Is the Passover Lamb an Offering? Or a Gift from God?

Is the Passover Lamb an Offering?  Or a Gift from God?

By:  Jack Jackson

How we end up answering the questions posed in this title has ramifications on whether we can subsequently, and properly, apply or not apply the commandment to bring our offerings to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, given in Leviticus 17.  This matter has come up for debate and discussion due to a difference of understanding of whether or not a lamb should still be killed at Passover.  In addition, the question following is whether it’s blood should, or should not, be applied to the lintels and doorpost as it was in the first Passover. 

To address this matter, and attempt to support my understanding of this most critical question, I would like us to go into His word and discuss primarily the passages of Exodus 12:1 – 28 and Leviticus 17:1-16.  Before you go any further, please pray and then  grab your Scriptures and follow along so you are seeing the Scriptures with your very eyes.

Turn now to Exodus 12 and read along as I highlight some points to consider.  In verse 3 we find that YHVH (Elohiem’s name, written in some Bibles as LORD, Yehovah, Yahweh - for this paper I will use YHVH) is giving instructions to Moses which are to be passed along to Israel.  They concern selecting a lamb or kid of the first year (less than a year old) without blemish.  It is to be selected out of the flock on the 10^th of Nissan.  The size of the family determines the size of the animal because this lamb is for their Pasach meal only, not to be “shared” with a Levite as is done for a Peace (Shelem) Offering.  Please make a note here that this selection is to be done by the family, for the family, and was not to be shared with anyone else outside the house.  The allowable exception would be the inviting of another family where the family is too small to consume it.

At even of the 14^th of Nissan they (the whole congregation) were commanded to kill (Strong’s 7819 shachat - or slaughter) the lambs at the same time.  Note that they were not commanded to bring them to a priest to have the priest slaughter the animal.  In fact, check you Scriptures from Leviticus chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and please read for yourselves that even though the “offerings” were brought to the priests, the man bringing his offering was required to kill his animal he was offering. The priests would then do the rest of the processing as instructed.  The priest’s only actual killing was their own offerings or the corporate offerings.  How many of us, removed from not only the land of Israel but also agricultural practices, have had to kill our animals for food?  Not many!  As one who has, I can testify that it never gets easy.  It is hard to kill an animal which did nothing wrong.  Yet, how many just avoid that by going to the grocery store and letting someone else “deal with their killing”?  That reminds me that even the Pharisees and Sadducees had the Romans do their killing for them.  But let us not get on a new subject.

In verse 7, they are commanded to take some of the blood of the lamb and place it on the lintels and two door posts, “wherein they would eat it”.  Please note the command was not only specific to “what to do”, but also, “where it was to be placed.”  Specifically, it was to go on the lintels and door posts of the place where they planned on eating the lamb.  Verse 8 describes the cooking process and that the second course was to include bitter herbs.  Verses 9 and 10 describe eating all of the lamb, and that that which remains unto the morning was to be burned by fire.  Again, note,  the lamb was for the family, like a gift for them.  It was not shared with the priest or Levites like the offerings we shall describe later in Leviticus 17.

Verse 11 says the lamb is to be eaten in haste.  It is called “YHVH’s Pesach (Passover)”.  I believe by now we should be seeing that this Pesach is very different indeed from an offering brought to and offered to YHVH.  It is, rather, clearly a gift (His gift) to us. 

Why is this distinction critically important?  Because a gift to us is a pursuing of our hearts from the One giving it; while, when we make an offering, we are the ones approaching Him.  Remember we love Him because He first loved us, and gave Himself for us.  Abraham was all prepared to go through with his “offering” of his son Isaac.  When the melak of YHVH calls out to stop him, He tells him that He now knows that Abraham is willing to love and obey him. He, instead of taking Abraham’s offering, reverses the situation and provides Himself a sacrifice (Genesis 22:9-19).  Wow!  Because Abraham did not withhold his son, YHVH did not withhold His only begotten Son.  In John 1:29 be are blessed to hear John say the following as he saw Yeshua (Jesus) approach “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”.  It was Emmanuel, God with us.  What is more critical to our faith than understanding that Yeshua is the Lamb of God, creator of everything that was made, that can take away our sin?  How much the devil must hate it when we understand that, and attempt to spread that “good news”? 

Our precious lamb, slaughtered before the foundations of the world, was nailed to a wooden post, and His precious blood flowed out and stained that wood.  I can imagine how similar that wood must have looked to lintels and a door post that have had the blood of the lamb applied to them.  How much the devil must hate anyone remembering the precious blood of the Lamb of God on the wood; and how much that devil must hate anyone placing the blood on the lintels or doorposts for fear a child might spontaneously ask why?  Why Daddy, do we have to kill this precious innocent lamb?  It didn’t do anyone any harm Daddy?  Daddy why does its blood have to be lifted up….and placed on the wooden beams around our door?  Daddy can’t the blood just be placed somewhere where I don’t have to look upon it?  How much the devil must hate when that Daddy describes the comparison of the slaughtering of Yeshua and teaches his children how YHVH’s plan from the beginning was that His Son Yeshua was going to be slain for us all.  How that devil hates the talk about Yeshua’s precious blood willingly being shed “as a gift” for us.  Remember He said He was laying down His own life, which was His gift offer for us.

I hope some dots in Scripture are coming together and we can at least consider that the Pasach is not “our offering to YHVH”; but “YHVH’s gift for us”.  That is why I believe we will shortly see that those who believe that Leviticus 17 somehow changes the Passover service today and eliminates the killing of the Pesach and the applying of the blood to the lintels and door posts, may actually find themselves trying to stop the very thing that Satan has also successfully worked to stop.  But let us return to Exodus 12 and read more of God’s instructions before looking at Leviticus 17.  Then we can make a decision of whether it changes the instructions in Exodus 12 or not. 

Remember, at this time that many of us have discovered that the 10 Commandments.  Although many of us were taught were really only 9, there are, in fact, still 10.  The Sabbath was never done away with or cancelled out by some new command.  And remember, many of us have come to realize that Yeshua did not change “one jot or tittle” of the Law (Torah).  This would include Exodus 12, wouldn’t it?  Maybe the removal of the service of the slain lamb and its blood applied to the lintels and doorpost is just another lie we have inherited.

We left off describing Exodus 12 at verse 11, so let us now look at the powerful reasons for the application of the blood: to have death pass over the first born and to bring judgment on the false gods of Egypt.  In verse 13, He says He was going to look for the blood as a “token” (Strong’s 226 – owth) defined as an appearing, a signal, flag, or mark.  It is the same word used to describe Sabbath as a “sign” between Him and us.  So this blood on the lintel and door posts was a token or sign between Him and the one who applied it.  It lets Him know who had been faithful and obedient to do just as He commanded.  It also identifies those who had not obeyed.  The blood itself did not save them from death, but obedience to what YHVH had commanded was attributed as faith, and therefore complied and allowed death to Passover.  Similarly, looking at a serpent on a pole never healed anyone from the bite of a viper.  Instead, it was YHVH that healed those who were obedient to His command. 

In verse 14, just after describing the process and reason for the blood, He then declares  this day shall be a memorial, and that Israel (His people) are to keep it as a feast to YHVH throughout their generations, by an ordinance forever.  That seems clearly an annual thing that was to be done forevermore.  The word memorial (Strong’s 2146 - zikrown) has the root zakar (Strong’s 2142) which is the word we find as “remember” used in “Remember the Sabbath say to keep it holy”.  That certainly means that it should be scheduled in our appointment books every year.

Verses 15 through 20 all refer to the days of unleavened bread, and lead us to the verses where Moses will now tell the elders of Israel what YHVH’s instructions are.  Please make sure you read these passages for what Moses says, and doesn’t say.  Look for what Moses emphasizes and doesn’t mention at all.  Look for what Moses describes as the “service” and what he doesn’t mention at all to them regarding the “service”. 

In verses 21 and 22 Moses only mentions three things to the elders of Israel regarding the things YHVH commanded him to tell them.  In these verses Moses tells them “Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Pasach”  “And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip in blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until morning.”  Clearly Moses gives to them the three most critical commands they must do.  Kill the lamb; apply the blood to door frame, and stay inside until morning.  Although we know Moses eventually told them about the bitter herbs, eating in haste with sandals on, how to cook it, and to burn what ever is left until morning, but clearly, the most critically important instructions which Moses gives them are the slaughtering of the lamb by each family, application of the blood to the lintels and door posts, and staying inside.  Note that neither Moses nor YHVH make any mention of any involvement by a priest or Levite at all. 

In verse 23 Moses relates the “why” in regard to the importance that the blood plays in Pasach.  The blood is critical in the Pesach and our faith.  In verse 24, Moses, after only mentioning killing a lamb, applying blood and staying inside says “And ye shall observe this thing.  These are the words “shamar zeh dabar”, which could better be translated as observe this word of YHVH.  What could “observe this thing” have meant to elders that only heard about three things; killing a lamb, applying blood, and staying inside, except to mean that “observe this thing” was in fact “at minimum” the killing of a lamb and the application of its blood on the lintels and door posts.  But Moses describes how long “observing this thing” was to be kept by them: it was to be an ordinance to them and their sons…..forever.  How long is forever, that “this thing” was supposed to be observed?  Forever!  Ok, let’s continue as long as we can see that “this thing” including a lamb slain and its blood applied to the lintels and the door posts as “a forever thing” in the lives of Israel.

Now Moses describes “the why”. They were to “observe this thing” in verses 24 and 25, and these are also critical to this matter because he describes why “this thing” will be important when they “enter the land YHVH promised them”.  As we know now, the coming into the land and his driving others out doesn’t actually happen for 40 years.  But, they were supposed to have entered and move right into the dwelling those driven off had left behind (their new homes).  So it appears that YHVH realizes He needs “this thing” to bring this first Pasach to memory and stimulate questions.

Verse 25 describes the doing of the ordinance of “this thing” as a service.  Moses says “that ye shall keep this service”.   The word service (Strong’s 5656 - abadah) is defined as an enactment.  The term we might better understand today is “re-enactment”.  Who in the USA has not been to, or seen, a Civil War re-enactment.  If you didn’t know better it looks as though they are really having a battle.  The more accurately they re-enact it, the more it looks exactly as it did then.  The more real it appears, the more we feel we are living it again, just as they did.  This I believe is exactly what YHVH had in mind when He says they needed to keep the “service”. 

And why do I believe this so strongly?  Read verse 26!  “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, “What mean ye by this service?”  Please note that the service is meant to prompt the children to ask questions concerning the service, so it would appear that the more accurately we re-enact the first Passover, the more they should feel like they are right in the midst of the first one; don’t you agree?.  But now remember, the three main components, or “this thing” that Moses brought first and foremost to the elders, namely the slaughtering of the lamb, application of blood of that lamb on the lintels and door posts, and the entering in until morning.  Does anyone not think these were foremost in Moses eyes?  Could the elders not understand their significant place in Pasach?  No!

Then look at verse 27 find out the answer to the expected question from the children.  Note, the purpose of the service is to prompt a question, which can be answered as verse 27 confirms; “That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of YHVH’s Pasach”……  What is the sacrifice of YHVH’s Pasach?  Obviously the lamb and its blood!  So why then do we, in a “traditional” Passover Haggadah, write the questions out so the children will ask them?  Maybe because they never actually see the “service” that YHVH has intended them to see.  If a child today would spend four days loving on an innocent lamb, then have to watch it being slaughtered and having its blood placed on their doorposts, the child will undoubtedly spontaneous ask the “right” question without having anyone write down the questions in advance.  I imagine they would no longer be concerned with “Why on other nights do we sit in chairs, but on this night we recline on couches?”  That’s a nice question, but pales in importance to the questions in the mind of a child that has just watched their “precious lamby” bleed out its life blood which is now still present on their doorpost.  They probably wouldn’t care much, either, why we dip parsley in salt water….eat horseradish……..and any other fabricated questions we have had to supply them.  Why do we have to manufacture questions?  Simple!  We have majored in the minors and minored in the majors.  We have done everything except re-enact the first Pesach. We have not graphically performed the re-enactment: the slaughter of the innocent lamb and then placing its blood on the lintels and door posts and staining a piece of wood in the process.

I repented because I hadn’t seen this all so clearly before.  I repented for my fathers and brothers that forgot the most critical parts of the service: the slaying of the lamb and the blood of innocence lifted upon the wood.   Why?  Because when doing the service correctly, it puts our eye clearly upon Yeshua and undoubtedly makes the devil tremble to think of this thing being done each year in the homes of all who call themselves “children of God”.  The ruckus created by such a return to the actual commands for Pesach would send ripples throughout the world.  It would so place the focus back where it should be, on Yeshua as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; not on the merchandising of a holiday.  Did you know Yeshua turned over the money changers table at Passover, because they had turned Passover into a money making event?  Maybe some tables need turning over again.  It would be amazing to even consider how the media would be “a buzz” about it.  I could imagine laws and ordinances quickly be passed world wide to try and stop “this thing” from being a most memorable feast that so obviously points to our Messiah Yeshua being the gift of God.

But, enough preaching for a moment, now allow the word of God to clearly define itself and show that Leviticus 17 is not speaking at all about the Pesach.  Because, if I am able to show you that Pasach, as a gift from God, is not the same as an offering towards God, then Leviticus 17 no more impedes the proper keeping of the Pesach service in the way it was intended.  I believe most readers, by this time, are likely already realizing this is true.  However, there are a few more points regarding Leviticus 17 we must consider.

Please read through Leviticus 17, and while you do so, consider what we have already learned in His word in the verses which have come before Leviticus: namely those in Exodus 12.  Now it is true that the word used in Leviticus 17:3 for kill is the same used word for kill in Exodus 12 describing the death of the Pesach.  So does that mean that automatically theses two chapters are linked?  No!  If the only provision for Leviticus 17 was a killing of an animal, it would, but that is not the emphasis of the chapter at all.

What really starts to define the parameters of this chapter is found in verse 4.  It also distinguishes itself from Exodus 12 as these descriptions are “never” used in Exodus 12 related to the Pasach.  What are these critical words?  In Leviticus 17:4 we find what was prohibited was not to “offer your offering” except at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  Offer (Strong’s 7126 - qarab) is to approach or cause to bring near.  As an example, if a person is looking for favor from someone, they may offer them a gift in an attempt to get closer.  We see this in business when a salesman brings “free” giveaways to hope to get inside the door and speak to someone who can make a decision.  The Pasach is never brought anywhere to give to anyone.  It is never called, nor should ever be confused as something which is offered.  It fits into none of the categories of Levitical “offerings in Leviticus Chapters 1-5.

The second word is offering (Strong’s 7133 - qorbon) which is defined further as something brought near the “altar”.  The commands to slay the Pesach never discuss slaying it on an “altar”.  In conclusion, a Pesach is not brought near, nor killed on an alter; therefore is not that type of a qorbon (offering).  Therefore, Pesach is not what is being discussed in Leviticus 17.  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 is also used to suggest we are no longer to sacrifice a Pesach because some say it means a prohibition on sacrificing within our gates; when a closer read suggest that we should sacrifice, but not do it just anywhere without thought within our gates.  Does YHVH place His name (authority) at your land?  Is His name upon you?  Paul says we are the temple of YHVH in 2 Corinthians 6:16, doesn’t he?

To a believer, unfamiliar with the meaning of the service of Pesach described in Exodus 12, and watching from afar off, when seeing people gathered around a lamb which has had its throat slashed, it may look to them as a group of people doing some sort of occult sacrifice to some devil.  And,  if they then saw those people take its blood and apply it the door posts, they may be ready to call the Police.  But if they heard these same people praying and comparing the innocent lamb to their sinless Messiah Jesus (Yeshua), and giving thanks for His gift of His life to cover our sins, and comparing the blood stained doorpost to the blood stain cross, I would imagine their whole thought process about what was actually going on would change.  They might realize there was no devil worship going on at all, only the lifting up of Yeshua as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

Many in Christianity, Messianic/Hebrew Roots, and even many Jews today have only limited (non-hands on) knowledge of the Levitical Sacrificial System described in Chapters 1 – 5 of Leviticus, and for good reason.  Today, sadly, and in disobedience, neither the Temple nor the Tabernacle of the Congregation are performing the services of worship that God commanded to be everlasting.  That might soon change if He returns quickly.  Ezekiel Chapters 40 – 48 outline all of the things which had been done and will be reinstated when Yeshua comes back.  Many aspects of Torah though can, and are, still being conformed to in lives of many who believe.  The reasons given for not observing all of Torah, by those who believe we should, often involves the explanation “there is not a Temple, nor Levites, so we just can’t do it without it becoming sin”.

 

That answer may be valid occasionally, but sometimes is merely an excuse for laziness.  It didn’t stop Daniel when Israel was in captivity; he merely offered the prayers of his lips at the appointed times.  But what, then, can be said about the excuse that we cannot kill our lambs for Pasach and apply their blood to our lintels and door posts because there are no Levites or Temple to bring them to?  Yes, all the men are supposed to come three times per year to “appear before YHVH” in the place where He places His name (Deuteronomy 16:16); but, where is that today?  Also note that this request is for: feast of unleavened bread, feast of weeks, and feast of tabernacle (Passover itself is not actually stated).  I would love it if Israel would become a nation using the Torah as its law, build a Temple, and reinstate the Levites….. Then we could all do exactly as all the Torah commands.  But, in various times including now, YHVH has had His name in various places.

 

In Moses day YHVH was in the Tabernacle as it traveled all over the desert of the Middle East.  By the time Benjamin sinned and almost got wiped out (Judges 20:27), the Ark of the Covenant was in Bethel, not Jerusalem.  YHVH accepted a burnt offering from Sampson’s parents in Judges 13.  He took up the sacrifices and whole altar Elijah set up at Mount Carmel.  Both of these were times when the sacrificial system was not in operation, just as it is not today.  It didn’t stop these from offering and certainly didn’t stop YHVH from receiving them.   But, let us not open another matter.  The point being made is simply that not all killing of animals was subject to being brought to the Levitites, only offerings.  Leviticus 17: 13 gives a very practical example: hunting.  The “clean” animal is killed, but not offered (a qarab), nor brought as an offering (qorbon).  It was just meat for the family.  The only provision for its blood was that it was covered by dust/dirt.  The hunter didn’t have to take some blood and have the priest sprinkle it on the altar.  Why?  Because it was not and offering.   

And so, the ordinance about the “blood” was only to be imputed upon a man that was making an offering.  That is, making a gift to YHVH.  That was to be an offering at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 

Verse 7 has more to do with the history and prior practices of Baal worship among the Israelites.  The statement that they “shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils” is there because there were still those who were still knowingly offering up offerings to Baal and other gods of Egypt.  I do not believe this verse was to be used to call believers calling on YHVH “devil” worshippers.  If that were so, an on-looker to Manoa and his wife, in Judges 13, could have accused them of worshipping devils because they were offering a burnt offering which was not at the door of the tabernacle.  But the judgmental critic would have soon been embarrassed when YHVH received the offering as the melak of YHVH went up in the flame.  Or can you imagine someone standing at Mount Carmel and “calling out” Elijah as a devil worshipper and idolater, just because he wasn’t offering those burnt offerings at the door of the tabernacle of congregation? 

So, why then in our day, would anyone twist Leviticus 17:7 and call a brother or sister a worshipper of devils and an idolater just because they killed the Pasach lamb and applied the blood to their doorpost as Moses and YHVH command it to be done?  I know this has happened first hand because I and others stand so accused by someone who calls themselves a teacher.  That person was not even at our Pesach, never heard our prayers of praise to YHVH and glorifying of His gift of His only begotten Son Yeshua our Messiah.  They were not there to hear our children ask why we had to slay the lamb and apply the blood either.  They were not there to see that our service lifted up our Savior Yeshua, not Baal; yet were still willing to condemn us as devil worshippers and idolaters.  It matters little what that type of person thinks when YHVH knows we loved Him enough to obey His commands.

Note that some argue that everything changed at the cross; but since Yeshua was the “lamb slain before the foundation of the worlds” Revelation 13:8; all Passover’s are always looking backwards.  Remember YHVH is “not bound by time”.

I believe I will conclude my paper with a closing word from Paul.  I give thanks to a heads-up from a dear brother for these verses below because they came from Paul’s heart, and therefore I conclude with them from my own heart.  My hope and prayer is that my efforts may be blessed by YHVH as they lift up Yeshua His Son as the Lamb of YHVH that takes away the sin of the world.  I will continue to lift Him up, as long as I can, and hope you consider doing the same, to anyone that will receive Him.

 “True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry, but others are doing it in good will.  The latter act from love, aware that I am put where I am for defending the Good News: while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison.  But so what?  All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that this will work out for my deliverance, because your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah. It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have my body, whether it is alive or dead.  For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain.”  Philippians 1:15-21 (Complete Jewish Bible)