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The First Passover
Passover, one of Judaism's oldest and most widely observed festivals,
still lies at the core of Jewish identity. It is presented in this
passage from Exodus as being inaugurated at a moment of great peril
for the Israelites, a moment that offered, however, the possibility
of deliverance. This has continued to be a powerful motif to this
day.
Many scholars believe that Passover as now celebrated may have begun
as two distinct spring festivals, one involving sacrifice and the
other involving unleavened bread. The two were then joined to serve
as a memorial of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.
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YHWH
said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month
shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be
the first
month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation
of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take
a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a
household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its
closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided
in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your
lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may
take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep
it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole
assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.
They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two
doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat
it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall
eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but
roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.
You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything
that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how
you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it
hurriedly. It is the passover of YHWH. For I will pass through
the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals;
on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am
YHWH. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where
you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and
no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
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