Exodus 12:1-14
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This
month is to be for you the first month, the first month of
your year. 3 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. 4 If any household is too
small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest
neighbour, having taken into account the number of people
there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed
in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals
you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you
may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of
them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the
people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at
twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put
it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses
where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat
the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs,
and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or
cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head,
legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning;
if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This
is
how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your
belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your
hand. Eat
it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.
12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and
strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and
I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the
LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses
where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over
you.
No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the
generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival
to the LORD
-a lasting ordinance.
Several years ago a teacher assigned to visit children
in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting
that she visit a particular child. She took the boy's name
and room number and was told by his school teacher, "We're
studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I'd be grateful
if you could help him with his homework so he doesn't fall
behind the others."
It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's
room that she realized it was located in the hospital's burn
unit.
No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned
and in great pain. She felt that she couldn't just turn
and walk out, so she awkwardly stammered, "I'm the
hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you
with nouns
and adverbs."
The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What
did you do to that boy?"
Before she could finish a profusion of apologies, the nurse
interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been
very worried about him, but ever since you were here yesterday,
his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding
to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live."
The boy later explained that he had completely given up
hope until he saw that teacher. It all changed when he
came to
a simple realization. With joyful tears he expressed it
this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on
nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"
(James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 292-293)
Hope.
The incredible power of hope.
Our Scripture lesson, Exodus 12:1-14 is written in great
detail. The language is one of ritual. It was a ritual
which would bring hope and remind people of hope forever.
And so, that which is being laid down here is of the utmost
importance—not just because it tells how the people
of Israel were to prepare before they left Egypt, but because
they were to remember and rehearse this event generation
after generation after generation. Indeed, it’s an
event still celebrated to this very day.
What is being described is the Passover.
The Passover is the most important ritual in Jewish worship.
It preceded the most important event in Jewish history—the
Exodus.
The Passover and the Exodus are foundational when it comes
to Judaism.
The events of this section of the book of Exodus define,
more than anything else, what it means to be Jewish.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the whole Hebrew
Scriptures revolve around the events of Passover and
the Exodus.
Let's look at what the Lord ordered the Jewish people to
do and see the context which made it so essential to their
faith.
Moses and his brother Aaron had been specially called and
sent by God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in
Egypt and to the Promised Land.
But, the people had almost given up hope of ever being free
again. They had almost lost faith in God's promise that they
were His people and God would look after them.
Every stone they lifted, every crop they harvested and every
meal they prepared for their Egyptian masters reminded them
how far away they felt from that promise.
Pharaoh and his people were the most powerful nation on
the earth.
What chance did they have of ever being free again?
Then came Moses with the bold and brash demand that the
Pharaoh release the people of Israel—release them—let
them go—just like that!
The Pharaoh, of course, was not impressed!
In the name of the God of the Hebrews, Moses continued
to demand their release.
Still the Pharaoh refused.
After all, if there were no slaves who would build the
monuments of Egypt? Who would keep house for the powerful
families of the land?
No—they could not be freed!
Then God visited 9 different plagues on the Pharaoh and
his people.
During the plagues the Pharaoh agreed to release the people
but then, when each plague ended, he changed his mind.
The people of Israel grew more and more despondent. They
felt hopeless.
Nothing would force Pharaoh to set them free. It seemed that
Pharaoh was strong enough to withstand the power of their
God.
But God wasn’t about to fail them.
The stubbornness and deceit of Pharaoh would be broken once
and for all.
The tenth and final and most horrendous plague was the
killing of all the first born—both people and animals,
in all of Egypt.
The Israelites would be protected by following the instructions
of the Passover.
The Pharaoh’s grip would be broken!
God's people would go free!
Exodus 12 tells us precisely what the people were to do.
First, the month in which this occurred was to become the
first month of the year.
This event was so important that time itself would be measured
from this point on.
This was an event of new beginnings—of new birth
as the people of Israel began life in freedom.
Next, each family was to sacrifice a lamb or goat of a
certain age, without blemish, and eat it. Leftovers were
to be burned.
They were to eat the Passover lamb with bitter herbs to
remind them of the bitterness of their slavery.
They were to eat this meal fully clothed so as to be ready
to leave at a moment's notice. There was no time to wait
for the yeast to raise the bread. They were to eat unleavened
bread.
Finally, and most important, they were to take the blood
of the lamb and spread it on their doorframe as a sign
to the angel of death to “pass over” that house
and spare the firstborn there.
They were to do all these things on the night of the Passover
and then commemorate the event for all generations to come.
God was going to act and they were to remember this event
and all that it meant forever.
Things were not hopeless. Pharaoh was not to have the
upper hand. God would fulfill God’s promises. God’s
people would be freed.
And so after the terrible loss inflicted upon the Egyptians,
the people of Israel were finally released.
When Moses and Aaron and the people were about to give
up—when all seemed utterly hopeless—when doubt
about God and God’s power to keep His promises began
to creep in or perhaps even flood into their thinking—God
came through.
There lies the power of the Passover and Exodus.
God showed Himself to be One who heard His people.
God understood their needs.
God protected them.
God freed them.
God offered them His faithfulness and security.
Is it any wonder this event became the central focus of
the Jewish people?
God was proven to be all powerful, completely trustworthy
and totally dedicated to His people.
It’s no coincidence or fluke or happenstance that
Jesus' sacrificial death on the Cross occurred at Passover.
It’s no coincidence that the Lord's Supper—the
Sacrament of Holy Communion was instituted at that Passover
meal by Jesus with His disciples.
In Christianity the Passover and Exodus events are overshadowed
by the Lord's Supper, the Cross and the Empty Tomb but they
are so very closely related. Indeed the Passover and the
Exodus form the foundation upon which Good Friday and Easter
rest.
Just think of the connections:
The Passover underlines the whole meaning of Jesus' sacrifice
as our Passover Lamb.
The triumph of Moses leading God's people out of slavery
in Egypt reinforces, incredibly, the victory of Christ which
offers us freedom from slavery to Satan, sin and death.
Just as God nurtured and freed Israel at the original Passover
so has God given us nurture and freedom through a very
special Passover two thousand years ago—the Passover
meal which became the Last Supper of Jesus and, ultimately,
our Communion.
When the blood of the lamb was splashed on the doorposts
of the Israelites, Moses cried to Pharaoh, "Let my
people go"
And Pharaoh loosened his grip upon God's people.
When the blood of Jesus was shed on the Cross the voice
of God commanded Satan to: "Let my people go!"
And Satan loosened his grip upon us.
The Passover is central to our Judeo-Christian heritage.
It speaks of God's care,
God's protection,
sacrifice,
and freedom from slavery.
It’s the foundation upon which the Christianity establishes
its meaning and its victory.
In the novel “100 Years of Solitude”, the author narrates the story
of an entire village that experiences amnesia. Everyone is afflicted. People
forget their names, their families, their histories; even the words for the
simplest things in life—like "chair," "shirt," and "kiss."
One teenage boy, however, still retains the capacity to remember and he
decides to label everything before it’s too late. So he proceeds
to put a name tag on every object in the village.
After completing the task, he erects two signs at the entrance to the village:
one sign announces the name of the village; the other sign reads, "God
exists."
Every community needs a name. But the community of faith needs more. It must
remember its history and its God!
— Jones
That’s what the Passover does for the Jewish people.
That’s what Christ does for us!
(1555)
© The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy’s Presbyterian
Church, Ajax, ON, Canada
