Background and Meaning

Spring Festival Overview

Three times a year the Lord requested that Israelite men meet with Him. Two of these times were during the Spring Feasts: Passover and Pentecost (Exodus 34:23). Passover started the Spring planting season and Pentecost, 50 days later, was harvest time. Between these days, there were significant events and activities: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Firstfruits, and Counting of the Weeks (Omer).

Passover in the Old Testament

The instructions that came with the Israelite’s last dinner on Egyptian soil were elaborate. The meal was to be celebrated every year as a lasting ordinance for all generations; a permanent celebration for all eternity (Ex. 12:2, 6, 13-14, 24, 42). History records the event held in the desert the next year (Numbers 9:2-12), and many years thereafter. On the fortieth year, in the month of Passover, the Israelites entered the Promised Land. As soon as they arrived, they celebrated; one day later the manna that God had provided daily for 40 years ceased and the Israelites ate food from the land.

Later writings record a Passover celebration during the reign of King Hezekiah; most notably during the reign of King Josiah (2 Chronicles 30 and 2 Kings 23:21-23); again in the time of Ezekiel (Ezek 45:21-24) and also after return from captivity (Ezra 6:19-20).

From generation to generation, the later Israelites remembered the feast as if they themselves were rescued from bondage: “God redeemed me” (Ex 13:8). They accepted the annual invitation sent for by Lord.

“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.” Exodus 12:14

Passover was so important that the Lord set Israel’s calendar making the month of Passover the first Biblical month of the year (Exodus 12:2). He also gave a weekly reminder: the weekly Sabbath. The Sabbath is said to be remembered for two reasons: because God rested on the seventh day of creation and because He delivered his people from Egypt. (Exodus 20; Deut 5)

Passover in the New Testament

Jesus’ last dinner on earth before the cross—the Last Supper—was a Passover dinner. His parents, ancestors, disciples and their families, all celebrated Passover each year according to their custom (Luke 2:41-50; John 2:13-23; Luke 22:47). Part of the liturgy used in His last Passover dinner is recorded in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. In the early morning hours after dinner, Jesus was arrested, taken to trial. He hung on the cross by noon time (Matt 21-28). This event was the second time God “passed-over” His people, this time rescuing the entire world from slavery: the slavery of sin.

The fact that Jesus died on Passover was no coincidence; of all the annual feasts this is the one He chose by which to be remembered. The first Passover saved the Israelite people generations before Jesus. The Passover known as The Last Supper, when Christ died, rescued all people from eternal death. The disciples and the early church celebrated this festival each year.

The First Passover

The Bible tells the historical story of a Pharaoh in Egypt about 3,500 years ago who oppressed the descendants of Abraham with forced labor. The people cried out for God’s help and God set a plan of deliverance in motion. In the final part of the plan, each Hebrew family prepared a lamb or goat for dinner and marked their doorframes with its blood. This night is remembered as Passover because, seeing the blood, God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites (Ex 12:27). Meanwhile, He took the life of every first-born Egyptian male.

"When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. " (Exodus12:23, NIV)

This act caused Pharaoh to relent and release the Israelites from slavery. After they left Egypt, miracle after miracle accompanied the Israelites during their forty-year trek to the Promised Land.

The Last Supper

Jesus’ last dinner on earth before the cross—the Last Supper—was a Passover dinner. His parents, ancestors, disciples and their families, all celebrated Passover each year according to their custom (Luke 2:41-50; John 2:13-23; Luke 22:47). Part of the liturgy used in His last Passover dinner is recorded in
chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. In the early morning hours after dinner, Jesus was arrested, taken to trial. He hung on the cross by noon time (Matt 21- 28). This event was the second time God “passed-over” His people, this time rescuing the entire world from slavery: the slavery of sin.

The fact that Jesus died on Passover was no coincidence; of all the annual feasts this is the one He chose by which to be remembered. The first Passover saved the Israelite people generations before Jesus. The Passover known as The Last Supper, when Christ died, rescued all people from eternal death. The disciples and the early church celebrated this festival each year.

Passover Post-Biblical Practice

The first Passover dinner was to be eaten in haste “with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand” (Ex12:11). Roughly one thousand years later, one generation after the Apostle Paul, history records a group of rabbis celebrating the Passover dinner through the night and into the morning in an Israeli town called Benebarak. Changes over the years have been influenced by cultures among whom the Israelites were dispersed after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Without the Temple there was no place to sacrifice the Passover lamb—so the custom to eat lamb for dinner was replaced by a shank bone to represent the lamb that would have been sacrificed. Much later in history, the use of a “Seder plate” was put into practice along with other post-Biblical observances.

Rabbi Gamaliel, a colleague and contemporary of Jesus used to say: “Whoever fails to mention these three things on the Passover has not satisfied his obligation: The Passover sacrifice, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs.” Our celebration follows and incorporates teachings and cultural practices common to the time of Jesus. For that reason you will not see post Biblical observances such as an egg or a shank bone.

FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come … you are to eat bread made without yeast … for seven days …” (Exodus 12:17-18)

God delivered the Israelites so quickly from their bondage in Egypt, that there was no time to let dough rise for the evening meal; so the Israelites prepared their last meal in Egypt with flat bread. God commemorated a festival around
this event; the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was really a celebration on top of a celebration—Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to be remembered (and are sometimes referred to synonymously) together throughout
all ages.

Centuries later Jesus and his disciples, born into the same heritage, got rid of every kind of leaven in their homes. On Passover they ate flat bread and then for seven days afterward they ate nothing with leaven. This was important because leaven had come to symbolize sin.

Paul the Apostle, talked about the tradition of searching and getting rid of leaven. He equated it with the search for sin in our lives, “Get rid of the old leaven that you may be a new batch without yeast— as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with bread without
yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor. 5:7-8). As Christians we celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread by allowing the Holy Spirit to search our hearts for sin (the old leaven) and remove it, so that we may be as we really are—a new batch without yeast, ready to serve the Lord (Matt 13:33).

Explore These Resources for More Background behind Passover

• Exodus Files
• Brad Young - Passover or Pesach
• Chosen People