Behold The Lamb Of God

Passover

Out of all the sacrificial services of the Bible, none is so well known as the sacrifice of the Pesach (Passover) Lamb. The Passover Lamb was the first sacrifice that Israel, as a nation, was commanded to make.

Merits of innocence and guilt are not considered. Faith and creed are irrelevant. The righteous will perish with the wicked.

Just as in life itself, death knows no boundaries, the tenth plague will strike Egyptian and Jewish homes alike.

His Appointed Time

"These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD's Passover." Leviticus 23:4,5

Moed is the Hebrew word for "appointed time." It is often translated as "festival," but the actually meaning is "appointment." Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread are moedim, "appointed times." They are the LORD's appointed times for doing business with man. The idea of Passover as an "appointed time" is expressed by the words of Jesus as he prepares to meet his own appointed time in Jerusalem. In Mathew 26:17,18, Jesus calls Passover "my appointed time." In saying this, the Master has identified the appointed time of the Festival of Unleavened Bread as his appointed time.

Jewish tradition has always taught that the redemption from Egypt foreshadowed the great and final redemption brought about through the Messiah.

The Passover Seder meal is full of Messianic allusion.

Jesus knew that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was his appointed time. It was therefore necessary, if he was to meet the appointment, that he go up to the appointed place. Jerusalem is the city of God's Temple. It is the place God chose to put His Name. Jerusalem is the appointed place.

Word about the Master had spread. The people were wondering if he might not be the Messiah after all. "So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?"" (John 11:55) As the Master and his disciples came down the Mount of Olives in their approach to Jerusalem, the crowd of pilgrims realized who it was traveling in their midst. The throngs of pilgrims streaming into Jerusalem became a multitude throwing down their coats and branches to spread a path for Jesus as he entered the city.

In Exodus chapter 12, the Bible gives the instructions for the celebration of Passover. The children of Israel were to choose a lamb for the Passover sacrifice on the 10th day of the 1st month (Nisan), 4 days before the actual slaughtering was to be done. According to John's chronology, it is the 10th day of the 1st month as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and the people make their choice.

The people were gathered there waiting for the high priest to return with a lamb from Bethlehem. Jesus is our high priest and our lamb.

 The Bible tells us that the lamb must be checked for blemishes. Only a perfect, spotless and unblemished lamb would suffice for the Passover.

In the Gospels, Jesus goes to the Temple to teach. While there, He is approached by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, Herodians and the Teachers of Torah. Each various group poses difficult questions, trying to trap him in his words. Essentially, they are looking for any blemish, theological, halachic (adherence to the laws of the Torah), or otherwise, which might disqualify him as Messiah. Matthew 22 preserves the narrative of these tests. He meets each question soundly, and no one can find fault with him. He is without blemish. Kehilat Sar Shalom

Jesus even went as far as to cast out the leaven from His own house by throwing out the money changers.

Passover Eve

The Biblical day begins at sunset. If we follow John's chronology, Jesus and his disciples were settling into the upper room for his Last Seder as the Jerusalem sunset marked the beginning of the 14th day of the first month. In Exodus 12, the Israelites are commanded to kill the Passover Lamb on the 14th day of the 1st month. That meant that the following afternoon the Passover lambs were to be slaughtered in the Temple. This being so, Jesus’ celebration of the Seder is a day early. He hosts his Last Seder a day early so that he and his disciples can have one last Seder together. When the proper time for the Seder arrives the following evening, Jesus will already be buried.

Time of Slaughter

A short time later, Jesus is hung on the cross. It is the third hour, 9:00 AM by our reckoning when he is crucified (Mark 15:25).

On that day the Temple was crowded with pilgrims bringing up their lambs for the Passover slaughter. All the priesthood of Israel was also at the Temple for this festival. Because of the great number of lambs to be slaughtered, the afternoon continual offering was performed early.

The Mishnah (which is the oral Torah that has been passed down through the generations) reports to us, "The daily burnt offering (afternoon) was slaughtered at the 8th hour and a half (2:30) and offered up at the ninth hour and a half (3:30), but on the eve of Pesach it was slaughtered at the seventh hour and a half (1:30) and offered up at the eighth hour and a half (2:30)." (Pesachim 5:1) Thus the slaughter of the Passover Lamb was performed during the ninth hour.

The lambs were killed and their blood applied to the altar in an old-fashioned fire line style. Lines of priests stood ready with gold and silver basins for passing the blood to the altar. Again we turn to the Mishnah for the details.

"An Israelite slaughters the Passover Lamb and a priest received the blood, hands it to his fellow, and his fellow to his fellow, each one receiving a full basin and handing back an empty one. The priest nearest the altar tosses the blood in a single act." (Pesachim 5:6) The Passover lambs were killed in three consecutive waves. While the slaughter was being performed, the Levites in the Temple chanted the Psalms 113-118, the same Hallel (Praise) which Jesus and his disciples would have sung the night before (Pesachim 5:1-7).

The Death of the Lamb

When the 9th hour arrived, a long blast of the shofar signaled the Levites began their chanting of the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). The gates to the inner court were opened, and the first crowd of Israelites with their lambs ready rushed in. Within minutes, the clean and spotless courtyard around the altar was stained red with blood. Gutters flowed with red. The base of the altar seemed to bleed, even gush forth as basin after basin of blood was splashed against it in quick succession.

The dead lambs were hung on hooks, forearms spread in a crucifixion pose as they were skinned and prepared for roasting.

The Levites continued chanting the Hallel. The sound of their voices, joined by the voices of the thousands of Pilgrims who had gathered at the Temple, filled the entire city of Jerusalem. Indeed, they were heard outside the walls, a short distance away, where Jesus had then been hanging on the cross for six hours. As they chanted, "The cords of death entangled me . . . precious in the Sight of the LORD is the Death for his Righteous Ones . . . Open for me the Gates of Righteousness . . . The stone the builder's rejected has become the capstone," Jesus died. It was the 9th hour, the very hour at which the Passover lambs were being slain in the temple. Jesus, the lamb, died.

This is the story of the Exodus and the Passover lamb of Egypt. Paul tells us that Messiah our Pesach has been sacrificed. It is by his blood, applied to the doorposts of our lives that we are spared the fate of the Egyptian firstborn. By his blood, applied to our lives, the last judgment passes over us.

Work Cited: Macoby, Hyam. 1988. Early Rabbinic Writings. Cambridge University Press, Great Britain.