For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. –– 1 Corinthians 5:7

Passover is the oldest recorded feast still celebrated today. With more or less regularity it has been observed annually by the Jewish people for nearly 4,000 years. The celebration consisted of two parts, each commemorating a

separate deliverance. The Passover ritual began with a memorial of the saving of the firstborns from the death angel. The following feast of seven days was to remember the larger deliverance of the entire nation from Egyptian bondage.

The Word “Passover”

The Hebrew word pacach (Strong’s 6452) has the primary meaning of “skipping over,” undoubtedly in the sense of Exodus 12:13 where God says he would “pass over” the firstborn who were in the blood-marked houses so that the plague of the death of the firstborn would not be over them.

Secondarily, the word referred to the entire nation “passing over” the Red Sea, where they realized their final deliverance from the forces of Pharaoh.

In still a third sense, it came to refer to the “passing over” into a new year since the original Passover coincided with the introduction of a new religious year for Israel (Exodus 12:2).

Another word, derived from this root, is pacah, meaning “to dance, or skip like a young lamb.” Certainly, the deliverance from Egypt was a cause for great rejoicing and dancing (see Exodus 15). Still another derivative phrase is assyr pasahu, meaning “to placate;” this well illustrates the placating effect of the lamb’s blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels of the houses. (See the article on “Passover” in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.)

Passover Night

The Passover night was to be celebrated on the14th of Nisan, the only nocturnal ritual of the Jews. There were eight specific commands given in Exodus 12:1-13 for the observance of this holy day:

1) The lamb was to be taken into the household four days before, on the 10th of Nisan. This found its antitypical fulfillment in the formal presentation of Jesus, the “Lamb of God,” to the people of Jerusalem when he entered the city in triumph, riding on a colt, the foal of an

2) The lamb was to be killed on the 14th at even (literally “between the evening”). So, Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan at 3 p.m.¹

3) The blood of the lamb was to be sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels of the This showed a personal application for each individual of the blood of the lamb. As Anton Frey puts it: “To us, this seems to say, that while all of God’s providences are designed to bring us closer to deliverance from bondage to this world, actual deliverance comes only through a coming under the blood of the Lamb. Israel had to bring itself under this; the fact that the lamb had been slain was not sufficient.” So, too, is it with God’s antitypical Israel, it must bring itself under the blood. Mere belief in the fact that Jesus died for the sins of the world brings no salvation, but the belief that he died for me, brings with it a “consciousness from evil, a justification, as it were, by faith, a redemption from the curse.” (Our Wilderness Wanderings, p. 2.)

4) The lamb was to be roasted with fire, not eaten raw, nor sodden (2 Chronicles 35:13). This differentiated this offering from Israel’s other sacrifices. Benjamin Barton, commenting on this in his talk, “The Highest Motive,” says: “It takes twice as hot a fire to roast anything as it does to boil it; it takes only a little over 200 degrees to boil anything, but it requires more than 400 degrees to roast. Dear friends, it seems as though that fact tells us the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was twice as severe as the sacrifice we must make.” (Pilgrim Echoes, p. 138.)

5) The lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter Paul identifies the bread as participation with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). The bitter herbs recalled to Israel the bitter persecution which they went through in Egypt, and to Christians the trials of the consecrated way of following in Jesus’ footsteps (2 Timothy 3:12).

6) The original meal was to be eaten in haste, with shoes on the feet, and staff in hand. The necessity for this in Egypt was manifest, for they must be ready to leave in haste. The same applies to Christians, for none know when they will finish their earthly course and all must be in spiritual readiness for this

7) They were to remain in the house until The lesson for the Christian is that salvation requires staying “under the blood” all during the present dark night of sin. To remove oneself from the efficacy of Christ is to invite the fate of encountering the “angel of death.”

8) The lamb was to be entirely consumed during the night; any remaining portions were to be burned. Paul, speaking of the Memorial Supper which replaced the ancient Passover for the Christian, writes: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of [common participation in] the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). Our common participation in the sufferings of Christ is confined to the same present nighttime. The “morning of joy” will be marked by deliverance instead of the trials of the present time.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. –– 1 Corinthians 5:7,8

As the solemn ritual of Passover night pictured the death of the Redeemer, so the joyous seven-day feast that followed showed the results of that death, not only as it affected the firstborn, a picture of the Church of Christ, but how it foreshadowed the deliverance of the entire nation (Exodus 12:17).

This feast was also called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Exodus 23:15; 2 Chronicles 30:13) since only bread baked without leaven was permitted for its duration. The removal of all leaven from the house was a requirement for the celebration of the Passover season (Exodus 12:15).

Leaven, a catalyst for fermentation, was uniformly prohibited in the sacrifices of ancient Israel (Leviticus 2:11). Its use was specifically banned from being offered during the three most holy feasts of the Jews (Exodus 23:17,18). Two exceptions to this rule were in the meal offering accompanying thank offerings (Leviticus 7:13; Amos 4:5) and in the “wave offering” on the Day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16,17).

Professor Lightfoot has noted that the rabbis regularly used leaven as a symbol of evil. New Testament usage bears this out (Matthew 16:6,11; Mark 8:15; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9). Yeast, the most common leavening agent today, was not used in ancient times. The most frequent sources of leaven were obtained either using a piece of fermented dough from former occasions or by the use of honey, which was fermentable and thus also prohibited in meal offerings (Leviticus 2:11). Unleavened bread is called the “bread of affliction” in Deuteronomy 16:3.

Jewish tradition identifies the reason for the feast being “seven days” as the time they calculated the children of Israel traveled from Egypt to their final deliverance at the Red Sea. During these travels, they would have no time to mix new flour and thus would have had to use the unleavened flour prepared for the beginning of the first Passover.

The only other requirement given in the Exodus account was that the first and last days of this feast be a “holy convocation.” Convocations were special assemblies where all the people were to gather for special religious worship. Adam Clarke likens the Hebrew word mikraa here used (Strong’s 4744) to the Greek ekklesia (Strong’s 1577), which he interprets as “an assembly convened by public call.” This call was originally made using two silver trumpets, calling the nation to the Tabernacle (Numbers 10:2,3).

The first of these Sabbaths fell on the 15th of Nisan, the night after the deliverance of the firstborns. This illustrates the deliverance of the church. The last Sabbath ² was on the 22nd of Nisan, the day Jewish tradition attributes to the crossing of the Red Sea, picturing the final deliverance of all mankind at the end of the Millennial Age. The Church is the ekklesia of God of the present time; but the mediatorial kingdom of Christ will also be a holy convocation, an ekklesia, or “an assembly convened by public call.”

Though the first Passover was celebrated by each family group within its own home, Passovers that occurred after the entrance into the promised land were to be held only “at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place His name in” (Deuteronomy 16:5-7). Eventually, this place was the great temple in Jerusalem.

A Harvest Festival

The Passover held yet another significance to Israel. The economy of the Middle East was agricultural. While many were shepherds or herdsmen, a large number were farmers.

Olives were harvested in November and December. There were two types of figs, one in June and the other in August. Barley was the first of the grains to ripen, in March or April, with the wheat harvest following about two months later. The grape vintage was picked in September.

The three main feasts of Israel — Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles — coordinated with these harvests. The barley harvest was celebrated at the Passover time, the wheat at Pentecost, and the grape vintage at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.

There is a broad consensus that the barley harvest related to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the wheat harvest to the gathering of his church, and the picking of grapes to the resurrection of mankind. It will be noted that the feasts celebrating the spiritual classes occurred in the spring, and the one relating to mankind, an earthly class, was in the autumn.

On the 16th of Nisan, the day after the first of the holy convocations or Sabbaths, a sheaf (Hebrew: omer) of the firstfruits of the barley harvest was to be waved as an offering to Jehovah (Leviticus 23:10-14). In the year of Jesus’ death, 33 A.D., this day fell on Sunday, the day of his resurrection.

This offering was to be accompanied by three others:

1) a lamb without blemish of the first year (acknowledging Jesus as the Redeemer);
2) a meal offering of two omers of flour (perhaps showing Jesus’ fleshly perfection, as the lamb showed his atoning sacrifice) ³;
3) a drink offering (showing the cooperative offering of the individual — “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure” 2 Timothy 4:6, NIV).

No grain was to be eaten before this first fruit was offered (Leviticus 23:14). This would indicate that no blessings could occur from the harvest before Jesus’ resurrection, represented by the waving of the barley sheaf on the 16th. Immediately following, and dating from the waving of the barley sheaf, the countdown to Pentecost began. That day was to occur on the day after the seventh sabbath from the waving of the barley on Nisan 16.

An interesting sidenote on this feast is found in Luke 6:1 where we find the beginning of the record concerning Jesus’ disciples eating grain on the Sabbath. In the King James Version, the verse reads, “And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.”

There is much debate on the phrase “second sabbath after the first.” If it is

authentic, which many authorities deny,⁴ it is open to various interpretations. Some

take it to refer to the second sabbath after the first of Nisan. If so, that day would precede the 16th of Nisan before which the Israelites were prohibited from eating grain. More likely, if authentic, it would refer to the second numbered sabbaths, those sabbaths in the seven that preceded Pentecost. This would place the incident of Luke 6 either 14 or 21 days after Nisan 16.

Summary

Passover was the first and perhaps most important feast of the Jewish calendar.
The following points should be noted:

1 –– The paschal lamb represented the sacrifice of Jesus offered, as in the type, on the 14th of Nisan.
2 –– The Passover supper, Israel’s only nocturnal feast, signaled the deliverance of the firstborns.
3 –– The Passover supper, Israel’s only nocturnal feast, signaled the deliverance of the firstborns.
4 –– The waving of the sheaf on the 16th of Nisan pictured the resurrection of Jesus
5 –– The prohibition of eating new grain demonstrated there can be no appreciation of God’s goodness until his Son is raised from the dead.
6 –– The dating of Pentecost as being seven sabbaths after the waving of the barley sheaf illustrates the relationship that exists between the offering of the Church and that of Christ.

Even though Christians have passed from under the commands of the law, as true followers of Jesus let us appreciate that “Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us,” and let us therefore “keep the feast” in remembrance and communion with that offering.

Notes:

1. Many Bible Students identify this phrase “between the evenings” as between the going down of the sun at noon and dusk at 6 p.m. This would place the death of Christ at the same literal time of day as the slaying of the first Passover Other Bible Students use a broader definition of the term to apply to any time of the day between the onset of one evening until its close the next evening. Still others subscribe to the view described in the Emphatic Diaglott on page 887 of the Alphabetical Index, under the word “Evening,” which reads as follows: “The Jews had two evenings. The first was also part of the day, the second was the hour or two immediately before dark. Where the word occurs in Exodus 12:6 [and] Numbers 9:3, it reads in the original ‘between the evenings’ and means ‘twilight.’ This was the time the paschal lamb was to be sacrificed” (Deuteronomy 16:6).

2. Some hold the thought that the seven days of this feast represent the entire Gospel Age, the individual days referring to the seven successive periods of the church depicted in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3.

3. Anton Frey in Notes on the Tabernacle, page 457, suggests, “As the burnt offering represents the value of Christ’s work in the Father’s estimation, giving ‘himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor’” (Ephesians 5:2), so the meat offering sets forth his perfect human character and conduct; and may be linked with his own testimony, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34).’”

4. The words “second” and “after the first” are of questionable authority, and though included in the majority of manuscripts, are omitted by the most reliable, including Papyrus 4 (200 AD or earlier), the Sinaitic, the Vatican 12-0, and several other good manuscripts. As Robertson notes in his Word Pictures in the New Testament, “It is undoubtedly spurious, though Westcott and Hort print it in the margin.”

–– The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom
2001/1