The Passover
Scripture observes:
Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass, and remind and warn
them of the things wherein they sin, that they may be freed from wickedness
and put their trust in you, O Lord. (Wis 12:2)
With the plagues, God punishes Egypt little by little, so that mercy will allow time
for repentance. But instead of repenting, Pharaoh hardens his heart, choosing to exalt
himself rather than humble himself before Yahweh (Ex 9:17; 10:3). With this choice,
Pharaoh brings upon himself and his nation the suffering of the final plague. As God had
warned, if Pharaoh did not let God’s firstborn son go to serve him, Pharaoh himself
would suffer the death of his own firstborn son.
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While the first three plagues affected “all the land,” Egypt and Israel alike, God
“set apart the land of Goshen,” and only the Egyptians suffered the fourth through the
ninth plagues. But with the tenth plague, the Israelites, like the Egyptians, are again at
risk. Israel’s only escape from the judgment on the firstborn sons is to follow God’s
prescriptions in Exodus 12: they must celebrate the Passover.
On the tenth day of the month, the Israelites are to take a one-year-old lamb without
blemish. Then, on the fourteenth day, they are to slay the lamb, roast it, and eat it. It is
worth asking, “Why the four-day wait to sacrifice the lambs?” A hint can be found in the
strange event recorded in Exodus 4. God, having just sent Moses to liberate Israel, “visits”
Moses and tries to kill him. The word used to describe God “visiting” Moses is also the
word used for God visiting Egypt with plagues. Moses is spared only when his wife,
Zipporah, circumcises their son Gershom, and puts some of the blood upon Moses. Given
that the Egyptian culture did not circumcise their males until they were thirteen years
old, it seems likely that Moses, and many of his fellow Israelites, had fallen away from
observing circumcision on the eighth day according to God’s command to Abraham.
Now on the eve of the exodus, God commands Moses that those who were to celebrate
the Passover must be circumcised (Ex 12:48), an act that some Jewish rabbis said took
three to four days for healing—thus, the four-day wait between selecting the lamb and
celebrating the Passover.
9
Two accounts of circumcision and blood bracket the story of
the plagues; just as the circumcision of Moses’ son and the sign of blood save Moses from
God’s visit, so the Passover circumcision of the Israelites and the blood of the Passover
lamb will be signs that lead to God’s sparing the firstborn of all Israel.
Having sacrificed and roasted the lamb, the Israelites are to eat it at night, standing
up, with their sandals on, ready to go. Then they are to spread the blood of the lamb on
the doorpost of their houses. If they do not complete this ceremony—sacrificing,
consuming, marking with blood—exactly as Moses directs, then their firstborn son will
die, just like the firstborn sons of Egypt.
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The Lamb of God
By reading the Old Testament in the Spirit of Truth, it is possible to see “the newness of Christ
on the basis of the ‘figures’ (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the
9
Göran Larsson,
Bound for Freedom (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999), 81.
first covenant” (
Catechism No. 1094). With this “typological” reading, we have already seen the
first Adam foreshadow Christ, the New Adam, and the floodwaters foreshadow baptism. Here,
in the Exodus, the Passover and the Passover lamb foreshadow Jesus Christ, the true,
unblemished Lamb of God, whose sacrifice takes away our sin and shields us from the angel of
death. After agreeing to baptize Jesus, John the Baptist also pointed him out as the “Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29, 36; see also
Catechism No. 608). St. Paul explicitly
calls Christ “our Passover lamb,” and John the Evangelist makes clear that the crucifixion
happened at the same hour the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple (Jn 19:14)
and notes that Jesus’ bones were not broken (Jn 19:36; see Ex 12:46). With this typological
reading, we can also see that the Exodus images of the water from the rock will be a figure of the
spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert will prefigure the Eucharist, “the true bread from
heaven” (Jn 6:32; see also 1 Cor 10:1–6).
In each of the earlier nine plagues, God himself had brought judgment upon the false
gods of Egypt while Israel had watched in silent amazement. Now with the tenth plague,
the people of Israel themselves are required to take an active role and make a public
declaration against the false gods of Egypt. The Egyptian polytheistic religion included
the worship of lambs, sheep, and goats; thus, sacrificing a lamb was deicide and a capital
crime resulting in death. To save their firstborn sons, the Israelites would have to publicly
denounce Egyptian idolatry (killing the lamb by their own hand and smearing the blood
on the doorposts for all Egypt to see), an act of renunciation for the sake of liberation.
The Israelites are forced to choose whether they will serve (
avad) the false gods of Egypt
or worship (
avad) the God of their fathers. With this sacrifice, God forces Israel to burn
its bridges with Egypt; there could be no going back now.
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A
CT
3:
S
INAI
C
OVENANT
The Red Sea
The firstborn sons of Egypt are killed in the night. In his grief over the death of his
firstborn son, Pharaoh commands Moses and Israel to leave Egypt. Israel flees in the night
before the Egyptians see the blood-stained door posts. The Egyptians, fearing further
death, enrich the Israelites to hurry their departure.
But with the light of day, Pharaoh’s grief turns to rage. He musters his army and soon
catches the Israelites, pinning them against the shores of the Red Sea. God, in a last
mighty sign against Egypt, parts the waters, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land, all
the while protecting them from the Egyptian army by a pillar of cloud. The Egyptians
rush into the sea to catch them, but the Lord sends the water crashing down upon them.
The entire army of Egypt, the great world power at the time, is decimated; it is clear that
Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the most powerful God.
Leading the people through the Red Sea, Moses fulfills the prophetic meaning of his
name, “he who draws through water.” As Israel is saved through the waters that wash
away the Egyptians, Moses’ sister Miriam leads the women in singing and dancing in a
joyous celebration of God’s miraculous redemption of Israel. Miriam, who watched her
brother float down the Nile and into the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter and redemption,
now sees Moses saved once again from death through water, this time with his people.
Like Noah’s ark in the waters of the flood, this salvation through the waters of the Red
Sea prefigures the New Covenant’s salvation through the waters of baptism (
Catechism
No. 1094).
Israel’s freedom from slavery begins their journey home to the land God promised to
Abraham’s descendants (Gn 12:1–3). One of the early resting places in the wilderness
journey is Elim. Elim is noted for its twelve springs of water, one for each of the twelve
tribes, and its seventy palm trees, which correspond to the seventy descendants of Jacob,
all of whom were listed at the outset of the Exodus narrative. Moses, fleeing once again
from Egypt, meets his father-in-law, Jethro, who advises him on how to govern the people
of Israel wisely. Moses’ first encounter with Jethro had led to his extraordinary meeting
with God at the
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burning bush. Now, this second meeting precedes Moses’ return to
the mountain of God, where he will hear from God once again.
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