Agnus Dei Painting by Francisco de Zurbaran Museo del Arte, San Diego
Saved From Death
Pharaoh refused to let the israelites go until he experienced the last of the ten plagues God sent.
Exodus 11:4-7 (Moses said:) “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
Sprinkling the blood on the lintel and doorposts of the houses
Painting by Vernon Nye Image may be copyright
God warned Moses to tell the Israelite heads of families to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and sprinkle the blood on the lintel and doorposts of their houses, because the Angel of Death was about to visit Egypt at night and kill every male firstborn child to force Pharaoh to let God's people go. Only those families where the blood was sprinkled would be saved.
Exodus 12:21-23 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them,
“Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down."
Celebrating Deliverance From Slavery
God ordered the Israelites to celebrate their deliverance from death and slavery in Egypt after they left with the Festival of Unleavened Bread and Passover.
Exodus 12:17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
The seder meal celebrating The Passover deliverance from slavery Photo: Gwen Paget
The Passover Meal, or seder, is celebrated by devout Jews to this day. The words of the modern seder begin with a question read by the youngest member of the family:
"Why is this night different from all other nights?"
It is a visual aid and memorial of the events that are commemorated -
• three pieces of unleavened bread or matzos, as a reminder of the unleavened bread at the exodus
• bitter herbs and salt water - a reminder of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt
• charoset or mixture of grated apple, cinnamon, nuts, raisins and wine - the colour of the clay they used as slaves to make bricks in Egpyt
• four cups of red wine (or grape juice), based on the four promises God made about their redemption from slavery in EXODUS 6:6-7
• shankbone of roast lamb for the Passover lamb, whose blood was sprinkled on the house lintel and doorposts so the Angel of Death would pass over their houses
• an egg, symbolising sorrow and mourning of eastern funerals (as well as new life for Christians)
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