The Passover: A Torah Study

This is the heart of the study. Everything before this has been building to this single night. Yah is about to give Yasharal instructions that they are to keep forever — instructions that reveal who He is, what He requires, and how He saves.

Yah's Instructions to Moshe and Aharon

Before the tenth plague fell, Yah spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Matsarim. He did not act without first giving clear, detailed instructions to His people.

"This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." — Shamwath 12:2

The first thing Yah established was a new calendar. The exodus was so significant that Yah reset time itself for Yasharal. Their year would now begin from this month — the month of the Pesach.

The Lamb

"Speak to all the congregation of Yasharal, saying: 'On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb.'" — Shamwath 12:3-4

Each household was to select a lamb on the tenth day of the month. Not any lamb — a specific lamb with specific requirements:

"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month." — Shamwath 12:5-6a

The lamb must be:

• Without blemish — no defect, no injury, no imperfection
• A male — specifically a male
• Of the first year — young, in its prime
• Kept from the 10th to the 14th — four days of inspection and watchfulness

For four days, each family lived with this lamb. They watched it. They knew it. And then, on the fourteenth day:

"Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Yasharal shall kill it at twilight." — Shamwath 12:6b

The Blood

"And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it." — Shamwath 12:7

The blood of the lamb was to be applied to three specific places on the doorframe: the two side posts and the top lintel. Not on the threshold — the blood was never to be trampled underfoot.

This was the sign. This was the protection. Not the lamb itself, not the meal, but specifically the blood applied to the door.

The Meal

"Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire — its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire." — Shamwath 12:8-10

Three elements of the Pesach meal:

1. The roasted lamb — roasted in fire, not boiled, not raw. Completely consumed.

2. Matsah (unleavened bread) — bread made without leaven. No time for the dough to rise. A bread of urgency and purity.

3. Bitter herbs — a reminder of the bitterness of their slavery in Matsarim.

Nothing was to remain. What they could not eat was to be burned. There was no leftovers, no saving it for later. The Pesach was complete in itself.

How They Were to Eat It

"And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Pesach of Yah." — Shamwath 12:11

They ate standing up. Dressed for travel. Staff in hand. Ready to move at a moment's notice. This was not a leisurely dinner — this was the meal of departure. They ate as people who were about to be set free.

The Tenth Plague — Death of the Firstborn

"For I will pass through the land of Matsarim on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Matsarim, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Matsarim I will execute judgment: I am Yah." — Shamwath 12:12

This was the final judgment — not just against Par'oh, but against every false god of Matsarim. The firstborn held a sacred position in every household. Par'oh's own son, the heir to the throne, the one the Matsarim considered divine — Yah struck him along with every other firstborn.

The Blood as Protection

"Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Matsarim." — Shamwath 12:13

This is where the name "Pesach" — Passover — comes from. When Yah saw the blood on the doorframe, He passed over that house. The destroyer did not enter.

Notice: the protection was not based on being Israelite by birth. It was based on obedience — taking the lamb, applying the blood, eating the meal as instructed. Any household without the blood was not protected.

The Cry of Matsarim

"And it came to pass at midnight that Yah struck all the firstborn in the land of Matsarim, from the firstborn of Par'oh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Par'oh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Matsarim; and there was a great cry in Matsarim, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." — Shamwath 12:29-30

From the palace to the prison, no household in Matsarim was untouched. The devastation was total. And Par'oh finally broke:

"Then he called for Moshe and Aharon by night, and said, 'Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Yasharal. And go, serve Yah as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.'" — Shamwath 12:31-32

The Perpetual Ordinance

Yah was not done giving instructions. This night was not a one-time event. It was an appointed time — a muayd — to be kept forever:

"So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to Yah throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance." — Shamwath 12:14

He then gave the instructions for the Feast of Matsoth (Unleavened Bread), which begins on the night of the Pesach and continues for seven days:

"Seven days you shall eat matsah. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Yasharal." — Shamwath 12:15

"On the first day there shall be a set-apart gathering, and on the seventh day there shall be a set-apart gathering for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat — that only may be prepared by you." — Shamwath 12:16

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think Yah had each family keep the lamb for four days before slaughtering it? What would that experience do to the family?

2. The blood had to be applied to the doorframe — it was not enough to simply have a lamb. What does this tell us about the nature of obedience to Yah's instructions?

3. They ate the meal dressed and ready to leave. How does this posture of readiness apply to how we should approach Yah's appointed times today?

4. Shamwath 12:12 says this judgment was "against all the gods of Matsarim." How does the death of the firstborn serve as judgment against false worship?

5. Yah declared this a perpetual ordinance — an everlasting feast. What does the word "everlasting" mean to you in the context of Yah's instructions?