Passover lamb (Exodus 12:1-13)
Exod 12:1-13
As Christians, we often try to squeeze every last drop of meaning from the details of rituals important for us (like Passover or sacrifices). The truth is that while some aspects are significant, others are simply accidents of history. The power of ritual is in the actual doing of it. When my husband and I got engaged in Florence, we had to catch a train back to Rome the same evening and had no time to have a celebratory meal. We ended up getting a quick McDonalds takeaway at the station and it became a joke between us that our first meal as an engaged couple was from McD’s. When it came to our wedding, after the registry office ceremony,[1] it was time to have a bite to eat and as our eyes met, we laughed and knew that it would have to be from McDonalds. The family traditions we establish around birthdays, anniversaries or Christmases create a pattern, which, when repeated, enhance our appreciation of the occasion because it evokes all those other times when we celebrated in the same way. This is the power of ritual.
Thus, as we explore the Passover (I shall cover the lamb in today’s post), we need to be careful not to read too much into the details when they are left unexplained by Scripture. Thus, for instance, there is no inherent symbolism in the animal being roasted or it being one-year-old, or a male lamb or goat (Exod 12:5), except that some of this resonates with later sacrifices where animal type, age and gender are often specified along with the requirement for it to be unblemished, i.e. without visible flaws or injury (e.g. Lev 4:28; Lev 9:3).[2] This then is a sacrificial, sacred meal. For the same reason, the meat must not be wasted and must only be eaten on this special night (Lev 12:4, 10).
Israel was in lockdown on that fateful night, sheltering in their homes from the destroyer. Bringing a lamb or kid into the household four days ahead of the meal (Exod 12:3, 6) is sometimes thought to allow Israelites to live together with an innocent creature and reflect on its death for their sake, but this seems to me a modern city-dweller’s sentimentality over the slaughter of an animal. Rather, choosing and locating a lamb or goat according to specifications may have taken time, possibly also in pastures further removed from lodgings. If Israelite houses in Egypt were anything like later constructions in Israel, they would have had a central courtyard, which could accommodate live animals. As meat-eating was not common apart from festivals, it made sense to prepare early and have everything at hand on the big day. It is perhaps comparable to our Christmas preparations where buying items for later cooking and baking, as well as decorating our houses raise our expectations of the celebration to come. Likewise, Israelites would have been reminded every time they saw that lamb in the house that the time of their release was almost upon them. When they repeated the meal in years to come, they re-lived those moments of deliverance.
As Christians, this meal reminds us of another fateful night at Passover when Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered His body and blood symbolically in the bread and wine. During the New Zealand lockdown, our church celebrated this way twice. Each family watching the service online would prepare in advance the elements and when prompted by our minister would partake of them at the same time. Sheltering in our homes from the destructive virus, we had a sense of fellowship as we were all sharing in the same simple actions and remembered Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Not only that, but through actively being involved we expressed our dependence on Him both for saving us but also for drawing on His life to live a new life (John 6:56-57).
[1] In Hungary, a registry office ceremony is necessary because church weddings are not legal. We treated the latter as the real thing, so the former was a couple of days earlier; a quick in-and-out affair with only our two witnesses.
[2] This last trait is important because sacrifices are gifts to God and one should not give Him what is second-best. In our Christian understanding it also takes on added significance because we see a parallel with Jesus, the perfect, unblemished (sinless) sacrifice, though we can only appreciate this with hindsight. The bitter herbs prescribed were a common accompaniment to roasts among nomadic peoples and designate green plants such as lettuce. In later Jewish practice these came to symbolise Israel’s bitter experience of slavery.
