From the time of the Exodus, God instituted a celebration in the Spring to be held on the 14th day of the first month on His Calendar (it’s not the same as our Gregorian calendars we use in most places on earth today). These times and seasons are listed in Leviticus 23, and the one we just celebrated last week was the Passover Meal, which kicks off the spring Biblical holy days, leading into the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Passover Meal is to remind us that God’s people were slaves in Egypt, and death passed over them if they had the blood of the Passover Lamb on their doorposts.
They fled Egypt in haste, without time to let their dough rise, which is why we eat unleavened bread. You can read all about this in Exodus 12-15. God says specifically we are to teach this to our children. Passover was re-instituted by a righteous king in Judah, King Josiah, which you can read about in 2 Chronicles 35, it’s a beautiful story about a king who came to reign at 8 yrs old and by the time he was 26, they found the book of God’s law and he began to repent and turn the people back to God’s ways and instructions which are written in it.
Passover shows up again in a very important way when Yeshua (Jesus) tells his disciples to go and prepare the Passover just before He was crucified. Each one of the Gospels tells about this incredible time when He laid down His life for us all, at the time of Passover. Leviticus 23 tells us that the day after the Passover meal is a special Sabbath day for the 1st and again on the 7th day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where the people who belong to the Lord are to get all the leaven out of our homes and eat unleavened bread for 7 days. Yeshua references several times to his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herod. Things can creep into our lives and every year we take stock of what needs to go and what can stay. What bad ideas or beliefs have you allowed into your life that really need to be purged? I love how God gives us these really effective object lessons where we can learn in real-time what His Word instituted thousands of years ago. It’s so relevant for us today if, like King Josiah, we will read His instructions yet again and begin to turn back to God’s ways. Because, after all, He’s right and His way is always the best way! He has so much to teach us if we will come and learn.
Now, up next is the counting of the Omer, which begins on the Feast of First Fruits, which is the day that the women found the tomb of Yeshua empty, the day of His resurrection! This is the first day of the week (what we call Sunday) after Passover, and we are instructed to count 7 sabbaths (49 days) and on the 50th day to celebrate another Feast unto the LORD called Shavuot, or “Feast of Weeks” which in Christianity is commonly known by its Greek name, “Pentecost”. Acts 2 is all about what happened at Shavuot that year, where the Holy Spirit was given, and 3,000 people were saved. This is the exact same time on God’s calendar where Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with God’s commandments, the people had rebelled and gone astray again and exactly 3,000 people had died. I suppose it’s impossible to mine all the treasures and deep connections that run through the entirety of the Scriptures. One of my great passions is connecting these dots and helping others to as well. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me! Studying these things has been the greatest adventure of my life!