First
Appointment/Feast is Pesach
(Translated as
Passover in English)
INTRODUCTION
The very first Pesach/Passover’s
instructions were given by YHVH in Shemot/Ex 12, then in Vayikra /Lev 23
(repeated in Devarim/Deut 16) were given some further instructions
for the generations to come. We see that with the Feast of Pesach, there are
two other Appointed Times closely associated with Pesach: The Omer Resheet
(First fruits of the Barley harvest) and Chag haMatzot (Feast of Unleavened
bread). Today, and even in early times, for all intents and
purposes, this entire special appointments: Pesach, the whole seven days of Unleavened
bread and Omer Resheet that comes in between on the day after the Shabbat, is
also called ‘Passover’ or ‘Pesach’, or the ‘Pesach week’. We can see prove of this in Ezek 46:21 “In
the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you have the Passover,
a festival of seven days, unleavened bread is eaten” and
in Luk 22:1 And the Festival of Unleavened Bread drew
near, which is called Passover (Pesach in Hebrew).
Scripturally, Pesach and Unleavened Bread are
two separate, yet connected, moadim/ Appointed Times. Pesach is one day and
specifically remembers the slaying of the first-born and the
salvation that came to the Yisraelites through the blood of the lamb on the
door posts on physical/ historical level. On Spiritual level Yahshua was
the Lamb of Elohim that was executed years later for the
spiritual bondages of men. It is correct to say about Pesach: “Pesach/Passover
is the Season of our Freedom.” Unleavened Bread begins on the night when the
Pesach Seder (the Memorial Seder) is held (the night of the 15th of
Aviv) and lasts one week. In other words, the 14th of Aviv was
the day that the pesach (the word pesach speaks of the lambs that were offered)
were offered as long as the Temple stood about the Ninth hour (– Yahshua died
too on the ninth hour (about 3pm our time) on the 14th of
Aviv); then the lambs of each family were roasted and only by the evening of
the 14th of Aviv, going into the 15th of Aviv,
were the lambs eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread and the story of
the Deliverance was told. So the Pesach Seders (can be likened to a Memorial
Service) are held on the start of the 15th of Aviv, the First
day of Unleavened bread. The week of Unleavened bread is marked by eating bread
made without leaven.
Physical
historical level
of the firstborn and the deliverance from
it through
trust in the blood of the Pesach offering, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot) was given to specifically
remember on physical level the actual event of the rushed Exodus of the
Yisraelites from Mitsrayim/Egypt, fleeing to freedom like we read
the command in Devarim/Deu 16:3 “Eat no leavened
bread with it. For seven days you eat unleavened bread with it, bread
of
affliction, because you came out of the land of Mitsrayim in haste – so
that you remember the day in which you came out of the land of Mitsrayim, all
the days of your life”. This was accomplished by eating unleavened
bread for a whole week. This bread (called matza) recalls a time of
haste when the children of Yisrael were fleeing from the Mitsrites/Egyptians
with no time to wait for their bread to rise
(Left hand photo is home-baked unleavened bread. Photo on the right is bought unleavened bread in the boxes (Matza))
Spiritual
level
We
know that the week of Unleavened bread also has a wonderful spiritual
implication for us concerning the life of Yahshua that was without sin (leaven)
and the leaven in our lives that we now can and must fight against through the
blood of Yahshua and the empowerment of the Ruach HaKodesh (the Set Apart
Spirit). In 1Co 5:7-8 we read: “Therefore cleanse out the
old leaven, so that you are a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Messiah
our Passover was offered for us. So then let us
observe the festival, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” For
us as believers in Yahshua it is very important to remember on Spiritual level
His life, His death and resurrection during this week, but it is also important
to remember the historical implications of these Moadim (Appointed Times also
called “chaggim= feasts|”) and the commandments concerning it that is relevant
“for all generations.”
Understanding the Pesach (Passover) Season
YHVH declared Pesach/Passover and the
Week of eating unleavened bread to be a permanent celebration for all eternity.
The very first 14th and 15th of
Aviv
Shemot 12:13 ‘And the blood shall
be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I
shall pass over you, and let the plague not come on you to destroy you when I
smite the land of Mitsrayim.’ Here in Shemot 12:13b where we read “I shall pass over you”, The Hebrew
words for “Pass” and “over” in this instance is
also “Pesach” but pronounced more like “paw-sach” which is a little
different from the word Pesach, pronounced as “Pe-sach”. “Paw-sach”
in Shemot 12:13b “I shall pass over you”, means "to skip,
pass or hover over" and the “I shall pass over you”, “over” in Hebrew is “al”
which is a proposition that means “over”. These two words as a whole “pass
over/ Passover/pawsach” speak to us of the “life” that was given to the people
who had the blood on their doorposts and lintels as YHVH’s plague of death
passed over them. These two words “pass over” as a whole also speaks to us of
two things on spiritual level: First, it
speaks of the passing over in judgment from death and sin to life in Yahshua
and it tells us about allowing, by faith (emunah), the blood of Yahshua to
hover over our lives and give us spiritual protection from the evil one (Ha
satan).
Summary of the few
differences from the very first Pesach in Mitsrayim compare to the Pesach
celebrations since they came into the Promised Land:
In Egypt the Passover
was selected on the 10th, and killed on the 14th, and they did not, on account
of the Passover, incur the penalty of 'cutting off,' as in later generations;
of the Egyptian Passover it was said, 'Let him and his neighbour next unto his
house take it,' while afterwards the Passover-companies might be
indiscriminately chosen; in Egypt it was not ordered to sprinkle the blood and
burn the fat on the altar (for the pesach offering), as afterwards YHVH
commanded in Deu 16:6,7 but at the place
where יהוה your Elohim chooses
to make His Name dwell, there you slaughter the Passover in the evening, at the
going down of the sun, at the appointed time you came out of Mitsrayim. “And
you shall roast and eat it in the place which יהוה your Elohim chooses (Yerushalayim),
and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.; at the first Passover
it was said, 'None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the
morning,' which did not apply to later times; in Egypt it was slain by every
one in his own house, while afterwards in Temple days it was slain by all Yisrael
in one place; lastly, formerly in Egypt where they ate the Passover, there they
lodged, but afterwards they might eat it in one, and lodge in another place.
At midnight on that fateful night in Mitsrayim,
death passed through the land. Every house that did not have the token of the
blood on the doorposts and lintel suffered the judgment of YHVH (death of the
first born) (Shem/Ex 12:12-15 Verse 29 tells us that it was at
midnight).
So by now, after the sun has set on the evening of
the 14th of Aviv, it was the night of the 15th of
Aviv. The Hebrews have eaten their roasted lamb with bitter herbs in haste
with their loins girded, sandals on
their feet and a staff in the hand (Exo 12:11) Shemot/Exodus 12: 14 says “And this
day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall observe it as a festival
to יהוה throughout
your generations – observe it as a festival, an everlasting law”.
Quote:If we understand that “between the evenings” (vs.6) means approximately
the Biblical ninth hour on the 14th of Aviv which corresponds with
approximately 3:00 pm our time, then obviously “this night” must
mean Aviv 15. It all depends on your
understanding of the meaning of “between the evenings.” Notice, however verse
14. “This day”(from sunset of Aviv 14 when Aviv 15 started, going
through the night into the day time of Aviv 15 untill sunset when Aviv 16
starts) (the day YHVH passed over them) shall be a
memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to YHVH throughout your generations;
you shall keep it a feast forever.” YHVH also ascribed a Sabbath
to the Seventh day of Unleavened Bread. Whenever YHVH memorializes a day He
does so by making it a Sabbath (a
Shabbat) just as He memorialized His finished work of Creation (the weekly
Shabbat that is a Shabbat Shabbaton – (a Shabbat Shabbaton is on higher level
than the Feast Sabbaths in that not even making of food is allowed- (a Shabbat
Shabbaton is a Rest day of Rests) and the other Appointments that have Feast
Sabbaths are also a day of rest (no work
allowed but the making of food is allowed; So these Feast Shabbats are not called
“Shabbat Shabbaton except for Yom haKippurim because on Yom haKippurm we fast.
It is a complete day of rest; a Rest day of rests; a Shabbat Shabbaton). The
Feasts which are just having Feast Shabbats are: First and seventh day of Chag
haMatzot, the day of Shavuot, the day of the Great awakening blast (Yom
Teruah), First day of Sukkot and the Eighth day (Shemeni Atzerereth, which is
the last one day Feast after the 7 days of Sukkot.
So YHVH memorialized the day He passed over Yisrael
by making it a Sabbath, the First day of Unleavened bread, the 15th of
Aviv. That is why the term “feast” is used in this verse. The Hebrew word
is “chagag” which was also used in Ex 23:14;“Three times thou shalt keep a feast
unto me in the year.”
A chagag is a special time of rejoicing and dancing. This what Strongs has to say:
châgag
/ khaw-gag' A primitive root (compare H2283, H2328); properly to move in a circle,
that is, (specifically) to march in a sacred procession, to observe a festival;
by implication to be giddy: - celebrate, dance, (keep, hold) a (solemn) feast
(holiday), reel to and fro.
Certainly, Aviv 14 cannot be considered a chag or
chagag in any way. It is merely the day that the Passover lamb (the
"pesach") was sacrificed and then roasted with fire but of course
also a very important event. The Pesach Seder on the beginning of the 15th
of Aviv gives honour to the lambs and THE Lamb of Elohim!
End quote.
We as ‘grafted-in wild Olive branches of the Tree of Yisrael’ (Rom 11)
cannot celebrate “this day” in the exact
way that the “natural branches” (Jews) who do not believe that Yahshua is
the Promised Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim are celebrating and remembering “this
day”, “this night”. What we do have in
common though is a Seder that remembers about the deliverance from Egypt/the
pesach lambs, the telling of the story and eating a Pesach supper as part of a “seder” (an
order of a service) where we tell the story with symbolic objects and eat
unleavened bread with bitter herbs; lifting up the four cups and washing hands;
singing songs; but we use a
traditional Pesach Seder that developed with the early believers which have the
added Messianic truths of the fulfilment of the Pesach because since Yahsua
died as the Pesach Lamb of Elohim, we also
celebrate the fact that we can have deliverance from the bondage of sin through
the sacrificial act of THE Lamb of Elohim who laid down his life for us and how
Yahshua gave a renewed meaning to the third cup and to the “afikomen”, the
piece of matza that was broken and covered in a cloth and hid away only to be retrieved later.
This night/day is
unto YHVH
Shemot/Exo 12:14 ‘And this day shall become to you a
remembrance. And you shall observe it as a festival to יהוה throughout your
generations – observe it as a festival, an everlasting law. Shemot/Exo 12:42: 'It is a night to be observed unto יהוה for
bringing them out of the land of Mitsrayim. This night is unto יהוה, to be observed by all the
children of Yisra’ĕl throughout their generations.'
Let us
first start from the beginning of the 14th of Aviv which starts
with sunset when the 13th of Aviv comes to an end (this is not the night spoken
of in Ex (Shemot) 12:42). By now, we who have small children can do the Bedikat
Chametz ceremony with our children (see about the Bedikat chametz ceremony
above– the photo on the left is what is needed ‘a feather, a candle, a wooden spoon, the prayers and 10 pieces of hidden chametz that the father and the
children must find (This ceremony is just an object lesson and experience for
parents with smaller children and an optional) and a cloth.
How we as believers in Messiah striving to be Torah observant, celebrate
and remember that night through a Seder that has Messianic input:
So, after preparing our Seder plates and food for
the Pesach Seder, by the end of the 14th when the 15th of Aviv starts, we get together for the Pesach Seder as the
day goes over into the 15th of
Aviv, the First day of Unleavened
bread. On this evening, the start of the 15th of Aviv, we have
the Pesach Seder (order of service) (with Messianic input to tell
the whole story) as a remembrance of the first lambs and of Yahshua who became the Pesach (the offered Lamb) of Elohim who on a specific 14th of Aviv died
“between the evenings” on the 9th hour. When the 14th
comes to sunset and the 15th of Aviv starts, then this day of the 15th of
Aviv (which is also the First day of the Week of Unleavened Bread) is a Set
Apart day, a day of feasting, the day when we remember and give thanks
according to the commandment of YHVH. (Shemot/Exo 12:14 ‘And
this day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall observe it as a
festival to יהוה throughout your generations – observe it as a festival, an
everlasting law. Shemot/Exo 12:42: 'It
is a night to be observed unto יהוה for bringing them out of the land of
Mitsrayim. This night is unto יהוה, to be observed by all the children of Yisra’ĕl
throughout their generations.')
Remember that the whole period from the 14th of Aviv
until the end of the seven days of Unleavened bread is also spoken of as the
“Pesach/Passover” or “Pesach week”.
On Historical level Pesach celebrates
YHVH’s deliverance of the children of Yisrael from bondage in Mitzrayim/Egypt,
where they were slaves to the Mitsrites/Egyptians Shemot/
Exodus 2:23-24; 6:5-8; 13:3,14). Pesach is the time to remember
the final plague, the slaying of the first-born and the time for the people of
Yisrael to remember how YHVH delivered them from death and slavery, and began
to form that large family of ex-slaves into a free and independent chosen
nation. On that first Pesach, YHVH was going to take them out of Mitsrayim/Egypt
and slavery by a mighty, miraculous deliverance.
On spiritual level the application that Elohim wants us to
understand is this: Mitzrayim/Egypt is a type of the
world and the world's system. Its ruler, Pharaoh, was a type of satan (haSatan).
The bondage people are in when they live according to the ways of the world's
system is sin (Yochanan/John 8:34).
Historically, the children
of Yisrael were delivered from the bondage in Mitzrayim by
putting the blood of a lamb upon the doorposts and lintel of their houses (Shemot/Ex 12:7).
Spiritually, this is a
picture of the Messiah Yahshua and how those who believe in
Him are delivered from the bondages of sin and the rule of satan (haSatan)
in their lives. Yahshua is the Lamb of Elohim (Yochanan/John 1:29). Yahshua is
also our Pesach lamb (Pesach – the Lamb that was offered) (1 Corinthians
5:7). Those who follow Yahshua are the house of Elohim (Ivrim/Hebrews
Heb 3:4-6: For every house is built by someone, but He who built all is Elohim. And Mosheh indeed was trustworthy in
all His house as a servant, for a witness of what would be spoken later, but Messiah as a Son over His own house,
whose house we are if we hold fast the boldness and the boasting of the
expectation firm to the end”; 1 Peter [Kefa] 2:5). The
doorposts are our hearts. It is only through trusting by faith (emunah)
in the shed blood of Yahshua our Pesach, that we are
free from the bondage of sin (Galatians 4:3-5,9; 5:1; Kefa Beit/2Pet
2:19). This is because the blood of Yahshua redeems us from
sin (Leviticus [Vayikra] 17:11; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Kefa Aleph/1
Peter 1:18-19; Yochanan Aleph/1 John [ 1:7; Revelation
1:5).
Let us go back to Shemot/Ex
12 and look in detail at YHVH's Commandments (Mitzvot) for the Passover
(Pesach) and how amazingly we can find spiritual Messianic applications
in each phrase
YHVH, the Elohim of Yisrael started by
establishing a month that would from then on be the beginning of Months, the
first month of the Year so that they could from then on know exactly how His
salvation plan is laid out as each “Chagag” (Feast) will be at a specific
Appointed Time (therefore also called Moadim which means Appointments) starting
with the Pesach in 14 days from there. In
Vayikra 23 YHVH starts off : Lev 23:4,5
‘These are the appointed times of יהוה, set-apart gatherings
which you are to proclaim at their appointed times. ‘In the first
month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the
Passover to יהוה.” It is accepted that the month that was the Seventh month in a year since
creation became now the First month of the year and the Seventh month from now
on, when it is the Appointment of Yom Teruah is what the Jews call their Civil
New Year as it is in the Seventh month that the years are counted since
creation in order to establish the Shmitta and Jubilee years. But the fact is
that from now, just before He led out the Hebrew people from Mitsrayim, YHVH
established the month of the AVIV as the First month of a new year. That is why
we made a bigger issue now of the New Year and not such a big issue as a Rosh
haShanna like most Jews at Yom Teruah. We just acknowledge that it is another
year count since creation and then celebrate Yom Teruah on the first day of the
Seventh Month. Even though the Seventh Scriptural month could have previously
been the First Month, it is still YHVH’s calendar that we are talking about.
(It is sad to know that most Christians are still believing that when the
Scriptures speak of the First, Second, Third of whatever month, that it is not
the Gregorian calendar that is spoken about. So many Christians do not even
know that our Father, the Creator of heaven and earth has established His
calendar and that the Egyptians, Arabs and Rome changed it. Please ask for
notes on the subject of the Scriptural calendar should you want to study more.)
So, the Scriptural New Year
starts in the month of Aviv since the time of Shemot/Ex 12.
Exo 12:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying,
Exo 12:2 “This
month is the beginning of months for you, it is the first
month of the year for you.
Since the Babylonian exile the month of the Aviv was also called Nisan.
Spiritual Application: Like we see, the month of the Aviv is the
first month of the Spiritual calendar. Receiving Yahshua into
our lives is the beginning of a Renewed Covenant (Brit Chadashah)
relationship with Elohim. (Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 31:31-33; Yochanan /John
3:5-7; Romans 6:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Pesach as in speaking of the Feast
(translated as Passover in English) is the first of the annual feasts or
Appointed Times (Moadim). Likewise, repenting of our sins (teshuvah) and
believing in the shed blood of Yahshua is our first step in
our walk (halacha) with YHVH.
Now let us look at each phrase:
1. The lamb was to be taken on the tenth day of the First Month (the month of the Aviv) and inspected and kept for four days
Shemot/Exo 12:3 “Speak to all
the congregation of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month each
one of them is to take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his
father, a lamb for a household.”
They chose the lamb that would be
slaughtered and then it was supervised for four days to make sure that it was
without blemish. Shemot/Exo 12:6a ‘And
you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.
(10th to 14th =4 days)
Messianic Fulfillment. YHVH commanded Yisrael to take a lamb on the
tenth day of Aviv and set it aside until the fourteenth day. These four days
were fulfilled by Yahshua during the four days before the Pesach week
began. Remember, Yahshua is the Lamb of Elohim (Yochanan/John
1:29). We read that Yahshua came from Beit-Anyah (Bethany) six days before the
Pesach (the pesach which was offered up on the 14th of
Aviv):
Yoch/John 12:1-2: “Accordingly יהושע, six days before the Passover, came to Bĕyth Anyah, where
Elʽazar was, who had died, whom He raised from the dead. So they made Him a
supper there, and Martha served, while Elʽazar was one of those who sat at the
table with Him.”
Six days before the Pesach must have been the 9th of
Aviv. Then we read further:
Yoch/Joh 12:12 “On the next day a great
crowd who had come to the festival, when they heard that יהושע was coming to Yerushalayim, Joh 12:13 took the branches of palm
trees and went out to meet Him, and were crying out, “Hoshia-na! Blessed is He
who is coming in the Name of יהוה,[1] the
Sovereign of Yisra’ĕl!” Footnote: 1 See Ps. 118:26, Mt. 23:39. This must have been on the 10th Day of Aviv. Just as the
lambs had to be inspected for four days to be sure that it was without blemish,
the same thing happened to the Messiah when he rode into Yerushalayim on
the tenth of the month of the Aviv that year. The most
educated among the people came to question him. They tried to catch him saying
something incorrect, as it is written in Matthew 22:15, “Then
the Perushim went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.”(HNV)
Yahshua went on public display there for four days from Aviv 10 to Aviv 14
(Mattityahu/Matt 21:1,9-12,17-18,23; 24:1,3; 26:1-5). This will be
described in more detail under point 2 as we see how Yahshua after being
“inspected’ for 4 days were found without ‘spot or blemish”.
2. The lamb
was to be without blemish/a perfect one – inspected for
four days: Shemot/Exo 12:5 ‘Let the lamb be
a perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the sheep or from the
goats.[The Scriptures]
The Hebrew word for
lamb is “seh”,[1] [4] which means the young of a sheep, a lamb, or the young of
a goat, a kid. The lamb could come from either of these two animals. The kid is
connected with Yom Kippur (Yom HaKippurim), when two goats were offered to take
away the sins of Yisrael. The tenth day of the first month corresponds with the
tenth day of the seventh month, Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Atonements,
see Vayikra/Leviticus 16. That teaches us that the suffering
Messiah fullfilled two functions, he was a lamb and
a scapegoat; dying both to deliver the firstborn from death and to
take away the sins of the people. That is why Yochanan ben Zechariah (John the
son of Zechariah) cried out prophetically when he saw Yahshua, as it is written
in Yochanan Aleph/John1:29b,
“Behold, the Lamb
of Elohim, who takes away the sin of the world!” “Without
blemish" - The lamb had to be without blemish in
order to symbolize Yahshua, who had neither any sin (yetser ha-rah – evil
inclination) nor committed any sins, as it is written in Kefa Aleph/1
Peter 1:18-20: “knowing that you were redeemed from your futile way
of life inherited from your fathers, not with what is corruptible, silver or
gold, but with the precious blood of Messiah, as of a lamb unblemished
and spotless, foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, but manifested
in these last times for your sakes”.
Eschatologically, these four days that the lamb was hidden is prophetic
of the people's expectations of the Eternal to redeem both man and the earth
back to how things were in the Garden of Eden (Gan Eden) (Mishnah,
SanHedrin 97-98). When it speaks of Messiah being appointed before the
foundation of the world, it is referring to the tenth of Aviv, when each lamb
was appointed for the offering on the 14th of Aviv. Mishnah[2] [5] teaches
"that before the lamb was sacrificed, a list had to be made of all
those who would be participate in eating the lamb. During the second Temple
period, every person had to be part of a group that had appointed a lamb. That
way each individual in the group had a lamb appointed for him ahead of time,
four days before it was sacrificed," That teaches is that the Messaih
was appointed 4,000 years before he died 4,000 years from the creation of
Adam. A day is understood to be prophetic of a thousand years, based upon Tehillim/Psalm
90:4 “For a thousand years in Your eyes Are like yesterday that has past, Or
like a watch in the night.’ and Kefa Beit/2Peter
3:8 ‘But, beloved ones, let not this one matter be
hidden from you: that with יהוה one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day..” Linking Tehillim/Psalm
90:4 to each day in creation, YHVH ordained each day in creation to be
prophetic of a thousand years of time and the entire redemption to take 7,000
years to complete from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Bereisheet/Genesis
1:1,5,8,13,19,23,31; 2:1-3)] ,which corresponds with the four days, in order
for the Lamb to be offered for all those who were written in the book of life
before the foundations of the world were laid, as it is written in Revelation
13:8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him
(haSatan), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world (KJV)
Another version:
Revelation 13:8 "And all those dwelling on the earth, whose names have not been written in the Book
of Life of the slain Lamb, from the foundation of the world shall worship him." (The Scriptures)
The HNV Version reads: "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed"
Messianic Fulfillment. Yahshua was the Lamb
of Elohim (Yochanan/John 1:29) without spot or
blemish (Kefa aleph/1 Peter 1:18-20). During the four
days before Pesach, Yahshua was examined by
many in fulfilling this Scripture, including:
(a) The chief priests and elders (Mattityahu/Matt 21:23)
(b) Pilate (Mattityahu/Matt 27:1-2,11-14,17-26)
(c) Herod (Luke 23:6-12)
(d) Annas the high priest (Cohen HaGadol) (Luke 3:2; Yochanan/John 18:13,24)
(e) Caiaphas the high priest (Yochanan/John 11:49-53; 18:13-14,19-24,28)
(f) Yahudah/Judas (Mattityahu/Matt 27:3-10)
(g) The centurion (Mattityahu/Matt 27:54)
(h) The repentant thief (Luke 23:39-43).
When we examine Yahshua, we must conclude also
that He was without spot or blemish.
3. The lamb was of the first year (Shemot/Ex 11:4-7; 12:5). Shemot/Exo 12:5 ‘Let
the lamb be a perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the
sheep or from the goats.”
"A year old" - According to Rashi,
this meant that the lamb could not be twelve full months old. It had to be
in its first year of life.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). YHVH always distinguishes between the believers and the world (Shemot/Ex
12:29-30). This can be seen in the examples that follow. The firstborn
of both man and beast was to be set aside and given to Elohim (Shemot/Ex
13:2,11-13). The theme of the firstborn runs throughout the Scriptures. Cain
was set aside for Abel (Bereishit/Ber 4:1-8); Ishmael for Yitzchak/Izak
(Bereishit 16:1,11-12,15; 17:17-19); Esau for Ya'akov/Jacob (Bereishit 25:19-26;
Romans 9:8-13); and Mitsrayim/Egypt for Yisrael.
Spiritually, YHVH gave us these examples to teach us that the firstborn
after the flesh (that which is natural) is set aside to bring forth the
firstborn after the spirit (that which is spiritual). In this process, Elohim
distinguishes between the first or natural birth and the second or spiritual
birth. The first birth constitutes us as sinners and the second birth makes us
believers and children of YHVH our Father through Yahshua (Yochanan/John
1:12; 3:1-7; Romans 9:8-13; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 15:45-47).
Messianic Fulfillment. Yahshua was the firstborn of Miryam/Mary
naturally, and the firstborn of YHVH spiritually (Mattityahu/Matt
1:21-25 “And she shall give birth to a Son, and you shall
call His Name יהושע for He shall save[1] His people from their
sins.” Footnote: 1This is the precise meaning of the Heḇrew of His Name. And
all this came to be in order to fill what was spoken by יהוה through
the prophet, saying,
“See, a maiden shall conceive, and she shall
give birth to a Son, and they shall call His Name Immanu’ĕl,” which translated,
means, “Ěl with us.” And Yosĕph, awaking from his sleep, did as the messenger
of יהוה commanded him and took his wife, but knew her
not until she gave birth to her Son, the first-born. And he called His
Name יהושע. (we are not 100% sure which of the forms of the
name was given: Yahushua/ Yahshua/ Yehoshua orYeshua. That is why we are giving
room to each other to pronounce the Moschiach’s name in any of these forms of
which two are the longer pronunciation and two are a shorter version of the
longer ones); Also Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15,18; Revelation
3:14).
4. It
is a male Shemot/Exodus 12:5 ‘Let the lamb be a
perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the sheep or from
the goats.”
Spiritual
Application (Halacha).
"A male" "without spot or
blemish" - it had to be a male lamb in order to symbolize a man,
Yahshua, the last Adam. It was through one man's sin that
sin came into the world (Romans 5:12; 1 Timothy 2:12-14). Because Adam, the
first male, sinned, so a male, the second or last Adam, Yahshua,
must die to atone for that sin (Romans 5:17-19).
5. It
is a lamb for a house (Exodus [Shemot] 12:3-4).
Shemot/Ex 12:3 "Speak
to all the congregation of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month
each one of them is to take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his
father, a lamb for a household. " Verse 4 "And if the household is too
small for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next to his house take it
according to the number of the beings, according to each man’s need you make
your count for the lamb."
"Each of them" means the father of each family (or one
per two families). The tenth day in the month of Aviv/Nisan, a lamb was taken
for each household. According to Talmud [3][3]this was only done once (this
first time in Egypt). In future feasts, the lamb was not taken to the homes for
inspection, They chose the lamb that would be slaughtered and then it was
supervised for four days to make sure that it was without blemish. The lamb
could be taken at any time.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). YHVH’s intention was that all (households) experience salvation. The
lamb was a lamb for the house. By believing in the Messiah Yahshua,
we become members of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 2:19).
Salvation for a household is available to all who believe in the Messiah, Yahshua,
the Lamb of Elohim (Bereishit/Gen 7:1; 18:16-19; Yehoshua/Joshua
24:15; Yochanan/John 4:46-54; Luke 19:5-10; Acts 16:15,31; 18:3,8).
Messianic Fulfillment. There is a progressive revelation of the Lamb in the Scriptures. First,
there is a lamb for a house (Shemot/Ex 12:3-4; second, a lamb for a
nation (Yochanan/John 11:49-52); and finally, a lamb for the world (Yochanan/John
1:29).
Bereishit/Genesis 22 is
known in Hebrew as the Akeidah, or the binding of the offering.
In Bereishit/Genesis 22:7, Yitzchak/Isaac asked,
"Where is the lamb?" The lamb that Yitzchak/Isaac asked
about
is Yahshua (Yeshayahu/Is 53:7).
6. The whole assembly shall kill it (Shemot/Ex 12:612:6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.
Then all the assembly of the congregation of Yisra’ĕl shall
kill it between the evenings.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Every person who has ever lived on planet Earth and sinned is guilty of
“killing” Yahshua because He died for all sinners (Romans 3:10,23). No human
being had the power to take His life (Yochanan/John 10:17-18). Therefore, Yahshua laid
down His life for us by His own free will. He died for my sins! (Romans
5:8,9,12)
Messianic Fulfillment. A whole congregation of people was involved in the death of Yahshua.
The Good News writings of Mattityahu, Mark, Luke, and Yochanan show
how the Sanhedrin, the priests, the Romans, and the people of Yisrael all
clamored for the execution of Yahshua on a stake and for His
blood to be shed (Mattityahu 27:17,20-22,25; Acts 4:26-28).
7. A Passover lamb (Pesach) was to be killed between the evenings (Shemot/Ex 12:6 “And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same
month. Then all the assembly of the congregation of Yisra’ĕl shall kill
it between the evenings.”
The Scriptural
day goes from evening to evening, from sundown to sundown, which is roughly
6:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Bereishit/Gen 1:5,8,13,19,23,31). The day (6:00
p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) is divided into two 12-hour periods. The evening runs from
6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The morning runs from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Each
12-hour period is divided into two smaller portions. From 6:00 a.m. to noon
(the sixth hour) is the morning part of the day. From noon to 6:00
p.m.(twelfth hour) is the evening part of the day. The
phrase, "between the evening" (from Exodus [Shemot]
12:6) refers to the period of the day that goes from noon to 6:00
p.m., which is exactly 3:00 p.m. This would be the ninth
hour of the day, counting from 6:00 a.m.
Messianic Fulfillment. Yahshua died at the ninth hour of
the day (Mattityahu/Matt 27:45-50 Verse 45 and 46: And from
the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land,
until the ninth hour (3p.m.). And about the ninth hour יהושע cried out
with a loud voice, saying, “Ěli, Ěli, lemah sheḇaqtani?” that is, “My Ěl, My
Ěl, why have You forsaken Me?” ). This would
be exactly 3:00 p.m. (the ninth hour, counting from 6:00 a.m.)
8. The blood must be
applied to the door (Shemot/Ex 12:7,13,22). Exo 12:7 ‘And they shall take some
of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the
houses where they eat it.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Those who believe in the Messiah are the house of Elohim (Ephesians
2:19; I Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 3:6). The only way into the house of
Elohim is through the shed blood of the Messiah Yahshua,
who is the Door (Yochanan/John 10:7-9).
9. The body of
the lamb must be eaten (Exodus [Shemot] 12:8-10). Exo
12:8 ‘And they shall eat the flesh on that
night, roasted in fire – with unleavened bread and
with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Shemot/Exo 12:9 ‘Do not eat it
raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its
head with its legs and its inward parts. Exo 12:10 ‘And do
not leave of it until morning, and what remains of it until morning you are to
burn with fire. (The entrails and inside
fat was later in Temple days used to complete the sacrifice at the Temple).
a) And they shall eat the flesh
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Both the body and blood of the lamb speak of the body and blood of Yahshua (Mattityahu 26:26-28).
We spiritually eat of the body of the Lamb (Yahshua) when we eat of His
body (today represented by the bread), which spiritually is the Word of Elohim
(Luke 11:3; 4:4). By following the Word of Elohim and obeying the commandments
(mitzvot) of Elohim with sincerity of heart, we eat (spiritually) of the
body of Yahshua.
b) It must be eaten the same night (Exodus [Shemot] 12:8). Yahshua was put to
a stake, suffered, and died the same “night” (“between the evenings” on
the same day). His suffering started already in the night hours of the 14th of
Aviv (after sunset of the 13th of Aviv) with His betrayal in the
night hours (Matt 26) and then the arrest by the soldiers and the taking Him to
the court of the High Priest (Matt 26:57 and onwards) and the torturing. Then
in the morning hours of the 14th he was put to the stake on
the Third hour (9pm) (Matt 15:25) and died on the 14th of
Aviv “between the evenings” on the Ninth Hour (3pm) (Matt
27:46-50),
c) The lamb must be roasted in fire (Exodus [Shemot] 12:8)
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Fire speaks of judgment, refining, and purification. Our faith (emunah)
is judged and tested by fire so it can be refined and purified and come forth
as pure gold (Zechariah 13:9; Ya'akov/James 1:12; Kefa alef/1
Peter 1:7; Revelation 3:18).
d) It must be eaten with unleavened bread (Shemot/Ex 12:8).
Leaven speaks of sin (1Corinthians 5:6-8). Unleavened bread is “without sin”.
As believers, we are instructed to live set apart (unleavened) lives before
YHVH (Vayikra/Lev 11:44; 19:2; Kefa aleph/1 Peter
1:15-16).
e) It must be eaten with bitter herbs (Shemot/Ex12:8).
Spiritual Application (Halacha). To those who have accepted the Messiah into their lives, bitter herbs
speak of two things. First, they speak of the bondage and burdens we experience
while living in this world (a type of Egypt) before we accepted Yahshua into
our lives. This burden of sin is placed on us by the evil one (haSatan)
when we yield to his lies and deception, and then sin because of our own evil
desires. Second, the bitter herbs speak of the bitter things that come into our
lives after we accept Yahshua and attempt to follow Him on a
daily basis. Through the bitter struggles we learn obedience and learn that
with the bitterness there is also always the sweet, the blessings; the shalom.
Messianic Fulfillment. For Yahshua, dying on the tree was a bitter experience
because He had to pay for man's sin with His sinless life.
f) It must not be sodden with water. The Good News (basar)
of Yahshua must not be watered down (Mark 7:9,13; 2 Timothy
3:5).
g) The head, legs, and other parts of the lamb must
be eaten.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Those who believe in Yahshua must feed on the mind
of Yahshua (Philippians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 12:2;
Ephesians 4:21-23; Ivrim/Hebrews 8:10). The legs speak of our walk (halacha)
(Colossians 2:6). How are the believers in Yahshua to walk?
(See Romans 6:4; 8:1,4; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 2:10;
5:2,8; Colossians 1:10, 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 John [Yochanan] 1:7;
2 John 1:6; 3 John 1:4.)
10. This
is how the lamb had to be eaten the very first time in Mitsrayim (Shemot/Ex 12:11 ‘And this is how you eat it: your (a) loins girded, your
(b) sandals on your feet, and your (c) staff in your hand.
And you shall (d) eat it in haste. (e) It is the Pesach/Passover
of יהוה.).
a) It had to be eaten with their loins girded (Shemot/Ex 12:11). Our loins being girded speaks about our
hearts' desire to eagerly serve and obey the Eternal. Our spiritual loins are
the truth of the Word of Elohim (Ephesians 6:14). Scriptures that speak about
our loins being girded include the following: First Kings (Melachim)
18:46; Second Kings (Melachim) 4:29; 9:1; Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah
1:17; Luke 12:35; Ephesians 6:14; Kefa aleph/First
Peter 1:13.
b) Shoes must be on the feet (Shemot/Ex 12:11). Shoes on our feet speaks
about our walk with the Eternal Father. Scriptures that speak about shoes being
on our feet include the
following: Yeshayahu/Is 52:7; Nachum/Nahum
1:15; Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15.
c) A staff must be in the hand (Shemot/Ex12:11). A
staff in our hand speaks about the believer's authority in the Kingdom of
Elohim by the name of Yahshua (Mattityahu 28:18-20).
Scriptures that speak about a staff being in our hand include the
following: Bereishit/Gen 38:17-18; Shemot/Ex
14:16; Shoftim/Judges 6:21; Sh 'muwel/ First
Samuel 17:39-40; Sh 'muwel/ Second Samuel 3:29; Second
Kings (Melachim) 4:29; 18:21; Tehillim/Psalms 23:4; Yeshayahu/Is
10:24; 14:5; Mark 6:7-8.
d) Eat in haste - Spiritual Application (Halacha). Scriptural believers must
be quick to leave Mitsrayim/Egypt (the influences of the world) and
run toward the life that is in the Messiah (Luke 19:5-6).
e) It is the Pesach of YHVH. (Shemot/Ex 12:11 last part):
“And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of יהוה.”
On a more practical level all of the above under point 10 can also have an implication in this end
time generation of being ready to “move” when the Ruach of YHVH gives the word
to “go”/”flee” whether to return to Yisrael or flee to the mountains.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). If we follow Yahshua (our
Pesach) with all of our hearts, we will pass from death to life, and from
judgment to Spiritual protection (Yochanan/John 5:24; 1 John [Yochanan]
3:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Tehillim/Ps 91).
11. Not a bone of the lamb
was to be broken (Shemot/Ex 12:43-46). Exo 12:46 “It is eaten
in one house, you are not to take any of the flesh outside the
house, nor are you to break any bone of it.
Messianic
Fulfillment. Not a bone of Yahshua was broken on the tree.
(Yoch/John19:33).
12. It is a memorial/remembrance (Shemot/Ex 12:14
‘And this day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall
observe it as a festival to יהוה throughout your generations – observe it as a
festival, an everlasting law.” Also Luke
22:1,7-8, 1315,19).
Physical level: This is why there is a Pesach Seder
Spiritual Application
(Halacha). Passover (Pesach) is
a memorial or a remembrance (Luke 22:1,7-8,13-15,19). There are two elements of
remembrance:
a) YHVH remembers us (Bereishit/Gen 8:1; 9:1, 5-16; 19:29;
30:22; Shemot/Ex 2:24-25; 3:1; 6:2,5; 32:1-3,7,11,13-14; Vayikra/Leviticus
26:14,31-33,38-45; Bamidbar/Numbers 10:1-2,9; Tehillim/Psalm
105:7-8,42-43; 112:6). In fact, YHVH has a book of remembrance (Shemot/Ex
32:32-33; Malachi 3:16-18; Book of life: Revelation 3:5; 20:11-15; 21:1,27).
Shemot/Exo 12:42 It is a night to be observed unto יהוה for bringing them out of the land of Mitsrayim. This night is
unto יהוה, to be
observed by all the children of Yisra’ĕl throughout their generations. Many Messianic believers stay up all night or according to
their abilities after the Seder (night hours of the 15th of
Aviv) as they want to watch with the Master this night for the salvation of
Yisrael/Israel.
b) We must remember YHVH (Shemot/Ex 13:3;
20:8; Devarim/Deu 7:17-19; 8:18; 16:3; Bamidbar/Numbers 15:37-41).
On another level
there are also two elements of remembrance:
a.
The pesach lambs whose blood brought deliverance from the bondage of
Mitsrayim.
b.
The blood of the Pesach of Elohim (His Son Yahshua haMaschiach) that
brought deliverance from the bondage of sin and age lasting life
13.There was to be
an explanation (Shemot/Ex 12:25-28). Shemot/Exo 12:25“And it shall be, when
you come to the land which יהוה gives you, as He promised, that you
shall guard this service. Exo 12:26 “And it shall be, when your children say to
you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ Exo 12:27 then you shall say,
‘It is the Passover slaughtering of יהוה (the pesach) who passed over
the houses of the children of Yisra’ĕl in
Mitsrayim when He smote the Mitsrites and delivered
our households".
Physical Level: Here
while they were still in Mitsaryim the Elohim of Yisrael already told
the Hebrews that when they get into The Land that they should tell their
children the story when they ask. This is how the Pesach Memorial Seder evolved
and also why during the Seder the children get the 4 questions to ask
and why we are telling the story of the Hebrews in Mitsrayin, their suffering
and calling our to Elohim; Moshe and Aaron whom Elohim chose to talk to Pharao;
the Ten plagues; and we tell it with object lessons as part of the Pesach
Seder. We have four cups of red wine or grape juice, eat the unleavened bread
and have bitter herbs and now that the pesachs (the offering lambs for the
pesach) cannot be offered at the temple, we have a roasted shank bone on a
Seder plate to remember the pesach lambs that had to be slaughtered and offered
and roasted. We as believers in Moschiah also remember that Yahshua was THE
Pesach Lamb of Elohim who delivers us from spiritual bondages through his death
and resurrection. We have a matza peace that was broken off and put in a linen
cloth which we retrieve later again
Messianic Fulfillment. Messiah Yahshua is the Lamb of Elohim (the Pesach) and He gave a deeper
meaning to the story of the broken matza called the "afikomen" that
was retrieved after the main meal and the Third cup during the Seder.
14. The
Mitsrites/Egyptians were spoiled at the Exodus (Shemot/Ex 12:31-36). Exo
12:36 And יהוה gave the people favour in the eyes of the
Mitsrites, so that they gave them what they asked, and they plundered the
Mitsrites.
Messianic Fulfillment. Satan was spoiled when Yahshua rose
again: Colossians 2:15 Having stripped the principalities and the authorities, He
made a public display of them, having prevailed over them in it.
15. The
males must be circumcised to eat the Peasch/Passover (Shemot/Ex
12:48; Yehoshua/ Joshua 5:2-10). Exo
12:48 “And when a stranger sojourns with you and shall perform the
Passover to יהוה, let all his males be circumcised, and then let
him come near and perform it, and he shall be as a native of the land. But let
no uncircumcised eat of it.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). The physical act of circumcision is the covenantal sign (not what saves
us, but an act of obedience). It is also a picture of the inward or spiritual
circumcision that Elohim wants us to have (Romans 2:28-29; 1 Corinthians 15:46;
2 Corinthians 4:18). YHVH our Elohim has always desired for His people to be
circumcised in the heart too (Devarim/Deu 10:12-16; 1 Corinthians
7:18-19; Galatians 2:3; 5:2-3; 6:12-15; Ephesians 2:11-13).
16. The
Passover (Pesach) feast (in this case it is linked to the first day of
Unleavened bread which is to be a set apart convocation, and no work is to be
done except the making of food (Exodus [Shemot] 12:16). ‘And on the first day is a set-apart gathering,
and on the seventh day you have a set-apart gathering. No work at all is done
on them, only that which is eaten by every being, that alone is prepared by
you. The First day of Unleavened bread (“This
day should be a remembrance to you…”) which starts the night of the Pesach
Seder of remembrance is to be a Feast Shabbat day (no
work except for making of food) with a set apart convocation (meeting)
– in many instances in most groups the Set apart convocation will be when you have a Seder memorial as
believers together. On the seventh day of Unleavened bread
there must be a meeting again on this 7th day Feast
Shabbat.
Spiritual
Application (Halacha). A believer finds true rest in ceasing from his own works and resting in
the finished work of Yahshua, Elohim’s Pesach (Passover
Lamb). (Bereishit/Gen 2:1-2; Mattityahu/Matt 11:28-30; Yochanan/John
17:1-4; 19:30; Ivrim/Hebrews 3:14-19; 4:1-10).
17. There
is healing power in the lamb (Shemot/Ex 15:26).
Messianic Fulfillment. Yahshua is the Healer sent from YHVH our Elohim (Tehillim/Psalm
105:36-38; Yeshayahu/ Isaiah 53:1-5; 1 Peter [Kefa] 2:24; 1
Corinthians 11:26-30).
18. The
Exodus was on eagle's wings (Shemot/Ex 19:4).
Scriptures associated with this are Devarim/Deuteronomy
32:9-13; Yeshayahu/Isaiah 31:5; 40:31; Luke 17:33-37; Revelation
12:6,14.
19. They
sang a song of rejoicing to YHVH (Shemot/Ex 15:1,19-21).
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Whenever a believer experiences and understands the meaning of Pesach,
there is a spirit of rejoicing to YHVH for his or her deliverance from sin, and
for experiencing the newness of life in the Messiah. Note: The Passover Seder,
which is the memorial service and meal that celebrates the Pesach/Passover,
always ends with songs of rejoicing and the declaration: Next year
in Yerushalayim! This can be seen in Matt 26:30, Mark 14:26.
20. Yisrael
is the firstborn of Elohim (Shemot/Ex 4:22-23).
Spiritual Application (Halacha). All those who accept the
Messiah Yahshua are called the firstborn of Elohim even
as Yahshua is called the firstborn of Elohim (Rom 8:29; Col
1:15,18; Ivrim/Hebrews 12:22-24).
From the time
that the Yisraelites entered the Promised land:
They should
slaughter the lambs at the place where YHVH would put His NAME (Devarim/ Deuteronomy
16:2,6).
Deu 16:6 but at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell, there you slaughter the Passover in the evening, at the going
down of the sun, at the appointed time you came out of Mitsrayim.
Messianic Fulfillment. The place where YHVH has put His name is Yerushalayim/Jerusalem
(2 Kings [Melachim] 21:4). Yahshua was executed on a stake in Yerushalayim.
Deu 16:7 “And you shall roast and eat it
in the place which יהוה your Elohim chooses, and in the morning you shall turn
and go to your tents.
It is to be observed at the going down of the sun (it is called “Between the evenings” in
Shemot 12) (Devarim/Deu 16:2,6). We saw already that this was fulfilled by Yahshua at
His death on a stake at the Ninth hour. (Mattityahu/Mat 27:45-46).
In summary of the
above verses we will have a look again
at how Yahshua/Yahshua the Messiah fulfilled Pesach with his first coming
The Feast of Passover (Pesach) was given by YHVH to be a
rehearsal (miqra) of the first coming of Yahshua.
Yahshua
is specifically referred to in I Corinthians 5 as our Passover
Lamb, or Pesach. 1Co 5:7 Therefore cleanse out the old leaven, so that
you are a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Messiah our Pesach
(Passover) was offered for us. Just as the blood of that first lamb in the
very first Pesach in Mitsrayim/Egypt, protected the people from the effects of
the plague of death of the firstborn, so too, does the blood of Messiah,
spiritually applied to the doors of our hearts, protect us from death–eternal
death.
After the first Passover in Mitrayim, the Pesach/Passover ceremony was
observed one more time in the wilderness in the First month on the end of the
14th of Aviv in the Second
year and then not again during the wilderness period: Bemidbar /Num
9:1-4 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after
they had come out of the land of Mitsrayim, saying, Num “Now, let the children
of Yisra’ĕl perform the Passover at its appointed time. “On the fourteenth day
of this month, between the evenings, perform it at its appointed time.
According to all its laws and right-rulings you perform it.” And Mosheh spoke
to the children of Yisra’ĕl to perform the Passover. So they performed the
Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, in the
Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that יהוה commanded Mosheh, so the children of Yisra’ĕl did. Then the rest of the time during the wilderness, because of
rebellion and disobedience they never kept it until we see in Yehoshua/Joshua 5 where they celebrated the
Pesach for the first time again after the males were circumcised. So the Pesach became a remembrance/memorial of the past and a preparation
for the future. Many years after the Passover in Mitsrayim/Egypt,
a person named Yochanan/John the Immerser (Baptist),
pointed to Yahshua and declared that He was the Lamb
of Elohim (Yochanan/John 1:29). After Yochanan, a type
of Eliyahu/Elijah who would prepare the coming of Messiah,
proclaimed Yahshua as the Lamb of Elohim, Yahshua ministered
for three-and-a-half years (opinion of many). At the end of that time, on the tenth of Aviv, the high priest
marched out of the city of Yerushalayim/Jerusalem to Bethany where
a lamb was chosen that was to be slain for the sake of the nation. The lamb was
led back into the city through streets lined with thousands of pilgrims singing
the Hallel (Tehillim/Psalm 113-118). The people also waved palm branches
as Yahshua rode into the city on a donkey in fulfillment of
Zechariah 9:9. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Tsiyon! Shout, O daughter of
Yerushalayim! See, your Sovereign is coming to you, He is righteous and endowed
with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(1Mt. 21:5, Yochanan/John 12:15). We saw in Yochanan
12 that this was also on the 10th of Aiviv. The lamb that was to be slain by the high priest was led into the
temple (Beit HaMikdash) and put in a prominent place of display.
Likewise, Yahshua the Lamb of Elohim went on public display
when He entered the temple (Beit HaMikdash) and spent four days there
among the people, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes, as the leaders
asked Yahshua their hardest questions. Yahshua was
questioned in front of the people for four days, showing Himself to be without
spot or blemish, fulfilling Shemot 12:5.
On the fourteenth of Aviv that year, at the third hour of the day (9:00
a.m.), the high priest (Cohen HaGadol) took the lamb like every other
year on the 14th of Aviv, and ascended the altar so he could tie the
lamb in place on the altar. At the same time on that day, Yahshua was
tied to the tree on Mount Moriah (Mark 15:25). At the time of the evening
offering (3:00 p.m. was ‘between the evenings”,) for Passover Shemot 12:6,
the high priest (Cohen HaGadol) ascended the altar, cut the throat of
the lamb with a knife, and said the words, "It is finished." These
are the exact words said after giving a peace offering to Elohim. At this same
time, Yahshua died, saying these exact words in Yochanan/John
19:30. Yahshua died at exactly 3:00 p.m. (Mattityahu/Matthew
27:45-46,50). (During the same afternoon thousands of households lambs were
also slaughtered and offered, then roasted and eaten according to the
prescribed commandments of our Father YHVH as given in His Torah.)
In Shemot 12:8-9, we are told the lamb was to be
roasted. According to the tractate Pesahim in the Mishnah, the lamb was roasted
on an upright pomegranate stick. This pomegranate stick is representative of
the tree upon which Yahshua died. The lamb was to be gutted,
and its intestines were to be removed and put over its head. Thus, the lamb is
referred to as the "crowned offering." This is a picture of Yahshua in Tehillim/
Ps 22:13-18).
Devarim/Deut 16:16
says that all the males of Yisrael were required to be present three times in a
year in Yerushalayim at the feast of the Pesach-week
(Pesach plus Unleaveavened Week), Shavuot/ the Feast of Weeks
(Pentecost from the Greek word meaning 50), and Sukkot/Feast
of Booths or Tabernacles in Yerushalayim. This explains why all were gathered
to witness the death of Yahshua on the tree Mattityahu/Matthew
27:1-26: they were in the city for the “Pesach-week”. (This was while the
Temple was still standing).
This was the fulfillment of the first coming of Yahshua HaMashiach, the
Lamb of Elohim. Since then, the Pesach Seders are for the believers in Yahshua,
a Memorial and a rehearsal (miqra) on two levels: a memorial of the physical deliverance out of Mitsrayim with the blood of
the lamb on the door posts and lintels as well as the deliverance through Yahshua as the Lamb of Elohim with his first
coming. We take part of the bitter herbs and unleavened bread, the 4 cups
of wine or grape juice and the telling of the story. As we are having our
Pesach Seder memorials on ‘THIS DAY, THIS NIGHT’ that the Hebrews were led out;
the First day of Unleavenend Bread we are also looking forward (rehearsing) to
a final exodus in the end times as well as a final fulfillment of our salvation
when Yahshua comes back to rule and reign from Yerushalayim/
Jerusalem. For us in the End Time generation the sandals on the feet and the
being ready to leave in a haste might come a reality again as we might have to
be ready to be part of that “End Time Exodus”.
After we become believers in Yahshua we can have victory over sin (leaven) in our lives
because of the Lamb who willingly laid down His life for us. But the working
out of that “being set apart as He is set apart” and living a life of complete
obedience without “leaven” in our lives, involves a lifelong process (can be
likened to the journey through the wilderness) until Yahshua our High Priest comes back to finally complete the salvation (the
Appointment called Yom haKippurim [the Day of atonements] speaks of this).
Passover/Pesach - The way we celebrate the Memorial
Traditional
Seder Meal with Messianic input:
Ceremony of the
Memorial or Celebration of Pesach - Seder
The modern Hebrew expression b’Seder, often translated as
“very well,” literally means “in order.” A Passover Seder is
the proper order of the Passover meal and memorial and it is laid out in
booklet called the “Haggadah” in Hebrew. When Yahshua came to “fulfill the
Scriptures,” everything was done in order. In Jewish theology Pesach is often
called the “Festival of Freedom” Understanding all the truths portrayed in the
commandments concerning the “Pesach week”, when we obey them, the memorial and
rehearsal of the whole Pesach week (Pesach, Omer Reisheet and Unleavened Bread)
will provide great enrichment to your faith, and a level of great spiritual fulfillment.
Traditional Elements of the Seder
Quote- Summers: As the celebration of Pesach/Passover has evolved since
the Ancient Yisraelites’ departure from Mitsrayim/Egypt some 3,300 years ago,
the central focus of Passover has become the Seder meal, observed
at home with one’s family and close friends. While Shemot/Exodus
12:8 only specifies that the Passover lamb is to be
roasted with fire, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs, since the first Passover many other elements have
become critical to the Passover meal. The most notable of these elements is wine (or red grape juice for those who don’t drink wine), as well as several
other traditional foods (the charoset
and the green vegetable dipped in salt water) meant to remember a
particular aspect of the life in Mitsrayim/Egypt with spiritual implications.
How the Seder meal is performed in most Jewish households
today is also full of Messianic symbolism, that the Believer in Yahshua is sure
to pick up. Many of these customs were in practice during the time of the
Messiah, and would have indeed been followed by Him.
Everything in the Seder is given so you may experience the essence of
the redemption. The best way to learn something is by doing. For this reason,
YHVH gives the Pesach/Passover Seder service so that by doing the service you
better understand YHVH’s deliverance and His Messiah Yahshua' work
of redemption when He became the Lamb of
Elohim.
Between the first Pesach slaughtering and following the
instructions of YHVH in Mitsrayim/Egypt to the
Passovers kept in the Land of Yisrael coupled with the
division and dispersion of Yisrael, and later with a great Diaspora Jewish
community by the time of Yahshua, the celebration of Passover evolved
substantially. By the time of Yahshua, the specific order of service for
Passover became codified in the Haggadah of Passover, first referred to in the
Mishnah. This was focused around a midrashic interpretation of Debarim/Deuteronomy
26:5-9, which allowed for one to recline and remember the mighty deeds YHVH
performed before the Egyptians in delivering Yisrael:
Debarim/Deu 26:5“And
you shall answer and say before YHVH your Elohim, ‘My father was a perishing
Aramean, and he went down to Mitsrayim and sojourned there with few men. And
there he became a nation, great, mighty, and numerous. Deu 26:6‘But the
Mitsrites did evil to us, and afflicted us, and imposed hard labour on us. Deu
26:7‘Then we cried out to YHVH, Elohim of our fathers, and YHVH heard our voice
and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. Deu 26:8‘And YHVH
brought us out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm,
with great fear and with signs and wonders. Deu 26:9‘And He brought us to this
place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Today, we obviously
see a wide variation of Pesach/Passover customs and traditions present in the
Jewish community and in Messianic Judaism/Hebraic roots and non-Jewish Hebraic
roots believers. There are significant variations between Sephardic and
Ashkenazic Jews, as well as between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform (or
Progressive) Judaism. The Passover haggadah is something that has been adapted
and changed by each denomination of Judaism, as some haggadahs include an
all-night service, where one stays awake and focuses on certain Scriptures, to
those that are only focused around a meal at one’s home with family and close
friends. There are traditions present in Passover today that are unique to the
lands where the Jewish people have been scattered. Messianic Judaism and non
Jewish Messianic believers have adapted many of these traditions to form its
own Passover haggadahs, which demonstrate how we are to rejoice in Elohim
delivering Yisrael/Israel from Mitsrayim/Egypt, and Yahshua delivering us from
the bondage of sin. Yet the main steps in essence are still the same. The step
of the cup of Eliyahu is a later addition though that came through modern
Judaism. End quote.
Many non-Jewish believers (believers like us) celebrate a
“Messianic Passover” (traditional but with the Messianic input and restoration
of how the early believers celebrated it) as a testimony to being “grafted in”
and made partakers “of the rich root of the olive tree” (Romans 11:17). I
have not put in a Messianic Haggadah for a Pesach Seder in this document as we
have it separately. We read in Ephesians 3:6 that as Gentile believers we are
not foreigners and aliens anymore but “fellow-heirs, fellow-members,
fellow-partakers of the Promise in Messiah Yahshua” So the fact is that
the first believers in Yahshua as the promised Messiah were mainly Jews, but
slowly but surely non-Jewish believers were added to the flock, the Kehilla.
They were People who left behind their pagan ways and started to follow the
Elohim of Yisrael. They were the earliest non-Jewish believers that were
grafted in as wild olive branches. Together with their fellow Jewish brethren,
they celebrated all the annual Moadim (Appointed Times or Feasts) and of course
also the weekly Shabbat and the monthly Rosh Chodesh (the start of the new
month with the new moon.) They all were part of the early believers in Yahshua
and were also Torah-observant like their Jewish brothers and sisters. It was
through Constantine and many of the early “Church fathers” that these believers
and the future generations got severed from the Hebraic roots of their (our)
faith.
Apart from
remembering the first Pesach and the deliverance by YHVH’s strong arm, for
Yahshua’s disciples in any age, the Pesach celebration memorializes also his
death and resurrection. His death and descent into the “Egypt” of Sheol was not
his final destiny. Elohim raised him on the third day, as the First Fruit from
the dead to His immortal body. When His followers participate in a memorial
Pesach, they join with Him in being freed from death and slavery (to sin), in
order to become new people and begin a new life-journey. The end purpose of
Passover and the exodus was to lead captives to a new life in a promised new
land.
Some more explanations and insights
about the SEDER
The right
hand is the symbol for strength. For this reason you always lift your cup with
your right hand. The right hand (arm) symbolizes Messiah, your strength. In
lifting your cup you are reminded that Yahshua said, "And I, if I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself" -- John 12:32
The Four Cups
There are
four cups of wine that are customarily drunk during the Seder meal. These cups
are:
1. The cup of
(sanctification) Set apartness
2. The cup of
instruction (also called the cup of deliverance or plagues)
3. The cup of
redemption
4. The cup of praise
It was the
Third cup that Yahshua raised when He established the New Covenant or rather
the “Renewed Covenant” in His own blood.
THE
POURING OF THE WINE,
When we
fill each other’s cup with about 4 oz.of wine/grape juice. It is a practice
that each of us pours another's cup. By pouring your neighbour's wine/ grape
juice, it symbolizes that in Yahshua your cup is filled to overflowing. In
ancient times nobility never poured their own cups. As we each fill another's
cup we are reminded that on this day each of us is a king before Elohim. In
Passover we celebrate our freedom from the world and sin – Mitsrayim/Egypt.
Here is a quote from Eddersheim: “The use of wine in the Pesach Supper, *
though not mentioned in the Law, was strictly enjoined by tradition.
* Every
reader of the Bible knows how symbolically significant alike the vine and its
fruit are throughout Scripture. Over the entrance to the Sanctuary a golden
vine of immense proportions was suspended.” According to the Jerusalem Talmud,
it was intended to express Israel's joy on the Paschal night, and even the
poorest must have 'at least four cups, though he were to receive the money for
it from the poor's box' (Pes. x. 1). If he cannot otherwise obtain it, the
Talmud adds, 'he must sell or pawn his coat, or hire himself out for these four
cups of wine.' End quote.
Of course,
people who don’t drink wine will drink grape juice with the four cups and those
who will drink wine for the four cups will dilute it with water.
Why Does
the Father Conduct the Seder at the Table?
The table
in front of you is seen as an altar. One male from each table is to minister as
a priest at this alter. In doing this, you remember the priests who ministered
before Elohim during the days of the Temple. You are also reminded that YHVH
our Elohim told us that we are all kings (sovereigns) and priests before Him.
-- Revelation 5:10 and also Daniel:
Rev 5:10
and made us sovereigns and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the
earth.”1 Footnote: 1Dan. 7:18-27.
Dan 7:18
‘Then the set-apart ones of the Most High shall receive the reign, and possess
the reign forever, even forever and ever.’
Dan 7:27
‘And the reign, and the rulership, and the greatness of the reigns under all
the heavens, shall be given to the people, the set-apart ones of the Most High.
His reign is an everlasting reign, and all rulerships shall serve and obey
Him.’
Was the last supper that Yahshua had with His disciples a full Pesach
Seder meal?
We see in Scripture that Yahshua’s last meal with His
disciples took place the night before the night that the
Seders took place. Some believe that it was a full Pesach Seder others believe
it was just a Festival offering supper or a farewell meal that Yahshua as a
Rabbi had with his disciples. After research, we believe that it was not a full
Pesach Seder but it had elements of the Pesach Seder. Yahshua knew that He
would not be around the next evening when the Pesach Seders would take place.
He knew that He would be THE Pesach of Elohim who would die on the afternoon of
the 14th “between the evenings”.
At this meal with his disciples on this night of the start of the 14th
(a night earlier than what the Pesach Seders take place), when they came to the
part where they normally washed their hands, He washed the feet of the Taught
ones/Disciples (Yochanan/John 13:5-12). We know that the
critical elements of the meal are the bread and wine, which make up what is
later termed “the Master’s Supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20). We see the First cup
(before the main meal) and the Third cup (after the main meal) mentioned in
Yahshua’s supper. However, failing to see the Last Supper that Yahshua had with
his disciples as a supper with elements of the Passover seder has
brought many into great confusion as to what was occurring between Yahshua and
his disciples. So we see elements of the traditional Jewish
Pesach/Passover Seder of the First Century included in Yahshua’s Last
Supper, and some slight deviations. The Dictionary of Judaism in the
Biblical Period summarizes the central elements of Passover contained
in the Haggadah: “The ritual found in the Haggadah is first referred to in
M. Pesahism, chapter 10, which describes a festival meal marked by a set order
of foods and a required liturgy (seder). At the heart of the meal is an
explanation of the significance of three foods (unleavened bread, bitter herbs,
and the passover offering) and the recitation of the Hallel-psalms. In early
Amoraic times, this basic ceremony was embellished through the addition of a
discussion of Yisraelite history, leading up to and including captivity in
Egypt. In later developments, continuing to the present, liturgical poems and
other homilies have been added to the basic format set in talmudic times” (pp
266-267)
If not a full Pesach Seder, then what was this meal?
In the Mishnah, Peshim 6:4, it reads:
A. A festal offering derives
from the flock of sheep or from the herd of oxen, from lambs or from goats,
from males or from females.
B. And it is eaten for two days and the intervening night [to the night
of the fifteenth of Nisan (Aviv)]
A Quote based on this possibility: Since John's gospel suggests the Jews
had not yet eaten the Passover lambs, and since the lambs were killed at
3:00p.pm. on Aviv 14, I think is logical to believe Yahshua and his disciples
were partaking of this "festival offering" on that "intervening
night". The festal offering
could be eaten on the daylight portion of the 13th, the night beginning the 14th and the daylight portion of the 14th. Then on the night of the 15th, the people would partake of the Passover lamb, (the pesach that was slaughtered between the
evenings on the afternoon of 14th of Aviv, roasted and prepared and eaten the
night of the 15th with bitter herbs and unleavened bread during the Pesach
Seders).
In the Evangel
accounts of the last supper, it is
possible that Yahshua and his disciples were having the festal offering, a
pre-Passover meal. They did not eat
the Passover (the pesach that had to be offered), since the priests did not begin killing then until the following
afternoon of the 14th of Aviv. That is why John 18:28 says the Jews hadn't
eaten the Passover (the pesach) even after Yahshua's trial began.
Other scholars
suggest that it could have been a "practice Seder" seeing that Rabbis
did have practice seders with their disciples sometimes on the night before the
time. Yet another possibility is offered that a Rabbi would often have a special meal with his
disciples at the end of a term of them being together. There are many opinions.
We believe that the
fact is that even if this meal that Yahshua had with his disciples was not a
full Pesach Seder meal, then it certainly had elements of the Pesach Seder and
Yahshua put in the renewed meaning of the third cup that the wine also must
remind them of the renewed covenant of His blood and the unleavened bread (the
Afikomen one) that is symbolic of his body broken for them and that as often as
they partake in it they have to remember that and proclaim his death until He
comes. Yahshua had this meal with them, knowing that He would not be around the
next evening which was the night for the Pesach Seder memorial, because on the
afternoon of the 14th of Aviv when the Pesach lambs were offered between the
evenings, Yahshua died on the same hour, the Ninth hour as THE PESACH of
Elohim.
We see in Luke 22:14-20 how Yahshua said “With desire I have desired to eat this
Passover with you before My suffering”, and how He explained the renewed meanings of the afikomen and the Third cup (after
the supper); 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Some things about the Jews that
might help you to know should someone asks
Passover, Eating Lamb:
Is it true
that the Jews do not eat lamb during Passover? Should we eat lamb as Messianics
during Pesach (Passover)?
There are
different practices among the Sephardic and Askenazic Jewish communities as it
relates to Passover and whether or not lamb is allowed to be eaten. Ashkenazic
Jewry (Northern, Central, and Eastern European) does not eat lamb at Passover.
They base it on the Scriptural command in Debarim/Deu 16:5 “You are not allowed
to slaughter the Passover within any of your gates which יהוה your Elohim gives
you, Deu 16:6 but at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name
dwell, there you slaughter the Passover in the evening, at the going down of
the sun, at the appointed time you came out of Mitsrayim. Because this is a
clear reference to the Temple in Yerushalayim/Jerusalem, and since the Temple
has been destroyed, Ashkenazic Jewish halachah prohibits the consumption of
lamb at Passover, and instead allows for poultry.
Separdic
Jewry (Spain, North Africa, and Arab lands) on the other hand, does permit lamb
to be eaten at Passover, as a memorial
to the deliverance from Mitsrayim that came through the blood of a lamb. Many
non-Jewish Messianic/Renewed Covenant believers hold to this view because it is
a memorial to that. The shank bones
on every Seder plate is symbolic of the pesach lambs that were slaughtered and
whose blood were put on the doorposts and lintels of the houses in Mitsrayim
during the very first Pesach and then since in the Promised Land, of the lambs
that were offered at the Temple altar before it was taken to be roasted.
We also
know that Yahshua became the “Lamb of Elohim” who willingly laid down his life
and that is beautifully portrayed in the Afikomen, the piece of Matzah that
gets broken off, wrapped in a white cloth, hidden away and retrieved after the
Main meal.
A viable
halachah for Messianic non-Jews is frequently debated, and we would encourage
you to find the tradition that you are the most comfortable with.
Concerning the Blessing Prayers
In Acts
2:42, it is written that the disciples devoted themselves to "the
prayers." It is written in the original Greek text with the definite
article "the prayers," talking not just about prayer in general, but
about some specific prayers. Unfortunately most translations left out the
definite article “the”. In this case it was the daily prayers in the Temple as
seen in chapter 3, "Now Peter and
John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer." (Acts 3:1
NKJV) The early believers were definitely faithful to the daily prayers.
Now we
read in Mat 26:26 And as they were
eating, יהושע took bread, and having
blessed, broke and gave it to the taught ones and said, “Take, eat, this is
My body.” Mar 14:22 And as they were eating, יהושע took bread, having blessed,
broke it, gave it to them and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.”
Luk 24:30
And it came to be, when He sat at the table with them, having taken the bread,
He blessed, and having broken, He was giving it to them. 1Co 11:24 “and having
given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken
for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
When in
Scripture it says : “having blessed”
or “having given thanks”, it doesn’t
mean that they or Yahshua in these cases that were quoted said just any
blessing prayer, but it speaks specifically of “the prayers” that were already
in use by that time of the second Temple period. The Blessing prayers all start
with: Baruch ata YHVH (the Jews substitute YHVH with Adonai or HaShem) Eloheinu
Melech Ha-Olam and then follows the object that the Father gets thanked for.
That’s how we know that Yahshua prayed that “blessing prayer” for the bread and
for the wine (fruit of the vine). In other words, the blessing prayers for the
lighting of the candles, the wine or grape juice, the bread etc all start with:
Baruch ata YHVH (Adonai/HaShem) Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam and then follows the
rest of the blessing for the lighting of the candles, the wine etc. These are
also some of the Blessing Prayers that we can pray with a Shabbat meal on an
Erev Shabbat (Friday evening) when we light the candles, pray over the wine and
the bread etc. The last part will just be adjusted to fit the occasion, like
with the Pesach candle lighting we specifically add “festival and lights” and
“Passover Lamb”: Blessed are you O YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe who
has set us apart by His commandment (and we can add: by the blood of Yahshua),
and in whose Name we light the festival lights. Blessed are You, O YHVH our
Elohim, King of the Universe, who sent Your Son, our Master Yahshua the Messiah,
to be the Light of the World and our Pesach Lamb. Amein!