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Easton's Bible Dictionary
The name given to the chief of the three great historical
annual festivals of the Jews. It was kept in remembrance of the Lord's passing
over the houses of the Israelites ( Exodus 12:13 ) when the first born of all
the Egyptians were destroyed. It is called also the "feast of unleavened bread"
( Exodus 23:15 ; Mark 14:1 ; Acts 12:3 ), because during its celebration no leavened
bread was to be eaten or even kept in the household ( Exodus 12:15 ). The word
afterwards came to denote the lamb that was slain at the feast ( Mark 14:12 -
14 ; 1 Corinthians 5:7 ).
A detailed account of the institution of this feast is given in Exodus 12 and
13. It was afterwards incorporated in the ceremonial law ( Leviticus 23:4 - 8
) as one of the great festivals of the nation. In after times many changes seem
to have taken place as to the mode of its celebration as compared with its first
celebration (Compare Deuteronomy 16:2 , 16:5 , 16:6 ; 2 Chronicles 30:16 ; Leviticus
23:10 - 14 ; Numbers 9:10 , 9:11 ; 28:16 - 24 ). Again, the use of wine ( Luke
22:17 , 22:20 ), of sauce with the bitter herbs ( John 13:26 ), and the service
of praise were introduced.
There is recorded only one celebration of this feast between the Exodus and the
entrance into Canaan, namely, that mentioned in Numbers 9:5 . (See JOSIAH .) It
was primarily a commemorative ordinance, reminding the children of Israel of their
deliverance out of Egypt; but it was, no doubt, also a type of the great deliverance
wrought by the Messiah for all his people from the doom of death on account of
sin, and from the bondage of sin itself, a worse than Egyptian bondage ( 1 Corinthians
5:7 ; John 1:29 ; 19:32 - 36 ; 1 Peter 1:19 ; Galatians 4:4 , 4:5 ). The appearance
of Jerusalem on the occasion of the Passover in the time of our Lord is thus fittingly
described: "The city itself and the neighbourhood became more and more crowded
as the feast approached, the narrow streets and dark arched bazaars showing the
same throng of men of all nations as when Jesus had first visited Jerusalem as
a boy. Even the temple offered a strange sight at this season, for in parts of
the outer courts a wide space was covered with pens for sheep, goats, and cattle
to be used for offerings. Sellers shouted the merits of their beasts, sheep bleated,
oxen lowed. Sellers of doves also had a place set apart for them. Potters offered
a choice from huge stacks of clay dishes and ovens for roasting and eating the
Passover lamb. Booths for wine, oil, salt, and all else needed for sacrifices
invited customers. Persons going to and from the city shortened their journey
by crossing the temple grounds, often carrying burdens...Stalls to change foreign
money into the shekel of the temple, which alone could be paid to the priests,
were numerous, the whole confusion making the sanctuary like a noisy market" (Geikie's
Life of Christ).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The first of the three great annual festivals of the Israelites
celebrated in the month Nisan (March - April, from the 14th to the 21st. (Strictly
speaking the Passover only applied to the paschal supper and the feast of unleavened
bread followed, which was celebrated to the 21st.) (For the corresponding dates
in our month, see Jewish calendar at the end of this volume.) The following are
the principal passages in the Pentateuch relating to the Passover: (Exodus 12:1
- 51 ; 13:3 - 10 ; 23:14 - 19 ; 34:18 - 26 ; Leviticus 23:4 - 14 ; Numbers 9:1
- 14 ; 28:16 - 25 ; 16:1 - 6)
Why instituted . --
This feast was instituted by God to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites
from Egyptian bondage and the sparing of their firstborn when the destroying angel
smote the first-born of the Egyptians. The deliverance from Egypt was regarded
as the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites were then raised from
the condition of bondmen under a foreign tyrant to that of a free people owing
allegiance to no one but Jehovah. The prophet in a later age spoke of the event
as a creation and a redemption of the nation. God declares himself to be "the
Creator of Israel." The Exodus was thus looked upon as the birth of the nation;
the Passover was its annual birthday feast. It was the yearly memorial of the
dedication of the people to him who had saved their first-born from the destroyer,
in order that they might be made holy to himself.
First celebration of the Passover . --
On the tenth day of the month, the head of each family was to select from the
flock either a lamb or a kid, a male of the first year, without blemish. If his
family was too small to eat the whole of the lamb, he was permitted to invite
his nearest neighbor to join the party. On the fourteenth day of the month he
was to kill his lamb, while the sun was setting. He was then to take blood in
a basin and with a sprig of hyssop to sprinkle it on the two side-posts and the
lintel of the door of the house. The lamb was then thoroughly roasted, whole.
It was expressly forbidden that it should be boiled, or that a bone of it should
be broken. Unleavened bread and bitter herbs were to be eaten with the flesh.
No male who was uncircumcised was to join the company. Each one was to have his
loins girt, to hold a staff in his hand, and to have shoes on his feet. He was
to eat in haste, and it would seem that he was to stand during the meal. The number
of the party was to be calculated as nearly as possible, so that all the flesh
of the lamb might be eaten; but if any portion of it happened to remain, it was
to be burned in the morning. No morsel of it was to be carried out of the house.
The lambs were selected, on the fourteenth they were slain and the blood sprinkled,
and in the following evening, after the fifteenth day of the had commenced the
first paschal meal was eaten. At midnight the firstborn of the Egyptians were
smitten. The king and his people were now urgent that the Israelites should start
immediately, and readily bestowed on them supplies for the journey. In such haste
did the Israelites depart, on that very day, (Numbers 33:3) that they packed up
their kneading troughs containing the dough prepared for the morrow's provisions,
which was not yet leavened.
Observance of the Passover in later times . --
As the original institution of the Passover in Egypt preceded the establishment
of the priesthood and the regulation of the service of the tabernacle. It necessarily
fell short in several particulars of the observance of the festival according
to the fully-developed ceremonial law. The head of the family slew the lamb in
his own house, not in the holy place; the blood was sprinkled on the doorway,
not on the altar. But when the law was perfected, certain particulars were altered
in order to assimilate the Passover to the accustomed order of religious service.
In the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Exodus there are not only distinct references
to the observance of the festival in future ages (e.g.) (Exodus 12:2 , 14 , 17
, 24-27 , 42 ; 13:2 , 5 , 8-10) but there are several injunctions which were evidently
not intended for the first Passover, and which indeed could not possibly have
been observed. Besides the private family festival, there were public and national
sacrifices offered each of the seven days of unleavened bread. (Numbers 28:19)
On the second day also the first-fruits of the barley harvest were offered in
the temple. (Leviticus 23:10) In the latter notices of the festival in the books
of the law there are particulars added which appear as modifications of the original
institution. (Leviticus 23:10 - 14 ; Numbers 28:16 - 25 ; 16:1 - 6) Hence it is
not without reason that the Jewish writers have laid great stress on the distinction
between "the Egyptian Passover" and "the perpetual Passover."
Mode and order of the paschal meal . --
All work except that belonging to a few trades connected with daily life was suspended
for some hours before the evening of the 14th Nisan. It was not lawful to eat
any ordinary food after midday. No male was admitted to the table unless he was
circumcised, even if he were of the seed of Israel. (Exodus 12:48) It was customary
for the number of a party to be not less than ten. When the meal was prepared,
the family was placed round the table, the paterfamilias taking a place of honor,
probably somewhat raised above the rest. When the party was arranged the first
cup of wine was filled, and a blessing was asked by the head of the family on
the feast, as well as a special, one on the cup. The bitter herbs were then placed
on the table, and a portion of them eaten, either with Or without the sauce. The
unleavened bread was handed round next and afterward the lamb was placed on the
table in front of the head of the family. The paschal lamb could be legally slain
and the blood and fat offered only in the national sanctuary. (Deuteronomy 16:2)
Before the lamb was eaten the second cup of wine was filled, and the son, in accordance
with (Exodus 12:26) asked his father the meaning of the feast. In reply, an account
was given of the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt and of their deliverance,
with a particular explanation of (Deuteronomy 26:5) and the first part of the
Hallel (a contraction from Hallelujah ), Psalm 113 , 114, was sung. This being
gone through, the lamb was carved and eaten. The third cup of wine was poured
out and drunk, and soon afterward the fourth. The second part of the Hallel, Psalm
115 to 118 was then sung. A fifth wine-cup appears to have been occasionally produced,
But perhaps only in later times. What was termed the greater Hallel, Psalm 120
to 138 was sung on such occasions. The Israelites who lived in the country appear
to have been accommodated at the feast by the inhabitants of Jerusalem in their
houses, so far its there was room for them. (Matthew 26:18 ; Luke 22:10 - 12)
Those who could not be received into the city encamped without the walls in tents
as the pilgrims now do at Mecca.
The Passover as a type . --
The Passover was not only commemorative but also typical. "The deliverance which
it commemorated was a type of the great salvation it foretold." --No other shadow
of things to come contained in the law can vie with the festival of the Passover
in expressiveness and completeness.
(1) The paschal lamb must of course be regarded as the leading
feature in the ceremonial of the festival. The lamb slain typified Christ the
"Lamb of God." slain for the sins of the world. Christ "our Passover is sacrificed
for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7) According to the divine purpose, the true Lamb of
God was slain at nearly the same time as "the Lord’s Passover" at the same season
of the year; and at the same time of the day as the daily sacrifice at the temple,
the crucifixion beginning at the hour of the morning sacrifice and ending at the
hour of the evening sacrifice. That the lamb was to be roasted and not boiled
has been supposed to commemorate the haste of the departure of the Israelites.
It is not difficult to determine the reason of the command "not a bone of him
shall be broken." The lamb was to be a symbol of unity--the unity of the family,
the unity of the nation, the unity of God with his people whom he had taken into
covenant with himself.
(2) The unleavened bread ranks next in importance to the paschal lamb. We are
warranted in concluding that unleavened bread had a peculiar sacrificial character,
according to the law. It seems more reasonable to accept St, Paul’s reference
to the subject, (1 Corinthians 5:6 - 8) as furnishing the true meaning of the
symbol. Fermentation is decomposition, a dissolution of unity. The pure dry biscuit
would be an apt emblem of unchanged duration, and, in its freedom from foreign
mixture, of purity also.
(3) The offering of the omer or first sheaf of the harvest, (Leviticus 23:10 -
14) signified deliverance from winter the bondage of Egypt being well considered
as a winter in the history of the nation.
(4) The consecration of the first-fruits, the firstborn of the soil, is an easy
type of the consecration of the first born of the Israelites, and of our own best
selves, to God. |
Further than this
(1) the Passover is a type of deliverance from the slavery
of sin.
(2) It is the passing over of the doom we deserve for your sins, because the blood
of Christ has been applied to us by faith.
(3) The sprinkling of the blood upon the door-posts was a symbol of open confession
of our allegiance and love.
(4) The Passover was useless unless eaten; so we live upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
(5) It was eaten with bitter herbs, as we must eat our passover with the bitter
herbs of repentance and confession, which yet, like the bitter herbs of the Passover,
are a fitting and natural accompaniment.
(6) As the Israelites ate the Passover all prepared for the journey, so do we
with a readiness and desire to enter the active service of Christ, and to go on
the journey toward heaven. |
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
pas'-o-ver (pecach, from pacach, "to pass" or "spring
over" or "to spare" (Exodus 12:13 , 23 , 17; compare Isaiah 31:5. Other conjectures
connect the word with the "passing over" into a new year, with assyr pasahu, meaning
"to placate," with Hebrew pacah, meaning "to dance," and even with the skipping
motions of a young lamb; Aramaic [~paccha', whence Greek Pascha; whence English
"paschal." In early Christian centuries folk-etymology connected pascha with Greek
pascho, "to suffer" (see PASSION), and the word was taken to refer to Good Friday
rather than the Passover):
1. Pecach and Matstsoth:
The Passover was the annual Hebrew festival on the evening of the 14th day of
the month of 'Abhibh (Abib) or Nisan, as it was called in later times. It was
followed by, and closely connected with, a 7 days' festival of matstsoth, or unleavened
bread, to which the name Passover was also applied by extension (Leviticus 23:5).
Both were distinctly connected with the Exodus, which, according to tradition,
they commemorate; the Passover being in imitation of the last meal in Egypt, eaten
in preparation for the journey, while Yahweh, passing over the houses of the Hebrews,
was slaying the firstborn of Egypt (Exodus 12:12 ; 13:2 , 12); the matstsoth festival
being in memory of the first days of the journey during which this bread of haste
was eaten (Exodus 12:14 - 20).
2. Pecach mitsrayim:
The ordinance of pecach mitsrayim, the last meal in Egypt, included the following
provisions:
(1) the taking of a lamb, or kid without blemish, for each
household on the 10th of the month;
(2) the killing of the lamb on the 14th at even;
(3) the sprinkling of the blood on doorposts and lintels of the houses in which
it was to be eaten;
(4) the roasting of the lamb with fire, its head with its legs and inwards--the
lamb was not to be eaten raw nor sodden (bashal) with water;
(5) the eating of unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
(6) eating in haste, with loins girded, shoes on the feet, and staff in hand;
(7) and remaining in the house until the morning;
(8) the burning of all that remained; the Passover could be eaten only during
the night (Exodus 12:1 - 23). |
3. Pecach doroth:
This service was to be observed as an ordinance forever (Exodus 12:14 , 24), and
the night was to be lel shimmurim, "a night of vigils," or, at least, "to be much
observed" of all the children of Israel throughout their generations (Exodus 12:42).
The details, however, of the pecach doroth, or later observances of the Passover,
seem to have differed slightly from those of the Egyptian Passover (Mishna, Pesachim,
ix.5). Thus, it is probable that the victim could be taken from the flock or from
the herd (Deuteronomy 16:2; compare Ezekiel 45:22). (3), (6) and (7) disappeared
entirely, and judging from Deuteronomy 16:7, the prohibition against seething
(Hebrew bashal) was not understood to apply (unless, indeed, the omission of the
expression with water" gives a more general sense to the Hebrew word bashal, making
it include roasting). New details were also added: for example, that the Passover
could be sacrificed only at the central sanctuary (Deuteronomy 16:5); that no
alien or uncircumcised person, or unclean person could partake thereof, and that
one prevented by uncleanness or other cause from celebrating the Passover in season
could do so a month later (Numbers 9:9). The singing of the Hallel (Psalms 113
- 118), both while the Passover was being slaughtered and at the meal, and other
details were no doubt added from time to time.
4. Matstsoth:
Unleavened bread was eaten with the Passover meal, just as with all sacrificial
meals of later times (Exodus 23:18 ; 34:25 ; Leviticus 7:12), independently perhaps
of the fact that the Passover came in such close proximity with the Feast of Unleavened
Bread (Exodus 12:8). Jewish tradition distinguishes, at any rate, between the
first night and the rest of the festival in that the eating of matstsoth is an
obligation on the first night and optional during the rest of the week (Pesachim
120a), although the eating of unleavened bread is commanded in general terms (Exodus
12:15 , 18 ; 13:6 , 7 ; 23:15 ; 34:18 ; Leviticus 23:6 ; Numbers 28:17). The eating
of leavened bread is strictly prohibited, however, during the entire week under
the penalty of kareth, "excision" (Exodus 12:15 , 19 ; 13:3 ; Deuteronomy 16:3),
and this prohibition has been observed traditionally with great care. The 1st
and 7th days are holy convocations, days on which no labor could be done except
such as was necessary in the preparation of food. The festival of matstsoth is
reckoned as one of the three pilgrimage festivals, though strictly the pilgrimage
was connected with the Passover portion and the first day of the festival.
During the entire week additional sacrifices were offered in the temple: an offering
made by fire and a burnt offering, 2 young bullocks, 1 ram, 7 lambs of the first
year without blemish, together with meal offerings and drink offerings and a goat
for a sin offering.
5. The 'Omer:
During the week of the matstsoth festival comes the beginning of the barley harvest
in Palestine (Menachoth 65b) which lasts from the end of March in the low Jordan
valley to the beginning of May in the elevated portions. The time of the putting-in
of the sickle to the standing grain (Deuteronomy 16:9) and of bringing the sheaf
of the peace offering is spoken of as the morrow after the Sabbath (Leviticus
23:15), that is, according to the Jewish tradition, the day after the first day,
or rest-day, of the Passover (Mend. 65b; Meg Ta'an. 1; Josephus, Ant, III, x,
5), and according to Samaritan and Boethusian traditions and the modern Karites
the Sunday after the Passover. At this time a wave offering is made of a sheaf,
followed by an offering of a lamb with a meal and drink offering, and only thereafter
might the new grain be eaten. From this day 7 weeks are counted to fix the date
of Pentecost, the celebration connected with the wheat harvest. It is of course
perfectly natural for an agricultural people to celebrate the turning-points of
the agricultural year in connection with their traditional festivals. Indeed,
the Jewish liturgy of today retains in the Passover service the Prayer of Dew
(Tal) which grew up in Palestine on the basis of the needs of an agricultural
people.
6. Non-traditional Theories:
Many writers, however, eager to explain the entire festival as originally an agricultural
feast (presumably a Canaanitic one, though there is not a shred of evidence that
the Canaanites had such a festival), have seized upon the 'omer, or sheaf offering,
as the basis of the hagh (festival), and have attempted to explain the matstsoth
as bread hastily baked in the busy harvest times, or as bread quickly baked from
the freshly exempted first-fruits. Wherein these theories are superior to the
traditional explanation so consistently adhered to throughout the Pentateuch it
is difficult to see. In a similar vein, it has been attempted to connect the Passover
with the sacrifice or redemption of the firstborn of man and beast (both institutions
being traditionally traced to the judgment on the firstborn of Egypt, as in Exodus
13:11 - 13 ; 22:29 , 30 ; 23:19 ; 34:19 , 20), so as to characterize the Passover
as a festival of pastoral origin. Excepting for the multiplication of highly ingenious
guesses, very little that is positive has been added to our knowledge of the Passover
by this theory.
7. The Higher Criticism:
The Pentateuch speaks of the Passover in many contexts and naturally with constantly
varying emphasis. Thus the story of the Exodus it is natural to expect fewer ritual
details than in a manual of temple services; again, according to the view here
taken, we must distinguish between the pecach mitsrayim and the pecach doroth.
Nevertheless, great stress is laid on the variations in the several accounts,
by certain groups of critics, on the basis of which they seek to support their
several theories of the composition of the Pentateuch or Hexateuch. Without entering
into this controversy, it will be sufficient here to enumerate and classify all
the discrepancies said to exist in the several Passover passages, together with
such explanations as have been suggested. These discrepancies, so called, are
of three kinds: (1) mere omissions, (2) differences of emphasis, and (3) conflicting
statements. The letters, J, E, D, P and H will here be used to designate passages
assigned to the various sources by the higher criticism of today merely for the
sake of comparison.
(1) There is nothing remarkable about the omission of the
daily sacrifices from all passages except Leviticus 23:8 (H) and Numbers 28:19
(P), nor in the omission of a specific reference to the holy convocation on the
first day in the contexts of Deuteronomy 16:8 and Exodus 13:6, nor even in the
omission of reference to a central sanctuary in passages other than Deuteronomy
16. Neither can any significance be attached to the fact that the precise day
is not specified in Exodus 23 (E) where the appointed day is spoken of, and in
Leviticus 23:15 (H) where the date can be figured out from the date of Pentecost
there given.
(2) As to emphasis, it is said that the socalled Elohist Covenant (E) (Exodus
23) has no reference to the Passover, as it speaks only of matstsh in Exodus 23:15,
in which this festival is spoken of together with the other reghalim or pilgrimage
festivals. The so-called Jehovistic source (Jahwist) (Exodus 34:18 - 21 , 25)
is said to subordinate the Passover to matstsoth, the great feast of the Jehovistic
history (JE) (Exodus 12:21 - 27 , 29-36 , 38 , 39 ; 13:3-16); in De (D) the Passover
is said to predominate over matstsoth, while in Le (P and H) it is said to be
of first importance. JE and P emphasize the historical importance of the day.
Whether these differences in emphasis mean much more than that the relative amount
of attention paid to the paschal sacrifice, as compared with matstsoth, depends
on the context, is of course the fundamental question of the higher criticism;
it is not answered by pointing out that the differences of emphasis exist.
(3) Of the actual conflicts, we have already seen that the use of the words "flock"
and "herd" in De and Hebrew bashal are open to explanation, and also that the
use of the matstsoth at the original Passover is not inconsistent with the historical
reason for the feast of matstsoth--it is not necessary to suppose that matstsoth
were invented through the necessity of the Hebrews on their journey. There is,
however, one apparent discrepancy in the Biblical narrative that seems to weaken
rather than help the position of those critics who would ascribe very late dates
to the passages which we have cited: Why does Ezekiel's ideal scheme provide sacrifices
for the Passover different from those prescribed in the so-called P ascribed to
the same period (Ezekiel 45:21)? |
8. Historical Celebrations: Old Testament Times:
The children of Israel began the keeping of the Passover
in its due season according to all its ordinances in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers
9:5). In the very beginning of their national life in Palestine we find them celebrating
the Passover under the leadership of Joshua in the plains of Jericho (Joshua 5:10).
History records but few later celebrations in Palestine, but there are enough
intimations to indicate that it was frequently if not regularly observed. Thus
Solomon offered sacrifices three times a year upon the altar which he had built
to Yahweh, at the appointed seasons, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread (1
Kings 9:25 equals 2 Chronicles 8:13). The later prophets speak of appointed seasons
for pilgrimages and sacrifices (compare Isaiah 1:12 - 14), and occasionally perhaps
refer to a Passover celebration (compare Isaiah 30:29, bearing in mind that the
Passover is the only night-feast of which we have any record). In Hezekiah's time
the Passover had fallen into such a state of desuetude that neither the priests
nor the people were prepared for the king's urgent appeal to observe it. Nevertheless,
he was able to bring together a large concourse in Jerusalem during the 2nd month
and institute a more joyful observance than any other recorded since the days
of Solomon. In the 18th year of King Josiah, however, there was celebrated the
most memorable Passover, presumably in the matter of conformity to rule, since
the days of the Judges (2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 35:1). The continued observance
of the feast to the days of the exile is attested by Ezekiel's interest in it
(Ezekiel 45:18). In post-exilic times it was probably observed more scrupulously
than ever before (Ezra 6:19).
9. Historical Celebrations: New Testament Times:
Further evidence, if any were needed, of the importance of
the Passover in the life of the Jews of the second temple is found in the Talmud,
which devotes to this subject an entire tractate, Pecachim on which we have both
Babylonian and Palestine gemara'. These are devoted to the sacrificial side and
to the minutiae of searching out and destroying leaven, what constitutes leaven,
and similar questions, instruction in which the children of Israel sought for
30 days before the Passover. Josephus speaks of the festival often (Ant., II,
xiv, 6; III, x, 5; IX, iv, 8; XIV, ii, 2; XVII, ix, 3; BJ, II, i, 3; V, iii, 1;
VI, ix, 3). Besides repeating the details already explained in the Bible, he tells
of the innumerable multitudes that came for the Passover to Jerusalem out of the
country and even from beyond its limits. He estimates that in one year in the
days of Cestius, 256,500 lambs were slaughtered and that at least 10 men were
counted to each. (This estimate of course includes the regular population of Jerusalem.
But even then it is doubtless exaggerated.) The New Testament bears testimony,
likewise, to the coming of great multitudes to Jerusalem (John 11:55 ; compare
also John 2:13; 6:4). At this great festival even the Roman officers released
prisoners in recognition of the people's celebration. Travel and other ordinary
pursuits were no doubt suspended (Compare Acts 12:3 ; 20:6). Naturally the details
were impressed on the minds of the people and lent themselves to symbolic and
homiletic purposes (compare 1 Corinthians 5:7; John 19:34-36, where the paschal
lamb is made to typify Jesus; and Hebrews 11:28). The best-known instance of such
symbolic use is the institution of the Eucharist on the basis of the paschal meal.
Some doubt exists as to Whether the Last Supper was the paschal meal or not. According
to the Synoptic Gospels, it was (Luke 22:7 ; Matthew 26:17 ; Mark 14:12); while
according to John, the Passover was to be eaten some time following the Last Supper
(John 18:28). Various harmonizations of these passages have been suggested, the
most in genious, probably, being on theory that when the Passover fell on Friday
night, the Pharisees ate the meal on Thursday and the Sadducees on Friday, and
that Jesus followed the custom of the Pharisees (Chwolson, Das letzte Passahmal
Jesu, 2nd edition, Petersburg, 1904). Up to the Nicene Council in the year 325,
the church observed Easter on the Jewish Passover. Thereafter it took precautions
to separate the two, condemning their confusion as Arianism.
10. The Jewish Passover:
After the destruction of the temple the Passover became a home service. The paschal
lamb was no longer included. Only the Samaritans have continued this rite to this
day. In the Jewish home a roasted bone is placed on the table in memory of the
rite, and other articles symbolic of the Passover are placed beside it: such as
a roasted egg, said to be in memory of the free-will offering; a sauce called
charoceth, said to resemble the mortar of Egypt; salt water, for the symbolic
dipping (compare Matthew 26:23); the bitter herbs and the matstsoth. The cedher
(program) is as follows: sanctification; washing of the hands; dipping and dividing
the parsley; breaking and setting aside a piece of matstsah to be distributed
and eaten at the end of the supper; reading of the haggadhah shel pecach, a poetic
narrative of the Exodus, in answer to four questions asked by the youngest child
in compliance with the Biblical command found 3 times in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy,
"Thou shalt tell thy son on that day"; washing the hands for eating; grace before
eating; tasting the matstsah; tasting the bitter herbs; eating of them together;
the meal; partaking of the matstsah that had been set aside as 'aphiqomen or dessert;
grace after meat; Hallel; request that the service be accepted. Thereafter folk-songs
are sung to traditional melodies, and poems recited, many of which have allegorical
meanings. A cup of wine is used at the sanctification and another at grace, in
addition to which two other cups have been added, the 4 according to the Mishna
(Pecachim x.1) symbolizing the 4 words employed in Exodus 6:6 , 7 for the delivery
of Israel from Egypt. Instead of eating in haste, as in the Egyptian Passover,
it is customary to recline or lean at this meal in token of Israel's freedom.
The prohibition against leaven is strictly observed. The searching for hidden
leaven on the evening before the Passover and its destruction in the morning have
become formal ceremonies for which appropriate blessings and declarations have
been included in the liturgy since the days when Aramaic was the vernacular of
the Jews. As in the case of other festivals, the Jews have doubled the days of
holy convocation, and have added a semi-holiday after the last day, the so-called
'iccur chagh, in token of their love for the ordained celebration and their loathness
to depart from it.
Nathan Isaacs
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, celebration, define, hebrew festival, feast of unleavened bread, matstsoth, passover, pecach, pecach doroth
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