BibleFacts

Passover

On Jewish Festivals

Passover is one of the spring festivals that God ordained that the Jews observe. Called Pasach in Hebrew, this festival commemorated the exodus from Egypt and the Passover rituals prophetically foreshadow the death of the Messiah in 32 AD.

The Passover Seder for those at home
The Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, but the Passover Seder also teaches of the coming of the Messiah. The Seder starts at 6:pm and must be finished by 12:AM. On the table is a special cloth container with three pockets called a Matzah-Tash with a loaf of unleavened bread in each pocket. (symbolizing the Trinity) The  middle loaf of unleavened bread, or Matzah, is taken out and torn in two. The smaller peace is placed back in between the other two. The larger peace is wrapped in a napkin and hidden. (symbolizing the death and burial of the second person of the Trinity, the Son)  It will be used later for the Afikomen. Then the story of the Exodus from Egypt is told, and the group sings Psalms 113-114.

Then the father brings out the lower peace of Matzah from the Matzah-Tash blesses it then each member eats a small peace of the bread. (symbolizing the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity)

Then the Passover meal is eaten, which may take an hour or two.
The father wraps part of the middle peace of Matzah in a white cloth and hides it some where in the house. (symbolizing the death and burial of the Messiah) After the meal the father sends the children to hunt for hidden Matzah. The Seder can not continue until the Matzah is found and given back to the father. (symbolizing the resurrection and ascension of the Messiah) The child negotiates what gift the father will give him for returning the Matzah. Then the father gives the child a coin as a down payment for the gift and the matzah is returned and the Seder can continue. This gift of a coin referred to as "the promise of the father" (symbolizing the giving if the Holy spirit at Pentecost as a earnest deposit of the gift of eternal life)

Then the father brings out the Matzah that was hidden, each member is given two peaces of matzah to make the Afikomen. The  Afikomen is a sandwich made of two peaces of matzah with the Maror (bitter herbs) on one side and the Charoset (a sweet antidote to the bitter herbs) on the other side. The sandwich is eaten Maror side first then Charoset. (symbolizing that the Messiah is the only antidote for sin)

Since is was forbidden to eat the Passover lamb anywhere except Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:5), together they say "I am observing this commandment so I may remember the Passover lamb eaten at the end of the Seder. May the eating of the Afikomen achieve all the spiritual things accomplished by the Passover lamb itself."
If one placed the blood of the Passover lamb on the door post the death angel would not kill the fist born in the house, so salvation was offered if you believed in the blood of the the Passover lamb.

Then Psalm 126 is sung and they drink the third cup of wine. Then the fourth cup, the cup of  Elijah  is poured.
Then they sing the Hallel - Psalms 115-118,136
Matzah is pierced and has stripes from being cooked unleavened. cmp Isaiah 53

Meanwhile in the Temple...
In the time of Jesus, high priest, on the 10th of Nisan, will go to Bethany to get an unblemished lamb and bring it into the temple to be inspected for four days. As the lamb was brought to the eastern gate pilgrims would line the sides wave the palm branches and say "Baruch Ha Shem Adonai " Psalm 118:26-27. Jesus left the house of Lazarus in Bethany on the 10th to go teach in the temple, where the scribes ask their hardest questions to Jesus and walk away saying "never a man spoke as this man." At 9:AM on the 14th of Nisan, the lamb was tied on one of the horns of the alter and at 3:PM the high priest would slay the lamb while saying the words "It is finished" These words are said at any "shelem" or peace offering.

Uncategorized notes:
The first cup of wine is called the cup of sanctification, the second is the cup of affliction, the third is the cup of redemption, the fourth id the cup of Elijah.

Other events
Other events that occurred on these dates that foreshadow the messiah are:

  1. The Flood came on 17 of second month (Gen 7:11). The Ark rested on the 17 of Nisan (8:4).
  2. 13th of Nissan Haman’s decree was written to destroy the Jews. Esther 3:7,12 Esther requests all Jews to fast for 3 days and nights. Esther 4:16-17 The king and Haman come to a banquet on the 16th of Nissan. Esther 5:4 On the second banquet the king kills Haman and helps the Jews on 17th of Nissan. Haman is a picture of Satan and the antichrist, Mordecai is a picture of Jesus. Esther 7:2
  3. Gen. 12:40 430 years to the day of Gods promise to Abraham they left Egypt.
  4. Israeli’s kill a lamb on the 14th (cooking must be done by 6:pm), eat the lamb and leave Egypt on the 15th (Seder must be done by 12:AM), cross the Red Sea on the 17th. They bring a lamb to the house on the 10th, kill it "between the evenings" which is 3:PM on the 14th. He dips Hyssop in the blood and applies it to each doorpost and the lintel forming a cross of blood. The lamb would then be roasted on a large stick, upright, with a cross peace. Its intestines, having to be roasted too, were wrapped around the head and called the crown sacrifice.
  5. God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on 10th four days latter on Mt. Moriah is the 14th. The 14th and 21st are Shabaton.

First fruits Nissan 17
Haman killed and the Jews helped. On the 4th watch (4-6AM) Egyptians drown in the Red Sea. Exodus 14:24
Jesus resurrects probably on the 4th watch. 1 Corinthians 15. See Pasacim in the Mishna

 


www.biblefacts.org Date: 12-2004