Passover Visit
53
Psalm 122:2-7
.
The observance of the Passover began with the birth of the Hebrew
nation. On the last night of their bondage in Egypt, when there ap-
peared no token of deliverance, God commanded them to prepare for
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an immediate release. He had warned Pharaoh of the final judgment
on the Egyptians, and He directed the Hebrews to gather their fami-
lies within their own dwellings. Having sprinkled the doorposts with
the blood of the slain lamb, they were to eat the lamb, roasted, with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “And thus shall ye eat it,” He said,
“with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your
hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.”
Exodus
12:11
. At midnight all the first-born of the Egyptians were slain. Then
the king sent to Israel the message, “Rise up, and get you forth from
among my people; ... and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.”
Exodus
12:31
. The Hebrews went out from Egypt an independent nation. The
Lord had commanded that the Passover should be yearly kept. “It shall
come to pass,” He said, “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.” Thus from generation to
generation the story of this wonderful deliverance was to be repeated.
The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened
bread. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s
harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the
ceremonies of the feast were types of the work of Christ. The deliver-
ance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which
the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The slain lamb, the
unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour.
With most of the people in the days of Christ, the observance of this
feast had degenerated into formalism. But what was its significance to
the Son of God!
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For the first time the child Jesus looked upon the temple. He saw
the white-robed priests performing their solemn ministry. He beheld
the bleeding victim upon the altar of sacrifice. With the worshipers He
bowed in prayer, while the cloud of incense ascended before God. He
witnessed the impressive rites of the paschal service. Day by day He
saw their meaning more clearly. Every act seemed to be bound up with