Messiah is our Pesach/ part 1

For those of us that keep YHWH’s feasts the time of Pesach is almost upon us. Several years ago

our home fellowship began to discuss how we would keep it. What one person said shocked me to the core, that we should build an altar and sacrifice a lamb. I asked that everyone in our group study The Scriptures over the next three weeks in order to see what we would do. My eyes were opened not to words of men but to a greater depth of understanding and the fact that ;

THE MESSIAH IS OUR PESACH. I have seen one article in particular that troubles me deeply. It teaches that if we are to be obedient we must not only build an altar and sacrifice a lamb, but we must also put it on our doorposts. If this is what The Scriptures commanded then no problem, but we must study The Scriptures in their entirety if we are to find ourselves approved. I will not have much more to say in this letter but I will let The Scriptures do the talking.

The First Pesach

Exo 12:1  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying,

Exo 12:2 “This month is the beginning of months for you, it is the first month of the year for you.

Exo 12:3 “Speak to all the congregation of Yisraʼĕl, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month each one of them is to take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

Exo 12:4 ‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next to his house take it according to the number of the beings, according to each manʼs need you make your count for the lamb.

Exo 12:5 ‘Let the lamb be a perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Exo 12:6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then all the assembly of the congregation of Yisraʼĕl shall kill it between the evenings.

Exo 12:7 ‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

Exo 12:8 ‘And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire – with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Exo 12:9 ‘Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its inward parts.

Exo 12:10 ‘And do not leave of it until morning, and what remains of it until morning you are to burn with fire.

Exo 12:11 ‘And this is how you eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of יהוה.

Exo 12:12 ‘And I shall pass through the land of Mitsrayim on that night, and shall smite all the first-born in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast. And on all the mighty ones of Mitsrayim I shall execute judgment. I am יהוה.

Exo 12:13 ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I shall pass over you, and let the plague not come on you to destroy you when I smite the land of Mitsrayim.

Exo 12:14 ‘And this day shall become to you a remembrance(most translations say a memorial). And you shall observe it as a festival to יהוה throughout your generations – observe it as a festival, an everlasting law.

Important notes

Ex 12:7 does not appear again as a commandment, only as a reference

Ex 12 :13,23 The blood is a sign(seal) and it is Elohim who keeps the destroyer out.

Commandment

Exo 12:23 “And יהוה shall pass on to smite the Mitsrites, and shall see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and יהוה shall pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.

Exo 12:24 “And you shall guard this word as a law for you and your sons, forever.

Exo 12:25 “And it shall be, when you come to the land which יהוה gives you, as He promised, that you shall guard this service.

There is no question that this is a commandment forever “to keep this feast”. But are we commanded to put blood on our doorposts “when we come into the land”?

At Mt Sinai

Exo 34:18 “Guard the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Aḇiḇ, because in the month of Aḇiḇ you came out from Mitsrayim.

Overview of YHWH’s Moedim

Lev 23:4 ‘These are the appointed times of יהוה, set-apart gatherings which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.

Lev 23:5 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to יהוה.

Lev 23:14 ‘And you do not eat bread or roasted grain or fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your Elohim – a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

2^nd keeping of The Pesach

Num 9:1  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Mitsrayim, saying,

Num 9:2 “Now, let the children of Yisraʼĕl perform the Passover at its appointed time.

Num 9:3 “On the fourteenth day of this month, between the evenings, perform it at its appointed time. According to all its laws and right-rulings you perform it.”

Num 9:4 And Mosheh spoke to the children of Yisraʼĕl to perform the Passover.

Num 9:5 So they performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that יהוה commanded Mosheh, so the children of Yisraʼĕl did.

Important notes

Num 9:6-14 those who were unclean because of a dead body or traveling were allowed to keep the feast one month later. But I think it is important to note, nowhere is there a provision here to keep the feast somewhere else because they were traveling; it would be that they would return to Yerushalayim.

Final instructions

Deu 16:1  “Guard the month(season) of Aḇiḇ, and perform the Passover to יהוה your Elohim, for in the month of Aḇiḇ יהוה your Elohim brought you out of Mitsrayim by night.

Deu 16:2 “And you shall slaughter the Passover to יהוה your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where יהוה chooses to put His Name.

Deu 16:3 “Eat no leavened bread with it. For seven days you eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction, because you came out of the land of Mitsrayim in haste – so that you remember the day in which you came out of the land of Mitsrayim, all the days of your life.

Deu 16:4 “And no leaven should be seen with you in all your border for seven days, neither should any of the meat which you slaughter in the evening on the first day stay all night until morning.

Deu 16:5 “You are not allowed to slaughter the Passover within any of your gates which יהוה your Elohim gives you,

Deu 16:6 but at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell, there you slaughter the Passover in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at the appointed time you came out of Mitsrayim.

Deu 16:7 “And you shall roast and eat it in the place which יהוה your Elohim chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

Deu 16:8 “Six days you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is a closing festival to יהוה your Elohim – you do no work.

Deu 16:9 “Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.

Deu 16:10 “And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to יהוה your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as יהוה your Elohim blesses you.

I underlined the two verses above for a reason. A few years back, one brother told me that YHWH had blessed him with the land that he owns here in Texas. So his reasoning was that since YHWH had given him the land he was to sacrifice it there.The verses above clearly show that you may not do it within your own gates.  

Yahushua(Joshua) in the wilderness

Jos 5:10 And the children of Yisraʼĕl camped in Gilgal, and performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening on the desert plains of Yeriḥo.

Jos 5:11 And they ate of the stored grain of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened bread and roasted grain on this same day.

History in The Scriptures

1Ch 23:25 For Dawiḏ said, “יהוה Elohim of Yisraʼĕl has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Yerushalayim forever,”

1Ch 23:26 and also of the Lĕwites, “They shall no longer bear the Dwelling Place, or any of the vessels for its service.”

1Ch 23:27 For by the last words of Dawiḏ the Lĕwites were numbered from twenty years old and above,

1Ch 23:28 because their duty was to help the sons of Aharon in the service of the House of יהוה, in the courtyards and in the rooms, in the cleansing of all that was set-apart, and the work of the service of the House of Elohim,

1Ch 23:29 both with the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering, and with the unleavened cakes and what is baked on the griddle, and with what is mixed and with all kinds of measures and sizes;

1Ch 23:30 and to stand every morning to thank and praise יהוה, and so at evening;

1Ch 23:31 and for all the burnt offerings to יהוה on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the appointed(feasts) times, by number according to the right-ruling upon them, continually before יהוה;

1Ch 23:32 and that they should guard the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the set-apart place, and the duty of the sons of Aharon their brothers in the service of the House of יהוה.

1Ch 25:1  And Dawiḏ and the commanders of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, and of Hĕman, and of Yeḏuthun, who should prophesy with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. And the number of the workmen according to their service was:

Interesting note

In the Hebrew the name “Asaph” aleph(strength), samech(to protect/support), pey(a word).I thought that was interesting in light of how the sons of Asaph prophesy with psalms, and how they prophesied the psalms that The Messiah would sing according to the book of John.

2Ch 6:4 And he said, “Blessed be יהוה Elohim of Yisraʼĕl, who has filled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father Dawiḏ, saying,

2Ch 6:5 ‘From the day that I brought My people out of the land of Mitsrayim, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Yisraʼĕl in which to build a house for My Name to be there, nor did I choose any man to be a leader over My people Yisraʼĕl.

2Ch 6:6 ‘But I have chosen Yerushalayim, for My Name to be there. And I have chosen Dawiḏ to be over My people Yisraʼĕl.ʼ

Note

Here is a reference to where YHWH will cause His Name to dwell.

The chapters from 1 Ch 23 and 25, and 2 Ch 6 will come up again, so this is a reference point.

History in The Pesach

I think it is important to read 2 Ch chapters 30-33. Y’chizkiyah’s story is beautiful.

2Ch 30:1  And Ḥizqiyahu sent to all Yisraʼĕl and Yehuḏah, and he also wrote letters to Ephrayim and Menashsheh, to come to the House of יהוה at Yerushalayim, to perform the Passover to יהוה Elohim of Yisraʼĕl.

2Ch 30:2 But the sovereign and his leaders and all the assembly in Yerushalayim had taken counsel to perform the Passover in the second month.

2Ch 30:13 And many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Yerushalayim to perform the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month.

2Ch 30:14 And they rose up and removed the altars that were in Yerushalayim, and they removed all the incense altars and threw them into the wadi Qiḏron.

2Ch 30:15 Then they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Lĕwites were ashamed, and set themselves apart, and brought the burnt offerings to the House of יהוה.

2Ch 30:16 And they stood in their place according to their right-ruling. According to the Torah of Mosheh, the man of Elohim, the priests sprinkled the blood from the hand of the Lĕwites.

2Ch 30:17 For many in the assembly had not set themselves apart. Therefore the Lĕwites were over the slaughter of the Passover for everyone who was not clean, to set them apart to יהוה.

2Ch 30:18 For many of the people, many from Ephrayim and Menashsheh, Yissasḵar and Zeḇulun, had not been cleansed, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Ḥizqiyahu prayed for them, saying, “יהוה who is good, provide atonement for everyone

2Ch 30:19 who has prepared his heart to seek Elohim, יהוה Elohim of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the cleansing of the set-apart place.”

2Ch 30:20 And יהוה listened to Ḥizqiyahu and healed the people.

Note

It is possible to keep the Pesach incorrectly, Y’chizkiyah prayed and entreated YHWH and they were healed.

History continued

2Ch 35:1  And Yoshiyahu performed a Passover to יהוה in Yerushalayim, and they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2Ch 35:6 “And slaughter the Passover, and set yourselves apart, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of יהוה by the hand of Mosheh.”

2Ch 35:11 and they slaughtered the Passover. And the priests sprinkled out of their hands, while the Lĕwites were skinning.

2Ch 35:12 And they removed the burnt offerings, to give them to the divisions of the fathersʼ houses of the lay people, to bring to יהוה, as it is written in the Book of Mosheh, and the same with the cattle.

2Ch 35:13 So they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the right-ruling, and they boiled the set-apart offerings in pots, and in cauldrons, and in bowls, and brought them speedily to all the lay people.

2Ch 35:15 And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places, according to the command of Dawiḏ, and Asaph, and Hĕman, and Yeḏuthun the seer of the sovereign. And the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their position, because their brothers the Lĕwites prepared for them.

2Ch 35:17 And the children of Yisraʼĕl who were present performed the Passover at that time, and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

2Ch 35:18 There had not been a Passover performed in Yisraʼĕl like it since the days of Shemuʼĕl the prophet. And none of the sovereigns of Yisraʼĕl had performed such a Passover as Yoshiyahu performed, with the priests and the Lĕwites, and all Yehuḏah and Yisraʼĕl who were present, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.

Note

I find it amazing that no one not even King David kept the Pesach as this king did.

Here is the second place the singers of the sons of Asaph are mentioned in regards to The pesach.

History continued

Ezr 6:19 And the sons of the exile performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,

Ezr 6:20 for the priests and the Lĕwites had cleansed themselves – all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover for all the sons of the exile, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

Ezr 6:21 And the children of Yisraʼĕl who had returned from the exile ate together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the gentiles of the land in order to seek יהוה Elohim of Yisraʼĕl.

Note

These verses have been used to justify “the Pesach slaughtering” away from Yerushalayim.

Yet if you read the book of Ezra the King of Paras let them go to Yerushalayim to do this.

History continued

Eze 45:21 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you have the Passover, a festival of seven days, unleavened bread is eaten.

Eze 45:22 “And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

Eze 45:23 “And during the seven days of the festival he prepares a burnt offering to יהוה, seven bulls and seven rams, perfect ones, daily for seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

Eze 45:24 “And he prepares a grain offering of one ĕphah for each bull and one ĕphah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ĕphah.

Eze 45:25 “In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the festival, he prepares like these seven days, as the sin offering, as the burnt offering, as the grain offering, and as the oil.”

 These are all that I have been able to find in The Tanakh as references to The Pesach.

1.      There is not a second mention of putting blood upon the lintels and doorposts

2.      We may not sacrifice within our own gates

3.      We may only do the above in the place where YHWH has caused His Name to dwell, and that is Yerushalayim

4.      If you have been unclean or in exile you must first be sanctified; that only being done by the cohanim(priests) that are set for the service in the place where YHWH has caused His Name to dwell.

There are I’m sure other points to be given from these Scriptures. Yet to me they are not the focus. The Messiah however is our focus. So if you are curious come back for part 2, there is more in the Psalms and the New Testament. So till next time Shalom.