Passover and the Paschal Lamb
Many of the sacred aspects of Christian worship trace their spiritual roots directly to the Jewish faith and the early history of the nation of Israel.
Such is the case with the term “Paschal Lamb” or “Lamb of God,” which in the Christian tradition refers to Jesus. From the Jewish perspective, the term is Korban Pesach, or “sacrifice of Passover,” which
dates back to the Exodus from Egypt.
As you will remember, Israel had been suffering in bondage at the hands of the Egyptians for almost 400 years or what the Bible describes as the time since a Pharaoh “who knew not Joseph” first ascended to Egypt’s throne.
Holy Deliverance
The Hebrew people were indeed slaves, forced laborers working in the Egyptian fields and providing both cheap and endless manpower for Egypt’s massive building programs. At the hands of their slave masters, they were ruthlessly persecuted when they resisted their oppression.
God’s chosen people desperately needed to be saved from this bondage. When they finally cried out to Him for deliverance, He sent Moses to lead them into freedom. Yet despite nine severe plagues sent upon the Egyptian people, Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go.
So God revealed to Moses a tenth plague — that would strike every Egyptian home by causing the death of all firstborn. From their precious children to their domestic animals, no firstborn would be spared.
But the Jews were offered deliverance, being instructed to slay a lamb and, before nightfall, "take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses" (Exodus 12:7).
That would be the sign for the death angel to pass over that marked house and spare the firstborns living inside. The lamb’s blood would be the only path to salvation — without it, their firstborn would die, along with those of the Egyptians.
Lamb without Blemish
In the times of Jewish temple worship — both in Solomon’s Temple and the Second Temple — Jews obeyed God’s command to remember that first Passover by sacrificing a lamb on that day.
This lamb had to be male, one year old, and, most importantly, without blemish. Only then would it suffice to be the perfect Passover sacrifice.
This Passover observance is what Christian Scriptures reference when speaking of "a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:19).
Partaking the Lamb
Another place where Christianity finds its roots in Jewish tradition happened on the same night when the Jews spread the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorways. That night, the Jewish slaves who were being freed by God from their Egyptian captors were told to eat a sacrificial lamb and to do so in haste as God’s people prepared to exit Egypt.
Breaking Bread
God’s instructions to the Israelites for the Passover meal specified that the lamb was to be eaten along with unleavened bread — bread made without yeast as we see in Exodus 12:1-3, 8,11:
"The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘ … Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. … That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. … Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’S Passover.’"
More than 1,000 years later, Jesus followed these divine instructions as he broke bread with his disciples before his death. And later, the apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians that Christians were also to “keep the Festival” (Passover/Lord’s Supper) with unleavened bread.
“Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. … Let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
Traditional Remembrances
The Christian observance of Easter resonates back to the story of the Jews’ escape from Egyptian bondage 3,000 years ago. Understanding the symbolism of the Passover Seder meal gives a new richness to many of the worship traditions at churches around the world. This year, as you celebrate Easter, remember the Jews’ miraculous deliverance on that first Passover, and God’s divine leading of Moses as he led them toward the Promised Land — which is now Israel.
But there is one other aspect to Easter and Passover we cannot overlook — the setting of the date of each observance.
After considerable debate, Western Christianity set its Easter celebration on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon — a date that is set from historical tables and, surprisingly, does not reference any actual stage of the moon! For 2011, Easter falls on April 24.
Jews continue to keep the Passover (without animal sacrifice since there is no Temple in Jerusalem) at sundown the 15th day of the month of Nissan as determined by the Hebrew calendar. Because the Jewish calendar is lunar, its events fluctuate when recorded on the Gregorian calendar. This year, Passover begins at sunset on April 18, and ends at sunset on April 26. It lasts for eight days (in Israel for seven), with the Seder meal of remembrance observed on the first two nights.
Peaceful Presence
Two sacred observances, one having its roots in the other, takes place roughly the same time and season, some years on the very same day. As Jews around the world go to their synagogues and Christians attend church, many prayers will be lifted up in gratitude for God’s divine deliverance. And as always, we will be praying “for the peace of Jerusalem,” the city loved in both our traditions.
Have a blessed Passover and Easter. Shalom!
