Letter
221 (Passover and Nationhood)
02/04/04
It was over 3,800 years ago when
the God of Jacob sent His family down into Egypt to make them into a single
nation. Speaking to His servant Jacob, He
said: “I am YHVH, the Elohim of your father; do not fear to go down to
Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation [goy] there’” (Genesis
46:3). One of the Hebrew words for “nation” is “goy”. It is first used in the Tanach in the
Covenant that YHVH made with our forefather Abraham, “I will make you a
great nation [goy]; I will bless you, and make your name great; and you
shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).
One man, one God, one Covenant,
one national identity; this was at the heart of YHVH’s plan for the redemption
of the creation. The God of Abraham set
apart a man, and swore by His own name that his seed/sperm would become a great
and holy (set-apart) nation.
When Jacob and his band of seventy
souls arrived in Egypt, he found another family member already down there -
Joseph. As we can see from the story
recorded in Genesis, Joseph and his progeny had lost their identity and
connection with their family of origin, and thus in a sense were a prophetic
type of the second family (the so called Gentiles, the company of nations) of
the house of Jacob. Perhaps this is why
Jacob had to adopt Joseph’s sons (ref. Gen 48:5), even though they were of the
same bloodline. The adoption was significant for the restoration of the
governmental order and unity of the clan. If they were to become a nation, they
had to have their own land, and so since Joseph was in a position to do so, he
gave them the land of Goshen, where they multiplied profusely. The Creator
blessed them with fruitfulness, as they dwelt in one of the most fertile areas
of the land of Ham.
However, eventually Jacob’s family
became slaves to their Egyptian overlords. And while in that state, they lost
their vision of being a nation, a family and a people with a purpose and a
Divine call. This is portrayed quite
vividly in the scene of the two Hebrew slaves who (much like today’s ‘two
houses’) were fighting one another much to their own demise. The seed of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was now characterized by individualism. This was only natural, since they were living
under extreme conditions where self-preservation became their means of
survival. So where was this great nation
that was promised to Abraham? His seed,
now turned slaves, were cursing the day they were born on. They had become nothing more than dead dry
bones in the desert sands of Egypt. So helpless were they that they could not
even respond to Moses, when he came to them preaching the good news of their
deliverance (ref. Exodus 6:9)!
The Passover story is replete with
pestilence, famine and one disaster following another. But when gross darkness covered the land,
there was still light in the tents of the Hebrews (ref. Ex.10:23), as the
anointing of YHVH’s covenant word (which “is a light”, ref. Ps. 119:105)
was still upon them to become a great nation. How was this going to be made
possible? It certainly was not going to
happen by the nation’s own strength. This was going to take a miracle, a Divine
intervention. YHVH, therefore, dispatched a man with a message: “Let My people go”. Moses was faithful to bring that word to the
ruler of the slaves, but YHVH hardened the heart of Pharaoh, just to make sure
that His people would know that their deliverance was not going to come by the
way or the authority of man. Had Pharaoh given his permission, these Hebrews
would have been forever indebted to their slave owner. They would have never
been free and could never have taken up their divinely ordained position as the
head of all the nations. In this manner, they would have been legally bound to
Egypt.
YHVH had another plan to restore
these slaves to freedom and to their national identity. He told His servant Moses to have each family
take a lamb: "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: `On the
tenth day 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. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You
may take it from the sheep or from the goats…. Pick out and take lambs for
yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb….then you
shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and
strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.
And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning…. 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 Egypt ” (Exodus 12:3-5; 21-22; 13).
The moment the elders applied the
blood and struck the lintels and the doorposts of the Hebrews’ homes with it,
the latter were all sealed into their deliverance, freedom and destiny, but
even beyond that - their individualism had just ceased to exist. They were now united behind the one
sacrifice, totally dependent upon the powerful right arm of the Almighty to
bring them out. “Let My people go!” YHVH had already announced to
all the rulers of Egypt who these people belonged to. These were a people who
did not belong to themselves, they were and still are today “My people, [“ami” -singular]
says YHVH”. But now, through the blood
of the lamb they were set apart to enter into the next phase of His plan. “’And you shall be to Me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the
children of Israel" (Exodus 19:6).
As we, Ephraim and Judah, YHVH’s two families, the two
nations, gather together to honor Him during this year’s Passover, let us leave
our individualism and lift the cup of unity. Remember that we were all once
slaves to sin and death and bound to the principalities and powers of this
world’s (kosmos) dominion. It behooves us to, “purge out therefore the old
leaven, that we may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Messiah our
Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). May we walk
together through the Door that is splattered with the blood of the Lamb, out of
the houses of our bondage and into the liberty of the new corporate life of the restored nation of Israel!
May you all be blessed during this
Passover and Feast of Matzot (unleavened bread) with a sense of national
unity! May the eyes of our hearts be
opened anew to the fact that we are “My people Israel” in this
generation.
Shabbat Shalom and Hag Same’ach
Ephraim and Rimona
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the
precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running
down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon
the mountains of Zion; for there YHVH commanded the blessing--Life forevermore”
(Ps. 133).
