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Shemot/Exodus 12:14 And this day shall be for you for a remembrance and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the L-rd; you shall celebrate it for your generations, a statute for ever.
View whole verse and interlinear translation ...
Here, at what some scholars see as the bridge point between
immediate "on the day" instructions and future "remember this day"
instructions, Moshe is instructing the Israelites - and the Jewish people to
be - to use this day as a means of remembering. The noun
, translated 'remembrance' above (and by
NJPS and NRSV), 'memorial' by David Clines1 (and
by ESV and NASB), comes from the root
, "to remember, recollect, call to mind"
(), "to invoke, announce, proclaim" (Clines). Other nouns
derived from the same root include: memory, memorial offering and official
recorder.
Pointing to the verses "G-d heard their moaning, and G-d
remembered His covenant with Avraham and Yitz'khak and Ya'akov. G-d looked
upon the Israelites, and G-d took notice of them" (Shemot 2:24-25,
NJPS), Nahum Sarna says that the word
involves action. It is much more than just the
remembering of things past, he says, "it embraces concern and involvement and
is active not passive, so that it eventuates in action." Teaching about the
tzitzit or tassels to be worn on a four-cornered garment, the sages of
the Talmud say that "Looking upon leads to remembering and remembering
leads to action" (b. Menachot 43b). This is important, for our
habits and our thoughts are shaped by what we do. The
13th century writer of
What Is ...
Sefer HaChinuch: Originally ascribed to Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona (1235-c.1290CE); a book that examines each of the 613 mitzvot in detail, following Maimonides' list and ordered by the weekly Torah portions; includes sources, biblical quotes and halacha
Sefer HaChinuch wrote, "Know that a man is influenced in
accordance with his actions ... Therefore look you carefully to what your
work and your occupation are: for after them will you be drawn, and you will
not draw them [to you]."
Some debate exists over exactly what is to remembered and how that
is to be done.
Who Is ...
Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra, for example, suggests that "[G-d]
meant that they should observe that day ever afterwards as they had done in
Egypt, making it a memorial for all generations." This implies a full
re-enactment of the Shemot chapter 12 instructions, while the Sages
compared Pesach in Egypt with the remembrance: "As to the Passover of
Egypt - (1) the lamb's designation took place of the tenth of Nisan. (2) It
required sprinkling of the blood of the lamb with a branch of hyssop on the
lintel of the door and on the two doorposts. And (3) it was eaten in haste
in a single night. But the Passover observed by the succeeding generations
applies [to leaven] for all seven days" (m. Pesachim 9:5). This
suggests that selecting the lamb on the tenth of the month, the daubing of
the blood and the eating in haste were not required. We know from the
synchronisation in the gospels that the lambs were still selected on the
tenth of Nisan in Yeshua's day, but the daubing of the blood was not done and
the Seder was already quite a leisurely evening meal and ritual. Lamb
was not permitted to be eaten at all at Pesach after the destruction
of the Temple - since there was neither altar nor sanctified priesthood.
Nevertheless, as Umberto Cassuto records, "It is self-understood, and therefore is not stated here explicitly, that this festival of remembrance will include a re-enactment of the essential elements of the Passover celebration in Egypt, that is, the Passover offering will be slaughtered, roasted and eaten together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs."2 Brevard Childs observes that "the same process of cultic remembrance continues, but in a form which has become increasingly distant from the events of the first passover."3 In the contemporary Seder, all that remains on the lamb is a roasted shank-bone on the seder plate in the centre of the table, but matzot (unleavened bread) and horseradish are there aplenty. Let's pursue the physicality of the remembrance a little further.
Who Is ...
Nechama Leibowitz: (1905-1997 CE), born in Riga, graduate of the University of Berlin, made aliyah in 1931; professor at Tel Aviv University; taught Torah for over 50 years
Nechama Leibowitz tells us that "it would have been quite
inadequate for the Torah to have perpetuated the message of the Exodus
from Egypt by calling on us to merely recount the story." Important though
story-telling is - and, after all, the vast majority of the biblical
narrative is exactly that, telling stories - in building tradition and
community memory, the doing and the engagement of all five senses is dominant
in fixing the memories in our minds as a record of real events that really
did happen, rather than myths and legends built up over time. Walter
Brueggemann explains: "Interpretive commentary is important to prevent these
festival acts from degenerating into superstition. Conversely, it will not
do simply to have the interpretation without the acts themselves, for then
the memory becomes excessively cognitive and cerebral, and we forget that it
is in our bellies that we practice the hurried departure and on our door
posts that we mark our safety. There must be no cerebral shortcuts away from
actual practice, for we hold the precious memories in our bodies, not in our
heads."4 The Scriptures themselves bear witness to this when
they instruct, "You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for
you and for your descendants. And when you enter the land that the L-RD will
give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your
children ask you, 'What do you mean by this rite?' you shall say, 'It is the
passover sacrifice to the L-RD, because He passed over the houses of the
Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses'"
(Shemot 12:24-27, NJPS). It is the doing rather than the telling
that stimulates the questions. Anyone can tell a story, but to actually put
the effort into performing it? Even if the re-enactment is ritualised and
only tracks the original in some of the detail, it is a powerful action of
remembrance. Here is looking, remembering and doing.
Yet there is still more to it that we have not so far grasped.
Another modern commentator, Terence Fretheim, gets right to the heart of the
matter: "When Israel reenacts the passover, it is not a fiction, as if
nothing really happens in the ritual, or all that happens is a recollection
of the happenedness of an original event. The reenactment is as much
salvific event as the original enactment. The memory language is not a
'soft' matter, recalling to mind some story of the past. It is an entering
into the reality of that event in such a way as to be reconstituted as the
people of G-d thereby."5 Think about this. The sages tell us in
the Pesach Hagaddah that each person at a Seder should consider
that they themselves have come out of Egypt. It is the faithful - and
physically connected - reenactment of the ritual, the tangible obedience to
not only G-d's command but the ancient rhythms and nuances, the tangy
horseradish, the heady red wine, the brittle and crisp matzot, that
revive our being and our faith and re-forge the red-hot relationship that
makes us G-d's chosen people all over again each year. As the story becomes
real again, as the haunting tones of Steve and Sue McConnel's "We're leaving
Egypt tonight" ring in our ears, we too leave Egypt and celebrate our freedom
in Messiah Yeshua. The
Who Is ...
Bekhor Shor: Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor; a twelfth century French tosafist, commentator and poet; he lived in Orleans and was a pupil of the Rashbam and Rabbenu Tam; wrote a commentary to the Torah and made contributions to the Talmud commentaries; followed the p'shat method of interpretation in the style of Rashi, to the extent of rationalising many miracles
Bekhor Shor put these words in Moshe's
mouth to our people in Egypt: "You are doing it out of necessity; they will
do it as a remembrance", but he was wrong. Every generation, not least ours,
remembers from necessity; because we must!
Lastly, we need to ask ourselves which parts of the Pesach event we remember. Do we remember the dying Egyptians or our freedom? Is it that the L-rd went through the land of Egypt killing all the firstborn, or that He passed over the houses with the blood? What do we remember today? As believers in Messiah, we need to go further. The passion story is filled with rich symbolism, but which part do we remember and live in? Is it the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the cross or the resurrection? Of course, no one item is enough in itself, each depends on the others, but where is our focus? Rav Sha'ul preached "Messiah crucified - a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23, ESV), but do we live at the cross or do we live in the power of the resurrection, the risen Messiah?
Sha'ul takes the next step when he writes, "For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to G-d" (Romans 6:10, ESV). He lives, do you see that? He is alive, He lives! Arguing that if "Messiah has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17, ESV), he triumphantly insists that "in fact Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (v. 20, ESV), so that Yeshua's own words that "everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:40, ESV) will come true. Yeshua's life means our life. Important as it is to commemorate His death on the cross, it is more important still to commemorate His resurrection and ascension because "the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52, ESV) - "we know that when He appears we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2, ESV). May it be soon and in our days.
1. - David J. A. Clines (ed.) The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009), page 100.
2. - Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, (Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1983), page 140.
3. - Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary, The Old Testament Library, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), pages 198-199.
4. - Walter Brueggemann, "Exodus", in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary Vol I, edited by Leander E. Keck, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), pages 358.
5. - Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, Interpretation, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), page 139.
Further Study: Vayikra 23:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
Application: Do you live at the cross, still waiting and hoping for the third day, or do you live in the full knowledge that Yeshua has risen, death has been defeated and heaven's gates are open wide to all who believe and trust in Him? Where are you looking, remembering and doing today?
Buy your own copy of the Drash Book for Exodus/Shemot now at Amazon US or Amazon UK.
© Jonathan Allen, 2021
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