THE CEREMONY BEGINS:
THE BLOWING OF THE SHOFAR
Numbers 10:10 tells us that the Silver Trumpets announced the beginning of the Holy Feasts to Israel. They would announce the Passover in Yeshua's time in Jerusalem. The Temple priests would blow the Trumpets from atop the Temple.
In many places, the shofar, or ram's horn would have been used to accomplish the same purpose. It would tell the people that Passover was beginning. In traditional Jewish homes today, the shofar isn't blown. Why not? Tradition.
THE LIGHTING OF THE OIL LAMPS OR CANDLES
Light symbolizes Creation (Genesis 1:1-5). The lighting of oil lamps in Yeshua's day, or candles today would thank God for the Light of Creation. The first Words of Yahveh in the Bible are: 'Let there be Light!' Before that there was only darkness. Israel is seen as coming out of the darkness of Egyptian slavery, into the Light of God's Freedom.We too are called out of darkness, into His marvelous Light. 1st Peter 2:9 says: 'But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. That you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness, into His marvelous Light.'
This part of the ceremony is always done by a woman.
THE FIRST OF THE FOUR CUPS OR WINE GLASSES OF BLESSING
Four times during the ceremony, cups full of wine are raised and God is blessed and thanked in various ways. The four cups each symbolize something different.
The first cup is called the Cup of Sanctification. This officially begins the ceremony and has as its theme the sanctification or setting apart of this Passover meal in a very holy way. God has commanded it to be done (Exodus 12:14), and that makes it holy. The first cup pictures this. This is not an ordinary meal but one that God has called Israel to.
The second cup is called the Cup of Remembrance. It will take place just before the meal is eaten. It will call to mind that Israel's salvation cost the lives of many Egyptians. They were part of God's Creation also and it is a time to remember that.
The third cup is called the Cup of Redemption. It takes place immediately after the Passover Meal. It will be this third cup of wine that Yeshua lifts up and tells His followers to drink, for it is a Picture of the Blood of the New Covenant.
And the fourth cup is called the Cup of Praise. It will conclude the ceremony, giving praise to God for the Redemption that He has accomplished.
WASHING THE HANDS
In the Passover ceremony there are a number of Jewish traditions that have sprung up over the centuries. One of them is the ceremonial washing of the hands. Older children will come around the table with pitchers of water and a basin and a towel, and the people will wash their hands, saying the appropriate blessing to God.
The tradition of washing the hands and blessing God, has as its foundation a Scriptural picture, Psalm 24:3-4:
'Who has the right to climb the Mountain of Yahveh? Who has the right to stand in His Holy Place? He whose hands are clean, whose heart is pure, whose soul does not worship worthless things, and who never swears to a lie.'
By the washing of the hands, the participants are saying that they want clean souls. Yeshua uses this ceremony to springboard off of it and establish a tradition within Christianity. In John 13:4-5 we read:
'He rose from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel in which He was girded.'
Of course, the 'supper' is the Passover Meal and the towels and the basin and the water were there as part of the hand washing ceremony.
THE THREE MATZOT: A MESSIANIC TRADITION
Matzot is plural for matza. If you were to be invited to the next Passover, by a Jewish man by the name of say, Max Goldstein, you would see a ceremony involving three matzot or matza's at this time in the Passover Ceremony. Store bought matza is usually square, about 10 by 10 inches and tastes very dry and plain. It's like a big cracker without yeast.
Max, as the head of the house, would take the three matzot and place them in a napkin or a special Passover linen pouch that would contain sections within it, so that each piece of matza would be in a separate compartment. He would then take out the middle matza, break it in half and put half back in the pouch and the other half he would wrap up in a napkin.
The half that was kept out of the pouch and wrapped in a napkin would be placed by Max's place setting until the Meal would begin. Then, while everyone was eating, he would discreetly get up and hide it somewhere in the house. Once the children finished their meal, they would be allowed to leave the table to try and find the hidden matza. Max would then present the child with a silver coin and lead everyone in thanking God for His Redemption of Israel.
The best that the Rabbis can do for this is to suggest possible groups of three:
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Fathers of Israel or,
the three layers of Israelite society: the Aaronic Priests, the Levitical Priests, and the rest of Israel.
The grouping of three is here but what the Rabbis cannot answer is why would Isaac, or the Levitical Priests, the ones in the middle that would represent the middle matza, have to be broken in half?! There is no satisfactory Rabbinical explanation for this. But what we see here in the ceremony of the matza, is a very ancient Messianic tradition that obviously found a home among the traditional Jewish Community as well. It is a Picture of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of the Messiah of Israel.
The Middle Matza is a Picture of the Middle Person of the Godhead: Yeshua.
The breaking of this Middle Matza is a Picture of His Crucifixion. And the wrapping of the middle matza in a napkin, originally a linen napkin, pictures Yeshua being wrapped as such, after His Death. (Matthew 27:59: 'And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,')
The hiding of this Matza is a picture of His Burial.
And the finding of the Matza is a Picture of His being found alive from the dead; of His Resurrection.
It's very interesting that Jewish People do this ceremony and don't realize that it is a Perfect Picture of Messiah Yeshua. During the time of Passover, my prayer is that as they break the matza, that the Lord Yeshua will manifest Himself to them and that they would give their lives to Him. I base this on Luke 24:30-31 where the two disciples who walked with Him on the road to Emmaus, recognized Yeshua only after He broke the matza.
Luke 24:30-31: 'When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him and He vanished from their sight.'
Two points here. One, the bread would have to have been unleavened (matza), as it was still the Passover week (the Feast of Unleavened Bread on that Sunday.) And two, when Yeshua 'blessed it' in Hebrew Yeshua would be blessing His Father, as the word for 'it' can also be translated as 'him' and in the Hebrew blessings, there is no 'it' that is blessed. The food is not 'blessed.' God, as the Giver of the Food, is blessed or thanked. The food is the blessing to us, from God
THE FOUR QUESTIONS:RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AT ITS BEST, DESIGNED BY GOD
Exodus 12:24-27 and 13:8 set up the Ceremony to be unfolded to the next generation:
Ex. 12:24-27: 'And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. When you enter the Land which Yahveh will give you, as He has promised, you must observe this ceremony. And when your sons say to you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to Yahveh who passed over the houses of the Sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.' And the people bowed low and worshiped.'
Ex. 13:8: 'You must tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what Yahveh did for me when I came out of Egypt.'
Even this April, when Max retells the Passover story, he will say that the Lord 'did it for me, when I came out of Egypt.' We Jews see ourselves as coming from the loins of our Fathers whom Yahveh delivered from Egyptian slavery, and if Yahveh hadn't saved us, we'd still be making bricks for Egypt.
The only ceremony that was not done by the father as the head of the household, would be the lighting of the oil lamps by the wife, and the asking of the four questions by the youngest member of the family. The honor of being the youngest member of the family would fall upon every son, no matter how many sons the family had, as Passover would come around once a year, and the son that was in that position would enter into the honor of asking the questions.
This would of course, make a holy imprint upon him, that he had been able to be an active member of the Passover when there would be many people there who didn't have a part, and here he was, with a key role. This would help to reinforce the reality of the value of the Passover among all the Sons of Israel. And as we saw from Exodus 12:24-27 and 13:8, it was Yahveh, the God of Israel, who set the question up; 'when your son asks you...'
The first two questions are from the Scriptural account. The last two questions are from tradition:
1. Why is this night different from all other nights? On this night we eat only matza. Why?
2. On all other nights we can eat any herb we like but on this night we must have bitter herbs. Why?
3. On all other nights we don't dip, but on this night we dip twice. Why?
4. On this night we recline at table. Why?
The head of the household, the father, answers:
1. We eat matza because when we left Egypt, we had no time to wait for the dough to rise.
Ex. 12:33-34: 'The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, 'We will all be dead.' So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.'
Ex. 12:39: 'They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread (matza). For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.'
The Picture for us as believers in Yeshua is clear: we must get out of the land of darkness as fast as our spiritual feet can carry us!, and not to go back!
2.We eat bitter herbs to reflect on the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. (In Dt. 4:20 and Jeremiah 11:4, both Moses and Yahveh call Egypt an iron furnace:
Deut. 4:20: 'But Yahveh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a People for His own possession, as today.'
Jer. 11:4: 'which I commanded your Fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Listen to My Voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My People, and I will be your God,'
An iron furnace was a furnace that was so hot, it literally would melt iron. It's a picture of intense suffering, pain and humiliation. (Isn't that what Yeshua went through for us? And what many of us have gone through before we came to Jesus?)
The bitter herbs we eat is fresh, ground horseradish. This bring tears to the eyes, an appropriate response to the time of suffering in Egypt.
When I look back before I came to believe, I thought I was a Somebody, going Somewhere, doing Something. I was deceived by the Prince of Darkness. I was actually a Nobody, going Nowhere, doing Nothing!)
The next two questions are based on Jewish tradition:
1. Parsley is dipped twice into very salty water and then eaten. We dip twice in order to picture both Israel and Egypt going into the Red Sea. We swallow the parsley after the second 'dipping' to picture that the Egyptian Army was 'swallowed up' by the Sea.
2. We recline at the table, with a pillow on our chair, to picture that the Salvation that God has given us has made us a free people. In Egypt we had to stand and eat, there was no rest or freedom for us. We were slaves. And that's how we all were before we came to Yeshua: slaves to Satan.
In Yeshua's day, the Passover Table would be the shape of a square U. They didn't use chairs, the table being only a foot off the ground and flat platforms with pillows would surround the outer part of it. They would have actually laid down on the large pillows in Yeshua's day with their bodies and feet at a 90o angle to the table. In other words, their heads would be closest to the table. They would be leaning on their left side, and with their right hand they would pick up the food and eat it. Their torso would be perpendicular to the table, with their feet hanging slightly over the edge of the platform or 'couch'.
The open part of the U would allow for food and wine to be placed on the table and then taken up.
The youngest member in Yeshua's day, would be at the upper right hand corner of the three sided U. This would have been John. He would have asked the questions. And as we'll see, he will ask the most important question of the evening. One that wasn't on the traditional menu.
The host or the person in charge of the Passover Ceremony would have been Yeshua. He was throwing the party. And He would have assigned the other seating arrangements, including the Guest of Honor, the one whom the Host desired to honor. Yeshua would place Judas in the position as the Guest of Honor, as Scripture will show us, once we understand the complete seating (or literally, lying down), arrangements. John 13:21-30 has this:
John 13:21: 'When Yeshua had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.'
John 13:22: 'The students began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.'
John 13:23: 'There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of His students, whom Jesus loved.'
This would of course, be John the beloved. He was able to be 'in the bosom' of Yeshua because John was laying with his back to Yeshua's front torso.
John 13:24: 'So Simon Peter gestured to him, 'Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.'
We see from this exactly where Peter was; at the opposite side of the U table, facing John. This is very interesting as the assignment of places at the table was in order of importance; the youngest would be on the Host's right, then the Host, then the Guest of Honor, then the next in honor, the next, the next until the very last 'honored' at the opposite end of the U. This is where Peter was, in the most humiliating place at the table. He was symbolically being humbled by the Lord, in reference to what Peter would go through in the next three days. In Peter denying Yeshua three times, Peter's pride would be crushed; Peter would be humbled. In this state, Yeshua would be able to use him. For God cannot use those who walk in pride. Pride exalts itself above God and is at war with God. And pride in us is what the Passover is all about.
John 13:25: 'He, leaning back thus on Jesus' bosom, said to Him, 'Lord, who is it?'
John 13:26: 'Yeshua then answered, 'That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.' So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.'
The 'morsel' would be a piece of matza. The Lord would 'dip it' in the maror (bitter herbs), and give it to His Guest of Honor.
This ceremony pictures the honoring of the Guest of Honor, by the Host. It was where the Host would literally feed or serve the Guest of Honor (the matza scooping up some bitter herbs), that all could see that the Host was serving or honoring the Guest of Honor.
Yeshua serving or feeding Judas, the one that was about to betray Him is a Picture of Who Yeshua is. Earlier in this chapter of John 13, one can read that Yeshua, washing the feet of all His students (disciples), would certainly wash Judas' feet too.
In Yeshua's day, the only slaves who washed the feet of others, were the lowest slaves in the house. That's why Simon Peter recoils and rebukes Yeshua, when Yeshua wants to wash his feet (John 13:8).
Why did Yeshua wash Judas's feet and assign him the place of honor at the Passover Table? Because Yeshua loved Judas. He knew that Judas would betray Him, but as a father loves all his children, Yeshua as Creator loves all His sons and daughters. It is a very tender and poignant reality, that the King of the Universe, had taken on the role of the lowest slave in Jewish society, to show Judas, the other Apostles and all of us, that there is nothing that He will not do to serve us; to see us set free from sin and death; to help us to grow into His Image in this lifetime; to help us to overcome every physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and any other 'reality' that would seek to keep us from walking in intimate fellowship with Him now, and to live eternally with Him who is Life, in the future manifestation of the New Jerusalem. This is our Messiah.
John 13:27: 'After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Yeshua said to him, 'What you do, do quickly.'
John 13:28: 'Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him.'
John 13:29: 'For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Yeshua was saying to him, 'Buy the things we have need of for the Feast,' or else, that he should give something to the poor.'
Giving to the poor at the Feasts of Israel was a rabbinical understanding and one that everyone made a practice of doing, as a gesture of thanksgiving to Yahveh, for what He had done for them, so they gave to the less fortunate.
John 13:30: 'So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.'
Why hadn't the Apostle's realized that Jesus was fingering Judas as the traitor? Because it short circuited so to speak, their understanding. They couldn't put together that Yeshua honoring Judas by serving him the matza with the bitter herbs, could be the pointing of the traitor out.
HAGADA: THE PASSOVER STORY RETOLD
Hagada means 'to tell' and in this case, refers to the telling of the Passover account. It explains why the celebration is tonight. It may start at Creation and go on for hours!, as the host would recount how Yahveh chose Father Abram and changed his name to Abraham, and promised him a great seed or many people would come from him, and that God would give Father Abraham the Land of Israel and on and on and on and on, till he would finally come to the plagues and the Salvation of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
In the days before movies and television, this part of the Passover Hagada was what all waited for. It was a reinforcing of who we were as Jews and how we had come to be God's Chosen People. There was much joy and excitement at the table realizing that until just recently, in the course of human history, could every household have a Bible, and more than one. But the Passover Hagada goes back 3400 years during which most of that time, Jewish families would not have a Bible or scroll. So the Hagada or telling of the Passover was a very special time of remembrance, especially as Yahveh had commanded it to be so. Religious education at its best. This was the way that the faith was passed on, from the Fathers to the Sons.
THE PASSOVER SEDER PLATE
Pesah, Hebrew for, 'to pass over, or to leap over' comes into English as Passover. It pictures Yahveh passing over the houses of Israel, where the blood of the lamb was, and striking the houses of Egypt, where the blood of the lamb wasn't.
Seder is a Hebrew word for 'order' as in an arrangement of things, or the order in which the Passover ceremony proceeds.
The Passover Seder Plate is a plate that has the biblical and traditional Passover foods on it. Each food tells a story:
In the days of Yeshua, there would be actual Passover lamb meat at the table for all to eat. The lamb, eaten once a year, would picture both the lamb of Egypt at the First Passover, and the Lamb of God, as the Second Passover.
Today, Max and millions of Jewish People that celebrate the Passover, will not have lamb meat. There are two reasons for this. One, when the Temple in Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish People, was destroyed by the Roman general Titus, in 70 CE, all sacrifice ceased. (CE; Common Era corresponding to AD, but the Jewish People, not recognizing Jesus as Messiah yet, do not use AD, as it is Latin for 'in the year of our Lord'.) This would include the Passover sacrifice not being done as well.
And yet, in the centuries after that, they would still have lamb at the Passover Table, but not sacrifice it. They would usually butcher it a day before the 14th of Aviv (Nisan), so that it couldn't be taken to be a sacrifice, as the Rabbis believed that sacrifice should only take place in the Temple.
It wasn't
.At Max's table in the United States and other places today, there will be the shank bone of a lamb (a part of one of the leg's of a lamb). This will symbolize the lamb of that First Passover in Egypt for Max and the others who don't as yet believe in Yeshua.
Maror or bitter herbs would also be on the plate. This is generally made up of horseradish. Remember, it's designed to get tears in your eyes to remember the life of bitterness in Egyptian slavery, and before one came to Jesus.
Parsley or lettuce is used for the tradition of dipping twice with salt water, very salty water, being used to picture the Red Sea.
Next we have a hard boiled egg which is also a traditional food that is used to represent Pharaoh's hard heart. There are people who say that God isn't fair because God Himself says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart. The reasoning of these people go like this: 'If God hardens someone's heart, what chance is there for that person to have anything but a hard heart?!' Sounds 'reasonable' but these people don't know the One True God. If any of us have any sense of 'fairness' or justice within us, it must come from God, who is Righteous.
In the Scriptures, Yahveh does say that He will harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10). But it also says that Pharaoh will harden his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34). So what is going on here?
The Lord Yeshua has given me an illustration for this: if a brick of clay and a brick of wax are placed on the pavement in the heat of the sun on a hot day in July, the brick of clay will harden, and the brick of wax will soften and melt. No one can rightfully accuse the sun and say that, 'it's the sun's fault!' It is the nature of the two bricks that will determine what happens to them. And so it is within the human heart. We can either harden ourselves before the Living God, or we can melt and allow Him to use us for His Glory; a glory that makes us become like Him. This is called, 'free will.' We all have the ability to choose God or Satan. And so did Pharaoh.
In Pharaoh's day, every plague was like 'a ray of very hot sunshine' revealing the One True God of the Hebrews. And after every plague, Pharaoh had an opportunity to free Israel under his own volition. Pharaoh obstinately chose to rebel against the Most High God, each plague hardening him or revealing his true nature. The price he paid is a Picture to us of all who rebel against Yahveh and reject the Blood of the Lamb of God over the doorway of their soul.
Another food on the Seder Plate is the dessert of the Meal: Haroset. It's a finely chopped mixture of apples, honey, nuts, cinnamon and wine. It's Delicious! Once the mixture is made, you can imagine that the apples will begin to oxidize though. This is done intentionally, for now the mixture will look like the mortar that we Jews were forced to make for Pharaoh in Egypt.
The question is though, 'Why would anything that is supposed to represent our painful labor under Pharaoh, taste good?!' The Rabbis say that it is symbolic of the 'pleasure' that Israel had, even in Egyptian slavery. It is a picture of the enjoyment of sin in the land of darkness. This is a great tradition from the Rabbis. And very appropriate for us also who believe in Messiah Yeshua.
THE 2nd CUP OF BLESSING: THE CUP OF REMEMBRANCE
After Max would have explained each food item and taken of some, along with the people present, the Seder Plate would give way to the 2nd Cup of Blessing. You'll remember that the 1st Cup was used to sanctify or 'set apart' the Table and the Ceremony as Holy, Yahveh commanding Israel to do so. This 2nd Cup, which would be used to begin the actual Meal, is called the Cup of Remembrance because it 'remembers' that the Egyptians who died in the last plague of judgment, were also part of God's Creation; and that Israel's freedom came at the price of death for many.
Max will fill up the as yet, unused 2nd wine glass, and place it on his plate, right in the center of the plate. (At each place setting, there will be four wine glasses, an not just one wine glass used four times.) He will then recite all the plagues that Yahveh did against Egypt, starting at the first, the Nile River being turned into blood, etc. Every time he mentions a plague, he, and all those present, will take their finger and dip it slightly into the wine glass to pick up some wine on their finger tip. They will then drip it onto the plate, in remembrance of those awesome plagues and the havoc, destruction and death that it cost Egypt.
With the 10th Plague finished, Max will lift up his slightly less than full wine glass and say the blessing, thanking God for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. A full glass of wine symbolizes fullness of Joy. And what this ceremony pictures is that our Joy is slightly diminished in our knowledge that our freedom came at the expense of Egyptian lives.
And we also see that the price of our freedom has come by the Death of Yahveh's Firstborn Son, Yeshua.
Max will then bless God for the Meal and the eating will really begin. We Jews love to eat and the meal can go on for hours. As the children are always the first to get done with eating, the ceremony of the three matzot in the pouch was especially designed for them to be occupied in looking for the hidden matza, while the adults continued to eat and enjoy the time that the Lord had provided in the Passover.
The children would be dismissed to find the hidden matza and the one who found it would be given a silver coin. Silver in Scripture is a biblical metal symbolic of redemption:
Exodus 30:11-16: 'Yahveh also spoke to Moses, saying, 'When you take a census of the Sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to Yahveh when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to Yahveh.'
'Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the offering to Yahveh. The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the offering to Yahveh to make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the Sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may be a memorial for the Sons of Israel before Yahveh to make atonement for yourselves.'
We see that the shekel that is spoken of above, is a silver shekel as the work on the Tabernacle tells us where all those half shekels went:
Ex. 38:25: 'And the silver of them that were numbered of the Congregation was a hundred talents, and one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuary:'
Ex. 38:26: 'A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men.'
So the child in essence, is being rewarded in the form of what it has found: the Redeemer is Alive from the dead!, Redemption has come! Silver is a metal picturing redemption and Yeshua (salvation).
At this time Max would take the half piece of matza that was found, what I would call the Picture of the Resurrected (Found), Bread of Life, and what Max would call 'dessert' and he would say, 'All you who are hungry and afflicted, come to this Table and eat.'
Now, after eating for a couple of hours, no one is going to be physically hungry! But the profound significance of his declaration is that this Table is the Table of the Passover, the Table of Freedom. And the unleavened bread or matza, is a picture to Max and the Jewish Community, of that freedom. This is why Yeshua, when He sat down to His Passover Meal before His Death, could inject Himself, who is Freedom, into the matza that was already on the table. He wasn't making something new, but giving it a greater meaning, in freedom from sin and death, as we eat Him who is the Matza of Life.
How Max could not question this anomaly, of calling this piece of matza dessert, is beyond my understanding. This matza is so very symbolic, even to him. And to say that it is 'dessert' defies all reason.
After blessing God for the redemption that He has given Israel, Max and all present will eat of the 'dessert.' He will then take the 3rd Glass, fill it full with wine and bless God for delivering Israel from Egypt again. Yeshua takes this glass, after the Meal, and injects Himself into this also. This 3rd Glass is known as the Cup of Redemption, and this is the origin of what Christians call communion.
An interesting side point is that wine is not mentioned as one of the three biblical foods of the Passover (Exodus 12:8). Just lamb, matza and bitter herbs. So, one half of communion, the wine (or grape juice), comes from a Jewish tradition! Jesus had no problem with this Jewish tradition though. He used it to picture His Blood.
When one takes the Body and the Blood of Yeshua, the matza and the wine, one is taking the essence of the Passover. (This is the Lord's Supper. It is the Passover, or rather, a mini Passover Meal.) We can do this twice a day, biblically. But once a year, the Lord commands His People to observe the fuller, yearly Passover, in honor to Him, and the great deliverances that He has performed for Israel: the First Passover in Egypt, delivering the Hebrew slaves from Egyptian slavery; and the Second Passover in Jerusalem; delivering Israel, both Jew and Gentile from slavery to sin, Satan and death.
Matza is known both as the bread of affliction, and the bread of freedom. God is still calling people to this Table. More on that later.
What Max calls the middle matza is 'afi-komen.' This is a Greek word for 'dessert.' This is what I call Jewish sabotage. From the very first time that I heard that, the meaning didn't sit well with me. And when you think about it, why would Max have to use yet another piece of matza, bless God with it and say that it's dessert? In time, the Lord would show me another Greek word, very similar to it, that must have been the original Greek word for this piece of matza that is used to picture redemption. The Greek word is 'epi-komen-os' and means, 'the One we have waited for, in the fullness of time, has arrived.'
With the many tens of thousands of Messianic Jews in the first century, Jews like Peter that believed Jesus was the Messiah, this ceremony of the three matzot came into being. As you can see, it is very clear that it relates to the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Yeshua. (The breaking of the matza at the beginning of the ceremony is His Death. The wrapping of it in a linen napkin is His Burial, and the child finding the matza, is the celebration of His Resurrection.)
The book of Acts tells us that there were many thousands of Jews who came to Yeshua the first day of Shavuot (Pentecost):
Acts 2:41: 'So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.'
These 3,000 would be only the men, as the women and children were seldom counted in the tally (John 6:10). Luke continues and tells us that many more thousands of Jews came as the Lord added to them:
Acts 4:4: 'But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.'
Of course, these are all Jewish men, as the first Gentile doesn't come until many years after the resurrection. That would be Cornelius in Acts 10. And then later on in Acts, we read that there were many tens of thousands of Jews that believed:
Acts 21:20: 'And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, 'You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;'
The word for 'thousands' in this passage is the Greek word for an army made up of tens of thousands of men.
Now we can understand that their ceremony of the Resurrected Savior, would overflow into the traditional Jewish Community. Of course, the traditional Community that didn't believe in Jesus would have to change the name of the matza from epikomenos ('the One we have waited for, in the fullness of time, has arrived'), to afikomen ('dessert').
The traditional Jewish Community would have to come up with a different reason for three matzot being in the pouch, but everything else stayed the same so that today, when Max comes to this part after the Meal, he is in form, taking communion; the matza and the wine. That's why, in the breaking of the matza, Yeshua could be seen. He was broken for us that we might see God. And that's why I will pray at this Passover coming up, that the Lord Yeshua will reveal Himself to Max and all the Jewish People in the world, that He is the One who was broken for their Salvation from sin and death. I believe that it will happen one day for the Scripture says:
'I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of Grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.' (Zech. 12:10)
'In that Day a Fountain will be opened for the House of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem; for sin and for uncleanness.' (Zech. 13:1)
And just as the two on the road to Emmaus saw their Messiah in the breaking of the matza, so one day, millions of Jews will see Yeshua, as they break the matza for this ceremony. Passover is the time when they believe that Messiah will come and Passover will be the time when Yeshua will reveal Himself to them. Why? Because Passover is a picture of Freedom from slavery. And in that day all Israel will be saved as it is written:
'and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.' 'This is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.' (Romans 11:26-27)
And what better way to take sin away then at the Table of Freedom, the Passover Table. That this cannot apply to those who are already in the Body of Messiah is seen in that they are already saved, having their sins already washed away by the Blood of the Lamb. This is for the Jewish People who have not yet come to know their Messiah. This is Yahveh fulfilling His Word to Father Abraham when He said that He would be the God of his Sons:
'I will establish My Covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting Covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.' (Genesis 17:7-8)
Communion comes from the Third Cup at Passover, the Cup of Redemption. When Yeshua sat down at the Table, the Table was already waiting for Him to inject Himself into it, because the First Passover is a Picture of the Second Passover that would come.
We see the foundation for communion in the Old Testament in three places: the Passover that we've covered, the Daily Sacrifice, and the last or ultimate sacrifice of the Mosaic Sacrificial System, the oblation and the libation. In the Daily Sacrifice we see that communion can be taken twice a day, biblically. We find the Daily Sacrifice in Exodus 29:38-42:
Ex. 29:38: 'Now this is what you must offer on the Altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously.'
Ex. 29:39: 'The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;'
Ex. 29:40: 'and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb.'
Ex. 29:41: 'The other lamb you must offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahveh.'
Ex. 29:42: 'It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting before Yahveh where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.'
The blood was here literally in the lamb sacrificed and symbolically in the wine. And the matza or unleavened bread is seen in the grain offering. It was done twice a day. At the beginning of light, and at the end of light. It's almost as if they were two 'pillars' that stood between light and darkness, or 'encapsulated' the light, and kept the darkness out; (because of the Lamb, Israel would have Light).
It's a Picture of the First Passover and how they came to walk in Freedom. Deut. 16:3 says for Israel to remember every day the Day of their Salvation (Passover). Should we do any less?
Deut. 16:3: 'You must not eat leavened bread with it. Seven days you must eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.'
Of course, 'the Day,' was the time of the Passover lamb being slain and the beginning of the Feast of Matzot, the Celebration of Freedom from slavery to Pharaoh and Satan. Literally, it would be the first day of the Feast of Matza, the 15th of Aviv.
The lamb was a whole burnt offering meaning that Israel was to see itself as being totally consecrated to Yahveh. The fine flour without yeast (an oblation), pictured the matza of Passover. The libation or wine pictured the blood sacrifice of the lamb. All this pictures Yeshua as the Lamb of God. The lamb and the flour picture His Body, real Flesh, crushed like grain, and the wine, His Blood.
Another interesting point is that only the priests could eat of the flour (bread or matza), and the wine of the daily sacrifice. And we as priests can eat from the Sacrifice of our Messiah that is in the Heavens today. This is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about when he says:
'We have an Altar from which those who serve the Temple have no right to eat.' (Hebrews 13:10).
The reason the Temple priests had no right to eat from the Heavenly Altar, where the Eternal Sacrifice of Yeshua rests, is because they didn't believe in Him. But we who believe in Him take of His Body and His Blood daily. Because Yahveh set up the daily sacrifice of the lambs, for Israel to realize that it was the blood or death of the lamb that gave them their freedom, theologically, one can have communion twice a day; in the morning and in the late afternoon just before dark.
Also, this Altar mentioned here is not the Gold Altar where only incense was burned (picturing the prayers of the High Priest for His People Israel, and the prayers of Israel). No one ate of anything placed on the Gold Altar in the Holy Place. Only incense was placed on it. The only Altar that the priests could eat from was the Bronze Altar of Sacrifice. It is this Altar that Hebrews is mentioning, and it is the Eternal or Heavenly Body and Blood of the Lamb of God that is on it for us to eat of today, and to thank our Messiah for eternally.
Looking at it from another biblical perspective, we also see that the flour and the wine, the oblation and libation, are the highest sacrifice in the Mosaic Sacrificial system. This sacrifice spoke of transformation: Flour was once whole kernels. Wine was once grapes. Both had to be crushed in order for them to be eaten or drunk. Again, only the priests could eat from this sacrifice (Lev. 22:10-16).
Yeshua was the Sacrifice Lamb. All these things pointed to Him and they still point to Him! That's what the Apostle Paul is saying in Colossians 2:16f. When we take communion, we are walking in the triple biblical reality of the daily sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice in the Mosaic Sacrificial system (the grain and the wine), and the Passover.
THE THIRD CUP OF WINE AND THE MATZA AFTER THE MEAL
In the last Passover that Jesus celebrated with His Students (disciples), we see Jesus taking the matza and the cup or glass of wine and investing it with greater meaning. Both the matza and the cup already meant freedom from slavery because of the blood and the body of the lamb slain in Egypt. Now Yeshua would inject Himself into that already present meaning and amplify it
A PLACE SETTING FOR ELIJAH
At every Passover Table there is a place setting for Elijah. Food is placed on his plate and wine is poured into his glass. Why? Because the Jewish People believe that before the Messiah was to come, that Elijah would proceed Him:
Malachi 4:5-6: 'Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahveh. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their sons and the hearts of the sons to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the Land with a curse.'
And this is why the students of Yeshua asked Him about Elijah:
Mark 9:11-13: 'They asked Him, saying, 'Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' And He said to them, 'Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.'
At this point in the Passover Ceremony, Max will allow the children to leave the table and go to the front door. They'll open it and shout as loud as they can, 'Elijah!, Come quickly!' It's quite a scene.
The Jewish People realize that the Prophet must come before Messiah and so they want Elijah to come so that he can herald the coming of the Messiah.
THE 4th CUP OF WINE: THE CUP OF PRAISE
This Cup praises Yahveh for His completed work of Redemption, as seen in the Passover and Red Sea. The Hebrew People that came out of Egypt were completely saved from Egyptian slavery.
Just about everyone that I know, who believes in Jesus and does the Passover, drinks from this 4th Cup. There's a problem with this though. Jesus didn't! Matthew 26:29, which takes place immediately after Yeshua drank from the 3rd Cup that He said was His Blood, has Yeshua saying,
'I tell you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine again until the Day I drink New Wine with you in the Kingdom of My Father.'
HALLEL: THE PSALM SONG
In Matthew 26:30 it states,
'After singing the Hallel (hymns), they went out to the Mount of Olives.'
Hallel means praise in Hebrew.
Hallelu is 'you praise!' It's in the imperative or command mode, the 'you' understood.
Halleluyah is (you) Praise Yahveh! The 'yah' being a shortened form of Yahveh. (In Exodus 15:2, in the most ancient Hebrew poetry we have, the Song of the (Red) Sea, (in the Hebrew), it reads, 'Yah is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation!')
Psalms 113-118 and 145-150 are known as the Hallel and are traditionally sung or read at the Passover and that's what the reference of 'hymns' refers to. The Lord Yeshua and the Apostles sung those Psalms that night, lifting up the God of Israel as the Lord of Creation and Redemption.
The Lord Yeshua and the Apostles go out that night to Gethsemane and He desires that they pray with Him. Exodus 12:42 tells us that the Sons of Israel weren't to fall asleep on this night because Yahveh 'kept watch' for them that night:
'It is a night to be much observed unto Yahveh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of Yahveh to be observed of all the Sons of Israel in their generations.'
The word 'observed' means that the Apostles should have stayed up all night long, as the first generation of Hebrews did. Yahveh commands this because He 'kept' that night, to bring Israel out of the Kingdom of Pharaoh. All Israel was to stay awake, as it came around year after year, to also imitate Israel leaving Egypt. On the first Passover, no Hebrew slept that night: they had to be ready to leave the Kingdom of Pharaoh. Can you imagine falling asleep and waking up the next day and everybody gone?!