Today we continue with the Lord's instructions for the first Passover. Yesterday we learned how the people were to go about selecting a lamb and what time they were to slaughter it for consumption and how they were to apply the blood to the door posts. Now we move on into how the Passover meal was to be eaten.
"That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast." (Exodus 12:8) The lambs were slaughtered at twilight, according to yesterday's passage, so I assume the meal is to be cooked and consumed sometime between twilight and midnight, for the plague begins at midnight. The bitter herbs are believed to symbolize the bitter years of slavery the Israelites endured at the hands of the Egyptians. Unleavened bread is consumed because there is no time for bread dough to rise properly. Also we'll find them taking unleavened bread dough with them during the exodus and baking and eating unleavened bread for several days. If the dough had contained yeast it would have gone bad during those first few days when they were getting away from Egypt as quickly as they could and while they were preparing hasty meals.
Another thing we'll note about yeast while we move through the Bible is that it is often used as a symbol for sin. For example, just as a little yeast will effect the whole batch of dough, a little sin will effect a congregation or group of people or nation if it is not acknowledged, repented of, and turned away from. Just as participants of Passover each year must search for and remove from the home every yeast-containing food in the days leading up to Passover, we should diligently look for and remove sources of sin in our lives, in our homes, and in our congregations. When we see things going off course we need---with the Lord's help---to make a course correction.
Though the Passover meal is prepared quite rapidly, none of the meat is to be eaten raw. "Do not eat the meal raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire---with the head, legs, and internal organs." (Exodus 12:9) It is said by some scholars that certain pagan festivals in Egypt involved the eating of raw meat to honor particular gods. Various other idolatrous cultures did the same. Those cultures would remove the internal organs and pour the entrails out on the ground in order to "read" them to divine the future. In more modern times this could be compared to the reading of tea leaves or the use of Tarot cards or the use of a Ouija board. These things involve the occult and the Israelites are to avoid any temptation to divine the future with the entrails of the lambs by leaving the entrails inside.
The temptation to know more about the future (and to use pagan rituals to find out) would have been strong, considering they are about to leave the only life they've ever known to travel to a land they've never seen.
Here at the first Passover we are already seeing cultural differences emerging that mark Israel as a separate and sanctified people. They are not to eat as the heathens eat. While the matter of diet may not seem important to those of us who are Gentiles, it was vitally important for the Israelites while they lived among other cultures, such as when in slavery in Egypt or later while in captivity in Babylon and while they were moving into and taking over the promised land where so many idolatrous tribes dwelt. If they had been okay with eating anything everybody else eats, it would have been easy to be drawn into meals and feasts and holidays that the pagan people celebrated. This would have eventually led to intermingling with pagan cultures. There wouldn't have been enough cultural differences between them to keep them from intermarrying with these tribes and the next thing you know they'd have been spiritually corrupted. They'd have been drawn more and more into idolatry, if not during the first generation then certainly during succeeding generations.
There are practical reasons as well for not eating raw meat on the night before the exodus and for not saving any meat that's left over to take with them and for not using yeast in the bread dough. Any of these things might have led to food borne illness and that's the last thing they need when making their escape from Egypt. Any meat that isn't consumed must be burned up so they won't be tempted to take it with them and perhaps fall ill along the way. "Do not leave any of it til morning; if some is left til morning, you must burn it." (Exodus 12:10) There was no way of packing food in ice and placing it in a nice Yeti or Igloo cooler in those days. Meat is going to spoil quickly in the heat. So will leavened bread dough. If they burn up the leftover meat they'll make it unusable, therefore removing the temptation to take some along for the coming days. I think there's a spiritual aspect, as well, with the burning up of the remainder of the meat, for they are declaring their trust in God to provide for them during the journey.
The position in which they are to consume the Passover meal is also an act of faith. "This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover." (Exodus 12:11) They are to be ready to move out as soon as the Lord gives the word. Eating in this manner signifies their belief that the Lord is going to do exactly what He's said He's going to do: deliver them from slavery and take them into the land He promised to the descendants of Abraham. They don't know at what moment the Lord will give their marching orders, but as soon as He does they'll be ready.
The plague will strike Egypt at midnight and we'll find Pharaoh summoning Moses and Aaron in the middle of the night to order them to leave the nation immediately with the Israelites. The Egyptians, many of whom have come to have compassion on the Israelites, will urge them to leave the country as quickly as they can lest more deadly plagues befall the citizens. The Lord warned Moses that Pharaoh would resist letting the people go for a long time but that eventually he would "drive them out of his country". (Exodus 6:1) That time is now, on Passover night, when Pharaoh can't wait to get them out of his sight. They wouldn't be able to remain in the land any longer even if they wanted to, and goodness knows they don't want to. They never want to lay eyes on Egypt again and Pharaoh will be so distraught later in the evening that he thinks he never wants to lay eyes on another Israelite.
As we close our study today we find the Israelites dressed and ready with a full meal in their bellies to give them the physical strength needed for the long night and the long journey ahead.
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