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A Christian Guide to Passover (PESCH) |
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Below is a compilation of several contemporary Seder services that are used today. Because of the passage of time and that Passover was intended to be a family tradition, it is not possible to reconstruct with certainty the type of Passover meal or celebration that Jesus shared with his disciples. Nevertheless, I offer for your reading a concise history of Passover and how the celebration is viewed in out time. |
The Seder Meal and Christian
Celebration Preparation for the
Passover The Passover meal that the Israelites held in Egypt was unique from all the Passover meals held since. Before the first one, they were to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and lintel, and they were to eat it in haste. It has since evolved, maintaining many of the same customs, as well as adding a few. You are familiar with the one in Exodus 11-12. Let us look at how it is usually done today. Every year before the Passover, an Orthodox Jewish family will eat up as much as possible all the foods in their house not processed or packaged for the Passover. This is to remove all the leaven from the house - any fermented grain product, starter dough, breads, cakes, cookies, yeast, (baking soda and baking powder). What cannot be eaten is sold to a non-Jew. Not only can a Jew not eat any leaven during Passover week, he cannot have it in his house or even own any leaven. They do usually go and buy back their products after the festival. Leaven is an emblem of sin, corruption. Paul refers to it as that in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. The final search for leaven is made the night before the Passover (PESAH). Traditionally a candle, feather and bag are used for this final search. Every member of the family is to participate in this search. Every nook and cranny of every floor, shelf, and cupboard is inspected for the minutest grain of breadcrumbs or leavening. Any dust found is swept up with the feather (like a broom) into the bag for fear it might contain a grain of leavening. Traditionally, 10 pieces of leavened bread are hidden throughout the house and the ritual is not complete until the family has found the 10 pieces. All that was found is burnt the next morning before the Passover begins. Cooking for the Passover meal is an extremely complicated procedure. Everything used during the preparation - refrigerator, stove, counter, sink, etc., is thoroughly scoured before beginning. Because some minute speck of leaven might be left unnoticed on some utensil, some Jews find the easiest way to prepare their meal is to have a special set of dishes, silverware and cooking utensils reserved only for use during the Passover. Some cover their burners so that no Passover pot touches the parts of the stove used every other day. The SEDER
(SADER)
The Passover meal - is the central celebration of the Passover. It's origin stems from our text today. The entire extended family is to come together. They go through the meal and the retelling of the story in first person as if they had been one of the slaves freed from Pharaoh's bondage. This book, the HAGGADAH, is the text for the SEDER. Everyone present would have a copy of it. It contains all the blessings, order for eating, telling of the Exodus story from slavery through the plagues crossing of the Red Sea, giving of the Law, and to the giving of the land of Canaan. There are also songs and psalms to be read, etc. The Feast of Passover as an
Annual Event The first Passover is described in Exodus chapter 12: one lamb was slain for every household and the blood painted onto the lintels and doorposts. This was done in order that the angel of Death would not slay the first-born son of the Jewish households, but only those of Pharaoh’s people, whom God had warned He would judge. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you,” the Lord told the children of Israel (Exodus 12:13). They were to eat the lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in haste prior to their departure from Egypt. The eating of unleavened bread was to continue for seven days, as their sustenance to exit Egypt and escape Pharaoh’s slavery. God ordained that the children of Israel would commemorate the Passover every year to remember their deliverance, almost 3,450 years ago. The First Passover is
Remembered Commemoration of the Feast of
Passover was the first major event after the Tabernacle was first built. The
building was finished on schedule, two weeks prior to the first anniversary of
the Exodus. The Tabernacle was consecrated and anointed with oil (Exodus 40:9, a
definite foreshadow of the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ). Aaron and his
sons (the Levites) were also consecrated and anointed to serve in the Tabernacle
(Exodus 40:13). Early
Commemorations of The Passover During the
first four decades of the Tabernacle, all of the children of Israel were
together in one place in the wilderness to commemorate the Passover. Once they
had entered into the good land of Canaan, Jerusalem eventually became the focus
of worship, at the time of King David, around 1000 BC. From then onwards, the
Feast of Passover was to be held every year in Jerusalem, in accordance with
God's word to Moses in Deuteronomy 16:1-8. The
Ordinances of the Passover Specified in Exodus 12 The
ordinances of the Passover, specified in Exodus chapter 12, state that the lamb
was to be examined for four days, to ensure it was without blemish. Then at
evening (Jewish days begin at sunset) the lamb was to be slain, its blood
applied to the lintels and doorposts and then roasted for sustenance for the
Exodus journey. Modern
Commemoration of Passover – and The Typical Seder Plate and
the Symbolism Today, the
Passover (Seder) meal follows a fairly standard pattern in every Jewish
household. There is a 'Haggadah' (which means 'telling', 'portraying', see
Galatians 3:1) to guide the proceedings, which is based on four 'Cups'.
At the
start, candles are lit and a prayer is offered to bless the First Cup of wine:
"Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, the Creator who brings
forth the vine from the earth with its fruit" (Genesis 1:11). This First Cup is
called the Cup of Sanctification, signifying "I the Lord will bring you out from
under the yoke of slavery" (Exodus 6:6); this was God setting the children of
Israel apart for Himself.
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