Passover (12:1-13:16)

D. Passover (12:1-13:16)

The Israelites avoided the devastating tenth plague because each family slaughtered a lamb as a substitute for its firstborn. They painted blood from the lamb on the door frames of their homes, and when God saw this evidence of the sacrifice on a house, he "passed over" that house, sparing the firstborn son. Beginning with the exodus God laid claim to all firstborn sons, and provided for their redemption, or buying back, with a substitutionary sacrifice (13:11-16). On the significance of the firstborn in biblical literature see Greenspahn (1994).
    The avoidance ritual of the tenth plague developed into a ceremonial meal called the Passover, or pesach in Hebrew. During this meal a roasted lamb was eaten along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (bread made without yeast) called matsot. Eating matsot symbolized the hurriedness of Israel's departure; the bread simply had no time to rise. In pre-Israelite times the Passover sacrifice and the feast of unleavened bread may have been two separate occasions, one pastorally based and the other agriculturally based. They were combined in biblical tradition and stand as a memorial and eternal ordinance of the exodus (12:14). The Passover ritual is defined not just in Exodus but also in a variety of Torah texts (see Leviticus 23:4-8; Numbers 9:1-14; 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8).
    The exodus story became so important to Israel's identity that the prescription for remembering it came to be contained within the tradition of the event itself. The yearly Passover celebration developed into one of Israel's most important festivals. Observing it or failing to observe it became a measure of the faithfulness of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. It is still widely celebrated today and serves as an enduring memorial to human freedom and divine compassion.