Keep the Passover

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July 12, 2009

Lesson: Deuteronomy 16:1-6

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 16:1

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Introduction

The Passover is a sacrament ordained to bring to remembrance that God delivered his people Israel from the darkness of Egyptian bondage: “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a might to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt: this is the night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover” (Ex. 12:41-43). The continual remembrance of this Deliverance is also that the act of God has established an eternal relationship with his people: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children” (Deut. 6:5-7).

This teaching of the Word of God is both a cleansing and growing process to the end that the Father’s chosen children should be made morally mature in him who has delivered us from the darkness of sin. This same teaching is found in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Paul wrote, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Matthew Henry wrote “That Moses taught the people all that, and that only, which God commanded him to teach them, Deut 6:1. Thus Christ’s ministers are to teach his churches all that he has commanded, and neither more nor less, Matt. 28:20.

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The Passover Sacrifice –Deuteronomy 16:1-2

At the month of Abib, or ‘first fruits,’ the people of God were to ‘keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.” The words of Moses to the people when in bondage spoke, saying, “Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians: and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe the thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever” (Ex. 12:21-14).

Because of the deliverance from the darkness of bondage Moses calls upon the people to the Passover: “Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there.” At a place chosen by the Lord, his Name would be revealed and honored. “The passover was itself a sacrifice;” writes M. Henry, “hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be sacrifice for us (1 Cor. 5:7). And many other sacrifices were offered during the seven days of the feast, which are included here, for they are said to be sacrificed of the flock and the herd, whereas the passover itself was only of the flock, either a lamb or a kid: now no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it; it was therefore necessary that they should to up to the place of the altar, for, though the paschal lamb was entirely eaten by the owners, yet it must be killed in the court, the blood sprinkled, and the inwards burned upon the altar. By confining them to the appointed rule, from which they would have been apt to vary, and to introduce foolish inventions of their own, had they been permitted to offer these sacrifices within their own gates, from under the inspection of the priests. They were also hereby directed to have their eye up unto God in the solemnity, and the desire of their hearts towards the remembrance of his name, being appointed to attend where he had chosen to place his name.”

There was a place where Christ, by which we were redeemed with his precious blood “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19), where he shed that blood, ransomed our souls by the sacrifice of himself: “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33-34). The King of Israel had come to save his people from their sins.

Discussion: What is the meaning of the Passover Sacrifice?

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The Passover Bread –Deuteronomy 16:3-4

The slaughtering of the animals and eating during the time of the Passover was to last seven days. The eating of the Passover lamb was slain and eaten in one evening of the 14^th Abib; remembering the deliverance from bondage: “And they shall eat the flesh in the night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. …And ye shall let nothing remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And this shall ye eat it; and your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover” (Ex. 12:8-11).

Thus Moses commands the people, “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste that thou mayest remember the day thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.” The unleavened bread is call the bread of affliction “because the Israelites had to leave to leave Egypt in anxious flight and were therefore unable to leaven the dough, for the reminding the congregation of the oppression endured in Egypt, and to stir them up to gratitude towards the Lord their deliverer, that they might remember that day as long as they lived” (Keil and Delitzsch, Comm.). Therefore “therefore shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until morning.”

God’s prophet Isaiah speaks of the promised Deliverer: “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord” (Isa. 59:20). Paul speaks of the redemption of Israel: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them; when I shall take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26-27). John Calvin’s comments reveal the glory of God in sending his Deliverer: “But though in this prophecy deliverance to the spiritual people of God is promised, among whom even Gentiles are included; yet as the Jews are the first-born, what the Prophet declares must be fulfilled, especially in them: for that Scripture calls all the people of God Israelites, is to be ascribed to the pre-eminence of that nation, whom God had preferred to all other nations. And then, from a regard to the ancient covenant, he says expressly, that a Redeemer shall come to Sion; and he adds, that he will redeem those in Jacob who shall return from their transgression. By these words God distinctly claims for himself a certain seed, so that his redemption may be effectual in his elect and peculiar nation.”

Discussion: What is the blessing of the Passover Feast?

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The Passover Name –Deuteronomy 16:5-6

Moses admonishes his people to take care that they keep the Passover according to the commands of the Lord: “thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates; which the Lord thy God giveth thee: but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shall sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the son, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.” The Passover was a solemn occasion to remember a great Deliverer who, by grace, delivered his people from bondage. His name must be preeminent in the keeping of the Passover. The place that we must keep the table of the Lord’s Supper is the same place of the Old Testament Passover; not a personal keeping following man made practices, but within the Body of Christ, the place where the Lord’s name is to be honored and praised with much thanksgiving. “The Jewish writers tell us that the custom at the passover supper was that the master of the family broke this unleavened bread, and gave to every one a piece of it, saying, This is (that is, this signifies, represents, or commemorates, which explains that saying of our Saviour, This is my body) the bread of affliction which your fathers did eat in the land of Egypt. The gospel meaning of this feast of unleavened bread the apostle gives us, 1 Cor. 5:7. Christ our passover being sacrificed for us, and we having participated in the blessed fruits of that sacrifice to our comfort, let us keep the feast in a holy conversation, free from the leaven of malice towards our brethren and hypocrisy towards God, and with the unleavened bread of sincerity and love” (M. Henry).

So must we come to the table of our Lord, to remember his sacrifice which brought us out of the darkness of our transgressions to the marvelous light of his presence; preparing to participate in the Lord’s Supper: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are  unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). As the redeemed people of the Father, we remember the words of our Savior: “Take eat: this is my body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. …This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24-25).

Discussion: In what ways were the people of God to keep the Passover?