The Rapture Series
Why Do you Believe? What Do you Believe? How Do You Believe? Who Do You Believe?
“Reason to Believe
Passover
By (Greg Killian)
III. TORAH READINGS FOR PASSOVER
VI. HASHEM'S PASSOVER AND THE FIRSTBORN
VIII. NAMES GIVEN TO THE PASSOVER FESTIVAL
IX. PESACH VS. UNLEAVENED BREAD
II. Our Redemption
The primary theme of Pesach is REDEMPTION. The Torah indicates that each of HaShem's people was redeemed from Egypt, therefore each one of us must come to regard himself as though he had personally gone out of Egypt.
Micah 6:1-9 Listen to what HaShem says: "Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, HaShem’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For HaShem has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember [your journey] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of HaShem." With what shall I come before HaShem and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will HaShem be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does HaShem require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Listen! HaShem is calling to the city--and to fear your name is wisdom--"Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.
Unless we see the Pesach as though HaShem had personally redeemed each of us, we will fail to understand what Pesach is all about. Pesach is all about OUR redemption!
Shemot (Exodus) 13:14-16 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand HaShem brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, HaShem killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to HaShem the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that HaShem brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."
As you study Pesach, notice how often the Torah addresses us personally.
Every redemption of the sons of Israel will be patterned after the redemption from Egypt, even if it does not have the elements of miracles and signs. In "Derishat Tzion," Rabbi Kalisher includes a chapter advocating offering the Pesach sacrifice in modern times, as if to emphasize that the Egyptian redemption is the source and the inspiration for all later events. Indeed, even the Prophets speak of our future redemption in relationship to our redemption from Egypt:
Micah 7:12-17 In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders." Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to HaShem our God and will be afraid of you.
The Talmud also speaks of our future redemption in relation to Pesach:
Rosh HaShana 11a On New Year the bondage of our ancestors in Egypt ceased;[2] in Nisan they were redeemed and in Nisan they will be redeemed in the time to come. R. Yahoshua (Joshua) says: In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; in Nisan the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on New Year Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were visited; on New Year Joseph went forth from prison; on New Year the bondage of our ancestors ceased in Egypt; and in Nisan they will be redeemed in time to come.
Rosh HaShana 11b On New Year the bondage of our ancestors ceased in Egypt’. It is written in one place, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,[3] and it is written in another place, I removed his shoulder from the burden.[4] ‘In Nisan they were delivered’, as Scripture recounts. ‘In Tishri they will be delivered in time to come’. This is learnt from the two occurrences of the word ‘horn’. It is written in one place, Blow the horn on the new moon,[5] and it is written in another place, In that day a great horn shall be blown.[6] ‘R. Yahoshua (Joshua) says, In Nisan they were delivered, in Nisan they will be delivered in the time to come’. Whence do we know this? — Scripture calls [the Passover] ‘a night of watchings’,[7] [which means], a night which has been continuously watched for from the six days of the creation. What says the other to this? — [He says it means], a night which is under constant protection against evil spirits.[8]
As you study prophecy regarding the "Acharit HaYamim”, the end of days, notice the striking similarity of our future redemption, to our redemption from Egypt.
The redemption from Egypt could have been the Final Redemption. This helps us understand the exchange between Moshe and HaShem at the burning bush. Moshe asked HaShem, "Why do you choose me to redeem your people? Send, instead, Pinchas / Elijah, who you have chosen to redeem your people at the End of Days!"[9] Moshe was suggesting that the redemption from Egypt ought to be a full and final one. HaShem answered, that the time had not yet come for a final redemption.
Thus we see that the Targum associates the “end of days” with the seventh day of Pesach!
Moshe himself, the greatest of the Prophets and his sister, Miriam, who was also a great Prophetess, sing / sang the “the Song of the Sea”, which according to Chazal was not focused on the event that had just transpired, the splitting of the sea, but actually on the future of the people of Israel, specifically at the time of "Acharit HaYamim," the "End of Days".
III. Torah Readings for Passover
Ok, lets continue our study of Passover, by examining the traditional Torah and Haftorah readings that the Sages have compiled for Pesach. These are the most important passages for us to remember as we look forward to our redemption. Notice that there are no Nazarean Codicil readings associated with this list, because the Nazarean Codicil were not yet written at the time that these readings were compiled.
Traditional readings for Pesach
DATE | TORAH[10] | NEVI'IM[11] | KETUVIM[12] |
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Nisan 14 | Shemot (Exodus) 12:21-51 | Yahoshua (Joshua) 3:5-7 | Tehilim (Psalm) 113 - 118 |
| Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:16-25 | Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:2 - 6:1 |
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| Yahoshua (Joshua) 6:27 |
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Nisan 15 | Vayikra (Leviticus) 22:26 - 23:44 | Melakim alef (I Kings) 23:1-9 | Tehilim (Psalm) 113 - 118 |
Nisan 16-20 |
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| Tehilim (Psalm) 113, 114, 115:12-18, |
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| Tehilim (Psalm) 116:12-19, 117, 118 |
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| (Half Hallel) |
IntermediateShabbat |
