It’s hard to think of a more important feast for the Jews than the Passover. It’s similar in nature to the feast of Purim, which is eaten in remembrance of Esther’s deliverance of the Jews.
But the Passover is different. It’s not about keeping the Jews alive per se, it’s about the salvation of the Jews from bondage in Egypt. It’s the moment when they began their birth as a true nation, brought out of slavery and hand-delivered into the Promised Land.
Considering the weight of the feast, it’s shocking that there’s only ten verses in Exodus 12 that discuss what the Jews actually do during the Passover. The instructions are simple:
First, on the tenth of the month of Abib (April-ish), they take a lamb for every household. This lamb should be male, one year old, and unblemished. They keep it until twilight on the fourth day, when the “whole assembly” kills it together.
Next, they take some blood from that lamb and put it on the doorposts of the house they’re staying in. That same night, they’ll roast the lamb over fire, season it with unleavened read, bitter herbs, and eat it. The entire lamb is to be eaten; if there is anything left, burn it with fire.
That’s the procedural requirements for the Passover, but that doesn’t really speak to the heart of the feast. In Exodus 12:11, God talks about the manner in which they were to eat it: loins girded, sandals on, staff in hand. They were to eat it “in haste.”
Why? To reflect the events of the Passover night.
When the angel of death went through the land of Egypt and killed all the firstborn that night—except for those who had blood on their doorposts—Pharaoh called Moses that same night and told them to leave, immediately. That’s why they ate the Passover as if they were about to leave, because the night the Passover was instituted, they did leave.
The urgency of the Passover meal is contrasted with the rest of Jewish history to that point. Abraham waited for a son. Jacob waited for his wife. Joseph waited to be reunited with his brothers. The Israelites waited more than 400 years for deliverance from slavery.
But now, when God said it was time to go, it was time to go. The time for waiting is over; now, it’s time for deliverance.
Christians are to go about our work the same way. We have no idea when the day will come that Jesus returns, or when our life is taken from us. We should act as if we’re leaving for our inheritance tonight, “working out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
After all, you never know when it’ll be time to leave.
