This is “Some Passover Basics.” It is the first installment of a three (3) part series I chose to entitle: “Keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in 2022.”

 

We have a lot to cover. So let’s get right into it.

 

For those of us who keep the Observational Calendar, Pesach/Passover will take place this year on S-nday evening, 4/17/2022, with the first day of Chag HaMatzot/Unleavened Bread commencing at sundown on that same S-nday, extending out through sundown on S-nday, 4/24/2022. Yom HaNafat HaOmer or the Day of the Waveheaf Offering will also fall on S-nday, 4/24/2022. Now, we really cannot keep Yom HaNafat HaOmer in the fashion that Yah passed down to us in Leviticus/Vayiqra 23. For us, the day serves as more of a marker. For it is the day that we begin our 7-Sabbath/Week count towards Shavu’ot, which we will discuss in a future installment of this program. For some of us, it also serves as a day in which we give of the first of our increase (a special offering that is not the tithe) to whatever ministry, organization, thing we are led to give in honor and thanksgiving to Yah for blessing and increasing and sustaining us throughout the year.

 

Now, for those of you who keep the Jewish Calendar, Pesach/Passover will take place this year on Fr-day evening, 4/15/2022, which is generally noted as the first Seder night or Erev Pesach. And then of course, that same night at sundown, commences the 7-day feast week of Passover, also referred to in rabbinic circles as the 2nd Seder night. This day also commences the 50-day counting of the Omer (which is not biblical, but it does serve the purpose of pointing us towards Shavu’ot). Why do we differ in our determination of Yom HaNafat HaOmer or the start of the Counting of the Omer? Well, that’s a rather complicated issue that I will reserve for a future post, so as to not bog down any further this discussion. But, the last day of Passover on the Jewish calendar is set for sundown on Shabbat 4/23/2022. 

 

 

 

How Many Feasts Do We Keep

 

There are various opinions as to how many feasts or festivals we are supposed to honor each year. Those of our faith community who tend to be more on the Messianic Jewish side of the aisle will contend that there are five (5) with the Jewish holidays of Purim and Hanukkah added well after Torah was given:

 

• Passover (Unleavened Bread is inclusive).
• Shavuot (aka Pentecost).
• Yom Teruah (aka the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets which these insist is Rosh Hashanah).
• Yom Kippur (aka the Day of Atonement).
• Sukkot (aka the Feast of Tabernacles including Shemini Azterets).

 

I’ve always contended that there are at least seven (7) mandated feasts of Yah:

 

1. Passover Day
2. Chag HaMatzot (aka Unleavened Bread and Yom HaNafat HaOmer—7-days)
3. Shavu’ot (aka Pentecost)
4. Yom Teruah (aka the Day of the Blowing of Trumpets—Not Rosh Hashanah)
5. Yom Kippur (aka Day of Atonement)
6. Sukkot (aka Feast of Tabernacles—7-days)
7. Shemini-Atzeret (aka Last Great Day)

 

I do not include Purim nor Hanukkah as they are Jewish-instituted holidays. Nothing wrong with Yah’s people celebrating them or honoring them. But they are not mandated by Torah. These are purely nationalistic holidays.

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Over the years, Torah-keepers have viewed and treated these Feasts or Moedim of Yah from many different perspectives.

 

Some view these set-apart days collectively as simply holy days that God’s people are obligated to keep. And those who hold such a perspective will keep each of these days by way of enacting or keeping the associated Jewish traditions.

 

Others view these set-apart days from more of a rabbinic standpoint: That collectively, these days portray or are emblematic of Yah (the Bridegroom) marrying Yisra’el (by extension us). That is, the successive steps of an ancient Hebrew wedding and marriage:

 

• Pesach representing the Bridegroom (aka Yah) choosing and then redeeming His bride to be Yisra’el. Yah pays the bride’s father a “dowry” so to speak. And we know that one of the central themes of Pesach apart from that of freedom is “redemption.” The price to redeem the bride was the blood of the Pesach: The unblemished Lamb Yisra’el would choose every 10th day of the first-month of the Aviv.
• Shavuot, more popularly known to the world as Pentecost, represents the “Ketubbah.” A “ketubbah” is essentially a Hebrew marriage contract. It would stipulate the terms of the pending marriage agreement between the bridegroom and his bride. In other words, it spelled out the rules of the marriage. Well, tradition has it that Yah spoke to the Hebrew nation His Torah from Mount Sinai on Shavu’ot. And recall, that Shavu’ot is seven (7) weeks after Passover. Therefore, Torah can be likened unto that of the marriage “ketubbah” between Yah and Yisra’el. The “ketubbah” should not be viewed as just a set of rules that govern the marriage, but rather, a love letter from the bridegroom, Yah, to His bride, Yisra’el. And so, as long as the bride would remain faithful to her Husband, Yah pledges His undying protection and love for her.
• Yom Teruah, more popularly referred to as the Feast of Trumpets, in Messianic Jewish circles, represents Yehovah’s impassioned call to His unfaithful wife, Yisra’el. The day represents Yah’s willing to forgive His cheating spouse Yisra’el. And all He requires of her is that she Teshuvah: Return to her first love, repent, and abide with the original terms of the “ketubbah” that was given when she married Yah.
• Yom Kippur, otherwise known as The Day of Atonement, represents the return and cleansing of the once unfaithful bride, Yisra’el, to her awaiting Husband, Yehovah.
• Sukkot, popularly referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles, is emblematic of the marriage being consummated, and the happy couple dwelling together. Of course, the “sukkahs” or “booths” as some call them, in this paradigm, represents the cohabiting of Yah with Yisra’el. Why seven days according to this paradigm? Well, the week represents Yah, the husband, dwelling with His bride, Yisra’el, here on earth for a defined period of time that is generally referred to as the Millennial reign or the Kingdom of Yah here on earth. The eighth (8th) day, otherwise known as “Shimini Atzeret,” represents Yah dwelling with His people for eternity. These eight (8) days emphasize Yah’s desire to dwell with His people.

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The Factor of Physical Circumcision Related to Pesach

 

Yah required that any male who would partake of the Pesach-the Passover Lamb-be physically circumcised. Now, this was generally meant for the foreigners and sojourners who would come to be part of Yisra’el and serve Yehovah (Exodus/Shemot 12:48-49). For at the time this mitzvah was given to Yisra’el, the large group that would be departing out of Egypt would be composed of what our English translations describe as “a mixed multitude” (Exodus/Shemot 12:38; Numbers/Bemidbar 11:4). These individuals and their families (if they did in fact have families) would have likely been non-Hebrews who were of course, uncircumcised. Conversely, the departing Hebrews, because they were biological descendants of the Patriarchs, would most likely have been circumcised. And because Yah’s focus at that time was to enter a marriage agreement-a covenant agreement-with Yisra’el His Bride, it would fall upon any male who would partake of the Pesach to have the sign of the Avrahamic-Covenant applied to their flesh. And this has always been Yah’s desire that any who were outside of the commonwealth of Yisra’el be engrafted in. That is, become an Yisra’elite. I’m not talking about a so-called spiritual Israel, which tends to conjure up a false concept of replacement theology. I’m not talking about proselytizing the Gentile, such that the Gentile or non-Jew seeking to enter into all of her covenant promises and way of life, must first become a Jew and pledge themselves to be practitioners of Judaism. And this is where Judaism lost her way as it relates to the relevancy and intent of circumcision.

 

Yes, under the auspices of the original covenant, physical circumcision was a requirement for any male to partake of the Pesach. But things got a bit dicey in the first-century, under the auspices of the Renewed Covenant. The elephant in the room at the time was “what should the Jewish Messianics do with the influx of Gentiles (all of whom were no doubt uncircumcised) coming in to the Faith?” This question was made all the more troublesome when you factored in their keeping and partaking of Pesach/Passover. Although Pesach/Passover was not directly addressed, this issue of what to do with the incoming Gentiles was the central point of discussion at the Jerusalem Council under James, the biological half-brother of our Master Yahoshua (Acts 15). Contrary to the erroneous conventional wisdom of denominationalism, the Jerusalem Council in her final ruling DID NOT abolish physical circumcision for the Body of Mashiyach. But rather, the Counsel, through her ruling, put physical circumcision into its proper perspective, which was to first and foremost acclimate the incoming non-Jews into the Hebrew Faith by having them rid themselves of all vestiges of their former pagan lives: That they abstain from idolatry; abstain from fornication; follow the proper dietary laws; and not consume blood (Acts 15:19-20). These elementary mitzvot were minimal requirements for a Ger (that is, a non-Jew) to come near and receive vital Torah instructions:

 

“For from ancient generations in all cities Moshe had preachers in the synagogues that on every Shabbat they read him” (Acts 15:21; AENT).

 

How this affected the converted, uncircumcised Gentile (the non-Jew) in his being permitted to partake of Pesach in the first century? Well, let’s talk about that for a second.

 

And oh by the way, Torah did not have such prohibitions on women as it related to their partaking of the Pesach. Since physical circumcision did not apply to girls and women, there were no mitzvot that prohibited them from partaking of the Pesach apart from any ritual purity issues that might prevent them from doing so at the time. However, there is evidence that in the latter half of the first-century, converted, non-Jewish women had to go through prosylization and commit to practicing Judaism in order for them to partake of the Pesach.

 

But back to our discussion on converted, uncircumcised non-Jewish men, the writings of first through third century A.D. sages such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and Rabbi Ishmael suggested that these individuals were permitted to participate in the so-called Jewish Seder by eating the elements of the Pesach meal, but they could NOT partake of the Pesach Lamb. Period (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael).

 

Needless to say, this situation placed tremendous pressures upon many of the converted, uncircumcised male Believers of the Way Movement back in the day. Many succumbed to these pressures and went ahead and got circumcised. At least that’s what the context of some of these Jewish writings suggests.

 

But there were other concerns that crept into the discussion about converted Gentile males being circumcised. Essentially, who could perform the circumcision on these individuals so that it would qualify them to partake of Pesach. And it seems from such previously stated Jewish writings that at the start, even as far back as Old Testament days, that it didn’t matter who circumcised an individual, or how one came to be circumcised. As long as one was circumcised, they passed the mitzvah muster. However, as the first-century progressed, the rabbis began to pass takannah (Jewish rabbinic halachah that carried the authority of Torah), that one who was circumcised had to prove they were circumcised with the expressed intent of practicing Judaism. There had to be a specific intent to become a proselyte in order for the circumcision to be valid. Still later on, beyond 70-C.E. (ie., the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple), that the intent of one to practice Judaism wasn’t the only requirement for circumcision, but it was added that a uncircumcised Gentile had to be circumcised by a qualified Jewish practitioner or physician in order for their circumcision to be valid.

 

And this mindset followed throughout the ensuing centuries that in order for one to partake of Pesach, if they were male, had to not only be circumcised, but also a practicing Jewish convert. This also was applied to Gentile women. Women ultimately had to be converted to Judaism in order to partake of the Pesach. And this fence that the rabbis placed around the keeping of Pesach by the Gentile had to do with an intentional misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Torah:

 

“No foreigner shall eat of it (the it being Pesach)” (Exodus 12:43).

 

The rabbis taught that all non-Jews must be excluded from partaking of the Pesach. To the rabbis, all non-Jews, otherwise referred to as foreigners, were essentially idolaters. Jews were never idolaters, unless they were convicted or caught practicing idolatry. (In that case, the idolatrous Jew would be prohibited from ever partaking in the Pesach, or for that matter, being a member of the community.) And this understanding again, applied to both men and women. And the only way of being absolved of the title of “idolater,” one had to legally convert to Judaism by way of the established Jewish Halachah.

 

We know today that Yah is primarily concerned with the state of one’s heart. Yah requires His beloved to be circumcised of heart first and foremost:

 

“And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart (both men and women), nor shall you show a stiff neck anymore” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 10:16; Alter).

 

“And the LORD your God shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your being for your life’s sake” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 30:6; Alter).

 

On this issue of circumcision, Shaul wrote:

 

(28) For he is not a Jew who is so in what is external (alone): Nor is that (only physical) circumcision, which is visible in the flesh. (29) But he is a Jew who is so in what is hidden: And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim (Romans 2:28-29; AENT).

 

 

And so, in bringing this issue home, as it relates to one being circumcised in order for them to partake of Pesach, it should be understood that first and foremost, one must be circumcised of heart. And this of course applies to both men and women. (As I stated in our discussion on Yah’s people being circumcised, I do not believe circumcision of the heart replaced the Torah mitzvah of physical circumcision. This is not the place to rehash that discussion, but if you are interested in where I stand on this very issue, I humbly invite you to read or listen to that discussion which is entitled: “Paul on Physical Circumcision for God’s People-A Question of One’s Jewishness Part 3.”

 

But in terms of one keeping Pesach and partaking of Pesach and such (and this is just Rod speaking here), I truly believe any who is in covenant with Yah, and who is circumcised of heart, they certainly qualify to partake of Pesach. Again, we can’t and we don’t keep Passover as it is ordered in Torah because we no longer have a functioning Tabernacle/Temple, nor do we have a functioning, valid Levitical Priesthood to officiate the proceedings. Instead, we keep Pesach in Spirit and in Truth. So then, however the Body of Mashiyach is led to keep Pesach is how we keep Pesach. And we keep Pesach with Yahoshua in mind. He is our Pesach today (1 Corinthians 5:7). A Passover Seder should NOT be our focus this Passover. Although I have stated previously that I do not judge any member of the Body of Mashiyach who is led to participate in the so-called traditional Seder, it serves only to place one under the instructions and rules of the rabbis. We answer only to Yahoshua, our Master.

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Defining the term Pesach

 

Our English term “Passover” in the Hebrew is “Pesach.” Now, there is a noun and a verb version of Pesach that we should be aware of in terms of what the overall term actually means.

 

First and foremost, our noun “Pesach” is drawn from the Hebrew verb “pasach.” “Pasach” carries a meaning of “to limp;” “to jump;” or “to move with an uneven/unsteady gate such as one who hobbles along” (Tim Hegg; “What Does the Word Passover “pesach” Mean?”).

 

Always looking for more than one witness on a thing in my studies, I consulted my trusty copy of Jeff A. Benner’s “Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible” and learned that the noun “pesach” means one who is “lame,” as in “one who hops on one leg,” while the verb “pesach” means “to hop from one place or another.” The KJV, however, defines “pesach” as “to pass over.”

 

Turns out that the KJV has been the source by which we get this sense of the destroyer “passing over” the homes of the Hebrews that had the “pesach lamb’s” blood applied to them. But see in our Hebrew definitions here that we somehow have to deal with this issue of one who is “hobbled” or “lame.”

 

We learn that Yah went through Mitsrayim/Egypt on that solemn Passover night and struck down the firstborn of the homes where the blood of the “pesach” had NOT been applied. And thus, Yah passes over the doors of those protected homes, and does not permit the destroyer to come into the home (Exodus/Shemot 12:12, 24).

 

Tim Hegg, Messianic Torah teacher and author highlights a very interesting context to be understood regarding the use of the root term “pasach” throughout the Tanach (ie., the Old Testament). We find in the story of Elijah’s confrontation with the priests of Ba’al the following:

 

“Then Elijah approached all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate (”pasach”) between two opinions? If Yehovah is God, follow Him. But if Ba’al, follow Him.’ But the people didn’t answer him a word” (1 Kings 18:21; CSB).

 

Contextually speaking, when we factor in to our understanding the phrase “between two opinions,” we arrive at a very poignant image. That of a bird jumping or hopping between various limbs and branches of a tree. This is derived from the root word “sa’aph” which means branches or a branch. English translators chose the English term opinion to get their point across.

 

However, if we look at another Tanach passage where “pasach” is used, we get a brilliant portrait of what is being conveyed:

 

“Like hovering birds, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem—by protecting it, He will rescue it, by sparing it, He will deliver it” (Isaiah 31:5; HCSB).

 

Hegg states that the Hebrew terms for “defend,” “deliver,” and “preserve” are joined with the verb “pasach.” And thus, Yehovah is likened unto a “momma” bird that hovers over her nest of baby birds, offering them sustenance and protection and if necessary, rescuing them from predators. So, “pasach” conveys a sense of Yah protecting his beloved Yisra’el from death.

 

And so, backing up to the Elijah story and the prophet criticizing the people that they were of two opinions as to which God they would serve: Yehovah or Ba’al, our English term “opinion(s)” could line up to mean “branches.” Therefore, we can imagine Elijah berating the people and telling them to stop acting as birds, fluttering about between two (2) limbs or branches; being unable to decide which God to serve.

 

But then, from a contextual standpoint, apart from the Elijah story, we have this sense of a protective bird hovering over her children. In this case, Yah hovering in a protective manner, over Yisra’el. Yah provides protection for Yisra’el. Yah rescues Yisra’el. Yah shields Yisra’el. From what is He protecting, shield, or rescuing? From the Destroyer. Thus, it is Yah who protects Yisra’el from the plague of death that went throughout Egypt and took the lives of the firstborn.

 

I have thoughts as it relates to there being a “death angel” or Yah Himself delivering the judgment. But for the sake of time, we’ll simply leave it with how the passage describes the situation:

 

(12) And I will cross through the Land of Egypt on this night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from man to beast, and from all the gods of Egypt I will exact retributions: I am the LORD. (13) And the blood will be a sign for you upon the houses in which you are, and I will see the blood and I will pass over you, and no scourge shall become a Destroyer amongst you when I strike in the Land of Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 12:12-13; Alter). 

 

The rabbis believe that it was Yah and Yah alone who took the lives of the firstborn of Egypt who were not covered by the blood of the Pesach. I further submit that Yah in addition, personally protected each marked home from the destroyer. Who is this destroyer. Alter suggests some type of evil spirit. I tend to slightly agree with Him. Thus, I believe that Yah, as he hopped or hobbled over the marked homes and through the Land of Egypt, that He also protected; hovered; rescued the Hebrews from the enemy who may have sought to go tit for tat and strike at the Hebrews for what was happening to the Egyptians. (Just a thought.)

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We find in Genesis/Beresheit 47 that Yosef, who was made viceroy over Egypt by Pharaoh (whose name is believed to have been Djoser of the 18th Dynasty) because of his ability to interpret Djoser’s dream and his ability to manage the affairs of Egypt, invited his entire family to reside in Egypt as a result of a famine that was devastating the entire middle east region at that time. Yosef (who through recent archaeological excavations in Egypt has been shown to have been given the name Imhotep). Given Yosef’s revered, even supreme status in Egypt, his family (consisting of 70-souls at the start of their sojourn) enjoyed during the time of Yosef’s and his brothers’ lives, privilege and honor in Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 1:6-10).

 

However, after the deaths of the 12-patriarchs, a pharaoh who did not appreciate the historical legacy of the Hebrews in the Land (whose identity is not readily known) enslaved the patriarchs’ descendants as foretold by Yah to Avraham back in Genesis 15:13-14:

 

(13) And He (He being Yehovah) said to Abram, “Know well that your seed shall be strangers in a land not theirs and they shall be enslaved and afflicted four hundred years. (14) But upon the nation for whom they slave I will bring judgment, and afterward they shall come forth with great substance…(16) And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Alter).

 

The Pharaoh of the Exodus was Thutmose IV of the 18th Dynasty (aka Amenhotep III), not Rameses as historical tradition has erroneously put forth to an unsuspecting world for centuries.

 

So then, how long were the ancients under bitter Egyptian bondage? Well, we find in Exodus/Shemot the following regarding the length of time the ancient were enslaved in Egypt (although the text does not specify enslavement, just the time they dwelt in Egypt):

 

(37) And the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, some six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones…(40) And the settlement of the Israelites which they had settled in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. (41) And it happened at the end of four hundred and thirty years and it happened on that very day, in the battalions of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus/Shemot 12; Alter).

 

Some rabbinic sources place the time in actual bondage between 86-116-years (ref. Talmud Megillah 9a and Rashi on Exodus/Shemot 12:40; and Seder Olam Rabbah), but this seems grossly unlikely given Moshe records that the mixed multitude that departed Goshen of Egypt totaled some 600,000 men, in addition to their families, which some have estimated the total number of people being two to three million souls.

 

I’m inclined to always trust and go with what scripture says. And Yah told Avraham back in Genesis that his descendants would be enslaved and afflicted for some four-hundred years (Genesis/Beresheit 15:13-14), and then Moshe reports that when Yisra’el completed her business with Egypt, they’d lived there for some 430-years. This would make the best sense in terms of some 600,000 men along with their families departing out of Egypt at the start of the Exodus (Exodus/Shemot 12:37-41).

 

 

Well, I’ve thrown a lot of background content at you regarding the basics of Passover and Unleavened Bread. I pray that this information will provide you with some fundamental knowledge of Pesach/Passover and Unleavened Bread that will serve you as you prepare to receive the coming set-apart days of Yah.

 

In part 2 of this discussion series, we will discuss Keeping Passover by Way of the Original Covenant. I’ll see you on the other side.