What Ever Happened to Passover

The Passover season is finally upon us and we can celebrate one of most momentous feasts talked about in the Bible. It is also one of the more enjoyable holidays by both Jews and Christians alike. Even though the two groups differ only in one area, the Jews choose to keep it yearly (Lev. 23:4), whereas, the Christians go one time.

Consider this feast as part of the cycle of blessings (see Keeping the Feasts) which should be kept yearly if we want to walk in them.

As is with every tradition, things always get added to or taken away from. In the case of Passover it was added to quite a bit from its original inception. Let's look and see what happened.

Preparation Before the Meal:
In some Jewish homes (generally more orthodox) they will go to great extremes to clean the house. There will be a removal of all of the leaven (chametz in Hebrew) even to the point where utensils that touched any leaven may even be sold to the next door neighbor, and then bought back after the Feast of Unleavened Bread is over. Some Jewish grocery store owners have even done a similar thing by selling their store during this season and then buying it back afterwards.

After the home has been thoroughly cleansed the father and the children will go around the house with a candle, a feather, a wooden spoon and a paper bag. The mother of the home will already have placed some bread crumbs around the house in the corners, and the father will search for it with his candle. When he finds it, then he scoops it into the wooden spoon with the feather then dumping it into the paper bag. Once this process is fully completed, the father will then announce that they found all of the leaven and then take all of the utensils outside to be burned.

How much more should we as believers be willing to clean our homes (both spiritual and physical) when it comes to the leaven (junk) in our lives. Yet, we tend to watch things, say things or even posses things that we know we would be too embarrassed for Yeshua to see, and still expect God to move supernaturally for us.

The Day of the Service:
Now that the house has been cleansed, it is time to prepare the meal and the table. The table is arranged elegantly because this is, though a tradition, a very special occasion/meal.

As the family members, and sometimes friends, come together they carefully arrange themselves around the table noting not to take the head seat or the special reserved place at the table. The leader, generally the father or grandfather, of the service will take his seat at the head of the table to officiate the meal.

Seder (Order of the Service):
Please keep in mind that Passover is a variation on the theme. In other words, no two homes will do it exactly alike, yet the overall theme is the same. Some homes will have a six hour meal and others only a one hour meal.

According to Exodus 12:8 we are to eat a roasted one year old male lamb without blemish with bitter herbs (note that it is plural) and matzah. That was it and nothing more! But somehow the Rabbi's got their hands on this and felt that there needed to be something more to it. So what went from a simple evening meal designed by God turned out to be a long drawn out feast designed by man. [Please note that I am by no means bitter about this at all. Because I have been doing this since I was a child, and still continue to do it to this day (except for much larger crowds). My wife and I thoroughly enjoy celebrating the Passover even with the extra stuff added in, and it never seems to get old to us.]

It should also be noted that when the rabbi's instituted all of the extra items into the Passover they also did it with the Messiah in mind. I believe very strongly that God uses man in ways that they are not even aware of. Especially the sages of the past with their so called "religious ideas."

One of the items placed on the table which gets lots of attention is a seder plate. It is a round dish with six items carefully arranged according to its Hebrew word on the plate itself. They are as follows:

1. Chazaret: As described in Exodus 12:8, we are commanded to eat bitter herbs (plural). This can be a whole bitter herb, an onion, or a piece of lettuce.
2. Z'roah: The shank bone is to remind us that the central feature of Passover used to be lamb. Since the destruction of the temple in 70 AD all that is left is a dried up shank bone.
3. Charoset: This sweet mixture of apples, nuts and honey represents the mortar used for making the bricks. Its sweetness reminds us of the servitude that preludes the sweetness of redemption.
4. Maror: The bitter herb, or horseradish, is used to remind us of the bitterness that the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt.
5. Karpas: This green vegetable reminds us that this feast is celebrated in the springtime. It is also to remind us of the hyssop plant that was used to spread the blood over the doorposts. According to one of the great rabbinical sages of old, Passover was also an agricultural festival and a time for the Israelites to give thanks for the earth's rich bounties.
6. Betzah: It is also known as chagigah, or Festival Offering. This roasted egg represents the daily temple sacrifices before the destruction of the temple. It also represents a symbol of life itself, a triumph over death.

Now here is an example of the order of a somewhat typical service which is taken from my Hagaddah (a book used by Jewish people to help guide them through the meal. The word means "to tell".):

1. Bedikath Chametz - Removal of the leaven
2. Hadelaketh - Blessing of the festival candles
3. Kos Kaddish - Cup of Sanctification
4. Urchatz - Washing of the hands
5. Karpas - Greens
6. Yachatz - Breaking of the middle matzah
7. Mageed - Story of God's redemption
8. Mah-Nishtahnah - The Four Questions
9. Arba-Aht Ha-Baneem - The Four Sons
10. Makot – The Ten Plagues
11. Dayenu - It would have been enough for us
12. Rachatz – Washing of the hands
13. Motzi-Matzah - Blessing over the matzah
14. Maror - Bitter herb
15. Koreich - Matzah and maror sandwich
16. Shulchan Orech - Festive meal
17. Tsafoon - Search for the Afikomen
18. Kos G’ulah - Cup of Redemption
19. Boreich - Blessing after the meal
20. Kos Hallel - Cup of Praise
21. Kos Eliyahu - Cup of Elijah
22. Nirtzah - Closing Prayer

As you can see the list is quite extensive and it should be fairly obvious why a Passover meal can take a few hours or more. Not to say, quite a while before getting to the meal itself. There are Jewish people today that do not like a lengthy meal, and yearly the jokes come out about how long Passover takes to do. Visit Aish.com around this time of year and you will find plenty of humor there along with some videos.

Also in my Hagaddah I have a section called the One New Man. This is an abbreviated section which leaves out items that do not point to the Messiah. If you would like to receive a free copy please email me and I will send it to you. Specify whether you would like the traditional version or the One New Man version.

Conclusion:
As we have seen, the original Seder meal was only suppose to be as long as a regular meal takes to eat today, but then the sages stepped in and added their opinions to it. Whether it is right or wrong does not matter, what matters is that we can see Yeshua all through it. Which to me clearly states that this is one feast that He truly Fulfilled.

Until next time... Shalom!