Bible references

Key NT Scriptures

• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
• Galatians 5:7-9
• Hebrews 9:13-14
• John 2:23
• John 6:4
• John 11:55
• Luke 22:7-13
  Click to retrieve Luke 22:7-13
• Mark 14:12-16
• Matthew 26:17-19
• Matthew 26:26

Key OT Scriptures

• Exodus 12:3-8
  Click to retrieve Exodus 12:3-8
  Jewish Commentary
• Exodus 12:18
  Jewish Commentary
• Exodus 12:42-49
  Click to retrieve Exodus 12:42-49
  Jewish Commentary
• Leviticus 22:21
  Jewish Commentary
• Leviticus 23:5-8
  Jewish Commentary
• Numbers 28:31
  Jewish Commentary

Supportive OT Scriptures

• Deuteronomy 16:1-2
  Jewish Commentary
• Exodus 12:33-34
  Jewish Commentary
• Numbers 9:10-11
  Jewish Commentary

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Commentary

Rabbi Michael Rudolph

Exodus 12:3-8 gives details of the first Passover that occurred on the 14 th day of the first month (on the Jewish lunar calendar), the evening before the Israelites were led out of Egypt. God subsequently commanded the Israelites to keep the Passover as an annual remembrance of their deliverance ( Deuteronomy 16:1-2 ), and Leviticus 23:5 clarifies that Passover is only part of the day, between sundown and complete darkness. On the original Passover in Egypt, the Israelites were instructed to eat a sacrificed lamb with matzah and bitter herbs ( maror ). Numbers 9:10-11 is significant here because, by commanding Passover observance a month late under certain circumstances, the point is made that Passover is to be kept each year as a lasting ordinance; it was not just a one-time event. Lambs were sacrificed on Passover until the destruction of the Second Temple, after which, animal sacrifice could no longer be done. Even had the Temple not been destroyed, it is doubtful that the Passover sacrifice would have continued among the Jewish followers of Yeshua because they understood Him to be their "once and for all" sacrificed lamb. On the other hand, they might have partaken of it as part of a memorial to Yeshua, since we see Paul and other disciples engaged in Temple sacrifices long after the time of Yeshua's death ( Acts 21 ). What remains of Passover observance for Jews today, is that we partake of a seder meal on the evening of Nisan 14, during which we eat lamb if we are Sephardic (we do not if we are Ashkenaz), unleavened bread and maror (bitter herbs), and we abstain from eating (or even possessing) leaven. The Sephardim look at the eating of lamb differently from the Ashkenazim. The Sephardim eat it in remembrance of the sacrificed Passover lamb, and the Ashkenazim abstain so that no one can interpret it as constituting a present day sacrifice. There was one Passover meal (described in Matthew 26:26 , Mark 14:22 , and Luke 22:19 ), at which Yeshua picked up a piece of matzah from the table, broke it, and gave it to the twelve disciples who were with Him, to eat and make a memory they would later use as a memorial of His body that was be broken during the sacrifice He was about to endure. This, along with the wine He also spoke of, I consider to be a new commandment to His disciples (present and future - Jew and Gentile). Observing the Passover (without sacrificing a lamb) is mandatory for Jews and K'rov Yisrael Gentiles. It is optional for other Gentiles who may also want to observe it (albeit in some adaptive manner) as a way of identifying with the Jewish People, and also as an acknowledgement of Passover's prophetic significance that points to Yeshua. Over the centuries, various Jewish halachic practices have developed that define how Passover is observed in Jewish communities. Gentiles who choose to observe Passover may borrow from these, but are free to depart as well, and to develop their own customs and expressions. It should be noted that the historic churches sometimes call the period from Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday "Passover" ( Pascha ) and do keep it to a degree, but usually without adequate reference to its Exodus roots. Finally, a word needs to be said about the prohibition to Gentiles recorded in Exodus 12:43-49 : ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, "This is the regulation for the Pesach lamb: no foreigner is to eat it. But if anyone has a slave he bought for money, when you have circumcised him, he may eat it. Neither a traveler nor a hired servant may eat it. It is to be eaten in one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you are not to break any of its bones. The whole community of Isra'el is to keep it. If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe ADONAI's Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it. The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you." This prohibition only applies to eating the sacrificed Passover lamb (which we no longer do). It does not apply to the other aspects of Passover observance, so Gentiles are completely free to attend and even conduct Passover sedarim .

Classical commentators

Maimonides, Meir, and HaChinuch all recognize the requirement to eat matzah on Passover. Meir also says that we must eat matzah , maror , and charoset (a sweet paste-like mixture), and that the matzah we eat must be made of wheat, barley, spelt, oats, or rye. He also says that we are prohibited from eating matzah the day before Passover, so that our appetite for it will be increased. Maimonides and HaChinuch do not mention eating maror , but refer their readers to the Talmud's tractate Pesachim for other provisions of the mitzvah . Maimonides and HaChinuch state that it is the evening of the 15 th day of Nisan when we are to eat unleavened bread; Meir says it is on the 1 st night of Passover when we must eat it, but does not indicate the date.

Copyright © Michael Rudolph and Daniel C. Juster, The Law of Messiah, Torah from a New Covenant Perspective, Volume 1 & 2

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Based on The Law of Messiah - Torah from a New Covenant Perspective by Michael Rudolph and Daniel C. Juster.

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Record source: The Law of Messiah - Torah from a New Covenant Perspective - Volume 1 & 2

Copyright note: Copyright © Michael Rudolph and Daniel C. Juster, The Law of Messiah, Torah from a New Covenant Perspective, Volume 1 & 2