A daily, 32-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Perhaps you have been invited to a Seder meal at some time either by your Jewish friends, or by others who wished to help you remember Passover in a more meaningful way. The word seder means ‘order’ as in order of service for celebrating the Passover. While the order of service for a seder meal embellishes the story as presented in Exodus 12, it identifies the many significant symbols with their meanings.
This study, taken from Exodus 12:14-28, focus on the elements of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that the Lord presented to Moses.
First of all, this Feast of Unleavened Bread is the celebration of the beginning of the year. It is a Memorial Day when the people of God remembered the start of their new life as a nation. For 400 plus years, the Hebrews were slaves who could not call anything or any time their own. But now they were free from bondage to the Egyptians. God was bringing them together as his firstborn, his chosen people, his congregation. This fact was to be celebrated by the creation of a new calendar.
Second, the Feast was a reminder of God’s call to Israel to become a holy nation. They were not just to be saved, but to be set apart and sanctified. A seven-day feast of unleavened bread would reinforce this message. The leaven of life in Egypt was to be exchanged for a life without the corrupting influence of evil and the worship of false gods. At the beginning of the Feast, the Jews went through the ritual of searching their homes for leaven and sweeping it out the door. Later the Lord would state his intention more fully. “You shall be holy for I the Lord am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)
Third, the feast celebrated the end of suffering by God’s answer to the people’s prayers. Four “I wills” from Exodus 6 should be recited as proof that God had interceded to set them free. Lest they forget how bitter life was in Egypt, the people should include a portion of bitter herbs. Everyone should taste the herbs at the feast. The idea of looking back to the good old days in Egypt was a cruel myth. It was bitter.
Fourth, the Feast was to celebrate the salvation of the firstborn of Israel by the application of the blood of the Passover Lamb to the doorposts and lintel. The people were saved by the blood of the lamb applied to their lives. When the Lord saw the blood, he passed over the homes of those who obediently marked their habitations as belonging to the Lord.
The Lord told the Jews to ‘keep the feast to the LORD throughout your generations as a statute forever. By doing so, they would pass on their faith story to their children and their children’s children. “When your children say to you, ‘what do you mean by this service? you shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over our houses…when he struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses.
Reflections: This Feast points us to the observance of the Lord’s Supper in the church. “Do this in remembrance of me” said the Lord. Remember the Lamb whose body was broken and whose blood was poured out. He saved you so that you might be holy as he is holy. He saved you so that your homes might become his home and the place where the next generation would hear the story and be saved.