"This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance."
Exodus 12:14
It is not only the season for Lent and Easter. It is also time for Passover, a Jewish holy day/festival, which this year lasts from April 9th - 15th. It commemorates God sparing the Israelites when he passed them over during the plague of the firstborn, only killing the first born of Egypt. Hence the name of the holiday.
The plague of the firstborn was just the last of the plagues on Egypt as a result of Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites go. Before that all the water was turned to blood and pests were sent out including frogs, gnats, flies, and locusts. All the Egyptians' livestock died while the Israelites' lived. Boils broke out on people. Hail came down, and anyone caught outside in it died. There was even a darkness that could be felt, but only upon the Egyptians. After each plague, Pharaoh would act as if he were about to set the Israelites free but then he would change his mind only to be met with more destruction.
This story brings up a lot of questions for me.
Discussion Starters:
1. Do you feel that sometimes Moses' brother, Aaron, sort of got shafted in the recognition department?
He spoke for Moses and later became the head priest. At first, I found it a little sneaky that Moses talked God into letting Aaron speak for him so he didn't have to do it himself. Was Moses sneaky or was he recognizing his own strengths and weaknesses? I initially thought Aaron was kind of underrated with Moses getting all the glory until I realized later on in the story that Aaron was actually the one who formed the golden calf for the people to worship while Moses was up on the mountain getting the 10 Commandments directly from God (Exodus 32) so maybe it was fair after all.
2. Does anyone else find it odd that magicians could replicate most of the miracles God performed through Moses' staff?
And why is there no more magic like this in the world? Or is there?
3. What does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh's heart?
Does it seem fair that Pharaoh was punished because God hardened his heart? Was it fair to make him be bad and then call him the bad guy? Predestination vs. Free Will, which is it?
4. Why don't Christians really celebrate Passover?
The celebration of this festival was to be "a lasting ordinance." Did this ordiance only apply to the Israelite's direct descendents, the Jewish people? We follow the 10 Commandments. We don't take that to only be directed towards Jews. In chapter 12, it does say a temporary foreigner should not eat of this feast, but someone living among them could if all the males of the household were circumcised. Do the same rules still apply? And circumcision is a whole other topic too.
The plague of the firstborn was just the last of the plagues on Egypt as a result of Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites go. Before that all the water was turned to blood and pests were sent out including frogs, gnats, flies, and locusts. All the Egyptians' livestock died while the Israelites' lived. Boils broke out on people. Hail came down, and anyone caught outside in it died. There was even a darkness that could be felt, but only upon the Egyptians. After each plague, Pharaoh would act as if he were about to set the Israelites free but then he would change his mind only to be met with more destruction.
This story brings up a lot of questions for me.
Discussion Starters:
1. Do you feel that sometimes Moses' brother, Aaron, sort of got shafted in the recognition department?
He spoke for Moses and later became the head priest. At first, I found it a little sneaky that Moses talked God into letting Aaron speak for him so he didn't have to do it himself. Was Moses sneaky or was he recognizing his own strengths and weaknesses? I initially thought Aaron was kind of underrated with Moses getting all the glory until I realized later on in the story that Aaron was actually the one who formed the golden calf for the people to worship while Moses was up on the mountain getting the 10 Commandments directly from God (Exodus 32) so maybe it was fair after all.
2. Does anyone else find it odd that magicians could replicate most of the miracles God performed through Moses' staff?
And why is there no more magic like this in the world? Or is there?
3. What does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh's heart?
Does it seem fair that Pharaoh was punished because God hardened his heart? Was it fair to make him be bad and then call him the bad guy? Predestination vs. Free Will, which is it?
4. Why don't Christians really celebrate Passover?
The celebration of this festival was to be "a lasting ordinance." Did this ordiance only apply to the Israelite's direct descendents, the Jewish people? We follow the 10 Commandments. We don't take that to only be directed towards Jews. In chapter 12, it does say a temporary foreigner should not eat of this feast, but someone living among them could if all the males of the household were circumcised. Do the same rules still apply? And circumcision is a whole other topic too.
Wow that's a whole lot of theological questions in one post.
Let me go backwards:
4. We do celebrate passover, every time we partake of communion we are in fact celebrating the passover dinner. Jesus celebrated passover with his followers, and so we remember that dinner and his sacrifices for us. However, there is no need for Christians to celebrate passover because the celebration of communion takes it's place, because Jesus took the place of all sacrifices. He was the first born, the lamb, he took the place of each one of us at the passover feast, there is no need for us to be "passed over" because Jesus stands in our place.
As for circumcision, it is not necessary (per Paul in the NT letters) but we still do it. Circumcision today is recommended not for religious reasons, but for sanitary reasons (I won't go into details).
3. Predestination vs. Free Will. The eternal question, does God know all, and if he does, does he direct all, or is it all us? It's a hard one (and one that I'm struggling with in the UMC). We DO have free will, we are allowed to make our own choices, God is not a puppet master. HOWEVER, once we become children of God, we are directed by the Holy Spirit to help us make decisions. That's where I draw the line, it might not explain everything, like Job and Pharaoh, but for my own life there's where I leave it.
As for Moses and Aaron, they were both punks ... I think they are a prime example that God can use ANYONE for his purpose, even whiny, know-it-alls, like Moses and Aaron! : )
I'll go backwards too.
4. Since I have a jewish husband, I have attended several Passover seders (dinners) and will be attending a few next week. It's a lovely celebration. I find it intriguing most Christians don't realize the Last Supper was a Passover seder. While passover has changed for Christians, I think we can still gain something out of the old passover if we choose. It's a beautiful, symbolic story of faith told through symbolic foods (bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery, mashed apples/walnuts the mortar in the bricks, the lamb shank for the passover lamb, etc) Remembering God's goodness and deliverance is always a good thing. There are several Jewish-Christian seders, and if you have a chance to go sometime, do. You'll learn alot.
3. I think people do develop hard hearts, and there are several instances of this in the Bible. (Joshua, Isaiah, 1 Sam, Mark, Jeremiah, Eze, Daniel are some that pull up) I'd be more interested in the hebrew & greek translation here of what "hardened hearts" actually means. Does it mean what we think?
2. I've always wondered if the magic was lost in translation somehow... Yes, I've always wondered this... and why God allowed the magicians to do that. He had the power not to. Or is this somehow linked with darker power, also mentioned several places in the bible (Matthew 8, one of several)? Which can bring up a whole other discussion.
1. Actually, I think Aaron came out on top...he became the high priest and all of his sons for years and years became high priests (past Jesus time). Moses didn't have staying power with his lineage...the Israelites/Jews changed their leaders several times.
Yes, I know I had way more questions than answers in this one. That story just brings up so many issues, I couldn’t focus on one.
1. Mary- Agreed. More often than not, God did choose to use incredibly flawed individuals to lead. Shannon – True, that Aaron’s power probably lasted longer, but it seems the average person still remembers Moses as the leader.
2. Maybe we can do a series on magic in relation to the Bible for the month of October?
3. I liked the way this was worded on the website, Jews Muse, “Because the Pharoah refused to show mercy so many times, his heart was unable to receive God's mercy. That's why it says that God hardened his heart.” http://www.jewsmuse.com/2009/01/harden-your-heart.html
I had a hard time finding anything discussing the original translation. I’d be interested in that too. Did anyone else have any luck?
4. Shannon - I would very much like to attend a seder. I’m intrigued by religious rituals since the church I attended growing up wasn’t into very many.
As a side note, I don’t think circumcision is vital to maintaining cleanliness.
No one said it was vital ... only recommended.
(Continued from above) Actually, this brings up a really interesting topic that I would like to do later on as well -- rules of the Bible, ones that we still follow and ones that we don't and why they changed.
There is some really interesting resources on this and I think it would be really fun to look at.