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Passover Then And Now
Every once in a while a thought gets fixated in your mind. You process thoughts that support your assumption for a while. Then you study the scriptures to see if you can prove your case. Eventually true Christianity sets in and your fixation goes away.
This study is just such a case.
Is the Passover a vigil^
It is one thing to search for a passage in the Bible, as soon as you find it the search is over. It is another thing to prove that something is not in the Bible. You have to read every verse and stay focused on the task at hand. You are not finished until you have searched the whole Bible.
First look at Exodus chapter 11.
Exodus 11 verse 1
NOW the LORD said to Moses, One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.
Now over to Exodus chapter 12. I will be reading from this chapter often so you might put a book marker there.
Exodus 12:11 (NASB)
Now you shall eat it (the lamb) in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste~it is the LORD^s Passover.
Also read verse 22 of Exodus 12, last part of the verse.
and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
Actually it does not state that it was a vigil but it seems to be implied. Why would God want you to be fully dressed with staff in hand ready to leave at any moment and expect you to get some sleep^ He had already warned that the Pharaoh would drive them out completely. Who could sleep knowing that the angel of death was passing over Egypt that night and that the Pharaoh and his army was on its way^ I think it is safe to assume that very few slept at all that night, maybe a few children.
Should the Passover still be a vigil^
In verse 14, we read, Exodus 12, Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
To my knowledge there is no mention in the Bible that anyone except the original observers kept the Passover as a vigil. The angel of death only passed by that one night and never again. There was no need to put blood on the door posts and lentils any more either. The fear of the Pharaoh and his army did not reoccur. The original observance would almost certainly have been customized or altered in several ways. By the time the example of Jesus having the Passover with His apostles came along the customs were changed by Jesus once and for all.
Before we review New Testament changes let us look at how Jesus and His apostles observed the Passover as shown in the New Testament.
Luke chapter 22 verses 7 and 8
Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.
There are a few things mentioned here that constituted the Passover observance, the killing of the Passover lamb, the preparation of the lamb and the eating of the Passover lamb.
Now look at what was commanded at the first Passover and let us see what was done by Jesus and His apostles and what was not.
Turn to Exodus chapter 12 again. We will read from verses 1 to 14 and I will make comments on what Jesus and His apostles did as shown in the New Testament.
Verses 1 to 3
NOW the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers households, a lamb for each household.
There is no evidence in the Bible that Jesus and His apostles picked a lamb on the tenth day of the month for their last Passover meal together. There is no mention of them walking with a lamb for four days. We just read that Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover lamb for them. This was done in order to observe the Passover as commanded.
Verse 4
Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.
Jesus and His apostles were not each with their own households, they were with each other as a group.
Verses 5 and 6
Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
There is no evidence that the apostles went to kill the lamb, only to prepare it. The lambs were likely killed by the whole congregation of Israel at some sort of public ceremony.
Verse 7
Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
They did not paint the doorposts or lintel with blood.
Verses 8 and 9
And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.
We know that they prepared the lamb. This was most likely done as directed.
Verse 10
And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.
There is no mention that anything was burned in the morning in the New Testament.
Verse 11
Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste~it is the LORD^s Passover.
They were likely fully dressed at the last supper but indications are that they were having a leisurely meal. Jesus even took the time to wash their feet, so they didn^t have their sandals on for a time and they were dipping bread in oil and drinking wine during the meal also. There is no mention of anyone with a staff only a couple of swords (Luke 22:38). This was a different occasion, different circumstances, a different time and different ways nevertheless prophecy was being fulfilled and an ordinance was being observed.
Exodus 12:12 and 13
For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first~born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments~I am the LORD.13 And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Lord went through Egypt, on that first Passover only, to kill the first born of Egypt. He would not do so again.
Also read verse 22 of Exodus 12, last part of the verse.
and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
That night Jesus and His apostles went out to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested. There was no fear of the death angel that night.
Verse 14
Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
We see that the Passover was to be celebrated as a permanent ordinance. We know that Jesus was the God of the old testament so Jesus gave this commandment and He obeyed it. We just examined how He obeyed it. It was in part and not in whole, stressing the most important aspects only, the symbolism of the lamb representing His own body.
That night Jesus changed the customs regarding the Passover to drinking wine, which now represented His shed blood for the forgiveness of sins, and to eating bread which represented His body. Matthew 26:26 to 28 and in other gospels as well.
With all this in mind let us now look at the vigil aspect of the observance. It appears that the original Passover was a vigil. The Passover that Jesus had with His apostles was also a vigil. Does this mean that we should observe it with a vigil^ Let us have a closer look at what Jesus said to His apostles that night.
Matthew 26:36, Matthew 26:36
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.
Verse 40
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour^
Jesus only expected them to stay awake with Him for one hour but they were sleeping.
Verse 43
And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
They were sleeping so they were not observing a vigil. Jesus did not remind them that it was a vigil. He did not rebuke them for this. This would have been the most critical night for His apostles to keep a vigil if it were necessary.
It was not intended in the original commandment to make the vigil part of the permanent ordinance of celebrating the Passover just as many other parts of the observance were not intended to be part of the permanent observance, judging by the example of Jesus and His apostles. Jesus did not state that it was to be a vigil at any time. When Jesus established the new way of keeping the Passover He made no mention to anyone that it was to be a vigil. My conclusion is that there is insufficient evidence to justify keeping the Passover as a vigil. There is no need, no requirement, no compulsion to be found in the New Testament. Jesus made no mention of it when He changed the customs of the Passover observance.
2013 Jacques Gauvin