The Narrative of Passover - Israel in Egypt (Exodus 1-11)The story of Passover is told in chapters 1-15 of the biblical book of Exodus. The story begins with the Israelites living in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, having arrived there at the end of the book of Genesis. They originally came to Egypt because there was a famine in Canaan, and Egypt was the breadbasket of the ancient Near East. (Read Genesis chapters 37-50 for the complete story of how they arrived in Egypt - it has to do with the 11th son of Jacob, Joseph, who ends being sold into slavery in Egypt, but rises in status until he becomes the viceroy of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh). At the beginning of their sojourn in Egypt they were welcomed and lived peacefully with the Egyptians. However, as it says in Ex. 1:8-12:A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, 'Look the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and gain ascendancy over the land.' So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Rameses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, then decides that what he needs to do is to make sure that all the Israelite boys die at birth, so that they cannot build an army against Egypt. He instructs the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill newborn boys but to let newborn girls live. The midwives tell him that they can't do this, because (Ex. 1:19), "Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth." Despite his attempts to wipe out the Israelite males, Moses is born (chapter 2), the son of Amram and Yocheved, who are both Levites (the priestly tribe). Because he is a male, they hide him for three months, but when he gets too big, Yocheved makes a basket, caulks it, places Moses in it, and sets it adrift on the Nile River. Moses' sister Miriam watches as he floats away. As it happens, the daughter of Pharaoh (whom the midrash names as Bithiah, based on a reference in 1 Chronicles 4:18) sees him floating and brings him in. She then raises him as her own son in the house of the Pharaoh - as an Egyptian. When he has grown up, he goes out and sees his kinsfolk working hard. "He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. He turned this way and that, and seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting, so he said to the offender, 'Why do you strike your fellow?' He retorted, 'Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you did the Egyptian?' Moses was frightened and thought: Then the matter is known! When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh" (Ex. 2:11-15). He flees to the land of Midian and marries a woman named Zipporoah, who bears him a child named Gershom. While Moses is tending his father-in-law's flock, he sees a bush all aflame but not burning up. He turns aside, and God speaks to him out of the bush. He identifies himself as the "God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Ex. 3:6). God tells him that he has come to rescue the Israelites from their oppression at the hand of the Egyptians, and that he is sending Moses to "free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt" (Ex. 3:10). Moses objects and says, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt" (Ex. 3:11). God reassures him that he will always be with him, and reveals his true name to him (YHWH - translated as "Lord" in English). God also gives him signs by which the Israelites and the Egyptians will recognize that he is acting under God's authority - his rod can turn into a snake, his hand can become encrusted with snowy scales, and he can pour water from the Nile onto the dry land and it will turn into blood. Because of Moses' continuing objections that he's not worthy to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God appoints his brother Aaron as his spokesman (Aaron will become the ancestor of the priests who serve in the Temple). Moses, Aaron, Zipporah, and Gershom then go back to Egypt to face first the Israelites and then Pharaoh himself. The elders of the people and the people are convinced by Aaron's words and the signs that Moses does. When, however, Moses and Aaron first go to Pharaoh, they are rebuffed. They say to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let My people go that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness" (Ex. 5:1). Pharoah challenges God's authority - "Who is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go" (Ex. 5:2). That day Pharaoh told the taskmasters to make the people's work harder - they must still make bricks for building, but they will not be given straw for the bricks. They have to collect it themselves. Their quota of bricks, however, remains the same. The foremen of the Israelites go and protest to the Pharaoh, who repels them, and they go and protest against Moses and Aaron. Moses is then downcast, because he hasn't been able to free the people from Egypt and has only made their lot worse. God reassures him again that he will free Israel from Egypt, and embarks upon a series of plagues to convince the Pharaoh that it is not worthwhile to keep the Israelites there. The first plague is blood - Moses turns the river to blood. But, the Pharaoh also has supernatural power on his side - his magicians and wise men. They are also able to turn the river to blood. Seven days later comes the next plague - of frogs. The Pharaoh's magicians are able to do the same thing. He calls for Moses and Aaron to come to him, and promises that if they remove the frogs, he will let the Israelites go sacrifice to God in the desert. Moses agrees to do this, and all the frogs die. Pharaoh, nonetheless, did not let the Israelites go. The next plague is of lice, but the magicians were not able to replicate this plague. The Pharaoh did not change his mind - "Pharaoh's heart stiffened and he would not heed them, as the Lord had spoken" (Ex. 8:15). Throughout the next several plagues (swarms of insects; a pestilence on cattle; boils; hail; locusts; and darkness) the Pharaoh changes his mind while he and his people are suffering from the plague, but as soon as it is lifted, he continues to refuse to let the Israelites go. God then threatens Pharaoh with the final plague - the death of the firstborn sons, "from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave-girl who is behind the millstones, and all the first-born of the cattle. And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such has never been or will ever be again" (Ex. 11:6), but the Israelites will be unharmed. The celebration of Passover (chapter 12)The narrative of the plagues is interrupted in chapter 12 by instructions on how to celebrate the Passover. God instructs Aaron and Moses that during the first month of the year (Nisan), on the tenth of the month, each household should take a lamb, a year-old male. They should slaughter it on the fourteenth of Nisan, at twilight, and put some of the blood on the two doorposts and the lintels of the houses where they will eat the lamb. The instructions continue (Ex. 12:8), "They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs." For this first Passover (Ex. 12:11), "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 a passover offering to the Lord." (The Hebrew word that is translated as "passover" is פסח (pesach), and probably means "protective offering," rather than God "passing over" the Israelites). God tells Moses and Aaron that on "that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord. And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over [or protect] you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt" (Ex. 12:12-13).This first Passover will be the model for all subsequent Passovers. For seven days they should eat unleavened bread, and remove all leavened products from their houses. The first and seventh days should be "sacred occasions" when no work should be performed. (The prohibition of leaven is connected to another incident in the story (Ex. 12:34, 39) - that they wrapped up their dough in kneading bowls on their shoulders so that the bread did not leaven before they left Egypt; leaven is what makes bread rise). As for the Passover offering of a lamb, only Israelites can eat of it. "The whole community of Israel shall offer it. If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it;; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it" (Ex. 12:47-48). Death of the First-bornAfter the instructions on how to celebrate Passover, Moses tells the elders of Israel that each family should pick out a lamb and slaughter it. They should take a bunch of hyssop (a plant), dip it into the lamb's blood, and daub it on the doorposts and the lintel. They should not leave their houses all night, because, "When the Lord goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and the Lord will pass over the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home" (Ex. 12:23). In the middle of the night, God passes through Egypt and kills all the first-born Egyptian males but leaves the Israelite males safe. (The death of the Egyptian first-born is probably meant to be a counterpart to Pharaoh's order to kill the Israelite male children). The Egyptians rise up with a bitter cry, and Pharaoh orders the Israelites to leave (Ex. 12:31) - "Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship the Lord as you said! Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and begone! And may you bring a blessing up me also." The Israelites then leave - men, women, and children, and a "mixed multitude" of people of other ethnicities.Leaving EgyptThe Israelites and the "mixed multitude" go to the Sea of Reeds (not the Red Sea), which was probably a marshy area that could be passed on foot (but not on chariot). They encamp on the side of the sea, and then the Pharaoh changes his mind about letting the Israelites go. He gathers his chariots and he and the army chase after the Israelites. When the Israelites catch sight of them, they are terrified and believe that Moses has abandoned them to die. "Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?" (Ex. 14:11). Moses tells them, "Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which the Lord will work for you today" (Ex. 14:13).Moses holds his hand out over the sea, and "the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry land. The waters were split, and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left" (Ex. 14:21-22). The Egyptians came after them, "all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen" (Ex. 14:23). God then threw the Egyptian army into panic, locking the wheels of the chariots so that they cannot go forward. They try to turn back and flee, but God causes the waters to come back and drown the Egyptians in the sea. The Israelites, meanwhile, have already walked through the sea on the dry land and they watch as the Egyptians drown. Exodus chapter 15 is a victory hymn that the Israelites sing upon escaping from the Egyptians. Celebrating PassoverThe basics of the Passover celebration are spelled out in the biblical text - it lasts for seven days, with the first and last days being sacred days of no work; no leavened products can be eaten; and a lamb must be sacrificed and eaten on the first night. The eventual rabbinic celebration of Passover includes the seven days and the first and last days of no working, as well as the prohibition on leavened products, but after the destruction of the Temple, it is impossible to continue with the sacrifice of a lamb. Instead, the rabbis invent the seder (the word literally means "order") - a meal during which the story of the Exodus is recounted. Those attending the seder must regard themselves as having personally gone out of Egypt - the seder is a reenactment of the story, told in such a way that the participants consider themselves as having escaped from slavery to freedom.The seder ritual is spelled out in a book called the "Haggadah" (literally, the "telling"), and there are thousands of different versions of the Haggadah. If you'd like to take a look at one, here are several, from different perspectives, that you can read. 1. Rachel Barenblat's haggadah, available for downloading from her blog, Velveteen Rabbi: http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2009/03/haggadah-for-pesach.html (traditional, but with lots of interesting additions). 2. A very traditional haggadah, from Chabad - http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1735/jewish/The-Haggadah.htm. 3. The "Open Source" haggadah - it has both Hebrew and English - http://www.opensourcehaggadah.com/index.php. 4. A thoroughly modern (and non-traditional seder) - Moses is departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah. There are many other haggadahs available on line - just put "haggadah" into a search engine and you'll find more. Food on PassoverThe rules on what to eat or not eat on Passover are very complex, and differ between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews. For an article on one of these controversies, see an article in the Forward - Ashkenazic Jews in Israel start to eat during Passover according to Sephardic rules. |