The Passover

Friday,19 April 2022 is the starting of Pesach or Passover for the Jewish people, a week of commemoration of the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It is Good Friday for Christians in our part of the world. The passion week of Jesus happened to be coinciding with the jewish festival this time. The Passover, continued with the feast of unleavened bread, begins at sunset on Friday. However, the actual events in history, one was the foreshadow of the other.

Through the Passover, God brought about the great deliverance in the life of the people of Israel, who were slaves in Egypt for generations. The history of the Israelites in Egypt begins with Joseph being sold as a slave and brought into that country.

“So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt…. Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard” (Gen. 37:28‭, ‬36 NLT).

The Bible says that God was with Joseph and blessed him in his work that he eventually becomes the Prime minister, next only to the Pharaoh.

Later his father, brothers and families move into that country and live under the favour of the Pharaoh. They prosper there and multiply into great numbers. Jacob dies in Egypt.

“Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.” So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king” (Exo.1:8‭-‬11 NLT)


Thus, as Israel’s descendants were enslaved and illtreated they cried to the Lord for deliverance. God brings up Moses in spite of and in the midst of unfavourable circumstances. As a baby he was preserved in the palace against the decree of the King that every male Israelite baby below two years should be slaughtered.

God prepared Moses for 80 long years before he could embark on the mission. Still he felt incompetent but God had to keep reassuring him of who is in control.

Thus through the test of ten plagues Pharaoh yielded to the supremacy of the Lord God, the tenth being the death of the first born. Before the angel of death carried out this final test the people of Israel were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and smear it’s blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. When the angel went about, he would pass over these houses with the blood sign on the doorposts. Thus the event was called the Passover. Along with the preparation they were to eat unleavened bread because they were to leave in a hurry and hence no time for the dough to rise. This became a memorial event called Pesach, celebrated annually.

However, except as the foreshadow or typology of the death of Jesus the sinless lamb of God, Pesach and the feast of unleavened bread has no direct significance to the Christian. Jesus was celebrating Pesach with His disciples at His last supper. Then on Friday His precious blood became the mark of deliverance and redemption for all those who believe and take refuge in Him. For them, the death penalty of sin has passed over, for ever. Hallelujah!

Have you experienced this Passover?! Is the blood of the Lamb of God the mark of your deliverance and redemption?!