Pesakh

On Nisan 14th in the evening (''between the evenings") (according to the Jewish calendar) Pesakh (Passover) begins. Nisan is the first month of the year.

Exod 12:2 This month [shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to you.

Let us to read these words once more: "to you". We need it! In this month Jews came out of Egypt, Messiah Yeshua died and rose, on Nisan first Mishkan (the tabernacle) was sanctified and the glory of G-d filled the tabernacle (Exod. 40:1-35), Nehemiah went to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:1-9, ), Esther proclaimed about three-day fast (Еst. 3:7, 4:16).

In Hebrew there is the word "nisim" (the miracles). Nisan is the month of the miracles!

We can read in Leviticus 23:
Lev 23:4 These [are] the feasts of the LORD, [even] holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at even [is] the LORD'S passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Lev 23:8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day [is] an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work [therein].
Lev 23:9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
Lev 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Lev 23:12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
Lev 23:13 And the meat offering thereof [shall be] two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD [for] a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof [shall be] of wine, the fourth [part] of an hin.

"I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Exod 20:2)

A word "Pesakh'' is from the verb ''pasakh'' (to pass by). Angel of death had passed by when he saw the blood of a lamb on the door-posts and above the doors of the Jewish houses. Blood was a sign. So there were two conditions for the Exodus:

In Tanakh we can read about the celebration of Pesakh in Israel in Joshua time in Gilgal (Josh 5:9–10), during the reign of Hezekiah (2Chr 30:1–21) and Josiah (2Chr 35:1–19), in Ezra time (Ezr 6:19-22).

"Joseph Flavius tells that in 65 year A.D. no less than three millions people came in Jerusalem for the sacrifice of the lambs (War 2:280); the same figure is in Talmud (Pesakh. 64b)." (http://www.eleven.co.il/article/13202)

What does it mean for us, believers in Yeshua? It is not enough know about G-d or to go to church only. We need to oil our hearts by blood of the Lamb of G-d - Messiah Yeshua! We need fulfill His commandments!

Deut 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deut 10:13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

There were 10 great judgments over Egyptians. The last one was Egyptian firstborns were slain. Why?

Exod 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:

Exod 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, [even] thy firstborn.

Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that [was] in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

That's why it is necessary to bless the Jewish people: to share the Good News with Jews, to pray for peace in Jerusalem etc.

Messianic meaning of Pesakh

Luk 22:19 And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup [is] the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.

Our Pesakh is Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) Who died for our sins and was risen for our justification.

1Cor 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Messiah (Christ) died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

John 11:25 Yeshua (Jesus) said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Messiah Yeshua was risen on the third day when Jews brought a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to the priest.

"It is likely that the very same day the High Priest was offering the first fruits of the barley harvest, God was raising the Messiah from the dead as the first fruits of redeemed humanity. The Feast of First Fruits is the true Biblical Resurrection day. I wish the Christian Church would have embraced this holiday, with its Goddesigned symbolism of the resurrection, rather than replacing it with Easter eggs, bunnies and ham roasts." (Rabbi Loren. Leviticus 23: Yeshua in the Jewish Holidays http://www.shema.com/commentaries/Leviticus/Leviticus_23.php)

Yeshua is ''the firstfruits'':

1Cor 15:23 ... Messiah (Christ) the firstfruits...

We believers in Yeshua need to thank G-d for exodus and for the redemption of Israel and all people in Messiah Yeshua.

" ... even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." (Exod 12:15)

"Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah (Christ) our Pesakh (passover) is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth." (1Cor 5:6-8)

The first cup is the cup of sanctification:
Exod 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I [am] the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians...

The second cup is the cup of deliverance, it symbolizes the great judgements:
Exod 6:6 ... and I will deliver (rid) you out of their bondage...

The third cup is the cup of redemption:
Exod 6:6 ... and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

Exod 6:7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Matza is the bread of misery: "Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, [even] the bread of misery (affliction); for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life." (Deut 16:3)

Three matzot symbolizes the Triunity G-d: Abba (Father), Ben (Son, Messiah Yeshua) and Ruach ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit).

The middle matza is broken, and a part of matza (afikomen) is wrapped in a serviette and is hidden (someone of children finds afikomen before the third cup).

Maror are the bitter herbs which remind us about the bitterness of the bondage of Jews in Egypt.

Charoset is puree of apples, vine juice and the pounded nuts. It reminds us about a loam which our ancestry used for the production of the bricks.

Z'roah is a piece of roast meat on a bone. Zaroah symbolizes the Pesakh Lamb. Messiah Yeshua is our Pesakh Lamb.

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:1-5)

- About mitzva to eat matza and about the prohibition of hametz (leaven): "Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, [This is done] because of that [which] the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt." (Exod 13:7-8)

- about the redemption of first-born sons: "... and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [is] this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:" (Exod 13:13-14)

- about Pesakh lamb: "And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It [is] the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped." (Exod 12:26-27)

- about all mitzvot: "[And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as [it is] at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us." (Deut 6:20-25)

Ruth said to Naomi: "... Intreat me not to leave thee, [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God:" (Rth 1:16) It is very important Ruth said these words during Pesakh (read 1:22)!