Passover
...or blemish. At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan, the lamb is to be slaughtered. Then they are to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood, and smear the blood on the top, and both sides of the doorframe of the house. In Exodus, chapter 12, verses 13-14, God says to His people, “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. 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.” On the night of Passover every piece of the lamb that was used as a sacrifice is to be eaten, along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The traditional Passover feast, celebrated in Israel lasts seven days, the first day and the last are considered holy, and no one is to work, except those that prepare the food. Outside of Israel the festival last eight days, the first two and the last two days are considered holy, while the middle four are working days (Wigoder p.590). The reason for this difference is none other than the cultural diversity among tribes, just as other rituals may differ from one another, depending on what region the Jews are living. In Hebrew the Passover festival is called Pesach. Another name that it is referred to is the Festival of Unleavened Bread, although, the two are actually two very distinct feasts. Passover begins the night of the fourteenth, while the feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven day event beginning the fifteenth day of the month (Sampson and Pierce p.107) . The main event of this holiday is the seder, a dinner celebrated in honor of God delivering the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. In Essential Judaism, George Robins describes the setting of the feast in simplest form: “At the center of the [dinner] table is the seder plate, which holds a hard- boiled egg, a roasted bone, maraor/bitter herbs (usually horseradish), kharoset (a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, cinnamon, wine, and in some recipes honey), karpas/greens (usually parsley or watercress), and a small cup or saucer of salt water. In addition, there is a plate holding three matzahs [unleavened bread], covered with a cloth” ( p.121). The egg is a symbol of life and renewal, and the greens for the arrival of spring, the bone is to remember the sacrifice of the lamb, the bitter herbs dipped in kharoset symbolizing the bitterness of slavery dipping in the mortar that the Jewish slaves used to build bricks for Pharaoh’s cities. The salt water for the tears of Israel, the parsley for the hyssop used to smear the blood of the lamb on the doorframe, and the matzah, the bread of affliction, being unleavened, is a symbol of their haste out of Egypt. According to Rabbinical law, during the duration of this holiday, not one pinch of leaven is to be found in any household (Encyclopedia Judaica p.165). Leaven such as wheat, barley, rye, spelt, oats, and any other combination thereof that expands when in contact with water. In addition, it express the humbled state of the Israelites when they left, to live in God’s providence. There are three pieces of matzah wrapped in linen. During the celebration the middle piece is taken and broken in half, wrapped in white linen, this is called the afikoman, and then it is hidden. Then the children are to go and find it and the one who does is rewarded. Usually the ceremony is postponed until the afikoman is found. The Jews recognize the three pieces of matzah as the three patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the High Priest, the Levites, and the Israelites, and yet some teach that they represent the three tribes of Israel: Kohen, Levi, and Yisrael. However, from a Christian perspective it is obvious that the three pieces of matzah symbolize the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The second piece, the son, taken and broken, hid in white linen. Christ was beaten, broken, wrapped in linen and placed in a tomb. The correlations are too heavy to miss. It is also customary to have five cups of wine placed on the table. Four of the five cups are symbols to help teach what was endured during the exodus. The first cup is the cup of sanctification-the Jews had to follow set instructions for the Lord to pass over. To be sanctified is to be set apart, just as the Jews were set apart from Egypt. The second cup of wine is the cup of judgment, for when the plagues swept through the...