Jewish Feasts: (1) Passover, Pesach

Leviticus 23:4–5 (RSV)
4 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the Lord’s passover.


• Special thanks to Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum for his research and study on this topic
• Interesting Facts:
• The feast is given separately from the other six feasts (it appears in Exodus in the story of the plagues)
• It fits within what we might call the first holy season
• It is mentioned 49 times in OT and 29 times in NT (using the ESV)
• It is the most important festival in the entire Jewish calendar
• Two names:
• First name is pesach, a Hebrew name. The term comes from the Angel of Death passing-over the houses with the lamb's blood on the lintel and doorposts, and passing-through the Egyptian homes
• Second name, also Hebrew, is zman cheruteinu, meaning the season of our emancipation. This emphasizes the freedom from slavery


Exodus 12:1–13 (RSV)
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; 4 and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; 6 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 in the evening. 7 Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.


• Biblical practice
• Killing of the lamb
1. Lamb for the Passover meal
2. Lamb for the Passover sacrifice
• When did you get the lamb and when do you kill the lamb?
• You got the lamb of the 10th day of the first month, Nissan.
• You sacrifice the lamb on the evening of the 14th (which would be the evening of the 13th in our case, http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=33)
• Some believe the 10th to 14th was to make sure it was without spot or blemish
• On the following morning, the first day of passover, the special sacrificial lamb is killed on the altar by the priesthood
• One additional requirement -- no bones broken
Exodus 12:46 (RSV)
46 In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth any of the flesh outside the house; and you shall not break a bone of it.
• Eating of the Lamb -- this is the second major component of Passover
• The paschal meal included the eating three items
• The lamb
• The unleavened bread
• The bitter herbs
• The meal focuses on two key elements
• Unleavened bread
• Wine
• Jewish Observance
• Unleavened Bread -- requires 3 things to qualify for Passover
• It had to be unleavened. Leaven is a symbol for sin in the bible. The bread had to be completely free of yeast
• The bread has to be striped
• The bread has to be pierced (see light through it)
• During the Afikomen (special ceremony around the bread)
• Bag containing three compartments in the center of the table, one side is open
• A "loaf" of unleavened bread is placed in each compartment, separated by a single sheet
• During the ceremony, the middle piece is taken out and broken in two.
• Half is wrapped in a linen cloth and hidden for a time
• Later, it is brought out, broken and given to each person
• Wine -- 4 cups
• First cup is the cup of blessing or cup of thanksgiving
• Second cup is the cup of plagues, symbolizing the ten plagues upon Egypt
• Third cup is the cup of redemption symbolizing the physical redemption from Egypt by the shedding of the blood of the lamb
• Fourth cup is the cut of praise where Jewish people sing Psalms 113-118


Isaiah 52:13–15 (RSV)
13 Behold, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
14 As many were astonished at him—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the sons of men—
15 so shall he startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they shall see,
and that which they have not heard they shall understand.


Isaiah 53:5 (RSV)
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.


Isaiah 53:7–9 (RSV)
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.


John 1:35–36 (RSV)
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”


1 Peter 1:18–19 (RSV)
18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.


Revelation 5:12–14 (RSV)
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.


• Messianic significance
• What do the NT (and OT) teach about the final Passover lamb? Jesus, the Messiah
• John identifies him as the lamb
• Peter draws a picture of him as a lamb
• John is revealed in Revelation a lamb that was slain
• Paul identifies Jesus as  the entire Passover feast in 1 Cor 5:7
• When was the lamb set aside? 10th through 14th
• The triumphal entry was Jesus presenting himself as the lamb of God
• Four groups test him: Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Herodians
• On the first night of the Passover, the evening before, the lamb is eaten and on the morning of the first day, there is the Passover sacrifice for the people (9 am)
• Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples
• He was crucified the next morning at 9am (he was nailed to the tree at the same moment the sacrifice was occurring at the temple)
• No bone was broken


Luke 22:19 (RSV)
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”


• This was probably at the end of the Afikomen ceremony, where the bread is brought out from "hiding" (the grave) and given to each person. Jesus identifies this bread as?
• His body
• He is the final lamb
• Jesus' body would also be wrapped in a linen cloth and would rise after three days
• This also clarifies:
John 6:51 (RSV)
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
• Eating is believing in Jesus Christ (it is done in his memory)


Luke 22:17–18 (RSV)
17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”


Luke 22:20 (RSV)
20 And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.


• So Luke identifies which cups in the meal here?
• First cup, thanksgiving
• Third cup, redemption
• Except, it is not physical redemption by the blood of the lamb but spiritual redemption by the blood of the Lamb of God


APPLICATION:
1. The manner in which Passover pictures Jesus and Jesus fulfills the prophecy are startling and should reaffirm our faith
2. There is no need for further sacrifices, Jesus is the final sacrifice (there are still Judaizers today who would argue for continued feasts)
3. The NT only has two biblical sacraments, communion and baptism. There are no festivals or feasts. One is singular and the other is regular. We need to take communion seriously and celebratory
1. I also like how Jesus says "as often as you …" instead of giving a set time
2. The NT is based on the heart not on rituals
4. We are going to celebrate a Jewish Seder meal near Easter, and go into a little more of the detail of a Seder

Jewish Feasts: Background, Part 1

Series, Part 1 -- Explain background, give credit to Dr.  Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Dr. Alfred Edersheim, and Timothy K. Hui


• Identify the feasts:
• Three passages in the Mosaic legislation describe the feasts: Leviticus 23; Numbers 28–29; and Deuteronomy 16
• Read Deut 16


Deuteronomy 16:1–17 (RSV)
1 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover to the Lord your God; for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place which the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in hurried flight—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns which the Lord your God gives you; 6 but at the place which the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil it and eat it at the place which the Lord your God will choose; and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.
9 “You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you; 11 and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place which the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
13 “You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, when you make your ingathering from your threshing floor and your wine press; 14 you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place which the Lord will choose; because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; 17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you.





English Name	Hebrew Name	Key Characteristic
Passover	Pesach	Most important feast
Feast of Unleavened Bread	Hag Hamatzah	Sinless home
Feast of Firstfruits	Hag Habikkurim Reshit Ketzivchem	Celebrating first crops of spring harvest (barley)
Pentecost (Feast of Weeks)	Shauvot	Celebrating first fruit of labors, celebrating the wheat harvest
Feast of Trumpets	Rosh Hashanah	A number of fascinating names, today is referred to as the "head of the Year"
Day of Atonement	Yom Kippur	Visit to the Holy of Holies Idea of affliction
Feast of Tabernacles (Ingathering) (Feast of Booths)	Succoth	70 Bulls offered Rejoicing
*Feast of Lots	Purim	Celebration from book of Esther
*Feast of Lights	Channukah	Dedication of temple in Maccabees



• First seven have a forward-looking typological function, but also a historical and retrospective significance


• Place in historical perspective (diamonds show timeframe of the giving of the feasts)






• Explain the Jewish calendar
• Months are based on new moons. An observation of a new moon by two independent reliable witness would result in a rosh chodesh (first of the month)
• Months are 29 or 30 days long
• A 12 month lunar calendar would be off
• Jews used a 12 month lunar calendar
• Jews occasionally added a 13 month
• A year with 13 months is referred to in Hebrew as Shanah Me'uberet (pronounced shah-NAH meh-oo-BEH-reht)
• The extra month is called Adar I (Adar Rishon or Adar Alef). It is inserted before regular month of Adar, now called Adar I (Adar Sheini or Adar Beit), which is the real Adar
• Hillel II, in the fourth century established a fixed calendar. "Leap" years would occur on the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th year (think of a piano keyboard)



http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm
• Example for 2016 (Today is 21 Shebet -- also saw it called 21 Shevat)





http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=2016)



http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=2016)


• Explain the Jewish day



• Christological significance

Jesus' Visit	Feast	Significance
(1) Ben-Joseph	Passover	Jesus is our paschal lamb
	Unleavened Bread	Jesus lived a sinless life
	Firstfruits	Jesus' resurrection is the firstfruits of salvation
	Pentecost	The giving of the HS on the first believers
(2) Ben-David	Trumpets	The rapture (Jesus meets church in the air)
	Day of Atonement	Tribulation (Jesus return at end)
	Tabernacles	Nations in the millennial kingdom (Jesus rules)



• Later:
• Structure
• Similarity
• Requirements: attendance, personal, …
• Sacrifices
• Other

Isaiah 14-23, God is in charge--how long will it take for us to learn that lesson?

Isa 14:12-19 (ESV) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart,  'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God  I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' 15  But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities,  who did not let his prisoners go home?' 18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch,  clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.



• In context, we have been discussing Babylon, the nation--its' pride and consequent fall. In the middle of the discussion, we see a switch from a nation to a person. Who is it and how do you know?
• It could be the king of Babylon
• It could be Satan
• And it could be both
• What are the arguments for Satan?
• The title, "Day Star, son of Dawn"
• He "fiddles" with the nations
• The five "I will"'s. Jesus has seven "I am"'s and Satan uses five "I will"'s
• Satan does not let people get away from him without a fight
• The antichrist who I believe will be indwelt by Satan is "slained" by a sword. Ultimately, he does not go to the grave but rather to the lake of fire
• APPLICATION: A characteristic of Satan is pride (also lying from other passages) -- two qualities which we need to expunge from our lives


Isa 14:22-23 (ESV) "I will rise up against them," declares the Lord of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity," says the Lord. 23 "And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the Lord of hosts.


• So, some people think this section is all about the final judgment on nations. In this case, who are we discussing and what is their judgment?
• The nation is Babylon
• Their final state is non-existence; the will not be a nation in the millennial kingdom


Isa 14:28-31 (ESV) In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:


29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
31  Wail, O gate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
 For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.


• This has a date and so I'm not sure why this part was not included earlier. It is possible that  all of these prophecies on nations occur at different times and are placed in this section because of their similarity. The date for this particular prophecy is 715BC, 7 years after the destruction of the northern kingdom, Israel
• The passage is not easy to understand. If this is future-based, then this is the area of the Gaza strip. What is the result?
• The Philistines will be judged


Isa 16:13-14 (ESV) This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble."


• So, this prophecy allows us to date the event at 718-716BC since Assyria invades Moab between 715-713BC. So this occurs before the previous prophecy and illustrates thematic organization



Isa 23:1-7 (ESV) The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them. 2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you. 3 And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."

5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre. 6  Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast! 7 Is this your exultant city  whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?



• Review background on Tyre
• Attacked multiple times
• Assyria attacked first, but ended up with a treaty
• Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) had a 13-year siege of Tyre after the destruction of Jerusalem which failed (although Tyre surrender via treaty to Babylon)
• Ultimately, Alexander the Great is the first person to conquer the island city
• Babylon was the great land power of the time
• Tyre was the great sea power of the time (the description of Tyre is similar to the description of Babylon, the city in Rev 17)
• Some key characteristics of Tyre include:
• Major distributor of Egypt's grain
• Send out groups and colonized various areas (Tarshish)
• Gained its glory through commerce



Isa 23:8-14 (ESV) Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? 9 The Lord of hosts has purposed it,  to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. 10 Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore. 11  He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the Lord has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.

12 And he said: "You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest." 13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. 14  Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.



• What is Tyre's spiritual problem?
• Their wealth made them prideful
• They did not act with constraint
• What is their judgment?
• Take away their glory
• Take away their rest. They really were constantly under the thumb of Assyria, Babylon, and then Greece. For a while they disappeared
• APPLICATION: Materialism for the sake of things is not respected by God. What are we doing with all that God has given us


Isa 23:15-18 (ESV) In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:


16 "Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered."


17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.


• Tyre is functionally put out of business about the time of Jerusalem's destruction. As the people return to Jerusalem, so Tyre begins operating again
• Ezra 3:1-3, 7 (ESV) When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. … 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
• APPLICATION: God is in charge. He even allows Tyre to operate again in order to provide for the needs of his people in Jerusalem



Ezek 28:1-10 (ESV) The word of the Lord came to me: 2  "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:  "Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are but a man, and no god,  though you make your heart like the heart of a god— 3  you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; 4 by your wisdom and your understanding  you have made wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; 5 by your great wisdom in your trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth—

7 therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. 8  They shall thrust you down into the pit,  and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. 9  Will you still say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay you? 10  You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners;  for I have spoken, declares the Lord God."



• This and the next passage occur during the time after the destruction of Jerusalem. The focus is also on Tyre
• The key to understanding this passage and the next passage is to distinguish the target audience. Who is this passage intended?
• The prince of Tyre
• What is this person's problem?
• Pride
• Thinking he is smarter than anyone else
• Thinking everything is the result of your effort
• REAL ISSUE: Wealth makes you think you are very powerful,  almost like a god
• APPLICATION: Wealth is deceitful. The love of money can draw you away from what is right



Ezek 28:11-19 (ESV) Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12  "Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: "You were the signet of perfection,  full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;  every precious stone was your covering,  sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire,  emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.  On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 15 You were blameless in your ways  from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.

16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you,  O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17  Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. 18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth  in the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you;  you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever."



• Who is the target audience?
• Well, we are
• The subject is Satan
• The timeframe covers Satan's birth, fall, and his death at the end of the 1000 year reign
• How do we know?
• We get a description of Eden
• Interesting, there is a prince in Tyre, but Satan is called the King
• What do we learn from this passage?
• The danger of beauty, wisdom, and wealth when we think we are the reason
• APPLICATION: Give God thanks for everything you have or can do