Post by foxjj on Mar 29, 2024 22:51:45 GMT
Passover Seder Explained
The Passover Seder is celebrated on the first night of the feast of Unleavened Bread. The house is thoroughly cleaned in order to remove all leaven, because leaven represents sin. When leaven is added to bread dough, the dough will rise. To the Jewish mind, this is similar to how sin entered our world through our first parents Adam and Eve. When they committed the first sin in the garden of Eden it changed the perfectly created world forever.
Paul refers to levin/yeast in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8: “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Seder customs include telling the story of the first Passover, drinking four cups of wine, eating matzo and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder plate. Participants recline to the left while eating in celebration of freedom. This is because, in ancient times a person who reclined at a meal was a free person, while servants and slaves stood and served. We often see this in movies about Roman times.
The spiritual theme of Passover is one of salvation by the atoning blood of a perfect, spotless sacrificed lamb. For Christians this spiritual significance is brought to its ultimate New Covenant fulfillment in the sacrificial death of Jesus as the promised Messiah, as John the Baptist testified about Jesus: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”(John 1:29)
The Seder Table
Two Candles which are lit by the Mother of the home at the commencement of the meal. There are at least two explanations for this custom. They represent the two books of the Old Testament of we get the commandments Exodus and Deuteronomy. The other popular reason is that they represent the husband and wife who hold the family together.
A Seder plate is on the table containing symbolical items.
A Shank born symbolizing the Passover Lamb. (The bone from a chicken leg can be used)
A Hard boiled egg, a symbol of mourning as eggs are served to Jewish mourners after a funeral, some people eat a regular hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water as the first course of the meal.
The egg is also a symbol of hope, because life comes from eggs. The Passover celebration is one that remembers both the sadness of the slavery in Egypt, and also the new life of freedom.
Horseradish, or bitter herbs, symbolizing the harshness of slavery endured by the Hebrew people in Egypt.
A sweet brown mixture, made of fruit and nuts representing the mortar and brick’s made, and used by the slaves.
A vegetable representing hope.
Matzo
A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water. The Torah contains an instruction to eat matzo, specifically on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread during the entire week of the feast of Unleavened Bread. Consequently, the eating of matzo figures prominently in the Passover Seder. There are several explanations for this.
The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Hebrew people.
Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for the purpose of traveling because it preserved well and was light to carry making it similar to hardtack, suggesting that matzo was baked intentionally for the long journey ahead.
Matzo has also been called the bread of poverty. The explanation been that matzo serves as a symbol to remind Jews what it is like to be a poor slave and to promote humility, appreciate freedom, and avoid the inflated ego symbolized by more luxurious leavened bread.
At the end of its preparation, the Matzo has strip markings and is pricked with a fork in order to prevent it rising. As Christians we see this piercing symbolical of Jesus’s suffering, as foretold in Isaiah 53:5-6:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
(If you cannot get Matzo bread, Naan or Greek flat bread is similar)
Cups of Wine (Grape Juice)
The four cups of Passover are an essential part of the Seder celebration. They stand for each of the four promises the Lord made to His people in Exodus 6:6-7: “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”
The cups are named;
The Cup of Sanctification
“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
The Cup of Deliverance
“I will rescue you from their bondage.”
The Cup of Redemption
“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” It would have been while taking this cup that Jesus told his disciples: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
The Cup of Praise
“I will take you as my own people.”
Christians, see Egypt as been a symbol of the world, and the promises of Exodus 6:6-7 fulfilled in our lives through The Lord Jesus.
In some traditions there is a fifth cup called the cup of Elijah. This cup is left un touched awaiting the coming of Elijah to announce the coming of Messiah.
In Luke 7:24-27, Jesus named John the Baptist as the prophet who was to come announcing Messiah:
“After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’”
Because the Jewish people were scattered all over the world their hope was to return to Jerusalem. Therefore at the conclusion of the Seder they would call out “Next year, Jerusalem.”
As Christians we look forward to the coming of the Eternal Jerusalem at the end of time.
John Joseph Fox.
The Passover Seder is celebrated on the first night of the feast of Unleavened Bread. The house is thoroughly cleaned in order to remove all leaven, because leaven represents sin. When leaven is added to bread dough, the dough will rise. To the Jewish mind, this is similar to how sin entered our world through our first parents Adam and Eve. When they committed the first sin in the garden of Eden it changed the perfectly created world forever.
Paul refers to levin/yeast in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8: “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Seder customs include telling the story of the first Passover, drinking four cups of wine, eating matzo and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder plate. Participants recline to the left while eating in celebration of freedom. This is because, in ancient times a person who reclined at a meal was a free person, while servants and slaves stood and served. We often see this in movies about Roman times.
The spiritual theme of Passover is one of salvation by the atoning blood of a perfect, spotless sacrificed lamb. For Christians this spiritual significance is brought to its ultimate New Covenant fulfillment in the sacrificial death of Jesus as the promised Messiah, as John the Baptist testified about Jesus: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”(John 1:29)
The Seder Table
Two Candles which are lit by the Mother of the home at the commencement of the meal. There are at least two explanations for this custom. They represent the two books of the Old Testament of we get the commandments Exodus and Deuteronomy. The other popular reason is that they represent the husband and wife who hold the family together.
A Seder plate is on the table containing symbolical items.
A Shank born symbolizing the Passover Lamb. (The bone from a chicken leg can be used)
A Hard boiled egg, a symbol of mourning as eggs are served to Jewish mourners after a funeral, some people eat a regular hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water as the first course of the meal.
The egg is also a symbol of hope, because life comes from eggs. The Passover celebration is one that remembers both the sadness of the slavery in Egypt, and also the new life of freedom.
Horseradish, or bitter herbs, symbolizing the harshness of slavery endured by the Hebrew people in Egypt.
A sweet brown mixture, made of fruit and nuts representing the mortar and brick’s made, and used by the slaves.
A vegetable representing hope.
Matzo
A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water. The Torah contains an instruction to eat matzo, specifically on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread during the entire week of the feast of Unleavened Bread. Consequently, the eating of matzo figures prominently in the Passover Seder. There are several explanations for this.
The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Hebrew people.
Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for the purpose of traveling because it preserved well and was light to carry making it similar to hardtack, suggesting that matzo was baked intentionally for the long journey ahead.
Matzo has also been called the bread of poverty. The explanation been that matzo serves as a symbol to remind Jews what it is like to be a poor slave and to promote humility, appreciate freedom, and avoid the inflated ego symbolized by more luxurious leavened bread.
At the end of its preparation, the Matzo has strip markings and is pricked with a fork in order to prevent it rising. As Christians we see this piercing symbolical of Jesus’s suffering, as foretold in Isaiah 53:5-6:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
(If you cannot get Matzo bread, Naan or Greek flat bread is similar)
Cups of Wine (Grape Juice)
The four cups of Passover are an essential part of the Seder celebration. They stand for each of the four promises the Lord made to His people in Exodus 6:6-7: “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”
The cups are named;
The Cup of Sanctification
“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
The Cup of Deliverance
“I will rescue you from their bondage.”
The Cup of Redemption
“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” It would have been while taking this cup that Jesus told his disciples: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
The Cup of Praise
“I will take you as my own people.”
Christians, see Egypt as been a symbol of the world, and the promises of Exodus 6:6-7 fulfilled in our lives through The Lord Jesus.
In some traditions there is a fifth cup called the cup of Elijah. This cup is left un touched awaiting the coming of Elijah to announce the coming of Messiah.
In Luke 7:24-27, Jesus named John the Baptist as the prophet who was to come announcing Messiah:
“After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’”
Because the Jewish people were scattered all over the world their hope was to return to Jerusalem. Therefore at the conclusion of the Seder they would call out “Next year, Jerusalem.”
As Christians we look forward to the coming of the Eternal Jerusalem at the end of time.
John Joseph Fox.