
feast to the LORD throughout all your generations; ... Seven days shall
ye eat unleavened bread; the first day ye shall put away leaven out of
your houses."
God told them that this was to be a perpetual celebration, which they
were to carefully explain to their children. Exodus 12:25-27 says,
... that ye shall keep
this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say
unto you, 'What mean ye by this service?' That ye shall say, 'It is the
sacrifice of the LORD's passover' ...
Moses passed on these instructions, and the people did as God had said. Exodus 12:29-30 tells what happened.
And it came to pass, that
at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of
the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the
Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a
house where there was not one dead.
After this, Moses succeeded in leading the Israelites out of Egypt,
miraculously crossing the Red Sea, and through forty years of
wanderings in the wilderness. His successor, Joshua, led them across
the Jordan River, and through the conquest of the land of Canaan, which
God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Then followed almost
1500 years of troubled life there before their promised Messiah, Y'shua
(or Jesus), came to Earth.
God gave directions for the "Seven Feasts of Israel" in Leviticus 23.
The first three are very closely connected, in time and significance.
These all occurred in the month Nisan, the first month of the Jewish
religious year. This month begins at sundown on the day of the first
New Moon after the spring equinox, sometime in March or April. (See
Leviticus 23:5, 6, 11.)
These are the feasts of
the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their
seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the
LORD's passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the
feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat
unleavened bread. ... [then for the next feast of FirstFruits] ... ye
shall bring a sheaf of the firstfuits of your harvest unto the priest:
And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on
the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
To summarize this, on the 10th day of Nisan each family was to select
an unblemished male lamb, then on the 14th they killed it in a
prescribed manner (not breaking any bones), and ate the ritual Passover
Feast. During the eight days from the 14th through the 21st, they had
no leaven in their bread -- they ate matzohs. One of those seven days
had to be a Sunday (the day after Sabbath); that day was called
"FirstFruits."
NOTE: We
should remember this timing sequence, and see how it fit with Jesus's
death, burial, and resurrection. We'll discuss this more completely
near the end of this article. Since that time, all Jews who made any
effort to worship God properly have observed this ceremony. Jesus
himself did this on His last night before His crucifixion. This became
the pattern for our observance of the Lord's Supper (or Holy
Communion). We'll see that each element had more significance than most
of us realize.
THE MODERN PASSOVER SEDER (or Order of Service).
Much of the material about the modern Passover Seder is abstracted from
the book Christ in the Passover, by Ceil and Moishe Rosen, published by
Moody Press, 1978, and distributed by Jews for Jesus, 60 Haight St.,
San Francisco, CA, 94102.
Other good books on this subject are The Miracle of Passover and The
Seven Feasts of Israel, by Zola Levitt. Levitt also has an excellent
one-hour video called The Passover, that shows many of these same items
and costumes, with good explanations. These are sold by Zola Levitt
Ministries, P.O. Box 12268, Dallas, TX, 75225.
Don't look to a Temple or Synagogue for a Passover service; neither is
it led by a priest or rabbi. Just as the first Passover was in the
homes in Egypt, the modern service is held in homes, and is presided
over by the head of the house, the grandfather or father. The woman of
the house also has an important part.
The first preparation is a thorough house-cleaning by the hostess, and
a ceremonial search (the Bedikat Chametz) for leaven by the host.
(NOTE: In the Bible, leaven is usually a symbol of sin.) He uses a
lighted candle, a wooden spoon, a feather and a napkin. When he finds
the last bits of leavened bread, he wraps it in the napkin and says the
Kal Hamira -- "Now I have rid my house of leaven." The napkin and its
crumbs are burned. Paul must have had this in mind when he wrote, in I
Corinthians 5:7,
"Purge out therefore the
old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even
Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."
The normal dishes are all packed away, and a special set that's used
only once a year is brought out. The hostess cooks a festive meal, but
doesn't set it on the table until later in the service. The hostess
begins the actual seder by lighting the candles and chanting a
blessing. The table is set with several prescribed items, as follows:
1. The Seder Plate, a blue-enameled brass dish that has six compartments for the following foods:
A. The Zeroah, or shank bone of a lamb (no meat),
B. The bytzah or haggigah, a hard-boiled egg roasted brown,
C. Three kinds of
"bitter herbs" -- the chazereth (whole horseradish root), the maror
(freshly ground horseradish), and the karpas (lettuce, parsley or
celery),
D. The charoseth, a sweet mixture of chopped apples, nuts, raisins, cinnamon and wine.
2. A bowl of salt water.
NOTE: For
the first 1500 years, they actually sacrificed a lamb, then ate its
meat in the Passover meal. But when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed
by the Roman Titus in A.D.70, proper sacrifices became impossible. Thus
now the bone is placed on the plate as a memorial. The bitter herbs
were to remind them of the misery their ancestors suffered; the
charoseth represents the mortar they used in making bricks in Egypt;
the salt water is a reminder of the water of the Red Sea and also of
their tears. The egg was not there originally; it is a Babylonian
symbol of fertility and may have started during their Babylonian
captivity during the 6th century B.C.
3. There are also
three matzohs (unleavened cracker-like wafers of bread, pierced and
striped during baking). These are in a matzo tash, a square white silk
bag having three sections.
4. The host has
four wine goblets. Sometimes the other celebrants also have four, or
sometimes their goblets are refilled several times instead. The four
goblets represent the four verbs in Exodus 6:6,7, "I will bring you
out; ... I will deliver you; ... I will redeem you; ... I will take you
to be my people."
5. There is also an
ornate book, the Haggadah, describing the service and containing the
prayers. This was compiled in the 13th century A.D., from much earlier
fragments.
6. Each chair has a pillow, and guests recline or sit comfortably (to show that they're not slaves).
The host wears a kitel, a long white robe-like outer garment, symbol of
purity. On his head is the miter, a white silk crown-shaped headress.
He chants the prayer of sanctification, or kiddush,
"Blessed are thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine."
Everyone drinks from the first wine-goblet, the "cup of sanctification."
The hostess brings in a small towel and bowl of water for ceremonial
hand-washing, used several times in the service. (Do you remember
that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper?)
The leader passes out bits of karpas to each person. They all chant,
"Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the earth."
Everyone dips the karpas into salt water and eats it.
Now the leader takes the matzoh tash with its unity (the three
matzohs). He removes the middle matzoh, breaks it in half, and hides or
buries one half by wrapping it in a white napkin and placing it under a
pillow, or under the table. The other half is replaced in the matzoh
tash. The buried wafer is called the aphikomen. He doesn't explain why
he does this. (There's a great deal of significance in this
"burial," and its later "resurrection," especially for Christians.
We'll explain it later.)
Four Questions
Now it's time for the traditional questions, chanted by the youngest
child. Basically these ask, "Why is this night different from all
others?"
Why do we eat matzohs?
Why must we have bitter herbs?
Why do we dip greens into salt water?
Why do we recline on pillows?
The leader then recites the history of the Hebrew nation, from Abraham
to Moses. He tells about the slavery in Egypt, and God's deliverance.
When he lists the ten plagues, everyone spills a drop of wine into a
cup -- one for each plague. When the description is over, they all sing
and clap a happy song, praising God. They recite Psalms 113 and 114
(the Hallel). Then they drink from the second wine-goblet (the cup of
praise).
There's more ceremonial washing and eating matzoh, bitter herbs and
sweet charoseth. Now the hostess clears the table of the ceremonial
items (but leaves the wine-goblets), and brings out the main dinner.
This is a little like our big meals at Thanksgiving, etc. -- it
contains whatever fancy dishes the family enjoys.
When the meal is finished, the hostess clears the dishes. Now it's time
for the search for the aphikomen (the buried half- matzoh). This is
done by the children, who make a game of it. Adults call out clues,
"You're getting close," etc. (Of course, they all saw the host hide it,
so the contest is only ritual.) The youngest is usually allowed to find
it, and receives a gift.
The host breaks off olive-size pieces of matzoh from the aphikomen and
distributes them to all. They each eat it, in a reverent manner.
Sometimes there is a blessing, "In memory of the Passover sacrifice,
eaten after one is sated."
(This is the point during the Last Supper at which Jesus broke the
bread and passed bits to His disciples; however, Jesus added the
significant words given in Luke 22:19),
"This is my body which is given for you."
The host now takes the third cup of wine, "the cup of redemption," or
"the cup of blessing," and offers the main table grace blessing. (In
Jewish tradition, the main blessing comes after the meal.) Then they
all drink from the third cup.
At the Last Supper, this is the place referred to in Luke 22:20,
"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you'."
There is a fourth wine-goblet at the table, that hasn't been used until
now. This is called "the cup of Elijah." There is also an empty chair,
waiting for Elijah to come. This is done because of the promise
contained at the end of the Old Testament, in Malachi 4:5,6 :
"Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite
the earth with a curse."
Messianic expectations run very high among the Jewish people,
especially at Passover time. The children of the house then make a
ritual of going and looking closely at the cup, to see if Elijah has
come and sipped some. One of the children goes to the door, opens it,
and looks for Elijah. Everyone says, "Blessed is he who cometh in the
name of the LORD!"
The host then leads in the recitation of the second part of the Hallel
-- Psalms 115-118, then the Great Hallel, Psalm 136. Everyone drinks
from the fourth cup of wine. After one more prayer of blessing (that
contains the phrase "Next year in Jerusalem") the Passover celebration
is finished.
MYSTERY OF THE APHIKOMEN
It's fascinating that this age-old Passover ceremony is rich in so many
details, and each one has a deep significance. In response to the
ritual questions, each one is explained in terms of its historical
origin and meaning. And yet, one of the main features of the feast is
not well understood by most Jewish participants. They refer to the
three matzohs in the matzoh tash as the Unity; but there is no
agreement on what is united. And no one seems to have any idea why the
middle one is broken, buried, and later brought back up.
Some rabbis teach that these represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; others
say they portray the unity of worship -- priests, Levites and
congregation; still others say they stand for the crowns of learning,
priesthood and kingship. But there's no explanation for breaking and
hiding the middle one. Christians have a better explanation; it
involves the "bread of heaven," spoken of in John 6:32-59.
A verse that is very holy to the Jews is the shemah of Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
"Hear, O Israel: the LORD
thy God is one LORD. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children ... and thou shalt bind
them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between
thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and
on thy gates."
That word "one" in the Hebrew is echad, meaning a composite oneness,
not just the number one. It's the same word used in Genesis 2:24, where
Adam and Eve are said to be "one flesh," and in Ezekiel 37 to describe
the two sticks becoming one. Here it is describing the unity of God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit -- the three persons of
the Godhead, acting as one.
This is the true meaning of the unity of the three matzohs in the
matzoh tash. And which of these is the middle one? That is obviously
God the Son -- Jesus the Messiah, our Lord. Let's see how He could be
represented by a piece of unleavened bread. Read John 6:32-59. Verse 35
says,
And Jesus said unto them,
"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and
he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
God subtly emphasized this truth in choosing the spot where His Son
would be born. The meaning of the name "Bethlehem" is "house of
bread." (By the way, the name "Nazareth" means "branch." That
meaning clarifies the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1.)
But why isn't the sacrificed lamb still used? And how did matzohs come
to prominence? Deuteronomy 12:11-14 says that people were not to offer
sacrifices except at the location that God chose. Other scriptures make
it clear that He chose the Temple site on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
When the Roman army, under Titus, destroyed the Temple in A.D.70, there
was no more acceptable place for sacrifice of the lamb. That's why
today's Passover meals don't include the meat of a lamb, merely a
symbolic shank bone. The rabbis, in the second century A.D., instituted
the use of matzohs to represent the sacrificed lamb. That practice
still holds.
Now we can see why the middle matzoh is broken during the Passover,
then hidden or buried. Jesus's body was broken for us, He died,
and was buried. But He didn't stay dead -- He came back to life, came
out of the tomb! That is represented by bringing out that matzoh
later in the ceremony. It is then broken into pieces, and passed out to
each person. And this is the exact spot during the Last Supper, when
Jesus said,
"This is my body which is given for you."
The the very next item in the service is drinking from the wine-goblet known as the "Cup of Redemption." That's when Jesus said,
"This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."
This is why we can say with confidence that Jesus is actually the
central character in the Passover Seder. And, if that's not enough,
let's look at the way His death, burial and resurrection fits the
timing of the first three of the Seven Feasts of Israel. He was
killed on Passover Day, was buried for three days during the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, and rose from the dead on the day of FirstFruits.
In John 1:29 John the Baptist announced Jesus's approach by shouting,
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
And Paul, in I Corinthians 15:20, said,
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfuits of them that slept."
TIMING OF EVENTS OF CRUCIFIXION WEEK
The chart below is my studied calculation of the sequence of events of
that week. It's drawn to illustrate the differences between Jewish,
Roman, and American timing methods, and to correlate and explain
Scriptural applications.
1) On the chart
below, the shaded areas represent hours of darkness; the open boxes
represent daylight hours. Jewish days always begin and end at sunset --
the beginning of darkness. Remember the creation days in Genesis 1 --
they're called "the evening and the morning." To the Jew, evening meant
the early hours of darkness. The phrase "between the evenings" meant
daylight hours. Our present, non-Jewish, days always begin and end at
midnight -- the middle of darkness.
2) Exodus12:6 says
the Passover lamb should be kept penned up until Nisan 14, then killed
"in the evening" (KJV) or "between the evenings" (Hebrew). This would
be in the afternoon toward the end of Nisan 14. Josephus said this was
done between the 9th and 11th hours of the day, that is, between 3 and
5 PM. This would be on our Thursday afternoon.
3) Exodus 12:7,8
says that, for that first Passover, they were to put the blood on the
top and both sides of their doorways, then eat the flesh that night
(during the first part of Nisan 15). Therefore the Last Supper must
have been on Thursday night.
4) Exodus 12:12,29
says that God killed the first-born of all Egyptians at midnight that
night (Nisan 15). Thus the actual Passover Day is Nisan 15 -- the day
after the lamb was killed.
5) Jesus was
arrested a few hours after His Last Supper (a Passover meal), was tried
during the night, and was crucified at about 9 AM the next day. This
was on Nisan 15 (Passover Day), which would be on our Friday. He was on
the cross from 9 AM until 3 PM (see Mark 15:25,34).
6) The day He was
crucified was a "day of preparation" for the Sabbath, that is, a Friday
(see Mark 15:42). They had to put His body in a tomb quickly, before
sundown, else it would be during the Sabbath, when burial was
forbidden. This couldn't have been the day of preparation for the
Passover, because Mark 14:12 says that's when the two disciples set up
the upper room for the Passover feast.
7) Early in the
morning after the Sabbath was past, on the first day of the week, that
is Sunday, the women came to complete the burial anointing (see Mark
16:1). But He was not in the tomb -- He had risen from the dead!
8) Jews always
counted a fraction of a day as one day. Thus He was in the grave for
three days from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. The short
portion of Friday, plus all of Saturday, plus part of Sunday added up
to three days. These were Nisan 15, 16, and 17.
9) Exodus 12:3 says
that the Passover lamb was to be selected on Nisan 10, and was to be
kept penned or checked for blemishes until Nisan 14. This gives a good
analogy for the date of Jesus's Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, which
was on the first day of the week, Sunday, Nisan 10.
10) Some people
disagree with this timing, pointing out phrases that said Jesus was in
the tomb for three days and three nights, or that "after three days"
(rather than "on the third day") He rose again. This writer recognizes
an apparent conflict here, but feels the overall evidence favors the
timing shown here. Another evidence is the conversation on the road to
Emmaaus, in Luke 24:13,21. The KJV says clearly that this took place
"on the third day," but the Jerusalem Bible (more faithful to the
Hebrew text) says "two whole days have gone by since it happened."
11) In what year
did this occur? Scholars are not quite agreed here. Rabbis have changed
the way that Passover is calculated, partly so that it won't fall on a
Friday, but apparently Passover did come on Friday in both A.D.30 and
A.D.33. The Chronology History Research Institute gives a number of
constraints that rule out A.D.33. They conclude that Jesus must have
been crucified in A.D.30. This also fits in with the forty-year
interval before the destruction of the Temple by Titus in A.D.70. But
Grant Jeffrey, in Armageddan: Appointment With Destiny figures that
Jesus was crucified in A.D.32. Other writers have suggested other
dates, so that this writer just won't claim a particular ancient year.
THE BOTTOM LINE
No matter what is the correct calendar date, we should remember that
the important thing is not the exact date on which Jesus hung on the
cross, was buried, and then rose from the dead. The important thing is
that He did, and thereby gave us the chance for everlasting life with
God.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Considering the obvious importance of what we've described, the reader
should consider this -- yes, Jesus was the true Passover Lamb of God,
and He did truly die for the sins of the world, but have I followed
through on this? Have I personally applied His blood to the "doorpost
of my own heart?" Is He truly my Saviour? There's no other way for
salvation, and all it takes is my heartfelt belief in Jesus Christ and
what He did for me, together with a simple but sincere prayer of
repentence for forgiveness and salvation; He's eagerly waiting. Are you
ready?
Thank you, Lord Jesus!
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