EASTER
(term derived from the Hebrew “pesach”, from “passing”: cf. Ex. 12:13, 22, 27; Ant. 2:14, 6).
(a) The first of the three annual solemnities in which every non-handicapped Israelite male was to appear at the Temple (Ex. 12:43; Deut. 16:1). It was instituted in Egypt in order to commemorate the fundamental event of the liberation of the Israelites (Ex. 12:1, 14, 42; 23:15; Deut. 16:1, 2).
It solemnly celebrated the fact that God, who had killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, had nevertheless overlooked the homes of the Israelites, marked with the blood of the lamb.
They had to eat it hastily, with the staff in hand, and with the attitude of people ready to leave for the liberation promised by God. The festival began on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib (Nisan) at sunset, that is, at the beginning of the fifteenth day, with the meal that followed the sacrifice of the lamb (Lev. 23:5).
A lamb or a goat was killed between the two afternoons, near the time of sunset (Ex. 12:6; Deut. 16:6), or between the ninth and eleventh hours (Wars 6:9, 3). Roasted whole, it was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Ex. 12:8).
It could not be boiled in water. His shed blood was a type of atonement; The bitter herbs symbolized the sufferings of slavery in Egypt, and the unleavened bread represented purity (cf. Lev. 2:11; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8).
The Israelites who took part in this act of redemption constituted the holy people, joyfully communicating in the presence of the invisible God. Participation in the Passover meal was obligatory only for men, although women had the right to participate, as well as the entire house.
If the family was small, neighbors could join them to eat the whole lamb (Ex. 12:4).
The Passover sets forth in type the offering of Christ as that in which the justice of God with respect to sin has been declared. The blood of the lamb was a testimony of death, that is, of the elimination in the eyes of God of man in his sin against Him.
This elimination took place vicariously in the person of the Just One, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. By eating the lamb roasted over the fire (emblem of judgment), the people associated themselves with what had taken place in type.
The Lord Jesus greatly desired to eat the last Passover with his disciples, since they all formed a unique “family” circle. This Passover was about to be fulfilled in Christ Himself, who took His place of separation from the earth until the advent of the kingdom of God (Luke 22:15-18).
Way to eat Easter.
The Jewish authorities point out that the way of eating the Passover in the time of the Lord was as follows:
(A) When everyone was in their place, the president of the party gave thanks, and everyone then drank the first cup of wine mixed with water.
(B) Everyone washed their hands.
(C) The table was prepared with the Passover lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a plate of thick sauce (which was said to symbolize the mortar with which they made bricks in Egypt).
(D) Everyone dipped some of the bitter herbs in the sauce, and ate it.
(E) The plates were taken from the table, and the children or proselytes received instruction about the meaning of the festival.
(F) Then the dishes were brought back, and the president said: “This is the Passover that we eat, because the Lord passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt.”
Holding up the bitter herbs, he then said: “These are the bitter herbs that we eat in memory of how the Egyptians made the lives of our fathers bitter in Egypt.”
Then he referred to unleavened bread, and repeated Psalms 113 and 114, ending with a prayer. Everyone then drank the second glass of wine.
(G) The president broke one of the unleavened bread, and gave thanks.
(H) Everyone then participated in the Passover lamb.
(I) To finish the meal, everyone took a piece of bread with some bitter herbs, and, having dipped it in the sauce, they ate it.
(J) They then drank the third cup of wine, called the “cup of blessing.”
(K) The president then pronounced Ps. 115, 116, 117 and 118, and with another glass of wine the party ended.
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Titus’s troops, the possibility of immolating the lamb in the Temple disappeared, so Judaism has since celebrated the Passover without the victim, without its central component, which was precisely the type of He whom they rejected, and whom they will recognize when he comes in glory (cf. Zech. 12:9-14 ff.; 14:1-9).
Closely related to Easter was the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.” The Passover meal was the characteristic aspect of this festival, which lasted until the twenty-first day of the month (Ex. 12:18; Lev. 23:5, 6; Deut. 16:6, 7).
On the day the Israelites left Egypt, Moses revealed to them that the solemnity of the Passover would last seven days (Ex. 12:14-20; 13:3-10). He had then given them the necessary instructions for the first night only (Ex. 12:21-23), informing them that it would be a perpetual statute (Ex. 12:24, 25).
The presence of the pilgrims in the central sanctuary chosen by Jehovah for the celebration of the festival was obligatory only during the time of the Passover meal; The next day they could go to their own towns (Deut. 16:7).
The first day of the festival corresponded to the fifteenth day of the month, which acquired the character of Saturday, the same as the seventh day of Easter: on these days no servile work should be done, since they were marked for a holy convocation ( Ex. 12:16; Lev. 23:7; Num. 28:18, 25; Ex. 13:6; Deut. 16:8).
The next day of this Saturday, the second day of the festival, the priest waved before Jehovah a sheaf of barley, the first fruit of the harvest: this gesture consecrated the beginning of the harvest (Lev. 23:10-14; cf. Joseph 5:10-12; Lev. 23:7, 11 in the LXX; Ant. 3:10, 15).
(See FEASTS AND PENTECOST.) But the day of waving the sheaf was not assimilated to Saturday. The agricultural year had more to do with the festival of weeks or Pentecost and with the festival of tabernacles or cabins than with Easter.
In addition to the usual sacrifices in the Temple, two bullocks, a ram, seven one-year-old lambs and, as a sacrifice of atonement, a male goat were to be offered as a daily burnt offering during the seven days of Passover solemnities (Lev. 23: 8; Num. 28:19-23).
The bread to be eaten during these seven days had to be free of yeast. On the night of the first Passover there was no leaven in the house of the Israelites, and they set out hastily, taking with them unleavened dough (Ex. 12:8, 34, 39). Unleavened bread, a symbol of purity and truth, recalled this hasty flight from Egypt (Deut. 16:3; 1 Cor. 5:8).
The Bible mentions the celebration of Passover:
at Sinai (Num. 9:1-14),
during the entry into Canaan (Josh. 5:11),
under Hezekiah (2 Chr. 30:1-27; vv. 5, 26 refer to Solomon);
under Josiah (2 Kings 23:21-23; 2 Chron. 35:1-19),
in the time of Ezra (Ezra 6:19-22. See also Mt. 26: 17 ff.; Mr. 14:12 ff.; Luke 22:7 ff.; Jn. 28:28; Ant. 17: 9, 3; 20:5, 3; Wars 6:9, 3).
It is evident that the term “Passover” was applied to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as in Deut. 16:2, 3: “And you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, of the sheep and of the herds… not you will eat leavened bread with it; seven days you will eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction…”
It is evident that the term “Passover,” applied to cows, refers to the festival of unleavened bread; Furthermore, it is stated that “you will eat with it (evidently referring to “the Passover”) unleavened bread for seven days.”
This perfectly explains John’s mention (John 18:28) that the Jews refused to enter the Praetorium “so as not to defile themselves, so that they could eat the Passover.”
It has been claimed in certain “critical” circles that there is a contradiction between John and the Synoptic Gospels, since they place the Last Supper on the day marked by the Law, while John would indicate that the Lord brought forward the celebration of the Passover one day. , dying on the day the Passover lamb was sacrificed.
But this idea is erroneous, evidencing ignorance of the fact that in Judaism the entire period of seven days was known as Passover, and that by “eating the Passover” was understood in a general sense to participate in the sacrifices offered during the seven days of the Passover (cf. Anderson, Sir R.: “The Prince Who is to Come”, the chapter “The Passover Supper”, PP. 127-135).
(b) The lamb or goat sacrificed at the Passover festival (Ex. 12:21; Deut. 16:2; 2 Chr. 30:17). Christ is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7). He was without blemish, like the Passover lamb (cf. Ex. 12:5; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19); none of his bones were broken (cf. Ex. 12:46 with Jn. 19:36); His blood was our redemption before God (Ex. 12:13).
«Our Passover, which is Christ, has already been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7, 8).
The unleavened bread exhibits that sense of grace through faith, in which, apart from the negative influences that may be suffered by the flesh and old associations, the Christian can be habitually in communion with the sacrifice of Christ, so May your entire life be consistent with everything it entails.