Legands of the Jews > Volume 2 >
THE FIRST PASSOVER
When the time approached in which, according to the
promise made to Abraham, his children would be redeemed,
it was seen that they had no pious deeds to their credit for
the sake of which they deserved release from bondage. God
therefore gave them two commandments, one bidding them
to sacrifice the paschal lamb and one to circumcise their
sons.[201] Along with the first they received the calendar in
use among the Jews, for the Passover feast is to be celebrated
on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan, and with
this month the year is to begin. But the computations for
the calendar are so involved that Moses could not understand
them until God showed him the movements of the
moon plainly. There were three other things equally difficult,
which Moses could comprehend only after God made
him to see them plainly. They were the compounding of
the holy anointing oil, the construction of the candlestick
in the Tabernacle, and the animals the flesh of which is
permitted
or prohibited.[202] Also the determination of the new
moon was the subject of special Divine teaching. That
Moses might know the exact procedure, God appeared to
him in a garment with fringes upon its corners, bade Moses
stand at His right hand and Aaron at His left, and then,
citing Michael and Gabriel as witnesses, He addressed
searching questions to the angels as to how the new moon
had seemed to them. Then the Lord addressed Moses and
Aaron, saying, "Thus shall My children proclaim the new
moon, on the testimony of two witnesses and through the
president of the court.[203]
When Moses appeared before the children of Israel and delivered the Divine message to them, telling them that their redemption would come about in this month of Nisan, they said: "How is it possible that we should be redeemed? Is not the whole of Egypt full of our idols? And we have no pious deeds to show making us worthy of redemption." Moses made reply, and said: "As God desires your redemption, He pays no heed to your idols; He passes them by. Nor does He look upon your evil deeds, but only upon the good deeds of the pious among you."[204]
God would not, indeed, have delivered Israel if they had not abandoned their idol worship. Unto this purpose He commanded them to sacrifice the paschal lamb. Thus they were to show that they had given up the idolatry of the Egyptians, consisting in the worship of the ram.[205] The early law was different from the practice of later times, for they were bidden to select their sacrificial animal four days before the day appointed for the offering, and to designate it publicly as such, to show that they did not stand in awe of the Egyptians.
With a heavy heart the Egyptians watched the preparations of the Israelites for sacrificing the animals they worshipped. Yet they did not dare interpose an objection, and when the time came for the offering to be made, the children of Israel could perform the ceremonies without a tremor, seeing that they knew, through many days' experience, that the Egyptians feared to approach them with hostile intent. There was another practice connected with the slaughter of the paschal lamb that was to show the Egyptians how little the Israelites feared them. They took of the blood of the animal, and openly put it on the two side posts and on the lintel of the doors of their houses.[206]
Moses communicated the laws regulating the Passover sacrifice to the elders, and they in turn made them known to the people at large. The elders were commended for having supported the leader at his first appearance, for their faith in Moses caused the whole people to adhere to him at once. Therefore God spake, saying: "I will reward the elders for inspiring the people with confidence in Moses. They shall have the honor of delivering Israel. They shall lead the people to the Passover sacrifice, and through this the redemption will be brought about."[207]
The ceremonies connected with the Passover sacrifice had the purpose of conveying instruction to Israel about the past and the future alike. The blood put on the two side posts and on the lintel of their doors was to remind them of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the bunch of hyssop for sprinkling the blood on the doors was to imply that, although Israel's position among the peoples of the earth is as lowly as that of the hyssop among the plants, yet this little nation is bound together like the bunch of hyssop, for it is God's peculiar treasure.[208]
The paschal sacrifice afforded Moses the opportunity for
inducing the children of Israel to submit themselves to
circumcision,
which many had refused to do until then in spite
of his urgent appeals. But God has means of persuasion.
He caused a wind to blow that wafted the sweet scents of
Paradise toward Moses' paschal lamb, and the fragrance
penetrated to all parts of Egypt, to the distance of a forty
days' journey. The people were attracted in crowds to
Moses' lamb, and desired to partake of it. But he said,
"This is the command of God, 'No uncircumcised person
shall eat thereof,' " and they all decided to undergo
circumcision. When the Lord passed through the land of Egypt,
He blessed every Israelite for his fulfilment of the two
commands, the command of the paschal sacrifice and the command
regarding circumcision."
The Lord performed a great miracle for the Israelites. As no sacrifice may be eaten beyond the borders of the Holy Land, all the children of Israel were transported thither on clouds, and after they had eaten of the sacrifice, they were carried back to Egypt in the same way.[210]
