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Passover sacrifice
The Passover sacrifice (Hebrew: קרבן פסח, romanized: Qorban Pesaḥ), also known as the Paschal lamb or the Passover lamb, is the sacrifice that the Torah mandates the Israelites to ritually slaughter on the evening of Nisan 14, before Passover of Nisan 15, and eat lamb on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo. According to the Torah, it was first offered on the night of the Exodus from Egypt. Although practiced by Jews in ancient times, the sacrifice is today not performed by the vast majority of Rabbinic Jews, but part of Beta Israel, Karaite and Samaritan observance.
The Passover sacrifice is first mentioned in Chapter 12 of the book of Exodus. Each family was to take a one year old unblemished lamb, set it aside and guard it for four days. At twilight on the fourteenth day of that month, the Israelites were commanded to slaughter the lambs at twilight. The blood of this sacrifice was then placed on the door-posts of the homes in which it would be eaten. The lamb was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (Exodus 12: 8). It had to be consumed that night with nothing left over. If there were any leftovers it was to be burned (Exodus 12:10). The text describes this ritual as a Passover offering to God (Exodus 12:11)
The blood on the doorposts served as a sign, so that when God passed through the land to strike the firstborn of Egypt, He would pass over the houses of the Israelites. (Exodus 12:13). The text further commands that his observance be kept as an annual statute for future generations (Exodus 12:24) It then states, "and when you enter the land that GOD will give you, as promised, you shall observe this rite" (Exodus 12:25). The text also connects the continued observance of the rite with the Israelites' future entry into the land. The next mention of the Passover sacrifice within the Five Books of Moses is in Numbers 9:1-3, where, in the second year after the Exodus, the Israelites are commanded to observe the sacrifice in the wilderness of Sinai according to all its statutes and ordinances. The Passover sacrifice is not mentioned again in the Torah narrative until the Israelites observe it after entering the land in Joshua 5, before the major conquest campaigns in Canaan begin.
The next biblical narratives describing the observance of the Passover sacrifice appear during the monarchic and post-exilic periods. According to 2 Chronicles 30, King Hezekiah organized a national Passover observance in Jerusalem during the First Temple period. A later Passover observance is described during the reign of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23. A parallel account in 2 Chronicles 35 includes additional descriptions relating to the slaughtering and preparation of the Passover offerings. Following the Babylonian exile and the rebuilding of the Temple, Ezra 6 describes another communal observance of the Passover sacrifice in Jerusalem.
According to the Torah, the Passover sacrifice had to be an unblemished, one-year-old male "seh" (Exodus 12:5).
The Torah first refers to the sacrificial animal simply as seh. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, the term denotes either a sheep or a goat. Exodus 12:5 further specifies that the animal was to be an unblemished, one year old male and could be taken from either the sheep or the goats. Deuteronomy 16:2 later refers to the Passover sacrifice as being offered from the "flock and the herd" (tzone u'vakar), wording that has been the subject of later interpretation.
Rabbinic literature distinguishes between the original Passover sacrifice described in Exodus and the Passover offerings observed in subsequent generations. The Mishnah (Tractate Pesachim 9:5) refers to the original sacrifice as the "Passover of Egypt" (Pesaḥ Miẓrayim in M.Pesach ix. 5), and contrasts it with the "Passover of Generations" (Pesah Dorot), identifying several legal differences between them.
According to Rashi (on Numbers 9:1), the Israelites offered the Passover sacrifice only once during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, in the second year after the Exodus. The Passover sacrifice is next recorded after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan (Joshua 5:10). Subsequent observances are recorded in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30) and later Josiah (2 Kings 23). Rabbinic sources describe in detail the ritual procedures associated with the Passover sacrifice.
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Passover sacrifice
The Passover sacrifice (Hebrew: קרבן פסח, romanized: Qorban Pesaḥ), also known as the Paschal lamb or the Passover lamb, is the sacrifice that the Torah mandates the Israelites to ritually slaughter on the evening of Nisan 14, before Passover of Nisan 15, and eat lamb on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo. According to the Torah, it was first offered on the night of the Exodus from Egypt. Although practiced by Jews in ancient times, the sacrifice is today not performed by the vast majority of Rabbinic Jews, but part of Beta Israel, Karaite and Samaritan observance.
The Passover sacrifice is first mentioned in Chapter 12 of the book of Exodus. Each family was to take a one year old unblemished lamb, set it aside and guard it for four days. At twilight on the fourteenth day of that month, the Israelites were commanded to slaughter the lambs at twilight. The blood of this sacrifice was then placed on the door-posts of the homes in which it would be eaten. The lamb was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (Exodus 12: 8). It had to be consumed that night with nothing left over. If there were any leftovers it was to be burned (Exodus 12:10). The text describes this ritual as a Passover offering to God (Exodus 12:11)
The blood on the doorposts served as a sign, so that when God passed through the land to strike the firstborn of Egypt, He would pass over the houses of the Israelites. (Exodus 12:13). The text further commands that his observance be kept as an annual statute for future generations (Exodus 12:24) It then states, "and when you enter the land that GOD will give you, as promised, you shall observe this rite" (Exodus 12:25). The text also connects the continued observance of the rite with the Israelites' future entry into the land. The next mention of the Passover sacrifice within the Five Books of Moses is in Numbers 9:1-3, where, in the second year after the Exodus, the Israelites are commanded to observe the sacrifice in the wilderness of Sinai according to all its statutes and ordinances. The Passover sacrifice is not mentioned again in the Torah narrative until the Israelites observe it after entering the land in Joshua 5, before the major conquest campaigns in Canaan begin.
The next biblical narratives describing the observance of the Passover sacrifice appear during the monarchic and post-exilic periods. According to 2 Chronicles 30, King Hezekiah organized a national Passover observance in Jerusalem during the First Temple period. A later Passover observance is described during the reign of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23. A parallel account in 2 Chronicles 35 includes additional descriptions relating to the slaughtering and preparation of the Passover offerings. Following the Babylonian exile and the rebuilding of the Temple, Ezra 6 describes another communal observance of the Passover sacrifice in Jerusalem.
According to the Torah, the Passover sacrifice had to be an unblemished, one-year-old male "seh" (Exodus 12:5).
The Torah first refers to the sacrificial animal simply as seh. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, the term denotes either a sheep or a goat. Exodus 12:5 further specifies that the animal was to be an unblemished, one year old male and could be taken from either the sheep or the goats. Deuteronomy 16:2 later refers to the Passover sacrifice as being offered from the "flock and the herd" (tzone u'vakar), wording that has been the subject of later interpretation.
Rabbinic literature distinguishes between the original Passover sacrifice described in Exodus and the Passover offerings observed in subsequent generations. The Mishnah (Tractate Pesachim 9:5) refers to the original sacrifice as the "Passover of Egypt" (Pesaḥ Miẓrayim in M.Pesach ix. 5), and contrasts it with the "Passover of Generations" (Pesah Dorot), identifying several legal differences between them.
According to Rashi (on Numbers 9:1), the Israelites offered the Passover sacrifice only once during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, in the second year after the Exodus. The Passover sacrifice is next recorded after the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan (Joshua 5:10). Subsequent observances are recorded in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30) and later Josiah (2 Kings 23). Rabbinic sources describe in detail the ritual procedures associated with the Passover sacrifice.
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