Continuing the book
The Ancient Seder and the Last Supper
THE ANCIENT SEDER
The Pharisees of Jesus' day regarded the oral traditions of
the ancient sages as being of equal authority with the Torah, the
written law of God. Orthodox Jews today still believe that God
Himself delivered these oral traditions to Moses, and that they
were then passed by word of mouth to each succeeding generation.
(That was the belief of the Pharisee Jews, and as most religious
Jews of today are theologically Pharisee, it is not surprising
some would still teach the same theology - a theology that has no
solid foundation - Keith Hunt)
Those earliest known rabbinical commentaries were edited and
compiled into one authoritative body of religious thought called
the "Mishnah" sometime between A.D. 100 and 210. The Mishnah
covers every aspect of Jewish religious life and presents a
picture of the customs, traditions, and observances at the time
of Christ.
(No, it does not represent that those things were practiced at
the time of Christ. The Mishnah would like you to believe it was
so, but it cannot be proved from any other writings - Keith Hunt)
According to the Mishnah, the basic obligations of the
Passover observance are the same as those commanded in the book
of Exodus. In Pesahim 10:5, the Mishnah quotes Rabbi Gamaliel as
saying:
Whoever does not make mention of the following three things
on Passover has not fulfilled his obligation; namely, the
Passover sacrifice, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The
Passover sacrifice because the Holy One ... passed over the
houses of our fathers in Egypt; unleavened bread ... because
our fathers were redeemed from Egypt; the bitter herb ...
because the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers in
Egypt.
By the first century, (should be by the END of the first
century, for that is more the truth of the matter. There is no
proof before 70 A.D. and the destruction of Jerusalem and the
Temple, that these "seder" patterns were in existance. It is
quite un-provable that they were being practice in Christ's time.
Again Pharisee Jews would like you to believe it was so, but the
Mishnah can be misleading in its stance - Keith Hunt)
the Passover observance included several new customs in addition
to obligations described in the Torah account (The writers admit
NEW customs did come into the "seder" Passover evening - Keith
Hunt). Already, a set form of service called 'the seder,' meaning
"order of service," was in use. The celebrants reclined at the
table in the Babylonian custom of free men. (Slaves stood in
attendance while their masters ate.) The ceremony included ritual
hand washings and set prayers. The celebrants drank four cups of
wine as a symbol of joy. Oral tradition contained in the Mishnah
commanded that even the poorest person must drink the minimum
four cups, even if he had to sell himself to do labor or had to
borrow money in order to buy the wine. The Passover wine was red
and mixed with water. From a passage in the Mishnah (Pesahim
7:13), it would appear that the wine was warm because the water
was heated. If this is true, then the wine graphically
represented the blood of the Passover lamb, as well as being a
symbol of joy.
(Remember, this is the "Mishnah" - compiled by Pharisee Jews.
There is no proof before 70 A.D. that this was the order of the
Passover service - Keith Hunt)
Beside the roasted Paschal lamb, the bitter herbs, and the
unleavened bread, 1 other ceremonial foods were on the table.
Salt water or vinegar was used for dipping the bitter herbs once.
Then there was 'charoseth,' a sweet mixture of apples and nuts.
Into this mixture they dipped the bitter herbs and the unleavened
bread together. They ate no dessert or after dish; for, after
eating the Passover lamb, no other solid food was to be taken.
The after dish, known as the 'aphikomen,' came into use later,
after the destruction
......
1 Some sources indicate there were two flat cakes of unleavened
bread; others say there were three.
......
of the Temple in A.D.70. It was a wafer of the unleavened bread,
representing the Paschal sacrifice, which was no longer possible.
We will consider contemporary Passover customs and
interpretations, later, but let us visualize here how the Pass-
over ritual was observed in the time of Christ.
(The writers would like you to think this was the order of the
Passover service in the time of Christ, but there is no proof
that it was. See the study "Passover - was it a Jewish Seder?" -
Keith Hunt)
1. At the outset, the head of the feast (the host) recited
'kiddush' over the first cup of wine. This prayer consecrated the
occasion and the meal to God. The words, if not exactly - those
used today, were very similar:
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast created the fruit of
the vine.... Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast sustained
us and enabled us to reach this season."
2. Next came the ceremonial washing of hands by the host. At
this point a servant brought in a portable table of food, and the
first dipping of food took place. This was the raw vegetable,
usually lettuce, which was considered a bitter herb. The head of
the feast dipped the vegetable into salt water or vinegar and
passed it around to all at the table. It was a common practice
for beginning meal, and it can be likened to hors d'oeuvres or
appetizers. But here, as in all things that were eaten and done
on that night, there is a deeper symbolism, which is discussed
later.
3. After the dipping of the bitter herb, the food was removed
from the table. Then the host poured the second cup of wine, but
the participants did not drink it yet. Removing the food without
eating the main course (the Paschal lamb) was an unusual
procedure intended to raise curiosity.
4. The next step in the ritual would then follow naturally.
This was the asking of questions by the youngest son so they
could obey the command of God, "Thou shalt shew thy son." 1
The questions in ancient times were:
"Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other
nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread, but this night only
unleavened bread. On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs,
but this night only bitter herbs. Why do we dip herbs twice?
On all other nights we eat meat roasted, stewed, or boiled, but
on this night why only roasted meat?"
5. Then the father gave a synopsis of Israel's national
history, beginning with the call of Abraham out of idolatry and
ending with Israel's deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the
Law. After that, the food was brought back. The father continued
the service by explaining the lamb, the bitter herbs, and the
unleavened bread. Then they sang the first part of the 'Hallel'
(Psalms 113 and 114) and drank the second cup of wine.
6. They then washed hands the second time, as an act of respect
for the unleavened bread they were about to eat. The host broke
one of the wafers and pronounced the blessings over bread. There
were two blessings. One was a prayer of thanksgiving to Him who
brings forth bread from the earth; the second was thanksgiving
for the commandment to eat unleavened bread. Traditionally, these
blessings were spoken over bread that had first been broken in
order to show humility, remembering that the poor had only broken
bits of bread to eat. The host gave a piece of this broken bread,
dipped in bitter herbs and the sweet charoseth mixture, to each
person.
......
1 The command to expound on the story of redemption is mentioned
three times - Exodus 10:2, 12:28-27, and 13:8.
......
7. After the bitter herbs and the bread, they ate the Paschal
lamb. If the lamb was too small for everyone to have enough, they
also ate the 'Haggigah' (a holiday peace offering). But, in that
case, they ate the Haggigah first, so that the Passover lamb
would be the last food they ate that night. Then, of course,
there was no dessert.
8. After supper, the host poured the third cup of wine and they
all recited the blessing after meals. Then they chanted another
special blessing for wine over the third cup, and everyone drank
it.
9. After the third cup, they recited the second portion of the
'Hallel' (Psalms 115-118) and drank the fourth cup.
10. The seder came to an end with a closing song or hymn, which
began: "All thy works shall praise Thee, Jehovah, our God," and
concluded: "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God, and
beside Thee, we have no King, Redeemer or Savior."
(Let me repeat. The Pharisee Jews would like you to believe this
was the order of the Passover evening during the time of Christ,
but such cannot be proved - Keith Hunt)
ANCIENT SEDER AND THE LAST SUPPER
The Passover ordinance commemorated Israel's historical
redemption from Egyptian slavery. God gave it as an object lesson
to be observed by all those who counted themselves as being made
free by His power. But equally important was the hidden symbolism
of a greater, future redemption, which one day would free all
those who cried out to God in their sin and despair - a
redemption for all people, Jews and Gentiles, to bring them into
a new and eternal relationship with their Creator and with each
other - the redemption through King Messiah. The Jewish people
yearned and prayed for that redemption as they groaned under the
yoke of Rome. Yet when the fulfillment of the promise was at the
door, few recognized it.
The Teacher from Nazareth came into their midst, exciting
the masses with His words of wisdom spoken with authority. He
healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the lame to
walk, and showed miraculous power over the physical laws of
nature. Many hoped that He was the One to free the nation from
its oppressors and set up God's Kingdom on earth, but they
expected Him to do it by military might. Expectation ran high as
Jesus entered Jerusalem that last week before the Passover. By
tradition, many of the important events oŁ Israel's history had
taken place at Passover season; even as He had redeemed Israel
from Egypt at the Passover season and had given her His holy Law,
so God was to send the Messiah at Passover.
The faithful and the scoffers watched Jesus carefully those
few days before the Passover. They saw Him overthrow the money
tables in the Temple. What would He do next? Would He tell them
that He, indeed, was the long-awaited Messiah? Alas, they were
disappointed. He only continued to teach, and many of the things
He said were not comforting to hear.
Now it was the eve of the Passover celebration. Jesus sent
two of the disciples, Peter and John, to prepare for the ritual
meal. They found a room as He had instructed them and performed
all the necessary preliminaries. All was in readiness. Jesus
reclined with the twelve at the Passover table to take His last
meal with them. Here, on the eve of His death, He showed them the
full meaning and symbolism of the Passover memorial.
(AND you should note that according to the clear words of the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this was the BEGINNING of the
14th of the first month of the sacred year. See all of my studies
on the Passover - Keith Hunt)
The picture of that Last Supper comes into sharper focus
when the account of Scripture is compared with the ancient order
of the Passover service:
(The "ancient order" is what the Pharisees would have you
believe, for which there is no proof that it was so at the time
of Christ - Keith Hunt)
THE KIDDUSH:
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this,
and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall
come (Luke 22:17-18).
(There is no number of "cups" in some "order" related to us in
the Gospels - Keith Hunt)
THE FIRST WASHING OF HANDS:
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a
towel, and girded himself ... and began to wash the disciples'
feet (John 13:4-5).
(Table of food brought; bitter herbs dipped in saltwater; table
of food removed; second cup of wine poured; ritual questions
asked; ritual answer given; table of food brought back;
explanation of lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread; first
part of Hallel; second cup taken; second washing of hands; one
wafer of bread broken; and thanks over bread recited.)
(The ideas and order of things as given above have no support
from Scripture, or any written documents prior to the Mishnah.
The truth is the Passover by the saints of God was a simple meal,
with some wine or "fruit of the vine" [which could have been mere
grape juice]. Secondly the Greek for "riseth from supper" is in
the Aorist tense - an action completed in the past, so the KJV
translators correctly rendered it "and supper being ended." It
was after the main Passover supper meal was over that Jesus
washed the disciples feet - Keith Hunt)
BROKEN PIECES OF BREAD DIPPED IN BITTER HERBS AND CHAROSETH, AND
HANDED TO ALL:
"And when he bad dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon" (John 13:26).
"Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. He then
having received the sop went immediately out (John 13:27b, 30a).
(The Paschal meal eaten; hands washed a third time; third cup
poured.)
(INCORRECT chronology here of the last Passover Jesus ate with
His disciples. See my "New Testament Bible Story" pertaining to
this part of the Gospels - Keith Hunt)
BLESSING AFTER MEALS:
"Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and
when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this
is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of
me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).
BLESSING OVER THIRD CUP (CUP OF REDEMPTION)
"After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped,
saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as
oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25).
(Third cup taken; second part of 'Hallel' recited; fourth cup
poured and taken.)
(Again, no proof that this was the order of the Passover evening
in the time of Christ - Keith Hunt)
CLOSING SONG OR HYMN:
"And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of
Olives "(Matthew 26:30).
(This hymn singing was done by Jesus and His disciples, as it is
written so - Keith Hunt)
The first hand washing by the host set him apart from the
rest of the company. It showed that he was the most important
person at the table. In washing the disciples' feet, Jesus used
this part of the regular ritual to teach His lesson of humility
and love. He acted out the role of a slave when He girded Himself
with the towel and washed their feet. He knew that the Father had
given Him all things; even the wind and the sea obeyed Him. Yet
He humbled Himself. He taught them that it was not the ceremonial
rite, but the act born of faith and love, that was important. And
so He took upon Himself the most humiliating task and truly loved
them all to the end. He even washed the feet of Judas!
It was during the ceremony of dipping the second sop into
the bitter herbs that Jesus said, "One of you shall betray me"
(Matthew 26:21). Peter motioned to John, who was reclining so
that he leaned on Jesus' bosom, to ask who the betrayer was.
Jesus whispered His answer: "He it is, to whom I shall give a
sop" (John 13:26).
(No "order" given per se in the Gospels, if it was the second sop
dipped, or however many times the dipping was done during the
evening - Keith Hunt)
One may wonder why John did nothing to stop Judas. But it
must be remembered that the statement could have been taken to
mean any one of them at the table. They all partook of the sop,
although Judas probably received it first. After the sop, Judas
went out into the night to finish his Satan-inspired work.
Because he left before eating the Passover, (No, he did not
leave before the Passover meal was over - wrong chronology is
computed by allowing the "Mishnah" to influence your mine - Keith
Hunt) he had, in effect, excommunicated himself from the
congregation. Neither did he have any part in the new memorial
that came after supper.(Wrong again, The foot-washing and Judas
leaving did not happen till "supper being ended" as the
chronology of John 13 shows - Keith Hunt)
The bread that Jesus broke for the bitter sop was not the
bread of which He said, "This is my body" (Matthew 26:26b). That
came later. We see this from the account that He took that bread
after He first gave thanks at the end of the meal; then He broke
it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given
for you: this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; cf. 1
Corinthians 11:24).
Not only the words were shocking. It was a very unusual act,
for after supper no other food was to be eaten. Jesus here
instituted the new memorial. He was teaching the disciples in
cryptic terms that after His death, the Paschal lamb would no
longer have the same significance. It was the memorial of
physical, historical redemption, but only a shadow of the
ultimate redemption soon to come. He was about to become the
better sacrifice, to die once, for all (Hebrews 9:14-15, 23-26).
Looking to the time when Israel would be left without an altar
and without a sacrifice, He used the 'aphikomen' (after dish) for
the first time to represent not only the Paschal lamb, but His
own body!
And then He took up the wine again and prepared the third
cup for them: "Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This
cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you"
(Luke 22:20). He who was the great "I AM" come in the flesh had
stood before them on other occasions saying, "I am the way; I am
the light of the world" (8:12); "Before Abraham was, I am"
(8:58). Now He had one more great truth to impart to those who
could receive it. He was telling them, in effect: "I am the true
Passover Lamb who will be offered up for your redemption. This
warm, red wine, which you drink tonight as a symbol of joy, is to
remind you evermore of My life's blood, which will be poured out
as an atonement for you!"
(The Gospels say nothing about a "third cup" - the Gospels do not
try to follow any "Mishnah" order or "seder" of some supposedly
established and fixed way to observe the Passover evening at the
time of Christ. Luke does say it was "after supper" Jesus took
the cup and blessed it for the symbol of the "new testament in my
blood" [Luke 22:20] - Keith Hunt)
The gospel accounts of the Last Supper mention only two of
the four Seder cups - the first and the third. According to early
Jewish tradition, these two were the most important. The first
cup was special because it consecrated the entire Passover ritual
that followed. (Yes, Luke mentions that cup at the beginning -
Luke 22 - Keith Hunt). But the Mishnah states that the third cup
was the most significant of all. The third cup had two names: the
"cup of blessing," because it came after the blessing or grace
after meals, and the "cup of redemption," because it represented
the blood of the Paschal lamb. It was of this cup that Jesus
said, "This is my blood of the new testament [covenant]" (Matthew
26:28). It is this cup of blessing that Paul mentions in 1
Corinthians 10:16: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
(The Gospels do not record anything about three or more cups with
"blessing" over them. Luke records two, one at the beginning and
one "after supper" - see Luke 22 - Keith Hunt)
PASSOVER AND EASTER
Almost all the early Christians were Jewish. They celebrated
the resurrection of Jesus at Passover time and called it
"Pascha." (Later it was mistranslated Easter.) They continued to
celebrate the resurrection in this manner during the time of the
first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem, who were of Jewish descent. 1
The bishops sent out Paschal epistles every year to notify the
Christians when Pascha would fall
......
1 Epiphanies "Panarion Haer." 70.10; Eusebius "Eccles. Hist."
5.23.
......
according to the Jewish lunar calendar (i.e., the fourteenth day
of Nisan). By A.D.325, however, paganism and anti-Jewish
sentiment had invaded the Church; Emperor Constantine, who
presided over the Council at Nicaea, prohibited Christians from
continuing to celebrate the resurrection at exactly the same time
as the Jewish Passover. 1 Still, to this day, the two holidays
are celebrated at approximately the same time, both being based
on the lunar calendar.
(The full truth of Passover/Easter debate is covered fully in
other studies of mine on this Website - Keith Hunt)
The death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah are forever
interwoven with the Passover and its symbolism. The Passover lamb
spoke of the Lamb of God who was to come; the redemption from
Egypt spoke of the greater redemption that the greater Lamb would
bring. To deny these truths of Scripture is not only to miss a
rich heritage, but to cut oneself off from God. A believer who
would purpose to do so is like the man who climbs a tree and then
tries to chop it down while seated in its branches!
Some well-meaning, albeit misinformed, Christians today have
accused Jewish Christians of "Judaizing" and "Galatianism"
because they choose to celebrate Jewish holidays and remember
their cultural roots. Nothing is further from reality. The Jewish
believer in Jesus finds deeper significance and reinforced faith
in seeing God's commandments and the customs of His people,
Israel, in the new light of salvation in Christ. These things are
relevant to our faith, not in opposition to it. We gain no merit
with God in observing the festivals; but if we ignore them, we
miss the blessings of a deeper appreciation of the heritage that
is the cradle of our faith and subsequent salvation.
(We certainly can not "work" our way to salvation by observing
the Feasts of God, but IF YOU have this truth revealed to you,
concerning God's Feasts and the feasts of Babylon religion, then
NOT obeying them and going in the correct direction the Lord is
leading, could cost you a place in the FIRST resurrection, and
out and out rebellion against God's truths, could cost you your
salvation - Keith Hunt)
The apostle Paul dealt with this subject when he wrote by
the moving of the Holy Spirit in Romans 14:5-6a,10,
......
1 Solomon Zeitlin, "The Jewish Quarterly Review" 28, no. 4 (April
1948).
......
"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every
day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He
that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that
regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. But why
dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ."
And again, he wrote in Colossians 2:16-17:
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in
respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ."
(The above Scripture passages are fully explained in other
studies on this Website - Keith Hunt)
..................
To be continued
Christ in the Passover The Jewish Contemporary Passover
From the book of the same name by Ceil and Moishe Rosen (1978)
THE CONTEMPORARY PASSOVER
As long as the second Temple stood, Jerusalem remained the
hub of Jewish life. Then, in A.D.70, Roman legions leveled the
great house of worship. The prophetic words of Jesus became
history, its pages written in blood and stained with tears. 1
(NO! It was not so! Jesus' words are not history, they are still
prophetic! The Temple was not destroyed fully to fulfil Jesus'
words about one stone not being left on another. The WAILING WALL
that religious Jews visit and pray before each day of the year,
is PART of the outer wall of the Temple of Christ's day. This
prophecy in Matthew 24 is YET to be fulfilled. See my studies on
prophecy on this Website - Keith Hunt)
Only rubble and ashes - painful reminders of past splendor -
covered the Temple site. (Not so! When the Jews regained all of
Jerusalem in the 1967 6 day war, they moved away the rubble and
whatever....to discover that part of the Temple Wall had survived
the centuries of wars over Jerusalem, by the mighty protective
hand of the Lord, and there today the Jews worship before this
Wall - Keith Hunt)
Exiled, without an altar and without a sacrifice, the Jewish
people felt a deep need to remember and rehearse the great things
Jehovah had done for them in days past. They clung to the hope
that once again He might do marvelous things for His people.
It is fitting that this hope should continue to burn in the
hearts of God's chosen people, for "the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance" (Romans 11:29). Against all odds, through
centuries of oppression and struggle, the Jewish people survived.
They nurtured the memories of the past and fervently looked for a
future deliverance. Each Jewish family, each small community,
bore the responsibility of keeping a spark of faith alive in the
darkness and despair of exile. The holidays and traditions -
links in the chain of survival - became more important than ever.
So the celebration of "The Season of Our Deliverance" took on new
meaning and a new setting.
......
1 "There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not
be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:5-6).
......
The people of the Diaspora ***embellished and added*** to
the required ritual of the Passover in order to intensify and
reinforce the holiday's meaning. They wrote special songs so the
ear might have melodies and rhythms to remind the heart;
celebrants reclined on cushions to promote a sense of freedom and
relaxation; they used lamps and candles to give a greater measure
of brightness so they could see the festival's familiar elements
in a new light. Even the sense of taste was involved as they
adopted new foods from new cultures to enhance the holiday table
with unique and savory dishes. They continued to drink the four
cups of wine to symbolize gladness. Still, the main course of the
feast was conspicuously missing!
(The Jews, rejecting Christ as Messiah, were rejecting also the
New Testament Passover as instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ.
They added traditions upon traditions, made up their own religion
so to speak, thinking God would still accept them - see Mark 7:7
- Keith Hunt)
What can Passover be without the Passover lamb? It is like a
birthday party complete with cake and candles for a departed
loved one, or like a wedding without the bride.
JEWISH PASSOVER ON EVE OF
UNLEAVENED BREAD FEAST
The holiday that Jewish people today call Passover is really
the eve of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The remembrance of
redemption from death by the blood of the lamb is overshadowed by
emphasis on the redemption from Egyptian slavery and thoughts of
national liberty. Nevertheless, we still call the holiday
Passover. Although this is not entirely accurate, there is good
precedent for using the title. Even as far back as Bible times,
the two observances - Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
- were referred to by both names, and they were often treated as
one holiday. 1
How, then, do Jewish people celebrate Passover today? We
shall not find the answer in the synagogue. It is not in the
pages of the well-worn prayer books; nor is it in the parchment
scrolls of Holy Writ encased in their mantles of
......
1 Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:1. Josephus once called it
"A feast for eight days" ("Antiquities" 2. 15.1; cf. 3.10. 5 and
9. 13. 3).
......
(And in that one instant from Josephus it the truth of the matter
- indeed 8 full days covered the original Passover of the 14th
and 7 days of Unleavened Bread - all proved in my Passover
studies - Keith Hunt)
scarlet and blue velvet, embroidered with gold and silver thread.
FIRST PASSOVER
The first Passover ritual took place in individual homes.
There they were, Hebrew families gathered around the table for a
meal - a meal that was to become the epic symbol of past
redemption and future hope. So we must look again into the home,
the family unit, to see and know the Passover of today.
(Interesting, if only to know how the Jews observe it without
Christ in the Passover - Keith Hunt)
THE PREPARATION
The Jewish housewife tackles her spring cleaning with a holy
zeal! This is because Passover comes in the spring, in the month
of Nisan, also called Abib. She is preparing to obey the command
in Exodus 12:19: "Seven days shall there be no leaven found in
your houses." Do the walls need paint, carpets need shampooing,
cupboards need rearranging? Wait until just before Passover! The
straw broom of ancient days has given way to the vacuum cleaner;
and instead of the city dump, we have garbage disposals. The
means may be different, but the end result is still the same.
Every scrap of bread, every cookie crumb, every bit of yeast,
every speck of baking powder or other leavening agent must go.
The housewife must also banish from the home all grain products
that have the capability of becoming leavened. If she has too
many of these costly staples to throw away, the rabbis have
provided a remedy. She stores all the items in one place in the
house. This can be a high, out-of-the-way shelf or, better yet,
an unused room. Then she finds a Gentile friend, who is not bound
by the laws of Israel, to buy title to all the leaven. The
purchase price is a token amount, usually a dollar or two. Now,
technically, the leaven is no longer in the possession of the
Jewish householder, though it remains locked away in the house.
After the seven days of the holiday, the Gentile friend will sell
back all the leaven (for the same low price, one would hope!).
(Weeeelllll, without God and the "spirit of the law" and Christ
in your heart, I guess you can come up with all kinds of ways to
get around the literal and physical part of this Feast - Keith
Hunt)
THE 13TH OF NISAN/ABIB
Now it is the thirteenth of Nisan, the day before the
Passover celebration. The house is hospital clean. Even the
floors gleam and sparkle. The rays of the late afternoon sun
stream in through windows so spotless they look invisible. Not in
any corner, nor under any piece of furniture, is there so much as
a speck of dust or a crumb of leaven. But the house is not yet
"clean."
As in ancient times, the ceremonial search for the leaven,
called 'Bedikat Chametz,' must follow. The ceremony and the
prayer remain much the same as they were two thousand years ago,
and the man of the house gets the credit for all the backbreaking
work. Some rabbinical authorities command that he must search
every room; others say only those rooms that would normally have
food in them.
For the search, the head of the house takes with him a
child, to hold the lighted candle, and some strange cleaning
equipment - a wooden spoon, a feather, and an old cloth napkin.
He searches upstairs and downstairs, in the attic, in the
basement, and in all the rooms until he comes to the last room.
The housewife knows beforehand which room this will be. Just so
he will not have said the prescribed prayer in vain, she has
placed a few crumbs in a highly visible spot where he can find
them easily. They may be the crumbs from his morning toast, but
now they are something unclean! He points the feather at the
offending material and sweeps it into the wooden spoon. Then he
wraps spoon, feather, and crumbs in the old napkin and pronounces
the words of the ancient formula: "Now I have rid my house of
leaven." 1 The next morning he joins the other men of the Jewish
community at a desig-
......
1 This prayer is called the "Kal Hamira." Cf. chap. 5, p.47.
......
nated ritual bonfire. They all toss in their bundles of leaven
and return home ready for the Passover.
(The Jews, from the Pharisee religion are about 24 hours late in
observing the true and original Passover; they combined the
Passover with the eve of the 15th Sabbath day, hence making the
total 7 days instead of 8 as Josephus, the Jewish historian [and
Pharisee] of the first century admitted it was, knowing in his
mind that originally the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast was
a total of 8 days not 7 days - Keith Hunt)
CLEANING RITUAL OF
OLD DISHES
After the house is ritually clean, the housewife puts away
the everyday dishes and brings out special dishes that are used
only at Passover. If the home is too poor to afford special
dishes, the old dishes must be ritually cleansed. This is a
complicated process. The rule is that the metal utensils like
pots and pans must be heated until red hot; cutlery must be
placed in boiling water; glazed ware must be soaked in cold
water. Because unglazed pottery is too porous and cannot be
cleansed, it must be put away until after the holiday.
THE SEDER TABLE
At sundown on the fourteenth of Nisan, (THIS IS THE END OF
THE 14TH they are talking about - Keith Hunt) everything is in
readiness for the beginning of the festivities. The children are
as scrubbed and shiny as the furniture, and everyone is wearing
new clothes. Hunger - teasing aromas float out of the steamy
kitchen and fill the house, making it difficult to concentrate on
other matters. But it is not yet time for the food.
The stage is set in the dining room for the ceremonial part
of the meal. The woman of the house has covered the table with
fine linen and lighted the candles as though in preparation for
the Sabbath. Indeed, the holiday is considered a Sabbath, being
designated a "holy convocation" in the Bible. But this is no
ordinary table with ordinary place settings. (Indeed it is a
Sabbath of the 15th or 1st day of Unleavened Bread feast, as they
are 24 hours late in observing the original Passover - Keith
Hunt)
In a prominent place on the table sits the seder plate, the
focal point of the whole seder service. This seder plate is a
large, blue-enameled brass dish. It is specially designed, with
divisions for each of the six symbolic foods, but a poor family
may use an ordinary large serving plate without partitions. The
symbolic foods on the plate are much the same as those used on
seder tables for the past several hundred years.
First we see on the plate the roasted shank bone of a lamb
(or sometimes a chicken neck instead). The name of this symbol is
"zeroah," which means "arm," or, in animals, "shoulder." It
represents the Paschal sacrifice, which is no longer possible.
The zeroah also speaks of the outstretched arm of the Lord, by
which He freed His people from Egypt.
Next we see a hard-boiled egg that has been roasted to a
brown color. Its name on the seder plate is "baytzah," which
literally means "egg." However, the symbolic name for the egg is
"haggigah," meaning the holiday sacrifice that was made in Temple
times. Many interpret this egg as a symbol of new life and hope
and triumph over death (resurrection). Before the regular meal,
hard-boiled eggs are sliced and given to all the persons at the
table. They dip the eggs in salt water, which represents tears,
and eat them to portray mourning over the destruction of the
Temple.
The seder plate holds three kinds of bitter herbs. Two of
these we recognize as being bitter. One, a piece of whole
horseradish root, 1 is called "chazereth" in Hebrew. The other
is freshly ground horseradish, in Hebrew, "maror." The third
bitter herb, surprisingly, is a piece of lettuce, parsley or
celery. It is designated "karpas," and is the first food that
will be eaten at the seder. The ancients considered lettuce and
endive to be bitter herbs. The Talmud states: "Just as lettuce at
first tastes sweet and then bitter, so did the Egyptians treat
our ancestors ... in Egypt. At first they settled them in the
best part of the land.... but
......
1 If horseradish is difficult to obtain, some people use a whole
onion or a whole, large, white radish.
......
later they embittered their lives" (Yerushalmi Pesahim 29c). In
the contemporary Passover service, the "karpas" is not usually
considered a bitter herb. Rather, it is thought of as a symbol of
life, because it is usually a green of some sort. However, Jewish
people of some cultures do use radishes or raw potato instead.
These substitutions remain in keeping with the ancient concept of
using bitters for the first course.
Last on the seder plate we see a sweet, brownish mixture of
chopped apples, nuts, raisins, cinnamon, and wine, called
"charoseth." Jewish people who come from Middle Eastern and
Mediterranean cultures, where they do not grow apples but have an
abundance of figs, use chopped figs instead of apples. Charoseth
is symbolic of the mortar or red clay of Egypt, which the
children of Israel used when they were forced to make bricks for
Pharaoh. The question may be asked: If this mixture represents
the bitter labor of Egypt, why is it sweet to the taste? "Ah,"
says one sage, "when we knew that our redemption drew nigh, even
the bitterest of labor was sweet!" Charoseth is not commanded in
Scripture. Nevertheless, like the eating of the hard-boiled eggs,
it dates back to very ancient times.
(Maybe it does go back a long time, but we can see MOST of all
this is added traditions and "make up your own religion as you go
along" ism - Keith Hunt)
In addition to the contents of the seder plate, three more
items are essential to the Passover table: the unleavened bread,
the wine, and the Haggadah.
The unleavened bread (matzo) of ancient times was flat,
round, and irregular in shape. Likewise, the handbaked matzo of
today, used by very strict sects of Judaism, is round and
somewhat irregular in shape. However, most modern matzo is
machine-made and square, measuring about seven inches by seven
inches. These flat, bland, crackerlike wafers are marked with
even rows of tiny holes. The perforations, which are put in to
prevent excessive bubbling of the dough, cause uneven browning,
which produces a striped appearance. In an earlier chapter we
examined the symbolism of the unleavened bread as a type or
picture of the sinless Messiah, Jesus. 1 The appearance of the
striped and pierced matzo brings to mind two verses of Scripture
that help to complete the picture: "With his [Messiah's] stripes
we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), and "They [Israel] shall look upon
me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him"
(Zechariah 12:10).
The unleavened bread on the table is encased in a special
container called the "matzo tash." The matzo tash is a square,
white, silk bag that is divided into three compartments for three
matzo wafers. If the family does not own one of these bags, three
pieces of matzo must be stacked on a plate, each wafer separated
with a napkin; then the three wafers are covered with another
cloth. According to Jewish tradition, these three matzo wafers
symbolize a unity. Contemporary Judaism gives no set
interpretation of this unity, but there are several popular
theories. One school of thought declares it to be the unity of
the fathers - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; another thought is that
the unity represents the unity of worship in Israel, that is, the
priests, the Levites, and the rest of the congregation; a third
idea is that it is the unity of crowns - the crown of learning,
the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of kingship. Another
Jewish source explains that two of the pieces of matzo represent
the traditional loaves set out in the ancient Temple during the
festival clay, and the third is symbolic of Passover. 2 We shall
explore yet another interpretation later in examining the ritual
of the Passover seder.
......
1 Chapter 3, p.30.
2 Herbert Bronstein, ed., "The New Union Haggadah", rev. ed., p.
15.
......
Also at the seder table, beside each place setting, are
small wine goblets - small because they will be filled with the
sweet, red Passover wine four times during the seder. The custom
of drinking four cups of wine dates back to ancient Temple times.
(Not as ancient as the writers would want you to believe - Keith
Hunt)
The Mishnah teaches that, according to two authorities,
Rabbi Yohanon and Rabbi Benayah, these four cups correspond to
the four verbs in Exodus 6:67, describing God's redemption: I
will bring you out; I will deliver you; I will redeem you; I will
take you to be my people.
(More Pharasee theology and traditions - Keith Hunt)
Two of the wine goblets at the table are usually larger and
more ornate than the rest. This night they are silver, with
intricate pictures of Bible history crafted into the metal. One
of these goblets sits at the head of the table for the ruler of
the feast; the other occupies a prominent place at the foot of
the table, before an empty chair. It awaits the lips of Elijah,
who, according to Malachi 4:5, is to announce the coming of the
Messiah. The prophet is the invited guest of honor at every
seder, for, should he come, it would indeed be the most festive
of Passovers!
(The Elijah to come, will come, as Jesus said he would before the
coming of the day of the Lord, and will restore all things -
Mat.17:9-13. He came once in the form of John the baptist. He
will come again, but the Jews and all others will not recognize
him, as they did not in John the baptist. Only the "very elect"
will recognize the "Elijah to come" - Keith Hunt)
The Messianic hope prevails more strongly at Passover than
at any other time, for Midrashic tradition says:
"Nisan is the month of redemption; in Nisan Israel was redeemed
from Egypt; in Nisan Israel will again be redeemed" (Exodus
Rabbah 15:12). 1
The last item to notice on the table is a large, decorative
book called the "Haggadah." This book more than covers the host's
dinner plate. Bound in a royal blue, velvety cover, it is
inscribed with gold lettering and illustrated with many colorful
reproductions of ancient art. Next to each person's place setting
is a much smaller, plain, paper-
......
1 Cf. chap. 6, pp.53-55.
......
bound edition of the same book. The participants will need these
to follow along during the service. The Haggadah not only tells
what to do at the seder, but also when, how, and why. Haggadah is
Hebrew for "telling," or "showing forth." It is the same root
used in Exodus 13:8: "And thou shalt shew thy son in that day."
We find the same connotation in the Greek, where the apostle
Paul, in describing the Last Supper, writes: "As often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till
He comes" (I Corinthians 11:26).
Our modern Haggadah is based on ancient writings in the
Mishnah about Passover. These fragments date back to the second
century. The first full record we have of the Haggadah is
contained in a section of an old prayer book called seder, or
siddur, which was edited in the ninth century by Rab Amram ben
Sheshnah. The Haggadah finally emerged as a completely separate
book in the thirteenth century. Much of the ritual and thought
contained in even the latest versions goes back as far as
Maccabean and second Temple times.
(Note, only from the SECOND century! Trying to make them fit into
the first century before 70 A.D. and the time of Christ, is NOT
possible - Keith Hunt)
These, then, are all the unique foods and accouterments on
the Passover table.
But before the ritual meal itself is examined, there is yet
another unusual feature to capture the attention. On each chair
around the table there is a pillow. Most are sofa pillows, but
often one or two bed pillows are used as well, for everyone must
have one. Every person at the table tonight will recline or sit
at ease during the ceremonial meal, for once we were slaves in
Egypt, but now we are free. Once we ate the Passover in fear and
haste, but tonight we eat in leisurely comfort and safety. We
celebrate redemption. We rejoice in liberty!
(But it is all in "vian do they worship me; teaching the
commandment of men, you make void the commandments of God" as
Jesus often said in the main, about the false religion of the
Pharisees and Sadducees. What you have read here, as the Jewish
"seder," means nothing without Christ in the center of the table.
And if He was of course the Passover observance would be as He
instituted it in the New Testament, and not as a Jewish "seder"
meal at the wrong time to boot - Keith Hunt)
.....................
To be continued
Christ in the Passover The Modern Seder
by Ceil and Moishe Rosen (1978)
THE MODERN SEDER
(Jesus came from the tribe of Judah; He was Jewish; although you
could say Christianity came from Judah, it is not true that
Christianity came from "Judaism" for a New Covenant came into
being with Christ, and that New Testament set another new way to
remember and observe the Passover. Christianity moved into its
own life and form; it left behind the old. Those trying to find
"Jewish Roots" or involved in "Messianic Judaism" and going back
to various Jewish traditions, many of them the traditions of the
Pharisees that made void the commandments of God, and are going
backwards. Christianity moved out from under the canopy of
Judaism, it moved forward, setting its own path and a different
way of life. It's not wrong to remember your nation and culture
from whence you came, but Christianity is like as the apostle
Paul said, knowing his background in the nation of Judah, and his
Pharisee theology: "But what things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ. Yes, doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ" [Philippians 3:7-8].
Yet, for your interest I have reproduced this chapter of this
book. It shows you how the Jews are locked into the old Passover
[with added rituals] for not accepting Christ Jesus as the
Messiah. One day, they will see their Messiah coming in glory,
they will see He was the Christ of 2,000 years ago, and they will
then move into the New Testament life and the Passover of the New
Covenant - Keith Hunt)
THE MODERN SEDER
In Jewish homes, the lighting of the holiday candles
separates the sacred from the mundane, the Sabbath of rest from
the week's cares. Tonight the blue white flames cast a halo of
light over the holiday table, inspiring a sense of holiness. They
lend a soft patina to the silver service, and their flickering
glow is mirrored in the eyes of the seated company. Savory aromas
from the kitchen mingle with the scent of the hot wax, the grapy
smell of the wine, and the acrid fumes of freshly ground
horseradish. An air of festivity reigns, tempered by solemn
anticipation.
The father or grandfather of the family conducts the
Passover seder. For this special occasion, the leader of the
feast is wearing a long, white outer garment of cotton or silk
called a "kitel." The kitel is worn by Orthodox Jewish men at
Passover and a few other special times. It is also a burial
garment. 1 This wide-sleeved ceremonial robe is a symbol of
purity, reminiscent of Temple times when no one could participate
in the sacrifices unless he was in a state of Levitical purity.
It also reminds us of the white robe of the high priest and of
the robe of righteousness that God has promised to give to His
elect (Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 6:11; 7:9). On his head, the
leader of the feast wears a tall, white, silk head covering
shaped like a crown, portraying
......
1 See "Kitel," Encyclopaedia Judaica, 10:364.
......
that on Passover night a man is king and religious leader over
his own household. 1
All eyes now turn expectantly to the leader as he stands and
opens his Haggadah. He raises his wine glass for all to see and
chants the kiddush, the prayer of sanctification that ushers in
all Sabbath days and most of the Jewish holidays. This blessing
expresses thanksgiving to God for choosing Israel and for giving
feasts and holidays to His people. Tonight a special blessing is
added for the commandment to commemorate the redemption from
Egypt. The most widely recognized portion of this prayer is:
"Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of
the fruit of the vine." Upon the close of this benediction,
everyone at the table sips from the first cup of wine, called the
cup of sanctification. This cup of sanctification consecrates the
ritual meal.
Next the hostess brings in a small towel and a silver bowl
filled with water. This ceremonial washbasin contains only about
a cup of water. The leader dips his fingertips into the bowl and
dries them with the towel in preparation for handling the food.
He picks up the "karpas" (celery, parsley, or lettuce) from the
seder plate and hands a small portion to each participant.
Everyone recites together: "Blessed art thou, Lord God, King of
the Universe, who createst the fruit of the earth." And everyone
dips the greens into salt water and eats. At ancient Greek and
Roman banquets, this was the traditional beginning for a formal
meal. This Hellenistic culture influenced Jewish custom and
practices during the formative stages of stand-
......
1 Jewish men wear a small head covering (yarmulke) when they
pray. The miter described above is usually reserved for the
cantor who leads the synagogue worship. At Passover the host, as
religious leader of the evening, may wear the miter.
......
ardizing the seder. Contemporary thought endows the ritual with
added symbolism: the greens represent life, which is often
immersed in tears, represented by the salt water. The host now
turns his attention to the unity, the three wafers of unleavened
bread. He bypasses the top wafer, takes out the middle wafer, and
breaks it in half. He puts one of the halves back into the unity.
Then he wraps the remaining piece of this middle matzo in a white
napkin or puts it into a special, white, silk bag. While the
children cover their eyes, he hides or "buries" that portion of
the middle matzo, usually beneath one of the pillows or under the
tablecloth. This buried or hidden wafer of unleavened bread now
has a name, "aphikomen." We will see the aphikomen later in the
Passover service.
The ritual that follows is very old. We know this because
the prayer is in Aramaic, the language used in the land of
Israel, mainly during the time of the second Temple. To this day
it is read in Aramaic, not Hebrew. The host uncovers the
unleavened bread again, holds up the plate, and everyone recites:
"This is the Bread of Affliction which our ancestors ate in the
land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who
are in need come and celebrate Passover." Then they include
phrases that must have been added after the destruction of the
Temple: "This year we are here: next year in the land of Israel!
This year we are slaves: next year free men!" Here again, as with
the cup set out for Elijah, we see the Messianic hope expressed.
Although we are free from Egyptian slavery, we are slaves. When
the Lord brings us back to Zion in the days of the Messiah, we
will be truly redeemed, truly free!
(Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It was He who said,
"The truth shall set you free!" But the Jews today are not free,
for they will not acknowledge the truth, so they live in the
past, while still looking for the Messiah to come - Keith Hunt)
Now the wine glasses are refilled, and the youngest child at
the table asks the traditional four questions:
Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other
nights we can eat bread or matzo. Why, tonight, only matzo?
On all other nights, we can eat any kind of herbs. Why, tonight,
bitter herbs? On all other nights we don't dip herbs we eat into
anything. Why, tonight, do we dip twice? On all other nights we
can eat either sitting up straight or reclining. Why, tonight, do
we all recline?
The last question about reclining is a relatively late
addition to the original questions. It may have been added as a
replacement for the question referring to the Paschal lamb, which
was asked while the Temple and the sacrifices remained: "Why do
we eat only meat which is roasted?"
The father or grandfather replies with the prescribed answer
in the Haggadah, taken from Deuteronomy 6:21 and 26:8: "We were
Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD our God brought us out
thereof with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." From this
introductory statement proceeds the reading of the whole epic of
redemption from the Haggadah. The Mishnah describes this answer
as "beginning with shame and ending with glory" (Pesahim 10:4).
The narrative combines Bible history and rabbinical commentary.
It includes God's calling Abram out of idolatry, the hardships of
the Hebrews in the land of Egypt, the punishment of the
Egyptians, the dividing of the Red Sea, the giving of the
Sabbath, and the giving of the Law. The climax is the recital of
the ten plagues that God poured out on the Egyptians. With the
mention of each plague, everyone dips or pours out one drop of
wine from his wine goblet into a small saucer. This saucer, not
the goblet, is known as the cup. When the saucer is filled with
the ten drops of wine, it is called the cup of iniquity, a term
symbolic of God's judgments. Now is posed the rhetorical
question: "Is it for this [the judgments] that we praise God?"
The answer follows: "No, for God loved the Egyptians even as He
loved us. But it is for God's infinite mercies that we praise
Him."
This sets the stage for a happy song recounting the numerous
acts of love and mercy that God bestowed upon Israel. The name of
the song is one Hebrew word, "dayenu," meaning, "it would have
been sufficient." At the end of every line of the song comes the
one-word refrain, "Dayenu," sung about ten times with much gaiety
and handclapping. The song ends with the spoken words:
"Then how much more, doubled and re-doubled, is the claim the
Omnipresent has upon our thankfulness! For He did take us out of
Egypt and execute judgments ... and justice ... [did] tear the
sea apart for us ... satisfy our needs in the desert ... give us
the Sabbath [and] ... the Torah [Law] ... bring us into the land
of Israel, and build us the House of His choosing to atone for
all our sins."
Now, in obedience to the ancient admonition of Rabbi
Gamaliel, the host makes special mention of the three crucial
ingredients of the Passover: the Passover sacrifice (symbolized
by the shank bone on the seder plate), the bitter herbs, and the
unleavened bread (matzo). He explains each item, holding up the
bitter herbs and matzo. However, he does not lift up the shank
bone, lest what is only the symbol of the Passover lamb be given
the significance of a real sacrifice, which is forbidden. Then he
adds these words:
"In every generation let each man look on himself as if he came
forth out of Egypt. As it is said: 'And thou shalt tell thy son
... it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came forth
out of Egypt'"[see Exodus 13:8].
This text is based on the teaching of the Mishnah (Pesahim
10:5) that the Exodus and redemption are not to be taken only as
history; each Jew is to consider the experience as personal.
(Even so, those of us who are spiritually redeemed by Jesus, the
true Passover Lamb, see Him as being sacrificed for each of us,
individually and personally, although the actual event happened
two thousand years ago.)
(The Jews believe they are the children of God as much as any
Christian believes they are. Their theology teaches they can be
saved WITHOUT Christ; the Christian therology teaches there is
only ONE through whom you can be saved - Christ Jesus - Acts 4:12
- Keith Hunt)
Now the company raises the wine glasses in a toast of
thanksgiving to the goodness of God and proclaims: "Let us then
recite before Him a new song: Hallelujah!" They put the glasses
down without drinking and recite Psalms 113 and 114, the first
portion of the Hallel, which literally means "praise." Then they
raise the wine glasses once again, repeating the ancient prayer
of Rabbi Akiba, probably written just after the destruction of
the Temple.
"Blessed art thou, O Lord ... who redeemed us ... and has brought
us to this night ... So, O Lord ... bring us to other festivals
... happy in the building of thy city ... And there may we eat of
the sacrifices and the paschal offerings, whose blood will come
unto the walls of thy altar for acceptance. Then shall we give
thanks to thee with a new song, for our redemption and the
liberation of our soul. Blessed art thou, O Lord, Redeemer of
Israel. Blessed art thou ... Creator of the fruit of the vine."
This is the signal for drinking the second cup of wine,
called the "cup of praise."
Following the drinking of the second cup, they pass
around the basin of water. Everyone repeats the special prayer
for ceremonial handwashing and washes his hands. The head of the
feast now breaks off pieces of unleavened bread and distributes
them to all at the table. They recite together the prayers of
thanksgiving for bread and for the commandment to eat unleavened
bread; they eat a morsel of the matzo.
Next the host dips some of the bitter herb into the sweet
charoseth mixture and offers a piece to each participant. Before
eating it, they pronounce another benediction, thanking God for
commanding the eating of bitter herbs. The resultant tears
produced by this ceremony are a fitting memorial to the hardships
of our ancestors!
The host goes on to make a sandwich of bitter herbs and
unleavened bread. He eats it, saying:
"In memory of the Temple, according to the custom of Hillel. Thus
did [Rabbi] Hillel when the Holy Temple still stood: he used to
combine unleavened bread and bitter herbs and eat them together,
to fulfill that which is said: 'They shall eat it with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs.'"
By this time, the younger children are a bit droopy-eyed
from the warmth of the room, the sips of wine, and the hypnotic
flickering of the candles. The older people are not drowsy; they
have just been jolted into alertness by the mouthful of
horseradish. But now the hostess sets aside the seder plate and
disappears into the kitchen, and this is the real cue for
everyone to come to life. Here come the good things that have
been teasing their nostrils all day!
The Passover meal is literally a banquet. It usually begins
with the traditional hard-boiled eggs dipped or flavored with
salt water. Then come the appetizers. In Ashkenazi homes (those
of northern and eastern European culture), two of the favorite
appetizers are chopped liver, similar to the French liver pate,
and gefilte fish. The latter is similar to Scandinavian fish
balls without the sauce. Jewish people like to use horseradish
instead, even when it is not Passover. Then, almost always, there
is a matzo ball soup, a rich, clear chicken broth accompanied by
fluffy, featherlight dumplings made of finely ground matzo and
many well-beaten eggs. The main course is usually a stuffed,
roasted fowl, or beef of some kind. Jewish people today
traditionally do not eat lamb on Passover, because there is no
Temple and no Passover sacrifice. But those of us who are Jewish
believers in the Messiah Jesus feel that it is fitting and
meaningful to eat lamb at our Passover meals in remembrance of
the One who came to be the Lamb, whose sacrifice overshadows the
sacrifices of all the lambs slain in the Temple (Hebrews 9).
(Let me say here, there is nothing in the New Testament
Scriptures to forbid you eating lamb at any meal during the 7 day
Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Passover evening, correctly being
the beginning of the 14th day of the first month, Nisan or Abib,
is NOT A MEAL! Hence lamb will not be eaten during that specific
service, for it is not a meal under the New Testament ordinance -
all fully explained in my many studies of the Passover - Keith
Hunt)
There are many more good things to eat, like salads and
vegetables, limited only by the cook's imagination and
resourcefulness. For dessert there are dried fruits, nuts,
specially baked Passover cookies, sponge cakes, and coconut
macaroons, all made without leaven; and imported marzipan and
other candies from Israel.
(Remmeber all this is going on during the first evening hours of
the 15th day, which is technically the first holy day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the practice handed down from
the Pharisee Jews - Keith Hunt)
Jewish people of Eastern and Mediterranean descent
(Sephardim) have different favorite foods, in keeping with their
own culture and tradition. Their cuisine often includes tomatoes,
eggplant, and fruits like dates, figs, and oranges, which are
native to their countries. The only foods never to be found on
any Passover table, besides bread or other types of leaven, are
pork and shellfish. These are forbidden at all times by Leviticus
11 and Deuteronomy 14 to those Jewish people who are still under
the Law.
(The authors are Christian Jews and so they believe such laws of
clean and unclean foods are abolished, and only none-Christian
religious Jews need to obey them - nothing could be further from
the truth - Keith Hunt)
With dinner at an end, the dessert dishes are cleared
away, but the Passover seder is far from finished. Something is
missing - the "aphikomen"! The name aphikomen comes from the
Greek "epikomios," meaning "after dinner revelry," or "that which
comes last." In ancient times, this was apt to be rather rowdy.
Since that type of behavior was totally unsuitable for a
religious celebration, the rabbis of old substituted a solemn
commemoration of the Paschal lamb. In Temple times, the lamb was
the last thing to be eaten; now, in the absence of the
sacrificial lamb, the unleavened bread was to represent the
Passover sacrifice. The taste of the matzo and the memory of the
lamb were to linger in the consciousness of each celebrant.
The children search now for the missiing aphikomen, making a
little game of it. The adults call out advice as the children
search the room: "You're way off base!" "You're cold." "You're
getting warmer!" Soon someone finds it and turns it over to the
head of the feast with a triumphant grin of anticipation, for he
knows that he will receive a reward for it - a small gift or sum
of money.
The gaiety and boisterousness of the search give way to
solemnity as the ritual of the seder continues. The host unwraps
the "aphikomen" and distributes olive-sized pieces to everyone. 1
All partake of it with quiet reverence. In Western culture, there
is no blessing or word spoken. But in the Sephardic or Eastern
tradition, they say: "In memory of the Passover, sacrifice, eaten
after one is sated." Nowhere do they add the prophetic words of
Jesus at the Last Supper: "This is my body which is given for
you" (Luke 22:19).
After this, no one may have any more food or drink at the
seder other than the third and fourth cups of wine. At
......
1 By rabbinic tradition, an olive-sized morsel is the smallest
over which one can say a blessing.
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this point many Haggadahs include the recital of Psalm 126, one
of the Songs of Ascent.
Now that the meal is officially concluded by the eating of
the aphikomen, the ritual portion of the seder continues with the
recitation of the final table grace. At Jewish meals there is a
berachah (short prayer of thanks) for each food as it comes to
the table, but the main table grace always comes after the meal.
At the seder, the host now pours the third cup of wine before
this prayer. Then he stands and repeats the traditional words in
Hebrew: "Gentlemen, let us recite the blessing." The seated
company responds: "May the name of the Lord be blessed from now
unto eternitv." The host continues: "Let us bless Him of whose
food we have eaten." Then the participants read a lengthy prayer
of thanksgiving. Toward the end of this table grace, we hear
again the expression of hope in God's final deliverance in the
days of the Messiah.
"Take pity, O Lord ... on Israel ... on Zion the habitation of
thy glory and on the kingdom of the House of David, thine
anointed ... may there rise and come ... the remembrance of us...
and our fathers, and the remembrance of the Messiah the son of
David, thy servant ... and Jerusalem thy holy city ... and all
thy people, the House of Israel ... on this festival ... The
Compassionate One - may He send Elijah the prophet (may he be
remembered for good) to us that he may bring us good tidings of
salvations and consolations.
(Oh indeed God will send someone who will come in the "spirit and
power" of Elijah before the day of the Lord, as the prophets and
Jesus have said, but the Jews will not recognize him, for he will
come in the name of the Messiah Christ - Keith Hunt)
If Passover falls on a Friday night (the beginning of the
Sabbath) they also add the following:
"The Compassionate One - may He cause us to inherit that day
which is all Sabbath and repose, in the everlasting life. The
Compassionate One - may He find us worthy of the days of the
Messiah and of the life of the world to come."
(You see how they pray that they will find everlasting life and
the world to come. They pray for this while they ignore or reject
the One who can give them eternal life. The are blinded, the vast
majority in Israel are blinded as Paul shows in Romans 9 through
11. The day will come when that blindness will be removed - then
they will find salvation and the world to come, but until that
time, they must wait and rest [in death, if dead before Jesus the
Messiah comes in glory] until their resurrection day - Keith
Hunt)
This speaks of that ultimate Sabbath of rest about which
Paul is writing in Hebrews 4:9.
Immediately following that prayer, the host leads again in
the blessing over the wine, and everyone drinks the third cup,
commemorating the verse in Exodus 6:6b: "I will redeem you with a
stretched out arm." This third cup is the cup of redemption, also
at times called the cup of blessing. It is the cup of redemption
because, say the ancient commentaries, it represents the blood of
the Paschal lamb. Some Haggadahs call it the cup of Elijah
because it directly follows the prayer for the coming of Elijah.
Another reason for that title may be because of what happens
next.
The children have been watching Elijah's cup at the foot of
the table. In some households, the cup was filled at the
beginning of the seder; in others, it is filled now. They squint
hard at the dark red contents of the cup. Will Elijah come and
drink from the cup? Maybe he is here now, only he is invisible.
Did he take a sip? It looks like there is just a little less wine
than there was a while ago! Alas, if that is true, it is only due
to evaporation. But maybe he is still going to come! Wait and
see, but now we must go on with the service.
(They look for the Elijah to come, and he will, in the form of a
man, as like John the baptist was Elijah in his day [Mat. 17],
but not knowing Christ or the New Testament Scriptures, they will
look for him in vain. But then again the huge majority of
Christians will not know the Elijah to come before the day of the
Lord, for He will speak the word of truth, which they are blinded
from. Only the very elect will recognize the Elijah to come, and
the restitution of truth - Keith Hunt)
Jewish scholars think the prayer that comes next, "Pour out
Thy Wrath," originated during the Middle Ages when Jews were
severely persecuted for the faith, especially at Passover time.
This prayer is not found in the earliest editions of the
Haggadah. It calls for God's judgment on the heathen, and it
sounds rather harsh. But taken in context with the other prayers
given above for the coming of Elijah, it fits into the pattern of
thought: "May God send the Messiah, heralded by the prophet
Elijah, to vanquish all our enemies and set up His Kingdom of
peace."
(The Jews pray for the still coming of the Messiah, while they
cannot see that He already came in the form of Jesus Christ, two
thousand years ago. Yet the Messiah will come and the Jews will
in that day recognize Him as the prophet Zechariah tells us in
chapters 12 and 13. See my expounding of that prophetic book on
this Website - Keith Hunt)
The leader now sends one of the children to open the door to
see if Elijah is coming in answer to the prayers. The words are
not prescribed until later in the Haggadah reading, but just as
the door is being opened, everyone usually exclaims: "Blessed is
he who cometh in the name of the Lord" The youngsters are
round-eyed with awe as the door slowly creaks open. A gust of
cool night air sweeps into the room but no one is there. Oh well,
maybe next year. The child closes the door and comes back to the
table.
Next the host leads in the recitation of the second portion
of the Hallel, Psalms 115 to 118. These verses are the same as
those of Temple times. They lead into the Great Hallel, which is
Psalm 136. In this well-known psalm, the Levitical choir in the
Temple sang out the praises of Jehovah and the great events of
Israel's history. At the end of each phrase or line, the
congregation responded, "For His kindness endureth forever!"
The earliest commentaries (Pesahim 10:7 of the Mishnah) record a
"Benediction of Song" after the Hallel. The Talmud, which is a
commentary on the Mishnah, teaches in Berakbot 59b that one of
these benedictions was the Great Hallel and another was at least
some part of a hymn called "The Breath of Every Living Thing."
This closing hymn before the fourth and final cup of wine is
again a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. It begins: "The breath
of every living thing shall bless Thy Name," and ends: "Blessed
art thou, 0 Lord, God and King, who art mightily praised, God of
thanksgivings, Lord of wonders, who chooses song and psalm, King,
God, the life of the world." Once again, everyone at the table
lifts his wine glass and chants the blessing over wine. Everyone
drinks from the fourth cup. This last cup of the Passover seder
commemorates the verse in Exodus 6:7: "And I will take you to me
for a people."
One of the modern versions of the Haggadah 1 comments very
aptly on the fourth cup and the verse it commemorates: "The
redemption is not yet complete. The Fourth Cup recalls us to our
covenant with the Eternal One, to the tasks that still await us
as a people called to the service of God, to a great purpose for
which the people of Israel live."
The editors of that particular Haggadah see the purpose of
Israel as being "The preservation and affirmation of hope." But
we, who are familiar with the promises and prophecies of
Scripture, see a greater purpose for Israel that of one day
proclaiming to the whole world that the Messiah is, indeed,
Saviour and King!
Because of the words, "I will take you to be my people,"
some call this fourth cup the cup of acceptance. Others prefer to
call it the cup of Elijah. There is merit to both titles, for
Elijah will yet come to herald the redemption that will be
complete only when Israel fulfills God's entire plan; that is,
when Israel recognizes and proclaims the Messiah (Zechariah
12:10), she will truly be the people of God, as foretold in
Jeremiah 32:38-40.
And now, at last, with the drinking of the fourth cup, the
seder is drawing to a close. Happy songs and festivity often
continue afterward late into the night, but the service
......
1 Herbert Bronstein, ed., "The New Union Haggadah," rev. ed., p.
91.
......
officially ends with one last prayer for the rebuilding of
Jerusalem:
Concluded is the Passover seder,
According to its law and custom.
As we have lived to celebrate it,
so may we live to celebrate it again.
Pure One, who dwells in his habitation
Redress the countless congregation.
Speedily lead the offshoots of thy stock
Redeemed, to Zion in joyous song.
NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM! 1
......
1 Jewish people already living in Israel say instead: "Next year
in Jerusalem rebuilt!"
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Note:
So it is that the Jews without Christ in the Passover, live in
the past, praying for the prophet Elijah to come and reveal good
news to them. He will come and he will reveal good news to them
and all the world, but most will never know he came and restored
all things, they will blindly go their way, tripping over the
truth, picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and walking
on as if never seeing it. Then will come the end of this age,
then will come the Messiah, then the blindness will be lifted
from all faces, then the world will see who the Elijah was, and
who the Christ Messiah is. Then the covering cast over all faces
will be lifted, light of truth will pour into their minds, and
all people will finally rejoice as the knowledge of God will
cover this earth as the waters cover the sea beds. Then all will
know Christ in the Passover.
Keith Hunt
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