The Way
The First Passover
Blood on the doorposts, a night passed over
Story
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this month shall be for you the first month of the year. As the Lord had said, every household set aside a year-old lamb without blemish. On the fourteenth day of that month, at dusk, every household slaughtered its lamb. They dipped a bunch of hyssop in the blood in the basin and daubed it on the two doorposts and the lintel above. The red marks soaked into the evening light.
When night came, they ate the meat roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They ate in haste, belts fastened, sandals on their feet, staffs in their hands. At midnight the Lord struck down the firstborn in the land of Egypt. A wail went up across all Egypt. From the firstborn son of Pharaoh on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, there was not a house without its dead. But the doors marked with blood the Lord passed over.
That very night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. Get up and leave my people. Go and serve the Lord, as you have asked. The people wrapped their dough, still unrisen, bowls and all, in their cloaks, hoisted it onto their shoulders and set out from Rameses. The men on foot alone numbered about six hundred thousand. It was the night that marked four hundred and thirty years since they had come to live in Egypt.
Walk this scene on the map →God's Words
The blood will be a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
Eat it in haste, with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. This is the Lord's Passover.
Get up and leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go and worship the Lord as you said. And ask a blessing for me too.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Ex 12:1–42
Background
The Hebrew word for Passover, Pesach, is linked to the idea of passing over. Israel still remembers this night every year. The last meal Jesus shared with his disciples was also a meal at Passover time.
Pause and Reflect
Am I forgetting that my salvation is God's grace, not my own doing?