Exodus 12

 

If the destruction of Egypt foreshadows Christ’s Second Coming, then the Passover foreshadows his First Coming. Before the schoolmaster of the Law of Moses is ever established, the children of Israel are saved from destruction by the blood of a male lamb, without blemish.  The destroying angel passed over them only because of this life saving blood.

 

The Apostle Paul declared, “Chirst our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:7-8)  “Scripture declares that ‘all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record’ of Jesus Christ (Moses 6:63). The Book of Mormon certifies that ‘all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him [Jesus Christ]’ (2 Ne. 11:4…)” (Thomas R. Valletta, “The True Bread of Life,” Ensign, Mar. 1999, 7)

 

Surely, young people, you see the prophetic symbolism in the Passover. Christ was “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36), the firstborn, male, without blemish. He was slain without breaking his bones, even though the soldiers were sent to do it.

 

But it is not from mortal death that we shall be spared in such a passover if we walk in obedience to these commandments, for each of us in time shall die. But there is spiritual death which you need not suffer. If you are obedient, that spiritual death will pass over you, for “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us,” the revelation teaches (1 Cor. 5:7). (“The Word of Wisdom: The Principle and the Promises,” Ensign, May 1996, 19)

 

 

Presumably, the Israelites lived by the Egyptian calendar.  It just wouldn’t do for them to continue to follow the calendar of a pagan nation.  The new covenant of the Passover would be associated with a new calendar emphasizing the birth of the Hebrew Nation as an independent group, no longer Egyptian slaves but masters of the Egyptians, protected by God, and chosen above all other nations.  So the Passover symbolizes the birth of the nation—it is Independence Day.

 

 

Can we hear Elohim speaking to us of his Son, “Your Lamb shall be without the blemish of sin, sacrificed in the prime of his youth.”  As Peter said, “ye know that ye were… redeemed with… the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”  (1 Pet. 1:18-19, see also Heb. 4:15)

 

 

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus was crucified in the evening on the Passover, meaning that he died at the same time as the Jews in Jerusalem were killing the paschal lambs.  The chronologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are different—their chronologies have Jesus eating the Passover meal at the same time the Jews were celebrating the Passover (Matt. 26:17, Mark 14:12, Lu. 22:7-15).  John’s chronology has the death of Lamb corresponding to the killing of the lambs in the evening, just before the rest of Jewry sat down to eat their Passover meal.

 

Why is John’s chronology different?  It is hard to say, but in a way, his chronology makes more sense.  Notice that 1) John said the Last Supper was “before the feast of the passover” (Jn. 13:1), and 2)  the Sanhedrin would not follow Christ into the hall of judgment where the Romans were because they didn’t want to “be defiled; but that they might eat the passover” (Jn. 18:28), and  3) that when Pilate presented Jesus to the Jews “it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour” when he said “Behold your King!” (Jn. 19:14, italics added), suggesting not only that the passover meal had not yet been celebrated but also that Christ was crucified after the sixth hour (noon).  This means that Christ would have been on the cross from noon to 6 pm (instead of from 9 am to 3 pm as the Synoptics have it), making his death in the evening at the same time as the paschal lamb is sacrificed.  How many lambs might that be? Josephus tells us that “during one Passover of his time, 256,500 lambs were sacrificed.” (Gerald Lund, Jesus Christ, Key to the Plan of Salvation [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1991], 14)

 

If John’s chronology is right, then the Matthew, Mark, and Luke accounts can be explained if the Twelve celebrated the Passover one day early.  Don’t we do that all the time with holidays and birthdays?  Is there any evidence that they celebrated it early?  Actually, there is.  Right before telling the story of the Last Supper, Jesus says, “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover” (Matt. 26:2).  This could be taken to mean that the feast was two days away when the disciples prepared the Passover meal, and that they celebrated it a day early.  Another strong argument is that the synoptic gospels can’t account for all of Jesus’ activities during Passion Week.  There has always been a missing day. Well, there is no missing day if the Last Supper was celebrated the night before the Passover.

 

 

If you were firstborn in Egypt, the only safety was to enter through the door marked with the blood of the lamb. Is there symbolism that the doorway is marked?  Didn’t the Lamb say He was “the way, the truth, and the life?” (Jn. 14:6)  Wasn’t He even more direct saying, “I am the door” (Jn. 10:9)?

 

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved… (sounds a lot like the Passover symbolism)

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…

I lay down my life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:9-15)

 

 

The bitter herbs are representative of the bitter service of slavery, “the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick” (Ex. 1:13-14).  The bitter herbs were “watercress, radishes, endive, horseradish.” (Bible Dictionary)

 

 

This was not to be lamb sushi or lamb soup; the lamb was roasted in the same manner as the animal sacrifices would be roasted according to the Law of Moses (Lev. 1:1-13).  When Moses ordained Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, he offered a typical sacrifice, “Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Lev. 8:21).

 

 

Because the Paschal lamb had to be totally consumed by the family in the ritual meal, tradition stated that no fewer than ten and no more than twenty could gather for each lamb sacrificed. (Jesus Christ, Key to the Plan of Salvation [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1991], 14)

 

 

Mom always said to slow down when you eat, but the Israelites had to make a quick getaway.

 

With reference to that first Passover night in Egypt, the divine word was: "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste." (Ex. 12:11.) But in Jesus' day it was different; the Rabbinic decree then was that all who ate should recline at a table, to indicate rest, safety, and liberty. Low, moveable tables were used—sometimes they even hung from the ceiling so as not to touch the floor and be defiled—and it was the custom for each person to occupy a separate divan or pillow, to lie on his left side and lean on his left hand, the feet stretching back towards the ground. The couches upon which the diners reclined were set on two sides and one end of the table so as to leave about a third of the table free for serving trays and dishes. Needless to say, the reality had no resemblance to the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and others whose genius has memorialized this event through the ages. (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979-1981], 4: 30)

 

 

We imagine that the Israelites were faithful in always celebrating the Passover, but as with the rest of the Law of Moses, they had become lax in honoring the memorial feast.  King Josiah, about 622 BC, reinstituted the importance of the Passover in Jewish life, “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept” (2 Chron 35:18).  That means the celebration was bigger than any Passover thrown in the days of Saul, David, and Solomon.  To one degree or another, the Passover was kept in the Old Testament era.  What about New Testament saints?

 

Paul recommended that the Corinthian saints celebrate the Passover long after Christ offered the ultimate temple sacrifice (1 Cor 5:7-8), signifying that the Meridian-day saints did not abandon their celebration of the Passover after the crucifixion. When we speak of the “Restoration” we don’t think of the Passover being restored, but it must be as part of the “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21).  We may expect that the Passover will be faithfully observed in Jerusalem during the Millennium, kept as “a feast by an ordinance for ever.”

 

 

Every time you see the phrase, “holy convocation,” in the Old Testament, you can change it to “solemn assembly.”  In the Latter-days, solemn assemblies have been special meetings of instruction and holiness.

 

A solemn assembly, as the name implies, denotes a sacred, sober, and reverent occasion when the Saints assemble under the direction of the First Presidency. Solemn assemblies are used for three purposes: the dedication of temples, special instruction to priesthood leaders, and sustaining a new President of the Church. (Ensign, Nov. 1994, 14)

 

 

The Passover was a weeklong celebration, beginning and ending with a day of celebration, with no leavened bread in the house for an entire week.  These days of celebration, or holy days, were sometimes called Sabbaths regardless of which day of the week they fell.  So there could be a passover Sabbath one day (14^th), a regular Sabbath the next (15^th), and another passover Sabbath 6 days later (21^st). See Col. 2:16

 

 

Jesus Christ compared leaven to an inner impurity, referencing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” (Matt. 16:6).  Paul also taught that leaven symbolizes wickedness, “let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8).

 

Do we have a holiday which asks us to purge our homes of all impurity for a full week?  The symbolism is impressive.  All malice, hypocrisy, wickedness, hardness, criticism, etc. should be out of our homes anyway, but it’s hard to go a full week for most families.

 

 

The blood of the paschal lamb of Moses' day was the means by which the ancient Israelites were spared from the angel of death.

 

To all of us the blood of the Christ is our means of escaping the devil, who is the worst of all the angels of death and destruction. By serving the Lord, his blood rescues us—saves us—from Satan, and helps us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

 

As the blood of the first paschal lamb meant life, not death, to ancient Israel, so is the blood of Christ to all mankind a symbol, assuring us of life, not death, eternally.

 

Christ is our Paschal Lamb. His passover is forever, if we will accept it, not just for a single night as it was in Egypt. It should be far more meaningful to us than was escape from the angel of death to the Hebrews.

 

The offering of sacrifices to the Lord began with Adam. These burnt offerings were symbolic of the coming atonement of the Christ. They continued from Adam to the days of John the Baptist. The ultimate sacrifice of the Savior on Calvary brought an end to such sacrifices and introduced the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in their place.

 

The burnt offerings of ancient times looked forward to the coming sacrifice of the Lamb of God; the sacrament of the Lord's Supper looks back to that sacrifice, and therefore we eat and drink of the sacred emblems in remembrance of him. Our sacramental prayers explain the sacred nature of that ordinance.

 

The paschal lamb of Egypt was, of course, a sacrifice, but with a greatly enlarged significance. Instead of the blood of the sacrifice being disposed of in the usual way, this time the blood was to be placed upon the door posts as a sign to the destroying angel that here lived believers. The presence of that blood would spare all their firstborn from death. It literally symbolized life and salvation for Israel in the face of death and destruction for the Egyptians.

 

Throughout the centuries since then, the Passover has been observed by the Jews as one of their most important holy anniversaries. (Moses: Man of Miracles [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977], 72-73)

 

 

But in his death-dealing mission the "destroyer" was to pass by, and did pass by, without slaying the firstborn therein, the homes of those Israelites who had marked their door lintels and side posts with the blood of a lamb as directed by the Lord.

 

From this promise in the Word of Wisdom and other scriptures, it appears that there are destroying angels who have a work to do among the peoples of the earth in this last dispensation. The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that because all flesh was corrupted before him, and the powers of darkness prevailed upon the earth, these angels were waiting the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares that they may be burned. (D. & C. 38:11-12.)

 

That was in 1831. In 1894, President Woodruff said:

 

God has held the angels of destruction for many years lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell you now, those angels have left the portals of heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, and are hovering over the earth waiting to pour out the judgments. And from this very day they shall be poured out. Calamities and troubles are increasing in the earth, and there is a meaning to these things. (THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, 17:1165.)

 

Now, my beloved young brothers and sisters, in view of this revealed knowledge and understanding which the Lord has given concerning what is transpiring about us, is it not a glorious thing to have the assurance that if we will clothe ourselves with bodies purified through observance of the Word of Wisdom, these destroying angels will pass us by, as they did the children of Israel, and not slay us? Well, this is one of the blessings to follow observance of the Word of Wisdom. (Conference Report, October 1952, Afternoon Meeting 33)

 

 

Fathers have been leaving memorials for their children, and children have been raising them to their fathers, since time began. Here on Temple Square we have consciously surrounded ourselves with such memorials—the old Nauvoo bell, the Seagull Monument, statues of the Restoration, Thorvaldsen’s Christus, to name just a few. These serve to unite generation with generation, preserving in a long, unbroken chain the important events of our common heritage. The passage of time and the growth of our institutions often tend to separate us not only from each other but also from our common purposes. Down through history we have been commanded to construct memorials, or hold Passover feasts, or convene general conferences to preserve the power of our united faith and to remember the commandments of God in achieving our eternal, unchanging goals. (“That We May Be One,” Ensign, May 1976, 105)

 

 

Try to imagine what it would have been like for that month in Egypt—all these terrible plagues affecting man and beast.  Now the firstborn of Egypt die.  The effect would have been terrifying; you get that feeling in the Egyptian response, “we be all dead men.”  “What good is it to have these Israelites for slave labor if we are all dead?  What good is this gold and silver if we are all dead?   They can have it for all we care!  Please Pharaoh, just get them out of here!”

 

 

The Lord originally told Moses that He would influence the Egyptians for good, “I will give the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians” (Ex. 3:22).  They were never going to return those things they borrowed which may sound dishonest, but it was the commandment of the Lord—an exception to the rule.  A lot of what happened in Egypt in Moses day was an exception to the rule.

 

“In antiquity some commentators saw this as Egyptian compensation for the Israelites’ slave labor, or treatment in accord with Deut. 15:13-14.” (The Jewish Study Bible, ed. by A Berlin & MZ Brettler [New York, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2014], 104)  Unfortunately, much of this gold ends up being melted down to make a golden calf (Ex. 32:2-4).

 

 

Many scholars question whether the number here is correct.  They suggest a much smaller number may have been correct, but who are we to judge?

 

“Num. 1:46 and 2:32 give the number more precisely as 603,550 (Numb. 3:39 adds 22,000 Levites).  According to Ex. 38:26 and Numb. 1:46-47, these figures refer to men of military age, twenty and older.  Adding women and children yields a population of at least two and a half million.” (The Jewish Study Bible, ed. by A Berlin & MZ Brettler [New York, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2014], 120) 

 

 

We can compare the Passover in Judaism to the sacrament in Christianity.  To partake of either, usually the individual must first have made a covenant with God, circumcision for the Jew and baptism for the Christian.  Just as the Jews prohibited strangers from eating the Passover, so we recommend the sacrament primarily for members and for serious investigators.  The Passover is for the Jews as sacrament is for the baptized Christians.

 

 

Speaking of Christ and the thieves crucified with him, John wrote, “the Jews… because it was the preparation (of the Passover meal), that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day… besought Pilate that their legs might be broken” (John 19:31).  Breaking the legs of the crucified causes the victim to hang by the arms and makes it nearly impossible to breathe, resulting in a quick death.  “…then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side,” (to kill him if perchance he were still alive) “and forthwith came there out blood and water,” (proving in fact that he was dead). “…For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken” (John 19:32-36)

 

 

How many strangers converted to Judaism with such a requirement as that?  I would have said, “You go ahead and eat lamb, I’ll eat beef. Thanks anyway.”