And What is Passover?

Passover is a holiday observing the period in history when the Jewish people were freed from slavery. They were bound in the land of Egypt. They wanted freedom from their bonds of slavery. Pharaoh decreed that all Jewish male babies would be killed. He did this because he feared the power of the Jewish people. Pharaoh sensed they were becoming too strong. A Jewish couple, Jocheved and Amran, decided to try and save their infant son by putting him in a basket and floating it on the river. They then told Miriam, their daughter, to watch that someone rescued the baby from the river. The one that rescued the baby was none other than Pharaoh’s daughter. She took the child for her own and named him Moses, which means: take from the water.

When Moses grew up, he had a great compassion for the Jewish slaves. When he found out that he was a Jew, he wanted to help his people. He tried to no avail to persuade Pharaoh to free the Jewish slaves. Moses believed in God and God came to his aide.

God allowed 10 plagues to come upon Egypt, but still Pharaoh would not let the Jews go. The plagues that came against Pharaoh and the land were:

�· Blood (Exodus 7:17)
�· Frogs (Exodus 8:2-4)
�· Lice (Exodus 8:16-18)
�· Flies (Exodus 8:21)
�· Cattle Disease (Exodus 9:3)
�· Boils (Exodus9:9)
�· Hail (Exodus 9:18)
�· Locusts (Exodus 10:4)
�· Darkness (Exodus 10:21)
�· Slaying of the firstborn (Exodus 11:4-5)

Finally, with the slaying of the first-born sons, Pharaoh gave in and told Moses he would let the Jewish people go.

The Jewish people quickly gathered their things and didn’t even wait for the bread to rise so they baked it the way it was and took it with them. As the Jews were fleeing though, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent an army after them. God though, intervened and parted the Red Sea so they could pass and then closed the sea in on the army saving the Jewish people.

Passover is celebrated today by having a Seder. Seder means order, and Jewish people read the Passover story in a special order from a book called the Haggadah. Haggadah means, “to tell” and the story is told of Jewish ancestors and their bondage and journey to freedom. The telling of this story is to help remind the Jewish people that they are a free people! There are different parts of the Seder and during the Seder Jewish people eat traditional and symbolic foods that remind them of their ancestry and their adversity. One of the things that they do is to dip a spring vegetable into salt water. The vegetable is a sign of spring, or rebirth, and the salt water represents the tears of the slaves. They eat bitter herbs, to remind them of the bitterness of slavery.

The name Passover comes from when the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews, because they had been forewarned, and had put lambs blood on their doors, so that death would spare their first-born child. “When I see the Blood, I will pass, I will pass over you!”

Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.