Why We Remember the Passover

Netivyah International

Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is the biblical festival where we remember God rescuing the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. It falls in the early spring, beginning on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, and lasts for seven days. God commanded the Jewish people to keep this memory alive forever because the Exodus from Egypt formed Israel as a nation.

The Foundation of the Exodus

We might even say the entire Bible rests on what happened during the Exodus. It is mentioned in the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the New Testament more than any other historical event. The children of Israel suffered under crushing slavery in Egypt for hundreds of years. They cried out to God, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God did not just quietly sneak them out the back door of the empire. He sent ten plagues to strike the false idols of the land. The Nile River, worshipped as a source of life, turned to blood. The sun god was blotted out by three days of thick darkness. You can read more about how these acted as judgments on Egypt's gods. He parted the Red Sea, destroyed Pharaoh's pursuing army, and provided manna in the wilderness.

God orchestrated these events with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm so that we would have a story to pass down to our children. He wanted Israel to know that He is a God who hears the cries of the oppressed and acts in history to save them.

A Book That Begins With Forgetting

The Book of Exodus opens with a crisis of memory. A new Pharaoh arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He forgot the man who had saved his nation from famine. Because of that forgetting, he enslaved the descendants of Jacob. The Egyptian empire was built on forgetting the past and exploiting the vulnerable.

God built His kingdom on remembering. The commandment to tell our children and to teach the next generation is the beating heart of Passover. God stated clearly why He performed such massive miracles in Egypt. In Exodus 10:2, He says, "...that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord."

If we want to raise children who know God, we have to give them a common story. We need to show them who we are, where we came from, and how God saves. In the New Testament, Yeshua commands His disciples, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Luke 18:16). This is an obligation. Parents are commanded to teach their children the Word of God, and Passover provides the perfect classroom.

How Passover is Observed in Jewish Practice

For thousands of years, Jewish families have gathered around the table on the first night of Passover for a meal called the Seder. Seder simply means "order." We do not just sit down and eat. We follow a specific order of reading, praying, and eating symbolic foods.

The guidebook for this evening is called the Haggadah, which literally means "the telling." The Haggadah guides us through the story of the Exodus, ensuring we remember the essential parts to share with our children. The entire evening is designed to provoke questions from the youngest people in the room. In fact, the Seder includes a specific moment where the youngest child asks four questions, beginning with, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

God knew that children do not learn just by listening to a lecture. They learn by tasting, touching, and seeing. During the Passover meal, we eat maror (bitter herbs, usually horseradish) so our eyes water and we taste the bitter sting of slavery in Egypt. We eat matzah (unleavened bread) for a full week. This flat, hard bread reminds us that the children of Israel had to leave Egypt in such haste that their bread dough had no time to rise. We drink from the fruit of the vine to celebrate the sweetness of freedom.

Before the holiday even begins, Jewish homes undergo a massive cleaning to remove all chametz (leaven or yeast). Every crumb of bread, cracker, or cereal is swept out of the house. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul draws on this exact practice when he tells believers to "get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch" (1 Corinthians 5:7). If you want to know more about the detailed traditions, you can read The Ultimate Guide to Pesach.

Why is Song of Songs Read at Passover?

During the week of Passover, there is a specific tradition in the synagogue to read the Song of Songs (Megillat Shir HaShirim). For a Christian reading this book, it might seem like a strange choice for a holiday about escaping slavery. The Song of Songs is a passionate, poetic book about a bride and a groom.

There are two distinct reasons for this tradition. First, Passover is the holiday of spring. The Song of Songs is filled with the imagery of springtime awakening in the Land of Israel. The text reads, "See! The winter is past, the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth, the season of singing has come" (Song of Songs 2:11-12).

Second, the Jewish sages have long understood the Song of Songs as an allegory of the love between God and Israel. Passover is the beginning of that courtship. In Egypt, God saw Israel as a captive bride. He fought for her, broke the chains of her captors, and led her out into the wilderness to betroth her at Mount Sinai. Reading the Song of Songs at Passover reminds us that the Exodus was not just a legal transaction or a political liberation. It was an act of rescuing love.

The Prototype of World Redemption

As a believer, the Exodus from Egypt is the prototype of the redemption of the entire world. Everything that happened in Egypt laid the groundwork for what Yeshua the Messiah would do 1,300 years later in Jerusalem.

Joseph Shulam often points out that Yeshua did not invent a new religion. He lived and taught within the framework of first-century Judaism. When Yeshua gathered His disciples for His final meal before His crucifixion, He gathered them for a Passover meal. He took the elements of the Seder, the unleavened bread and the cups of wine, and revealed their true meaning.

When He broke the matzah, He said, "This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). The matzah is pierced and striped, baked without the puffing pride of yeast. It is a perfect picture of the Messiah.

During a traditional Seder, four cups of wine are poured, representing the four promises of redemption in Exodus 6. When He took the cup after supper, He was likely lifting the third cup, the Cup of Redemption. He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20).

During the tenth plague in Egypt, the blood of a lamb brushed on the doorposts of the houses saved the Israelites from death. John the Immerser recognized this powerful truth about Passover when he first saw Yeshua and declared, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).

Yeshua is our Passover lamb. Just as God redeemed the Israelites from the physical bondage of Pharaoh, Yeshua redeems us from the spiritual bondage of sin and death. He leads us out of our own Egypt. We are certain that just as God led the children of Israel to the Promised Land, Yeshua will lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven and the fullness of God’s promises.

A Simple Way to Mark Passover at Home

You do not have to be Jewish or host a massive formal Seder to remember the Passover in your own home. God gave this story to be shared around a family table. Here is What You Need for Passover at Home to mark the holiday with your family this spring.

First, buy a box of matzah and a jar of horseradish at the grocery store. Set your dinner table nicely, and place the matzah and the bitter herbs in the center.

Second, read the story together. Open your Bible to Exodus 12 and read the account of the Passover lamb. Talk with your children about what it must have felt like to eat a meal in a hurry, with your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand, waiting for the signal to leave.

Third, taste the elements. Have everyone take a piece of matzah and put a small scoop of horseradish on it. Eat it together. Let the sharpness of the bitter herbs sting your nose for a moment, and explain that sin and slavery are bitter. Then, eat a piece of plain matzah and talk about how quickly God can move to save His people.

Finally, read Luke 22:14-20. Connect the dots for your family. Explain that Yeshua held up this very same bread. Thank God for sending His Son to be the final Passover lamb, whose blood covers our homes and our lives.

A Question for the Table

The commandment to remember is not just about looking backward. It is about knowing who we are right now. We are a redeemed people. The next time you sit down to eat bread with your family, pause before you pray. Look at the people around your table. Ask yourself: How am I passing down the story of God's rescuing love to the people sitting right in front of me? Let that question change the way you read the Scriptures this week.

Questions people ask

What is the connection between Passover and the Exodus?

Passover is the biblical festival commanded by God to remember the Exodus from Egypt. It commemorates the night God spared the Israelites from the tenth plague and led them out of slavery into freedom.

Why is Song of Songs read at Passover?

Song of Songs is read during Passover because it is the festival of spring, matching the springtime imagery in the book. Jewish tradition also views the book as an allegory of the rescuing love and courtship between God and Israel that began in Egypt.

How did Yeshua observe the Passover?

Yeshua observed Passover according to first-century Jewish tradition. His last meal with His disciples before His crucifixion was a Passover Seder, where He revealed that the unleavened bread and the wine represented His body and blood.