Passover: The Remembrance of Mercy

Passover is that most Jewish of holidays. It is a time to remember what God has done for his people, and to prepare for what comes ahead. We are reminded that God does not simply give to his people, that he tests his people, to find them sincere in their faith. For God has decreed faith is the evidence of things hoped for.

We have to take a step back to the time of the ancients, when all of Israel was held hostage in Egypt. The Torah tells us that the Jews were led to the original safety and security of Egypt by a single act of betrayal: the selling of Joseph into slavery by his brothers, because they were jealous. Over time, Joseph was able to gain favor in Egypt, unknown to his brothers.

The Torah is quite clear what happens next: Joseph manages to be reunited with his family, and they all live in Egypt happily ever after, because of Joseph's known excellence in all of Egypt. But the Torah then throws a kink into the works: A generation rose up which did not know Joseph, or of his stature in Egypt, and the descendants of Jacob were cast into bondage.

The Jews were there for nearly four hundred years. They begged to Jehovah to be free again. They knew that God was listening, were sure he heard their pleas for help, but he was not answering. Despair set in, and the Jews began to wonder if they would ever be rescued. Then a horror was set upon them by Pharaoh: every child under two years of age must be killed, because there were too many Jews, and the god-king feared an uprising. Surely God would rescue them from this?

Moses alone was rescued by his older sister, spared from the blade, and hidden away to safety.

Curiously, Moses was found by the Pharaoh's wife and raised as an Egyptian. Moses also, like Joseph, gained in stature and in wisdom before the opinion of the Egyptians. He was aware of his Jewish heritage, but he did not associate with the Jewish suffering.

And then Moses woke up to his heritage, killed an Egyptian taskmaster for beating a Jewish slave, hid the taskmaster's body, and fled to the desert.

While in the desert, God spoke to Moses, and gave him a set of instructions: he was to go back to Egypt, and tell the Pharaoh to free God's people, because God had said so.

Moses returned to Egypt, and because Pharaoh refused to let the people go, God sent plagues to Egypt. The Nile River turned to blood. Frogs covered the landscape. Locusts appeared and ate everything green. There were more plagues, but the worst plague, God reserved for last.

God decreed to Moses that the first born of every living thing in Egypt would die, if the Jews were not allowed to leave. And still, the Pharaoh refused to allow the Jews to leave Egypt.

Moses was then given instructions: all of the Jews were then instructed to kill one perfectly healthy lamb, and eat the lamb with bitter herbs. The lamb's blood was to be painted on the lintel and door posts of every Jewish household.

God was sending the Angel of Death to Egypt, and that Angel was given instructions to pass over any house that had the blood of the lamb on the lintel and door posts.

And so, while outside, Egyptians were losing the first born of every family, every farm animal, and every wild animal, even, the Jews sat and ate lamb, to remember that innocent blood was shed for their deliverance. They ate bitter herbs, that they might remember the horror of their time spent in captivity in Egypt. They ate unleavened (flat) bread, because they knew once allowed to leave, they would be leaving quickly, no time to let the bread rise. They dipped their green vegetables in salt water, to remember the tears they cried while living as Egyptian slaves.

Where is the mercy in the story of Passover?

Simple: it fills the story. Mercy from Pharaoh's order to kill the children, when the man who would ultimately deliver Israel to freedom is saved. Mercy for Moses, because he was not killed as a penalty for his murder of the taskmaster. Mercy for the Egyptians, that the plagues were sent in an order of increasing severity - God tried to get Pharaoh's attention without destroying everything. Mercy for the Jews, who were not touched by the plagues that were sent. And finally, mercy for anyone who obeyed, and covered their house with the sacrifice, with the innocent Lamb.

Why celebrate Passover today?

I honor Passover today, that I might remember that God is merciful. He provides a rescue for us, when none other can. He lifts us out of misery, and restores us, and reminds us, that with faith, it is God's Judgment that passes by, passes over us, and it is his mercy that sits, and dines with us, and asks us to remember.

What does the actual Passover ceremony look like?

The table is prepared with certain foods, each with a significance all its own.

A Hard boiled egg: a symbol of life, hard-boiled to symbolize the hard way of life under evil.

A roasted shank bone of lamb: to remind all present that blood was shed to save their very lives.

Bitter herbs: usually horseradish, to remind us of the bitter life that slavery to evil offers.

Greens: celery, or parsley, to remind us that rescue is coming, like a new spring, bringing new life.

Haroset: a nut, apple, cinnamon, and wine mixture, to remind everyone of the bricks that were built in Egypt, of the futile work we do while apart from God.

And finally, that most recognized food:

Matzah bread: a flat unleavened bread, to symbolize the sheer speed with which the Jews left Israel, and which we should mimic when fleeing from anything evil in our lives.

The actual ceremony is something generally held for kids, and the matzah bread is broken, half served with dinner, and half is hidden, and served with dessert. The kids go scrambling around, looking for the hidden half, and when it's found, gifts are passed out.

Passover is the most recognized Jewish holiday here in the United States. This is because it also occurs so nearly with Easter, with most Christians believing that it was the Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples at the last supper.

You may wonder why I told the story of the Captivity in Israel in this article. Around the Passover Seder Table, it's called the Haggadah, and it's a narration of the story of Moses and the Exodus, told over a table that is prepared for dinner. You'll notice I did it in order here, as well.

So whether Jewish or Christian, Passover or Easter meal with family, anyone who sees religion as a restriction on life needs to know that during the celebration of Passover, as the kids run around looking for the bread, I can be found with my friends, thinking not about the rules of Judaism, or Christianity, but freedom instead. Thank God for that.

Sources:

Nancy Scott, The Significance of Passover, 1999, Mackenzie Study Center, Gutenberg College

Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, The Experiencing God Study Bible, 1994, Broadman and Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee