The Timeless Festival - Yesterday & Today
Pesach, commonly known in English as the Passover, has a history that could pre-date the time of Exodus. An argument could be made that this festival(s) may be the oldest in the world, and pre-dates the rituals that were added to it. Pesach, as we know it, appears to be the merging of two ancient spring festivals celebrated by shepherd's and farmers. This ancient celebration included a freedom from bondage and a hopeful anticipation of what is to come.
The ancient shepherd's festival included slaughtering a lamb to appease God for the upcoming lambing season. The ancient agricultural festival celebrated the farmer's freedom - no longer being a slave to his land. He has toiled in the fields for six months (Sukkot-Pesach), caring for the land without seeing any fruits for his labor, then comes Pesach. It is around this time that the field is transformed and the farmer reaps his reward.
There is some debate as to why this ancient festival was called Pesach, but in short, Pesach means to 'protect,' or 'hover over and protect.' While the smearing of blood on doorposts of tents may not have been a new concept,1 it is clear that when Israel obeyed Moses' instruction, the Destroyer passed over their homes because each home was protected.2
Pesach: Pre-Dating the Exodus
The Pesach (Passover) festival is of ancient origin, and falls near the full moon of the vernal equinox. The beginning of spring is considered sacred to many nomadic peoples and ancient religions. Practically thinking, it makes more sense to believe that Israel was not a stranger to some form of a spring festival(s) prior to Yehovah's instruction to Moses.
Julius Wellhausen... argued that sacrifice found its roots in the need for secure access to "fruitful soil ... the basis at once of life and religion." The biblical Passover must have evolved from the fusion of two ancient types of sacrifice: pesach, exemplifying pastoral bounty, and matzot, representing agrarian abundance. Abel's sacrifice of firstlings from his flock illustrates the first. Cain's offering "from the fruit of the soil" embodies the second.
Nomadic families slaughtered their pesach offering, a firstling from the flock, at sunset in the spring... To ward off evil spirits, blood from the animal was smeared on the entrance of shepherds' dwellings.
Edited by Lawrence Hoffman, David Arnow, My People's Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries, Volume 1, pg. 10
Passover probably originated as a shepherd's festival, celebrated in the Spring (March-April), and designed to insure a successful lambing season. As a result of the exodus experience, Israel adapts it to commemorate the conviction that the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Volume 1, pg. 199
As Passover “has connections with a flock-animal sacrifice predating it, so also eating of unleavened bread cakes was first practiced in a setting having nothing to do with the exodus . . . [and] is rooted, in all likelihood, in an agricultural celebration connected with grain harvesting.”
John Durham, Exodus (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), p. 159
The pagan shepherds offered the animal in order to ensure the fecundity of the flocks, just as the rites of the spring harvest festival were intended to secure the fertility of the soil. In Israel, each rite was severed from its magical and mythical roots.
Nahum M. Sarna, Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel, pg. 89
Pesach is a spring festival that was originally observed to 'appease God', hoping to gain favor for the coming year's pasture. It was believed that if Pesach was correctly observed, no plague would come, which can be seen in teaching as late as the book of Jubiless.
As can be seen above, Pesach has primitive origins that far pre-date Israel's national and religious significance. It has been suggested that the Exodus story wasn't fully included in the holiday until the 6th century BCE - the Second Temple period.
Pesach: Observed by Cain & Abel?
With the farmer and shepherd's festivals in view, we can look further back in history at the offerings of Cain & Abel, which now bring on new meaning.
Genesis 4:1-4, Now the man knew Eve his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I created a man with Yehovah.” Then she gave birth again, to his brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd of flocks while Cain became a worker of the ground. At the designated time [lit. end of days] Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to Yehovah, while Abel—he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. Now Yehovah looked favorably upon Abel and his offering,
ימים מקץ literally translates as end of days, which brings us to an interesting dilemma. Does end of days here refer to the end of the week? End of the month? Or, end of the year? It appears that we only have one option to choose from - the end of the year. Why so? Because the weekly Shabbat and monthly lunar cycle have never required a sacrifice. Pesach, celebrated at the turn of the year, did.
With the above considerations in view, we may conclude that Cain and Abel's offerings were for Pesach because:
- The timing of the offering was at the end of days
- It would be highly irregular for Yehovah to teach His creation about a cyclical offering that didn't endure for future cycles
- The offerings each made paralleled the ancient spring festivals of the farmers and shepherd's
- Pesach is the only festival recorded prior to the rebellion (post exodus)
- The Messiah is specifically called the Pesach (1 Cor 5:7), Who transcends time
Pesach: A Renewed Festival for Israel
After 200 years in Egypt, it appears that Israel, to a large degree, lost the ways of their fathers. Yehovah had to reeducate His people, and restore/renew the Pesach festival just as he restored the Sabbath to them (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 16:23-30). Yehovah told Moses to instruct the Hebrews to celebrate Pesach - before the plagues and exodus! While not definitive, Yehovah's command to take the Hebrews three days journey into the wilderness to serve Yehovah was for Pesach. When Pharoah refused, the Hebrews celebrated Pesach in their homes (in Egypt).
Exodus 5:1-3, And afterwards Mosheh and Aharon went in and said to Pharaoh, “Thus said Yehovah Elohim of Yisrael, ‘Let My people go, so that they keep a festival to Me in the wilderness.’ ” And Pharaoh said, “Who is Yehovah, that I should obey His voice to let Yisrael go? I do not know Yehovah, nor am I going to let Yisrael go.” And they said, “The Elohim of the Heḇrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness and slaughter to Yehovah our Elohim, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
Exodus 10:9, And Mosheh said, “We are going with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we are going, for we have a festival to Yehovah.”
As we can see from the above references, Yehovah instructed Moses to lead Israel into the wilderness to keep a festival unto Yehovah that included slaughtering (see also: Exodus 3:18; 7:16; 8:27). Israel garnered new understanding and depth to their festival as it is the time Yehovah chose to free them from their bondage.
It must also be noted that the only "sacrifice" mentioned in the book of Exodus is Pesach. In Exodus 23:18, Yehovah gives an instruction, "do not offer the blood of My sacrifice with hametz." One important note is how He calls it "My sacrifice."
Are We to Observe Pesach Today?
Upon understanding that Pesach was a festival that pre-dated the Mosaic covenant, we can gain better understanding of the role of Pesach today. As we can see below, Pesach is an enduring celebration, one that should be the highlight of the year! There are several Corinthian passages that lead us to believe that Pesach should continue to be observed today, just as in antiquity.3 What we can now see more clearly are the elements and symbols within it. Since there is no Temple, we cannot share in the roasted lamb, but we should most certainly celebrate with unleavened bread and wine.
1 Corinthians 5:6-11, Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the entire lump? Therefore cleanse out the old leaven, so that you are a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Messiah our Passover was offered for us. So then let us observe the festival, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to keep company with those who whore. And I certainly did not mean with those of this world who whore, or with the greedy of gain, or swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone called ‘a brother,’ if he is one who whores, or greedy of gain, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.
The passage above makes it clear that we should "observe the festival." This extends beyond simply learning a spiritual truth as it is an opportunity to "eat with God;" hence, communion. This may be why the unrepentant person, even if they call themselves a brother, is not to be welcomed to your Pesach table. (Compare Exodus 12:14)
1 Corinthians 10:16-21, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Messiah? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Messiah? Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Look at Yisrael after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the offerings sharers in the altar? What then do I say? That an idol is of any value? Or that which is offered to idols is of any value? No, but what the gentiles offer they offer to demons and not to Elohim, and I do not wish you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons, you are not able to partake of the table of the Master and of the table of demons.
It appears some in the assembly were enjoying a banquet at the pagan temple,4 then coming to the assembly to partake in the Pesach celebration. We know this is the Passover meal being referenced here because of the specific name "cup of blessing," which is the third of four cups that are blessed at the Pesach ceremony. It is also called the 'cup of redemption' and is again referenced in Matt 26:27; Mark 14:22-24; and Luke 22:20.5
The Summary of the Matter
With the above said, we as believers should continue to celebrate Pesach as a celebration of life from the dead.
1 It has been suggested that blood was smeared on the doorposts of tents as a sign of tribal kinship.
2 Some have argued that Pesach means to 'pass-over,' or 'skip-over,' and that the passing/skipping over referenced the lambs that were skipped over, while others have argued that the skipping was representative of the shepherd's festive dancing, mimicking the lambs. In either case, we can clearly see how Israel's firstborn was skipped over and protecteced in the Exodus event.
3 The LXX uses this Greek word 'festival' (1 Corinthians 5:8) as the equivalent Hebrew word 'festival' (Exodus 5:1).
4 Because of the timing of Pesach (Passover), this could be referring to another Spring Festival (around the full moon of the vernal equinox) in which a pagan deity was celebrated. A contemporary example, and possibly the same, would be believers celebrating the pagan deity Easter (goddess of fertility) and then coming to celebrate Pesach with the family of Yehovah.
5 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 is another reference to Pesach. The assembly at Corinth was not ignorant of Pesach.