Discover the profound echoes of an ancient story that has shaped millennia, as we journey through the Passover narrative - an epic tale of faith, liberation, and divine intervention. As your guide, I'll walk you through the pivotal biblical events that forever altered the course of Jewish and Christian history. From Moses' leadership to the fateful night that marked the beginning of the Exodus, this episode is an invitation to explore the deep spiritual significance and cultural impact of these historic moments.
Join us at our virtual table, where the scent of tradition and the warmth of memory blend into a feast for the soul. With insight from renowned scholars and religious leaders, we unravel the symbolism of the Passover lamb and the blood-stained doorposts, ponder the haste of a fleeing nation, and celebrate the enduring legacy of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Together, we'll uncover the layers of meaning within the Passover Seder and reflect on the command to rest and remember, connecting ancient customs to the rhythms of our present-day lives. This episode isn't just a retelling; it's a rediscovery of a story that continues to define and enrich the identity of generations.
Discover the profound echoes of an ancient story that has shaped millennia, as we journey through the Passover narrative - an epic tale of faith, liberation, and divine intervention. As your guide, I'll walk you through the pivotal biblical events that forever altered the course of Jewish and Christian history. From Moses' leadership to the fateful night that marked the beginning of the Exodus, this episode is an invitation to explore the deep spiritual significance and cultural impact of these historic moments.
Join us at our virtual table, where the scent of tradition and the warmth of memory blend into a feast for the soul. With insight from renowned scholars and religious leaders, we unravel the symbolism of the Passover lamb and the blood-stained doorposts, ponder the haste of a fleeing nation, and celebrate the enduring legacy of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Together, we'll uncover the layers of meaning within the Passover Seder and reflect on the command to rest and remember, connecting ancient customs to the rhythms of our present-day lives. This episode isn't just a retelling; it's a rediscovery of a story that continues to define and enrich the identity of generations.
Welcome to our Ancient Future Story, navigating Scripture Through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around the dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God's family and his family story has a lot of history. Each week, we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts. We will be looking at the story from the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens and ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is our Ancient Futures Story. Welcome back to our Ancient Futures Story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to continue Moses' story with you today. Well, actually, today's story is the story of every single Israelite and Jewish person alive. This story is, of course, about the Passover. Passover is the celebration and remembrance of the mighty acts of Yahweh in Egypt. This is the festival that is celebrated to this day. In fact, on April 22nd, jewish families are gathering together to remember God's mighty act in history. But we, as Christ followers, can also look at the Passover and remember the Last Supper and the mighty acts of Jesus on the cross. So over the next few minutes, I want to guide you through the purpose and the history of Passover. So grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the history of Passover. So grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the story of Passover.
Speaker 1:When we left off last time, egypt was in complete ruin. Yahweh had proven himself powerful and defeated the Egyptian gods. But now Yahweh is setting up a statue with his people for all generations, a way to never forget what they have experienced in these days. But our story today is going to start after the ninth plague. But before the tenth plague, Yahweh comes to Moses and tells them this month shall be the beginning of months for you. You shall start your year remembering this day. Tell all of Israel that the tenth day of the month, every man shall take a lamb for his family, but his family is too small. He shall partner up with his neighbors and get a lamb to share. The lamb must be perfect, one-year-old, male, from the sheep or the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole congregation of Israel will kill the lambs at twilight, then take the blood and put it on the doorpost of your houses you are eating in. That night you shall eat the lamb roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Eat all of the lamb and let nothing remain until morning. But if anything does remain until morning, it must be burned. And this is how you should eat the meal with your belt fastened, sandals on your feet, the staff in your hand.
Speaker 1:You shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover, for I will pass over the land of Egypt that night. I will strike down all the firstborns, both man and beast, in the land and I will execute judgment on the gods of Egypt. The blood on the doorpost will be a sign for you, for when I see the blood on your houses, I shall pass over you and no harm will come to your family when I strike Egypt. This day will be a memorial for you and you shall keep this feast to the Lord as a statute forever, throughout all generations. For seven days you will not eat unleavened bread, and if anyone eats anything with leaven in it, they shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you must hold a holy assembly. No work should be done, except for what is required to make this meal. This is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Every time you celebrate this feast, remember how I brought you out of the land of Egypt. This is a statute forever. You shall eat unleavened bread from the evening of the 10th day of the first month until the evening of the 21st day of the first month. For seven days, there shall be no leaven in your home and if anyone, whether he be native Israelite or a sojourner among you, if anyone eats anything with leaven in it during these days, they shall be cut off from israel, for you shall only eat unleavened bread.
Speaker 1:Then moses called the elders of israel together and told them all that god had told. And he said when your children ask you, what are you doing, you tell them this is the sacrifice of the lord's passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our lives. Okay, pause. I love how this conversation with Moses and the elders of Israel is in the past tense. It hasn't happened yet, but they are talking like it had. This is the statute forever. Tell your children what Yahweh did for you and how he spared you when the angel of death passed over Egypt, when the leaders had heard all of this, they bowed their heads and worshipped Yahweh. Then they went out and all the Israelites did as the Lord had instructed. So that night the angel of death came through Egypt and passed over the Israelite homes that had the blood on the doorposts. But there was a great cry across Egypt, for there was not an Egyptian home without someone dead. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night and said Get out, take your people and your livestock and go serve Yahweh, as you have asked. So the Israelites gathered their dough without leaven their bowls and all their belongings, including all the gold and silver, jewelry and clothing they had gotten from their Egyptian neighbors, and the Israelites left Goshen. They brought with them their livestock, both flocks and herd, and their unleavened bread.
Speaker 1:The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of those 430 years, to the day, yahweh pulled his people out of Egypt. Then Moses said to the people Remember this day in which you have come out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for, by the strong hand of Yahweh, brought you out of this. Then Moses said to the people and he swore to your forefathers you shall keep this feast for all generations and you shall tell your children we keep this feast because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt, for you were rescued by the strong hand of Yahweh. This is a statute forever and that is where our story ends for today. Yahweh charged Israel to remember this day for all generations as a statute forever. They are to remember this moment and tell their children, year after year, about what Yahweh did for them in pulling them out of slavery in Egypt. If you grew up in church, you may or may not have heard this story before. It is usually one that gets passed over when telling about God's rescue in Egypt, but this story is vital to understanding of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and I want to mention a few things that are important for us to know and will hopefully help shape the context of the story for us.
Speaker 1:The first is location. We know our story takes place in Egypt, roughly around 1446 BC if you take the early date, or 1275 BC if you take the late date. As we have said many times over the course of this series that the pharaoh in 1446 BC was Thutmose III and the pharaoh of the late date in 1275 BC was Ramses II, but when we left off last time, egypt is in complete and total ruin. The land is completely bare, the Nile is contaminated and, the final straw for the Egyptians their legacy has died. Egypt never fully recovers from the showdown with Yahweh has died. Egypt never fully recovers from the showdown with Yahweh. They have some high points over the centuries, but never again become the superpower they once were.
Speaker 1:Next I want to talk about Passover and its statue throughout all generations. The Passover got its name because the angel of death passed over. The houses of Israelites had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. But on every house in Egypt that did not have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, the firstborn son of man or beast died. But the Passover Seder came about because Yahweh wanted his people to remember this moment, remember that he rescued them out of slavery, that he redeemed them to be his people and established them in the land that was not their own. And the way God did this was through a festival. That's right. God instructed all of Israel to throw a party every year.
Speaker 1:This would mark the beginning of the Jewish calendar, which I love. That God said your beginning is when I rescued you out of Egypt. Start every year with remembering what I have done for you. This was every single Israelite's testimony. What if we started our year remembering what Jesus did for us? What if we told our testimony at the beginning of the year and we remembered that day and we remembered it and held it sacred, and every year, we told our families, friends and children about the day that God rescued us? This is what Passover is to a Jewish person. This is a day for them to remember Yahweh and what he did for their forefathers and what he did for them. He did for their forefathers and what he did for them. To this day, every Jewish person remembers the Passover as if they themselves were rescued from Egypt. It is as much their story as it is their forefathers. This is why God orders it to be a statute for all generations. Tell your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren, year after year after year, whenever they ask why do we celebrate this? Tell them the story of how Yahweh pulled you out of Egypt. This is what Yahweh did for me and this is what he can do for you as well.
Speaker 1:Now, god told Israel to take a perfect one-year-old male lamb from the flock and kill it and put the blood on the doorposts. This may seem weird for us today, but killing of the lamb was to symbolize a life for a life. So the blood on the doorposts took the place of the oldest son inside the house. This part we know. But what you may not know is that to sacrifice a lamb was an abomination to the Egyptians. This is why Moses tells Pharaoh they cannot sacrifice and worship Yahweh in the land of Egypt. They must leave and go to the wilderness to sacrifice. But why is killing a lamb from the flock an abomination in Egypt? That is a great question, and it goes back to the Egyptian gods.
Speaker 1:Of course, the god Amun is known as the king of the gods. He is closely related to Re, the sun god or creator god of ancient Egypt. In fact, they are often fused together as Amun-Re, the national deity of ancient Egypt. Amun is depicted as a human male body with a ram's head. Amun's name means the hidden one and was thought to possess invisibility qualities. Therefore, he was often labeled as the god of the oppressed. Now, who were the oppressed in Egypt? Oh yeah, israel.
Speaker 1:But here is where it gets even crazier. Passover happens in the month of Abib, the first month of the Jewish calendar, but Abib is also known as Nisan. Any guesses what the astronomical sign of the month of Nisan is? That's right, aries, the ram. So why is this important? Well, the ancient Egyptians would have believed that the ram god, amun, would have been at his greatest strength during the full moon of the Aries constellation path, and it's during this that Yahweh tells Israel to sacrifice the lamb and spread the blood on the doorpost.
Speaker 1:Can we just pause for a second and think about the incredible faith the Israelites had to have in this moment, about the incredible faith the Israelites had to have in this moment, the act of killing a lamb during the month of Amun's greatest power. The Israelites had to believe. Three things were true. Number one, they had to believe that Yahweh would actually pass over their homes and they would be saved from the angel of death. Two, they had to believe that Yahweh was greater and more powerful than Amun. And three, they had to believe that somehow Yahweh would rescue them before the Egyptians killed them. Following God's instructions here was a complete and total act of bravery and faith.
Speaker 1:So how does Yahweh commemorate this special day? He tells his people to take a week every year to remember it. And when you do, on the first day of the feast, hold a sacred assembly and do no other work other than what is required for the Seder meal. Why does God give them this instruction? Because after years and years and years in slavery and working nonstop, god is giving them the gift of having a day off. This is also part of the reason he gives them the Sabbath, but Yahweh wanted his people to take the time to remember Egypt, but also rest in knowing they are no longer there.
Speaker 1:The next two main points that I want to talk about are going to deal with numbers. The first has to do with how many people actually left Egypt. Our Bibles say it was about 600,000 men plus the women and children, which would be roughly 2 million people. However, if you remember what I said about numbers in the Bible, sometimes our English doesn't always have the best interpretation of it, but this passage and many other numbers come down to this little Hebrew word, eliph, which can be translated as a thousand, but it can also be translated as clan or family, and if we translate this verse as 600 clans of men plus women and children, we get a number much closer to 6,000 than 2 million. I tend to lean into this idea because there is no ancient archaeological evidence to prove 2 million people left Egypt at any point in history, but there is some evidence of a few thousand leaving Egypt. Nevertheless, we can all agree that from the time Joseph moves his family to Goshen, they were only 70 people, but now, leaving Goshen, they are somewhere between 6,000 and 2 million people, and we can all agree that this increase in number is impressive.
Speaker 1:Now, as for the other number that is debated in our Bibles is how long Israel was actually in Egypt, and for this we have to go back to Abraham. When God is establishing a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, god says Know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with a great possession. Now some scholars have suggested that the strangers in a country not their own could be both Egypt and Canaan, and these scholars believe that the years of mistreatment started with Hagar the Egyptian and her son Ishmael, who mocks Isaac. And if this is true, then the Israelites were only in slavery in Egypt for about 215 years. However, there are other scholars who look at Exodus 12, 40 through 41 which says the time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
Speaker 1:At the end of the 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from Egypt that day and they concluded that Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years. That can mean from the time that Joseph moved his family to Egypt until the Exodus was 430 years. Now this does depend on when and how you date the Exodus. So let's break down both early and late date. If we go by the early date in 1446 BC, 430 years prior would be 1876 when Joseph moved his family to Egypt. This does not count the years that Joseph was in Egypt by himself prior to moving his family there. So from 1876 until Amos I in the new kingdom, who did not know Joseph came to power in 1550 was 326 years. That means for 326 years Israel was sojourners in the land of Egypt, but they were not yet slaves. But when Amos I came to power he enslaved the Israelites and they remained slaves for the next 104 years until the Exodus in 1446. But if we go by the late date in 1275 BC and add 430 years to it, we get the year 1705 BC, when Joseph would have moved his family to Egypt, then Israel would have lived in freedom for 155 years before Amos I enslaved Israel in 1550. And then Israel would have been enslaved for 275 years before the Exodus in 1275 BC. But either way, israel was sojourners in a foreign land for 400 plus years, just as God had told Abraham.
Speaker 1:So each time we get together, we will talk about how the story points to Yahweh. In today's story, yahweh is setting up the Passover feast, a way for the Israelites to remember what he did for them in Egypt. Every part of the Seder meal is a piece of the story and helps Jews remember the Exodus and God's mighty works. In history. They have celebrated this meal every year on the 14th day of the first month since leaving Egypt, and they have done it the same way year after year, that is, until Jesus flips the script. Now it is important for us to know that Jesus does not change the Passover. He just adds more depth to it because he knew what he was about to do and, just like all of his teachings, jesus tries to tell his followers what is going to happen to him. See, jesus is the mighty work of Yahweh in the New Testament and, just like every Jewish person remembers the Exodus as Yahweh rescuing them from slavery in Egypt. We, as Christ followers, remember the cross and Jesus rescuing us from our slavery to sin. So how did Jesus flip the script? Well, for that you'll have to come back next time.
Speaker 1:So, as we end our time together, I want to spend some time reading the scripture from which our story comes from today, in Exodus 12 and 13. I hope that as we read this together, in light of everything we have learned, that this story will be illuminated for you. Let's read the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small, take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbors shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each can eat, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and shall put it on the doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted its head, with its legs and its inner parts, and you shall let none of it remain until morning. Anything that remains until morning, you shall burn in this manner. You shall eat it with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hands, and you shall eat it in haste.
Speaker 1:It is the Lord's Passover, for I shall pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborns in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall on you or destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial day and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever. You shall keep it as a feast Seven days. You shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for anyone who eats what is leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you and you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your host out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever.
Speaker 1:In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening. For seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all of your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.
Speaker 1:Then m Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them go and select a lamb for yourselves, according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of the hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and touch the lentil and doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lentil in the doorpost, the Lord will pass over the door and will not let the destroyer enter your house to strike you. You shall observe the right as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you what does this mean by this service? You shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our lives. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped.
Speaker 1:Then the people of Israel went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night and he and all of his servants and all the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night and he and all of his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said Up, go out from among my people, both you and your people of Israel, and go, serve the Lord as you have said, take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone and bless me. Also, the Egyptians were urgent with the people and sent them out of the land in haste, for, they said, we shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold, jewelry and for clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they had asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians, and the people of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth about 600,000 men on foot. Besides women and children, a mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
Speaker 1:The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of the land of Egypt, so that the same night is the night of watching, kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. Then Moses said to the people Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand, the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
Speaker 1:Today, in this month of Abib, you are going out and when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. No leavened bread shall be seen with you and no leaven shall be seen with you in all of your territory. You shall tell your son on that day it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt, and it shall be for you a sign on your hand, as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand, the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statue as an appointed time, from year to year.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to today's episode of our Ancient Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written by me. Vick harman music is embarking on an adventure by evan mcdonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and if you want to know more or grow deeper, check out our website at our ancient future storycom. See you next time. Bye.