By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin
BOCA RATON, Florida — The following is an abbreviated version of what I wrote in my Mysteries of Judaism 1.
The Israelites’ first Passover, celebrated in Egypt just prior to the Exodus and described in Exodus 12:1–11, was radically different from the Torah mandated holiday observed after the Exodus.
Exodus 12, which describes the Egyptian ceremony, raises many questions. (1) Why does the Torah command that “this month,” the month of the Exodus, should be “the first month of the year,” and what connection does this calendar requirement have to Passover? (2) Why did the celebration start on the tenth day of this month; why not the fourteenth when the meal was eaten? (3) Why was a lamb of the sheep or goat taken and not an ox? (4) Why did the Torah require that the lamb be consumed at home and not at a holy place or a community area? (5) Why, if the family was too small to eat the entire lamb, does the Torah say that the family should invite neighbors; why not anyone who wants to come? (6) Why does the Torah require that the lamb, which was not a sacrifice to God but a meal for humans, be “without blemish, a male of the first year”? (7) Why roast and not boil the lamb? (8) Why did the people have to kill the lamb on the fourteenth of the month at dusk? (9) Why did the Israelites need to put blood “on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses”? (10) Why did the people have to eat unleavened bread – the command was given long before the fourteenth and the people had sufficient time to bake bread with leaven? (11) Why must they eat maror, “bitter herbs”? (12) Why were they prohibited from leaving any part of the food until morning? (13) Why dress up for the eating “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand”?
There is one basic question underlying all these thirteen queries. Why eat this meal? Once the purpose of the meal is identified everything else falls into place. Exodus 12 follows the narrative in Exodus 11 where the Israelites are assured that they will leave Egyptian servitude shortly. Exodus 12 describes how the Israelites should celebrate this forthcoming freedom. It is not, as most commentators assume, a commemorative event as the post-Exodus Passovers came to be, but an anticipatory celebration of what will soon occur. The festivity discussed in Exodus 12 was unique to this particular year and was not repeated because it was appropriate at this time only, but not subsequently.
Since the Israelites were descendants of pastoral ancestors who shepherded lambs and were probably accustomed to mark special occasions by eating them, they were told to celebrate the upcoming Exodus (3) by eating their traditional festive food, the lamb, in the usual domestic, close-knit (4) family, or (5) neighborhood celebration, much like the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Slavery destroys family ties. Now this meal afforded the erstwhile slaves an opportunity to strengthen both family and neighborliness. The slaughter of the lamb also demonstrated an end of the fear that the Israelites had of killing what is sacred to the Egyptians (8:22) and this act of defiance to their masters was celebrated triumphantly and joyously.
Unlike the post-exodus Pascal sacrifice, which was instituted to commemorate what had happened on this day in Egypt, this lamb was not a sacrifice. Yet, because of the significance of the event, the Israelites were told not to stint on the celebration, but to take the very best food available; (6) a lamb “without blemish, a male of the first year,” just like the sacrifices they were to offer later to God.
So, too, they were required to prepare the lamb in the most favored way, (7) roasted, not boiled. Arnold Ehrlich, in his Mikra Ki-pheshuto, points out that the ancients ate their meat roasted, not boiled, as can be seen in the Greek epic Iliad. Although the Israelites also ate boiled foods, they used the ancient roasting method to add a sense of history and awe to the practice. This is similar to Zipporah using the ancient flint to circumcise her son rather than a bronze blade which was certainly available, our use of a Torah scroll written by hand rather than a printed book, and the lighting of Sabbath lights with candles instead of light bulbs.
Yet, while preparations began on the symbolic tenth day, the highlight, as one would expect, came during the hours just before the Exodus, (8) on the fourteenth day before evening, at dusk. The people were commanded to (9) place blood on the sides of their doors at that time.
Blood symbolizes life. The use of the blood served as a symbol to the Israelites of their severance from the indignities of the past and the beginning of a new life, even as the shedding of blood at the circumcision welcomes the new born infant into the Israelite fold. By placing the blood on their door-posts, the boundary between the Israelite home and the outside world, the Israelites were reminded of this message at least twice daily, as they left and entered their dwellings, before secluding themselves in their homes prior to the onset of the tenth plague.
Exodus 12:23 states that when the Lord “sees the blood upon the lintel and the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door” and not allow any inhabitant to be killed. Clearly this statement was not intended to be taken literally. The blood was not placed on the doors to aid God in identifying Israelite homes. God, who knows all, does not need to have blood placed on a door to know that the dwellers are Israelites. Hadn’t God previously saved the Israelites from plagues without the need for marked doors? Besides, if the purpose was identification, why use blood? The 12:23 statement is a figure of speech suggesting that no Israelite child will die that night.
The festive food, as stated, was the best, the tastiest, the traditional Israelite manner of celebration. The people were told to eat the lamb with the best kind of bread, (10) matzot, unleavened bread, and season the lamb and make it tasty with (11) sharp herbs.
The traditional view is that unleavened bread is poor bread consumed because the Israelites had to rush out of Egypt without time to allow the bread to rise, and bitter herbs recall the bitter toils of slavery. This idea is problematic. While they are applicable after the Exodus, they are clearly inapplicable to the pre-Exodus celebration. The Israelites were commanded to have unleavened bread at the festive meal some days before the Exodus, more than sufficient time to bake leavened bread.
Arnold Ehrlich suggests that the ancients considered leavened bread inferior to matzot, unleavened. He points out that Abraham in 18:6 served his three guests a sumptuous meal that included ugot, and ugot are unleavened bread, as indicated in 12:39, where Scripture states ugot matzot. Abraham had ordered that an animal be taken from the herd, slaughtered, cooked, and prepared for his guests. This takes time; time enough for the leaven to rise.
This explains why leavened bread was prohibited with sacrifices that were burnt on the altar for God (23:18 and Deuteronomy 16:3); only matzot were offered to God because it was the better bread.
Bitter herbs were also not symbols of servitude at the pre-Exodus meal, but a spice, like salt and pepper and garlic, a condiment used by free people to enhance the flavor of their meals.
The final food rule was that the people should not be concerned about the morrow, (12) but to eat and enjoy and leave nothing until morning. People who really relish their food finish it. This foreshadows the same rule with the same purpose regarding the manna in the desert.
Another requirement for this special celebratory meal, spelled out nearly a week prior to the Exodus, was that the families should (13) gird their loins, wear shoes and take their staff in their hands. These institutions most likely symbolized the purpose of the meal, the celebration of the forthcoming Exodus. It might also have served as a metaphor telling the Israelites to be ready for the announcement to leave. Or it may have been part of the actual preparation to leave.
In summary, the Exodus 12 Passover activities were unlike all subsequent Passovers. It had a different agenda. It was a joyful family or neighborly thanksgiving meal in which the Israelites demonstrated how happy they were that they would soon be free. In contrast, the purpose of subsequent Passovers was to recall the Exodus event.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired U.S. Army brigadier general in the chaplains corps. He also is the author of more than 50 books.