Around the Passover Table
So much life happens around a dinner table: holidays, birthdays, everyday meals, and special occasions. My favorite scene is when my table is full, especially when I need to find an extra chair or expand the table to accommodate more guests.
It’s my supreme joy when the dining room table is full of my children’s laughter and stories, full of friends’ familiar voices, and delicious food.
I recognize that sharing meals is a value of the Lord’s as well. Scripture reveals this is an important aspect of the Father’s heart. In biblical days, to share a meal together was a form of deep friendship and intimacy. To show hospitality meant bringing your best to the table, an expression of lovingkindness. It created a bond of fellowship between those who participated in the meal together.
When studying the Passover, I could not shake the feeling of excitement. All throughout Scripture the Lord instituted a yearly cycle of feasts and celebrations that would take place around a table. I could understand the significance of these moments to the heart of God.
“Remember,” the Lord would say.
Each biblical holiday had an assigned list of details that needed to be followed, including the date and time. The seasons would be etched into the minds of young children and old alike.
For example, Passover falls on the cusp of spring (the 14th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar). Just as things begin to bloom and warm up, the family cleans out all leaven from the house in preparation for the holiday.
The Passover meal itself involves all of one’s senses. Smelling the Passover meal cooking. Hearing the specific blessings and songs for Passover. Seeing the familiar sights of the Passover table in festive array. Feeling the crunch of the matzah and the cool water as it washes over our hands. Tasting the contrasting flavors of bitter herbs and sweet charoset. Passover is a sensory carnival for those in attendance.
The Passover season is a major holiday on the biblical calendar and close attention to detail is a must. This holiday meal has a specific order that begins at night fall, according to Jewish tradition.
This meal is eaten in a prescribed order, of which there are 15 steps:
Kadesh – Sanctification of the occasion
Urchatz – Washing hands
Karpas – Eating greens
Yachatz – Breaking of the middle matzah
Maggid – Telling of the story
Rachtzah – Washing hands
Motzi – Blessing over bread
Matzah – Blessing over matzah
Maror – Blessing over bitter herbs
Korech – Eating matzah and bitter herbs
Shulchan Oreich – The dinner
Tzafun – Eating the afikomen
Bareich – Reciting grace
Hallel – Reciting Psalms
Nirtzah – Closing[1]
These prescribed times are appointments that the Almighty made to meet with His people. Sitting down to a Passover Seder is an act of worship. Each element on the seder plate symbolizes something greater, teaching the participant to remember how the Lord delivered them out of slavery. The story of Israel’s deliverance is woven through the elements and flow of the seder dinner.
For instance, the matzah (yeast-less flatbread) is a reminder of how the children of Israel had no time to let the bread rise when fleeing Egypt, thus unleavened bread is eaten.
The green herbs symbolize the hyssop (bushy plant) used to apply the blood of the lamb to the lintels and doorpost, so the angel of death would pass over.
Bitter herbs, like horseradish, are consumed leaving the guests in tears, to remember the bitter tears shed by the Jewish people during their enslavement in Egypt.
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum comments on the afikomen:
Over the centuries, the unleavened bread increasingly became the key symbol for Pesach. Eventually, a little piece of unleavened bread known as the afikomen was the last morsel eaten at the seder, a symbolic reminder of the paschal lamb. Some Jews recite, "In memory of the paschal lamb," as they eat the afikomen.[2]
My study of Passover left me wondering what it was like to sit down to the Passover that Jesus hosted for His disciples just hours before His arrest and crucifixion. Scripture paints a picture of the evening and how Jesus pointed to even greater symbolism on His Passover table.
When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:14-20 – emphasis mine).
The Son of God was eager to sit down at that Passover table over 2,000 years ago to enter into intimate fellowship with His disciples. He revealed to them the purpose of this dinner. He was about to offer Himself as the Lamb of God who would deliver us all from spiritual bondage. And His blood, when applied by faith to our hearts, would cause the angel of death to pass over us.
He brought His absolute best to the table. His hospitality is a great picture of His lovingkindness. The bond created was stronger than death.
Soon we will see a table set before us by the Messiah (see Revelation 19:9, Matthew 26:29). He will beckon us to draw near and dine with Him for eternity. He too desires for His table to be full. His children to be home.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For [Messiah], our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself (Revelation 19:5-7).
Written by Kori, Life in Messiah staff
Is the Lord prompting you to invite someone to your table?
How eagerly do you await to dine with Messiah for eternity?
Want to learn more about Passover? Here are some complimentary resources to get your started: https://lifeinmessiah.org/interactive-seder
Endnotes:
[1] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Feasts and Fasts of Israel, page 48.
[2] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Feasts and Fasts of Israel, page 40.