Exodus 12 Passed over - or Passover?

Exodus Chapter 12

The Passover is started in this chapter, It is a tradition that continues right to this day. I have, in the past celebrated what I sincerely hope is a recognisable version of the Jewish Passover and I have to say I got a lot out of doing this observation as the Christian celebration of holy communion is based around this meal originally.

There is a bit in the modern Passover celebration where 4 sons ask questions, one of the questions is "why do you celebrate the Passover?" And the reply is taken from verse 27 “This is the Passover, it is what God did for me” – the question was asked to you, but not for me. Rabbi Gamaliel (who taught St Paul) declares that each person should identify personally with the liberation from slavery and rejoice in freedom.

Another part of the modern Passover Seder (ritual or service) commemorates and remembers the darkest hours of the history of Israel – the holocaust under the Nazis.  During the oppression and in a concentration camp Jewish inmates struggled to maintain their traditions and their faith, and the passover was celebrated in spite of severe slavery and oppression to remember and celebrate freedom. The passover ends "Next year in Jerusalem" - this year we may be slave labour in a concentration camp, but next year....

The Passover is usually celebrated wearing shoes and outdoor clothes, and the story is told over the meal. Most celebratory meals in history (for example Ancient Greece or Rome) would have liberal quantities of alcohol before any story telling and certainly people would usually be settled in for the long run and the stories received in a state of inebriation. This is not the case with the Passover meal - the story is told before the meal with ritual glasses of wine.

The Exodus happened 430 years after Jacob and co went down to Egypt and they took Joseph's coffin and bones with them. When the moment finally came – and Moses request is granted, Pharaoh turns it into a command and the Israelites are effectively driven from the land without even waiting for dawn.

This is part of the reason for the no yeast rule – it is to remember that things happened so quickly that there was no time for the bread to rise.

If you are interested in the Passover Seder and doing a passover, it takes about 3 hours or so (though somehow it never seems to last that long) and there are many resources online.

My lasting memories of the passovers I have celebrated are I spent an evening with God, friends, food and wine which I is not a bad way to spend Thursday evening before Easter!