The British Messianic Jewish Alliance

Passover

Eitan Kashtan , Israel

Why drink four cups of wine on Seder night? What is Afikomen? What is the significance of the Had Gadya song? In what way is Passover a symbol of the Messiah?

There are meanings to every one of the festivals that God commanded Israel to celebrate, but Passover is the most symbolic of them all. During the past 3, 500 years the people of Israel have celebrated Passover to remember one of the most amazing events in history. Passover is also fundamental to the Christian faith, a good understanding of Passover helps us better understand what took place during Yeshua's Last Supper, which is the basis of the Lord's Supper which we also observe to this day.

The importance of Passover is derived from three reasons.

First, when God commanded Israel to establish the festival, He intended that the year began on the month the Passover occurred. This was God's way of highlighting that the event that took place was the most important.

Second. The Exodus was a turning point in Israel 's preparation to become a nation. This slave nation received God's Torah, raised up recognised leaders and at the end of the process settled in different sections of the land promised them. A slave nation had become free.

Thirdly, Passover is a symbol of the Messiah. During a Passover meal Yeshua established the Lord's Supper, in which we remember His atoning death and watch for His return.

We read of the origin of the feast in Exodus 12:1-28.

Passover Table

On the Passover table on the Seder night we meet many details that remind us why we celebrate Passover. It is important to highlight that we are talking about tradition, and thus it is not binding upon man, neither upon Jews nor non-Jews. We are obliged only to Holy Scriptures. But tradition in itself is not forbidden and sometimes even widens our understanding. In addition to this some of these traditions already existed in Yeshua's time and influenced the way in which he conducted the Passover Seder with his disciples.

The Passover table is arranged so that the children of the house will remember that their people suffering in Egypt , and also highlight freedom from slavery. On any ordinary table the Marror and Chazzeret are next to one another - reminding us of suffering, and the Haroset - indicating the sweetness of freedom.

On the table there is of course the shankbone of a lamb and a roasted egg, reminders of the Passover sacrifice, and yes three pieces of Matzah from which the Afikomen is ta ken (we'll return to this later.) In addition to these, a special cup is placed for Elijah the Prophet.

Passover is the Feast of Redemption and stands as picture of the final Redemption for which the people of Israel watch. According to the prophet Malachi, Elijah the Prophet shall proclaim the coming of Messiah: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5).

As with the children of Israel , so we too went from slavery to freedom.  We were slaves to sin, but God, in His grace, chose to deliver us from this slavery to freedom in Messiah. We also, like the children of Israel are inclined to gaze back to the fleshpots of Egypt . But we do not forget that Yeshua drank the third cup, the cup of redemption, and atoned for our sins as he died on the cross. At the fourth cup he promised to return and drink with us in the Kingdom of God .

It is sad that Passover is celebrated in millions of homes without seeing the connection to Messiah. How sad that many children don't hear the right answer to their question “Mah Nishtanah (what is different)?” The Messiah came, released us from slavery, gave us hope, calls us to repentance and promised to forgive our sins - that is “what is different.”

Passover is a time for us to remember the greatness of God, His power, faithfulness, grace and His Messiah. There is no better opportunity than this to celebrate the salvation in His Son.

The Seder

The last supper that Yeshua ate with his disciples was on the Seder night. I don't have the inclination to go over all the details of the Seder, but we'll try to answer a few questions. First, please read the description of that meal that Yeshua ate with His disciples in Matthew 21:17-30.

On Seder night why do we drink four cups of wine?

God promised to redeem Israel in four deeds (Ex 6:6-7) I will bring you out, I will rescue you, I will redeem you, I will take you.

For every action that God promised to do, we drink one glass of wine.

First cup: God delivered Israel from out of slavery in Egypt .

Second cup: God rescued the children of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians.

Third cup: God redeemed Israel .

Fourth cup: God took Israel to be his people and to be their God.

What did Yeshua do in the Passover Seder?  He drank the first two cups normally. At the third cup, the cup of redemption, he says: “This is my blood”. He does not drink the fourth cup, but promises to do that with us in the Kingdom of Heaven , when we shall worship God perfectly. Only then will that promise be perfectly fulfilled - He will be our God and we will be His people.

What are the four questions?

The Seder night allows us to tell our children the account  of the exodus from Egypt and testify to the goodness of God. The Four Questions that are asked by children are: “Mah Nishtanah Ha Lila ha zeh mi kol ha-lailot?” - Why is this night different from all other nights? The head of the family answers the questions. But we all know that every child has his own questions. For that reason the Haggada h g ives answers for all children - to the wise, to the bad, to the simple and also for those who don't know what to ask. The children's questions and the answers appear in the Haggadah are ta ken from the Torah.

What is the Afikomen?

There are many ideas and legends interwoven around the Afikomen. According to Tradition three pieces of matzah are placed on the table. The head of the family takes the second matzah and breaks it. Then he wraps it up and hides it. In the course of the Seder the children look for the hidden matzah. Whoever finds it gets a prize and there is great excitement around the table. Tradition does not explain the roots of this custom. There are those who say that the three matzot represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Others say that they represent the Priest, Levites and Israel . In both cases it is not clear why the middle matzah is bro ken and hidden, and why the finder gets a prize.

Early Messianic Jews also had an idea on the subject. According to them, the three mazot represented God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The middle matzah was bro ken and hidden as the Son died and was buried. Whoever finds the son wins the prize, and when shown to the family it causes great joy. I personally don't think that it is the actual root of the tradition; there are many that suppose that Yeshua's disciples added this custom…… However, remember, we're only talking about tradition!

What is the meaning of the Had Gadya song?

The song outlines the history of the people of Israel (and the world), and also the future. The song tells a story of a father that buys a kid [a lamb, not a child!] for two zuzzim. It continues and tells how a cat eats the kid, a dog bites the cat etc… Here is the meaning of the song: The father is God. The son is Israel . The two zuzzim are the two tablets of the Covenant. In other words God created Israel to give them the Torah. The cat that devoured the kid is the Babylonian Empire. The dog that bit the cat is the Persian Kingdom . The stick that beat the dog is the Greek Empire. The fire that burnt the stick is the Roman Empire . The water that quenched the fire is the Barbarian tribes that overpowered Rome . The ox that drank the water is Islam in the 170 and 180's. The slaughterer that slaughtered the ox is the Crusades. The angel of death that killed the slaughterer is Satan. The Holy One, blessed be He is God who annihilates Satan.

Hag Sameach!

Translated & edited from Hebrew with permission from Me'Et Le'Et magazine by Richard Gibson

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