Torah Portion: Exodus 12:21–51

Pesach (Passover)

On the awe-filled night of Passover, the Lord brought His people Israel out from the depth of slavery, fleeing from Pharaoh through the Red Sea and into the confinement of a wilderness. They were locked out of Egypt and locked down with God there for 40 years. They couldn't go back and they couldn't go forward, apart from His leading. However, El Shaddai was with them that they might see His wonderful acts and receive His teaching.

God brought them out by divisions, their clans and their families, to live in tents together. Because the Lord kept watch to bring them out that night, all the Israelites were to keep watch to honour the Lord for the generations to come. Each year, the remembrance of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt to God Himself was to be celebrated for a week.

This was to be within the setting of family, the youngest member asking questions of the father to prompt the unfolding of the amazing story of their escape from death. This was not a casual affair; it had a defined outline and was confined within the commitment of family. “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God” (Lev 11:45)

The Importance of Family

Most of the celebration of the Hebraic feasts took place within family groups and the Church grew from this pattern of life. Three times a year all the men, sometimes accompanied by their families, were required to participate at the Temple in Jerusalem, but the life of faith continued to be based at home, for the most part. The synagogue, like the church building, was a place for families to meet together, but did not replace the priority of the home. Family remains the building block of God's community.

At the moment, families across the world are at confined at home together until it is safe for the order to be relaxed. Surely the Lord takes pleasure as we spend time together as families (even when it can only be at a geographical distance and in an electronic manner), in our abiding within the pattern of life He ordained from the beginning and as we find freedom and contentment, security and peace in living with Him in His ways.

The Purposes of God

The same Lord is now with His believing people worldwide as He who walked in ancient times in the desert with the Hebrew nation to bring them to Himself through such a desperate situation.

In the famous chapter 11 of Hebrews, we read stories of those who kept watch to honour the Lord. Abraham looked forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of the Lord as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward. Rahab saw her deliverance, rather than her destruction. Each one kept their focus on the greater purpose that was being worked out rather than becoming submerged under their immediate circumstances.

Surely the Lord is working a far greater purpose through this year's Passover than we can now take hold of as He prepares His Bride for Himself through these last days before His return.

Author: Sally Denton