Passover, Then and Now

The essential Jewish commemoration of liberation from slavery which is known as Pesach, or Passover, is drawing to a close for 2020. Jews were forced to be inventive this year because in most places they could not physically gather for the seder meal which includes working through the Haggadah, the very specific order of events which goes back millennia.

While we know this is all related to the chapters of the book of Exodus which tell the dramatic story, the details for the meal developed over the course of time. Did Moses and Miriam and Aaron insist the nomadic Israelites observe their miraculous deliverance during the years in the wilderness? Was the ritual markedly different in its earliest stages? Was it a combination of observances blended together, as some scholars contend? 



There is a lengthy article in Haaretz with the title 2,400-year-old ‘Passover Letter’ Shows Evolution of Jewish Ritual: A letter from a high official in Jerusalem to the Jewish garrison on Elephantine in fifth century B.C.E. Egypt is the oldest known ex-biblical account of the Pesach ritual.

It explores how the content of this letter is the earliest evidence outside the bible of a ritual which is Passover. Although the ceremony is not as detailed as is found in the Haggadah used today, it has the essential elements. It explains: 

In 1912, William R. Arnold of the Andover Theological Seminary wrote in the Journal of Biblical Literature: “It is perfectly clear that we have here a letter of instruction to the Jewish community at Elephantine, with directions for the punctilious observance of a feast … from the 15th to the 21st day of Nisan … which requires abstinence from labor,” combining the Passover and feast of unleavened bread – matza.

This is an intriguing reminder that our cherished rituals are both timeless and products of their moment in time.Jewish Passover endures, and should be respected by Christians as an important observance of a living religion. 

Christians do celebrate a sacrament which we call communion, the eucharist, the Last Supper which is grounded in Jesus' poignant celebration of Pesach with his followers the night before his crucifixion. When Jesus intimates that he is the sacrificed lamb, and the unleavened bread represents his broken body they must have been confused, shaken, by what he was saying. 

Christ's disciples today celebrate this solemn and celebratory meal, sometimes with maddening insistence on the "correct' detail and who will preside. In the best of times we allow Christ to draw us to the table for a meal which nourishes and sustains. 

Find out about a Passover Haggadah and the Promise of the Land in today's Groundling blog

https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-passover-haggadah-promise-of-land.html