● Why is this night different from all other nights?

● Why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread?

● Why on this night do we eat bitter herbs?

● Why on this night do we dip parsley in salt water and eat haroseth (horseradish)?

● Why on this night do we hold this Passover service?

Devote Jews still come together as a family to celebrate Passover.  Over centuries of time, these questions with actions to take were developed and still traditionally asked by the youngest child in attendance at the Passover meal.  Everything that is presented at the meal has a significant meaning.  Everything that is done is in reverence with thanksgiving to God.  Being set free from the bondage of a nation who enslaved them is an event not to be forgotten but celebrated with joy.

Here is a portion of the traditional script: (There is much more…later we will discuss “the Cup”!)

The Father of the family who sat at the Head of the table would reply to the questions of the youngest child in this way:

Our fathers went down to Egypt and lived there in a very small number. We turned into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude. The Egyptians afflicted and persecuted us, laying on us huge burdens. We cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who heard us and looked down upon our affliction, labor, and distress. God led us out of Egypt with a strong hand, a stretched-out arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. Even if all of us were wise and we could recite Scripture, it would still be our duty every year to tell the story of our deliverance from Egypt. To spend this time tonight remembering God’s mighty work is praiseworthy.

Exodus 12:1-14 is read. The Head of the Family holds up a lamb bone and says:

The bone represents the lamb of the passover.

All respond: What is the meaning of Passover?

Father: Passover means the paschal lamb which our forefathers sacrificed to the Lord in memory of that night when the Holy One passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt, as it is written: “When your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service? You shall say to them: It is a remembrance of the passage of the Lord, when He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses.”

The father again uncovers the first piece of unleavened bread and holds it.

All: What is the meaning of matzoh (unleavened bread)?

Father: This is the bread of affliction which our fathers took with them out of Egypt as it is written: “And they baked the meal, which a little before they had brought out of Egypt, in dough: and they made earth cakes unleavened: for it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart, and not suffering them to make any stay: neither did they think of preparing any meat.” (Exodus 12:39.)

The father lifts up the parsley and saltwater, All take the green herb (parsley), dip it in the salt-water.

All: What is the meaning of parsley and salt water?

Father: The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of God’s people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of their slavery. On this night, we remember the harshness of slavery and the tears of our ancestors. All eat the green herb/parsley. Everyone takes parsley and dips it into the salt water. Taste the parsley and the salt water.

The father lifts up the horseradish, while all ask: All: What is the meaning of maror?

Father: Maror means bitter herb. We eat maror to recall that the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers, as it is written: “And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them: And they made their lives bitter with hard works in clay, and brick, and with all manner of service wherewith they were overcharged in the works of the earth.” (Exodus 1:13-14.)

All: What is the meaning of the haroseth?

The father lifts up the haroseth, The Haroseth reminds us of the clay and mortar used by Israel in making the bricks for Egypt. Its sweetness is a reminder of the sweetness of God’s redemption from bondage.

Then a traditional song (psalm) is sung.  As a preface to the Hallel psalm, the father, lifts his cup of wine and says,

In every generation, each one person should think of themselves as though they had personally come out of Egypt. It is written, “you should tell your son on that day, saying, this is what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8) It’s our duty to thank, praise, glorify, bless and adore the Lord who did all of these miracles for our fathers and for us. The Lord brought us out of slavery into freedom; from sorrow to joy; from mourning to a festive day, from darkness to great light, and from oppression to redemption.

Now, imagine our Lord, Jesus sitting at the Head of the Table to celebrate what God has done in this familiar Jewish way with his disciples knowing what God will provide in His Son as THE PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD who will be the sacrifice once and for all for the sins of the world!  Pause to take it all in…take all the time you need.  This is God who is greatly to be praised, who made a way, the Way for mankind to come to Him and love Him back.  No more animal sacrifices of tradition, no more blood to be shed at an altar, no more bondage to sin for all who believe with all our hearts, minds, and souls!  Yes, THIS is cause to celebrate!  And there’s more to come!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 

Deuteronomy 16

The Passover

Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. ³ Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. ⁴ Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.

⁵ You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you ⁶ except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. ⁷ Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

⁹ Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. ¹¹ And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles

¹³ Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. ¹⁴ Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. ¹⁵ For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: ¹⁷ Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Judges

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. ²⁰ Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Worshiping Other Gods

²¹ Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, ²² and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Are we beginning to see the full picture?  What God commanded then was to prepare the nation of Israel for WHO is to come to take away the sins of the world!  ALL sins for ALL who believe and follow Jesus!  The book of Hebrews explains, here is a portion:

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”

then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” Hebrews 10:1-18

Our response?  Sincerely believe, humbly repent of sins in Jesus Name, listen to the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit who lives in all who believe, and do what He says.  Then celebrate with joy that is unspeakable and full of the glory of God!  Our sins have been taken away, we are no longer held in bondage to darkness but have been brought into the Light of Jesus who did not merely cover over our sins but removed them once and for all!  Our sins, our past, to be remembered no more!  Hallelujah!

“Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, MSG

Remember, celebrate with joy!  And we’re singing, “holy is the Lamb who is seated on the throne, there’s no one like the Lord” …In Jesus Name, for our good and Your Glory, Yes and