By William Boyd
Every
year around the time that Christianity is preparing to celebrate Easter,
(actually named for Ishtar, a pagan goddess!) we get a number of notices from
the Jewish community about their preparation and celebration of the Passover.
Anyone that ever went to Sunday school as a child knows about the Passover
because of the teachings of how the Israelites were freed from the oppression
of the Egyptian Pharos.
In
order to refresh our knowledge about the House of Israel in Egypt we’ll have to
go back to the beginning – just who was down there and who was actually “passed
over” and removed from Egypt. Initially only Joseph was sent down to Egypt as
the result of his brother’s jealousy. His story is found in the book of
Genesis starting at chapter 37. As the story goes he went through some
terrible times but was subsequently made the Prime Minister of Egypt, directly
under the Pharaoh in authority. At that time the famine in Canaan where
the family of Jacob/Israel was living forced Jacob to send some of his son’s
down to Egypt for supplies. This story is found in chapter 42 of Genesis.
Later of course the entire family of Jacob/Israel is moved down to Egypt and is
given preferential treatment by the Pharaoh due to the relationship of Joseph
in his government. We’re told that the party of Israelites consisted of
approximately 70 individuals at the time they went to Egypt. They are listed in
Genesis 42 starting at verse 5. In a prophecy many years earlier, God told
Abraham:
“Know of surety that thy seed
shall be stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they
shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation whom they shall
serve, I will judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”
Gen 15:13-14.
The
plight of the children of Israel in Egypt changed from the position of respect
and admiration to severe oppression and slavery as the changes in the
leadership of the government were implemented. After the nearly 400-year
period had passed and the ruling made that all Israelite babies were to be
slaughtered at birth we are told the story of the birth of Moses and how he was
saved from death and became the adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh. After
some forty years of living as royalty and being educated in all the best schools
in the nation, Moses is still attached to his Israelite source and in defending
an oppressed brother kills an Egyptian. He is then forced to flee and
goes out into the land of Midian and becomes a shepherd for a priest of that
nation named Jethro. He is in this position for an additional forty years after
leaving Egypt. In the well-known “burning bush” incident, Moses is told by God,
“I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob.” The LORD also said, “I have surely seen the
affliction of my people who are in Egypt … and I am come down
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians…”
Moses
is then sent back to Egypt and goes through the series of plagues upon the
Egyptians ending in the curse of the death of the firstborn that required the
blood on the doorpost known as the Passover. The procedure of preparation of
the Passover lamb is quite detailed and set forth in chapter 12 of Exodus. Two
things were required of the lamb, first the blood to be brushed upon the homes’
two side doorposts and the upper door post of a member of the congregation of
Israel; this was the saving indication that a child of Israel lived here and
was exempt from the death curse mandate for all firstborn. Secondly the lamb
was to be eaten in a specific way to prepare for the exodus from Egypt under
the auspices of the Lord God of Israel.
After
spending the approximately 400-year period in Egypt (Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and
thirty years. – Exodus
12:40) the congregation of Israel had grown to a number approaching
2.5 million souls. The number of adult men is given as 650 thousand and
assuming four people per family that is a logical number. In keeping with the
prophecy given Abraham as to the people leaving “with great substance” we’re
told in 12:35 &36 that the Egyptian people loaded the Israelites down with
valuables.
Keep
in mind that the people that were in Egypt for this extended period were
specifically of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is noted that there was with
them a “mixed multitude” that were not of the congregation of Israel. Although
Israel did add Joseph’s two sons, Manassas and Ephraim, to the tribes they were
still known as the “twelve.” When Jacob/Israel came back from his period
of indentured servitude to his uncle Laban with his two wives, two concubines
and twelve sons he was met by his brother Esau. Jacob was quite concerned about
the reaction of Esau because of the bitterness and rancor that had occurred
because of Jacob’s theft of the elder son’s blessing years before.
That meeting
is given in chapter 33 of Genesis and tells how Esau/Edom met with Jacob/Israel
and then because of his substantial possessions “returned that day on his way
to Seir.” Esau or Edom as he was also known had lived in the area of Mt. Seir
for the entire period that Jacob/Israel had been in Egypt. So, both
brothers had by that time become rather sizeable groups. The magnitude of
Esau’s generations is shown in Genesis chapter 36. None of Esau’s tribes were
ever in Egypt and were never under the bondage of slavery during that
time. This is verified by the Edomites themselves later when they told
Jesus in John 8:33 “We are Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any
man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?’
At
Exodus 12:14 there is a part of the order the Lord God of Israel gave Moses
that verifies the exclusive nature of the Israelite Passover:
And this day (the day of Passover) shall be unto you (Israel) for
a memorial; and ye (Israel) shall keep it a feast to the LORD
throughout your generations (meaning all of Israel’s successive
generations.); ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever
Later at 12:17 Moses is told, “…and ye shall make this day a
perpetual ordinance for you throughout your generations.” (LXX)
Both of these quotes are meant only for the children of Israel.
Throughout scripture there is no mention of any other group of people being
included in the Passover directions.
At
that time the children of Israel left Egypt and went for a 40-year stroll in
the wilderness. They had experienced the plagues upon Egypt and performed the
ritual of the Passover given to them and them alone. Their trek in the
wilderness is not a part of this dissertation so we’ll leave them out there on
their own.
So,
I’ve written all the above to get to the point of who was at the Passover, who
was the Passover meant for and was there anyone else that should be claiming
participation it that ritual? The answer is of course not! For an
Edomite Jew to claim alliance with the provision for the Passover there would
have necessarily have been Jews involved in the original version – and there
weren’t! All the names given in Genesis and Exodus associated with the Egyptian
period and the preparation for the Exodus are strictly Israelites and the sons
of Jacob/Israel.
Prior to that the statement of the Lord God of Israel to
Moses (who wasn’t a Jew) about being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, (none
of whom were Jews) did not include any of Esau’s/Edom’s progeny. Therefore,
if the modern-day Jews want to claim participation in the Passover as a
“covered” party they must do so on an uninvited basis. There were no Jews
there with the original congregation and there was never another instance of
that action being required.
