Passover Reader

TM
Teaching of the month
F i r s t F r u i t s o f Z i o n W i s h e s Yo u a H a p p y pa s s ov e r !
The Passover Reader
Messianic Commentaries on the Passover Holiday Readings
Selected Excerpts from First Fruits of Zions Torah Club
The Passover Reader
The Passover Reader
Published by First Fruits of Zion First Fruits of Zion PO Box 649, Marshfield, mo 65706-0649, USA All rights reserved by First Fruits of Zion. This volume of material (book) or the individual lessons may not be copied or reprinted in any form, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (printed, written, photocopied, visual, electronic, audio, or otherwise) without permission of the publisher. To acquire permission to translate this material in any form, please contact First Fruits of Zion, Inc. Brief quotations are permitted with citing of author, source, and publisher. Copyright 2013 D. Thomas Lancaster. Publication rights First Fruits of Zion. Copyright information: www.torahclub.org/copyright Scripture taken from: Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels (DHE), Copyright Vine of David 2010. Used by permission. NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission. Throughout this publication the name Jesus is rendered Yeshua and Christ rendered Messiah.
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Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 First day of Passover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Second Day of Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Intermediate Weekdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Shabbat Chol HaMoed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Seventh Day of Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Eighth Day of Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
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Introduction
Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread ... (Exodus 12:1415)
Chag Sameach! To thank you for your participation in the FFOZ Friends program and to celebrate Passover 5773, I am pleased to send you The Passover Reader: Messianic Commentaries on the Passover Holiday Readings. This free gift features Messianic Jewish commentary from our Torah Club program on the synagogue scripture readings for the seven days of Passover. Feel free to share this Passover reader with your friends. I hope that this little Torah Club sampler can encourage more people to get involved in serious Bible study through our Torah Club program. This free gift is our way of wishing you a happy and kosher Passover with abundant blessing from our Father in Heaven. May the LORD be pleased to grant you abundant blessing as you apply yourself to the diligent study of His Torah and discipleship to His Son. Happy Passover,
Boaz Michael
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Introduction
Scripture Reading Charts

First Day of Passover
Torah: Exodus 12:2151 Maftir: Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah: Joshua 3:57; 5:26:1; 6:27
Second Day of Passover

Torah: Leviticus 22:2623:44 Maftir: Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah: 2 Kings 23:19; 2125
First Weekday Chol HaMoed

Torah: Exodus 13:116 Maftir: Numbers 28:1925
Second Weekday Chol HaMoed

Torah: Exodus 22:2423:19; Numbers 28:1925
Third Weekday Chol HaMoed

Torah: Numbers 9:114; Numbers 28:1925
Shabbat Chol HaMoed

Torah: Exodus 33:1234:26 Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:114; Numbers 28:1925
Seventh Day of Passover

Torah: Exodus 13:1715:26 Maftir: Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:151; Numbers 28:1925
Eighth Day of Passover

Torah: Deuteronomy 15:1916:17 1 Maftir: Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah: Isaiah 10:3212:6; Numbers 28:1925
The Passover Reader
Introduction
The following chart can be used from year-to-year to determine the correct synagogue reading for each of the days of Passover according to the Diaspora tradition.
Chart for Determining Passover Readings Day of Passover First Day Falls On Tuesday Thursday Saturday Sunday Wednesday Friday Monday Thursday Saturday Fourth Day Sunday Tuesday Friday Fifth Day Monday Wednesday Saturday Sixth Day Tuesday Thursday Sunday Monday Wednesday Friday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Torah Exodus 12:2151 Maftir Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah Joshua 3:57; 5:26:1; 6:27 2 Kings 23:19; 2125
Second Day
Leviticus 22:26 23:44 Exodus 13:116 Exodus 33:1234:26 Exodus 13:116 Exodus 22:2423:19 Exodus 22:2423:19 Exodus 34:126 Exodus 33:1234:26 Numbers 9:114 Numbers 28:1925
Third Day
Ezekiel 37:114
Ezekiel 37:114
Seventh Day
Exodus 13:1715:26
2 Samuel 22:151
Eighth Day
Deuteronomy 15:1916:17 Deuteronomy 14:2216:17
Isaiah 10:3212:6
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Introduction
The following chart lists the readings for Passover as they occur in the year 2013/5773.
Chart for Determining Passover Readings 2013/5773 Day of Passover First Day Second Day Third Day Fourth Day Fifth Day Sixth Day Seventh Day Eighth Day Falls On Tuesday March 26 Wednesday March 27 Thursday March 28 Friday March 29 Saturday March 30 Sunday March 31 Monday April 1 Tuesday April 2 Torah Exodus 12:2151 Leviticus 22:26 23:44 Exodus 13:116 Exodus 22:2423:19 Exodus 33:1234:26 Numbers 9:114 Exodus 13:1715:26 Deuteronomy 15:1916:17 2 Samuel 22:151 Isaiah 10:3212:6 Ezekiel 37:114 Numbers 28:1925 Maftir Numbers 28:1625 Haftarah Joshua 3:57; 5:26:1; 6:27 2 Kings 23:19; 2125
Endnotes
1 If the last day falls on a Sabbath, the Deuteronomy reading is replaced with Deuteronomy 14:2216:17.
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The Passover Reader
Torah Club Excerpts for Each Day of Passover
First day of Passover

exodus 12:2151 D joshua 3:57; 5:26:1; 6:27
On the first day of Passover we read Exodus 12:2151 and Numbers 28:1625 from the Torah. The haftarah portion is Joshua 3:57; 5:26:1; 6:27. Some communities omit 3:57 and begin with Joshua 5:2.
n the first Passover, God told His people to slaughter a lamb and apply its blood to the doorposts of their homes. They were to eat the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. That night, God rescued them from Egypt and told them to keep the festival of Passover as a remembrance of their salvation from bondage and slavery. The Passover, however, was more than just a remembrance. As one of Gods appointed times, the Passover foreshadowed the work of Messiah.
Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Two: Shadows of the Messiah
The Passover
The annual ritual of sacrificing the Passover lambs in remembrance of the lambs slaughtered in Egypt and the blood markings upon the doorways foreshadowed Messiahs death. In a metaphoric sense, He is our Passover Lamb. His blood marks our homes, as it were, to spare us from judgment. He died on the day of Passover, the day of the annual lamb sacrifice. According to Johns chronology of the Passion week, the Romans crucified Yeshua on Passover. At the time when Israel slaughtered their Passover lambs in remembrance of their great salvation from Egypt, Yeshua was crucified and His blood was applied as a mark of salvation on all who would believe in Him. The text of Leviticus fixes the appointed time for Passover as twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. Second Temple Jewish practice
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interpreted the Hebrew words for twilight to indicate mid-afternoon. Therefore, in the days of the Master, the people slaughtered their Passover lambs in the Temple at mid-afternoon, during the ninth hour.1 This has significance for us as believers. According to the gospel of Mark, the Master died during the ninth hour of the day.2 If it was the day of Passover when He died, as the gospel of John indicates, then Yeshua breathed His last at the same hour that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple. Thats an example of how the appointed times work. They are Gods appointed times for doing business. They are His appointed times for the work of redemption. They teach us about the work of Yeshua. The annual appointed time of Passover pointed forward to the cross. It is almost as if Israel had been annually rehearsing the events of the Masters death for fourteen hundred years before the actual fact. That is why Paul told the Corinthians, Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed (1Corinthians 5:7).
Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Five: Depths of the Torah
Redemption at Midnight
Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. (Exodus 12:29)
At midnight, the LORD passed through the land of Egypt and struck down the firstborn, from the highest rungs of society to the lowest. Even the firstborn of the cattle fell dead. Only the firstborn taking shelter within homes marked with the pesach blood survived. A great wailing arose all through Egypt. Rebbe Nachum used this story to teach his disciples to look for redemption during the darkest of times:
All seems blackest at midnight, yet it is precisely then that redemption and salvation began it is very difficult to know exactly when salvation will come, but we must know that it lies waiting to spring at the darkest moment. (Likutei Halachot I, 117a)3
Mixed Multitude
A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. (Exodus12:38)
The Torah states that a mixed multitude left Egypt along with the children of Israel. One of the prominent disciples of Rebbe Menachem Schneerson
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of Chabad Lubavitch used to invite both Jews and Gentiles into his home to share the Passover Seder meal with his family. When people asked him why he invited Gentiles to participate in a Passover Seder meal, he exclaimed, A mixed multitude also went up with them! The mixed multitude that left Egypt with the children of Israel had the status of strangers sojourning among Israel.
No Delays
They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. (Exodus12:39)
When Israel left Egypt, the people left in great haste. They could not delay. They had to leave so quickly that their bread dough did not have time to ferment and rise on its own. They baked it unleavened. The annual festival of unleavened bread commemorates their breathless flight from Egypt. When the final redemption comes, it will also come speedily, but the exiles of Israel will not have to rush off as the people did when they had to leave Egypt. The prophet Isaiah says, You will not go out in haste, nor will you go as fugitives, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearguard (Isaiah 52:12).
No Apostate to Eat of the Passover

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it. (Exodus 12:43)
The Torah offers several stipulations regarding who may eat of the Passover sacrifice and who may not. Non-Jews, sojourners, God-fearing Gentiles, uncircumcised Jews, and apostates are banned from eating the meat of the Passover sacrifice. Sometimes readers misunderstand these laws to indicate that the Torah bans all non-Jews from participating in a Passover Seder. The law actually applies only to the pesach-sacrifice itself, not to the festival of Passover or participation in a Passover Seder. The Torah forbids the foreigner (ben-nechar, )from eating of the Passover. Jewish tradition understands this foreigner not as a Gentile but a Jewish person who has apostatized and become an idolater or atheist.4 Since he has removed himself from the covenant and the people, he has become like a foreigner and no longer has a share in the sacrifices of Israel.
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The early apostolic community seems to have applied the commandment to exclude non-disciples from the fellowship of the Masters table:
Let no one eat or drink of your thanksgiving meal except those who have been immersed into the name of the Master; for concerning this also the Master has said, Do not give that which is holy to the dogs. (Didache9:5)
A God-fearer shall not eat it

A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. (Exodus12:45)
The Torah forbids a sojourner (ger toshav, ) from eating of the Passover. The sojourner is a non-Jew who resides among the Jewish people, has forsaken idolatry, abides by the laws of Noah, worships the God of Israel, but has not undergone conversion to become Jewish. This class of people are also referred to as partial-proselytes, sons of Noah (benei Noach), and God-fearers. The law applies directly to Gentile believers and prohibits them from eating the Passover sacrifice. The law is incumbent upon Jews and Gentiles in Jerusalem when the Temple and priesthood are functioning. The law does not prohibit the God-fearing Gentile believers from participating in the other aspects of the festival such as the matzah, bitter herbs, four cups, other seder elements, and seven days of Passover. The Torah also prohibits an uncircumcised person from eating the meat of the pesach. The law applies equally to Jews and Gentiles; it prohibits uncircumcised Jewish males from eating the sacrifice as well. Again, this law does not prohibit uncircumcised men from participating in other aspects of the Passover Seder meal, such as the four cups, the matzah, and the bitter herbs. The law has no real application today because without a Temple, no one can eat of the pesach-sacrifice. In the days of the apostles, however, the law had practical relevance. Pauls converts had freedom to remain as Gentiles, but if they wanted to go to Jerusalem and eat from the meat of a Passover sacrifice, they needed to first become legally Jewish. Most of Pauls converts lived far from Jerusalem and did not have access to the Temple in any case. For example, neither the Corinthian Gentile Christians nor the Jewish community around them could eat of the pesach unless they traveled to Jerusalem for the festival. Therefore they kept the seder and the seven days of Passover in Corinth like the rest of Diaspora Judaismwithout a lamb. The Talmud concurs. An uncircumcised non-Jew may keep the seder and the festival of Passover, but he or she cannot eat from the actual pesach-sacrifice:
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He shall not eat of it (Exodus 12:45), but he may eat unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. (b.Pesachim 96a)
haftarah for the first day of passover

Circumcision of the Heart
For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to whom the LORD had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Joshua5:6) Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Three: Voice of the Prophets
The apostles taught that Israels entrance into the Promised Land symbolizes our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and the world to come. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that (Hebrews4:8). The writer of the book of Hebrews warns us not to be like those who fell in the wilderness. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard (Hebrews4:2). Therefore, we must be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience (Hebrews4:11). They were disobedient because they hardened their hearts, as it says, Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest (Psalm95:711). A hard heart is an unrepentant heart. The hard, unrepentant heart is remedied only by a spiritual circumcision of the heart. Moses said, So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer (Deuteronomy10:16). The prophet Jeremiah said, Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else My wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds (Jeremiah4:4). Just as Israel needed to be circumcised before entering the Promised Land, those who hope to enter the promise of the kingdom and the world to come must undergo a circumcision of heart. Moses predicted that the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live (Deuteronomy30:6). In apostolic theology, the
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phrase that you may live refers to the resurrection from the dead and the world to come. The apostles taught that God circumcises our hearts through Messiah and the Gospels call to repentance. Paul said, Circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit (Romans2:29), and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of the Messiah (Colossians2:11). When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan, the LORD said, Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time (Joshua 5:2). The words again the second time allude to the second circumcisionthe circumcision of the heart, the sign of the New Covenant:
This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:3233) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel36:26)
The writer of the book of Hebrews alludes to the sharp flint knives of Joshua 5:2 when he compares us to the Israelites entering the land under Joshua and tells us to be diligent to enter that rest. He says, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews4:1112).
Passover at Gilgal
While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. (Joshua5:10)
During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel only kept Passover the first year after leaving Egypt.5 They did not practice the Passover again during the ensuing thirty-nine years. The law of keeping the Passover was not incumbent upon them while they were in the wilderness. The Torah held them responsible for the Passover only after they had crossed the Jordan, as it says in Exodus 12:25, When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. Before keeping the Passover, however, they needed to undergo
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circumcision. The LORD forbids an uncircumcised male from making a Passover sacrifice or eating a Passover lamb: 6
But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. (Exodus12:48)
In Gilgal, where they underwent physical circumcision, the children of Israel celebrated the Passover. That festival, which commemorates how they were taken out of Egypt to become Hashems people, is an opportune season for ridding oneself of false beliefs and idealsto circumcise the foreskin of the heart. Yehoshua named the place Gilgal to remind [the children of Israel] that after their physical [circumcision] they were yet required to circumcise their hearts. 7
Endnotes
1 m.Pesachim 5:1. 2 Mark 15:3438. 3 Kramer and Hall, eds., Rebbe Nachmans Torah: Breslov Insights into the weekly Torah Reading, ExodusLeviticus, 6667. 4 E.g., Targum Onkelos, Mechilta. 5 Numbers 9:2. 6 An uncircumcised person (i.e., someone who is not legally Jewish) is precluded from making or eating a Passover sacrifice, not from participation in the unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and wine of the seder meal. 7 Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says On the Weekly Haftaros, vol. 3 (Brooklyn, ny: Bnay Yaakov Publications, 1996), 347.
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leviticus 22:2623:44 D 2 kings 23:19; 2125
On the second day of Passover we read Leviticus 22:2623:44 and Numbers 28:1625 from the Torah. The haftarah portion is 2 Kings 23:19; 2125.
Unleavened Bread
Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. (Leviticus 23:6)
Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Two: Shadows of the Messiah and Torah Club Volume Four: Chronicles of the Messiah
Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month. Since the biblical day begins at sunset, the fifteenth day of the month began just a few hours after the Passover sacrifice. The fifteenth of the month is the beginning of the appointed time of Unleavened Bread. The LORD commanded the children of Israel to eat the Passover lamb that night along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs as an annual remembrance of the night they ate the lamb and left Egypt. The Passover meal is called a seder (), which means set order. It is so called because over the centuries a prescribed order for the meals rituals has emerged. In the days of the Master, this set order had already begun to take shape. From the Masters own Last Seder, we recognize several of the ritual elements common to the traditional Jewish Passover seder. He says to His disciples, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. (Luke 22:15) Then He takes and shares the ritual cups,1 performs a ritual washing,2 breaks bread,3 dips into sop (bitter herbs?),4 sings a hymn5 and offers long closing prayers.6 All of these elements are Passover seder rituals.
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The Passover seder meal is actually just the beginning of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first and seventh days of the festival (fifteenth and twenty-first of the month) are special Sabbath days. The first day of the festival is a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt. The seventh day of the festival, according to Jewish tradition, is a commemoration of the crossing of the Red Sea. Prior to the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Torah commands that all leaven and things leavened must be removed from ones home. Throughout the entire seven days, God tells us to eat matzah (unleavened bread) and to abstain from eating things leavened.7 In the Torah, leaven often represents corruption and decomposition. Unleavened bread, free from the fermentation process, represents incorruptibility. Therefore, it is appropriate that we remember the resurrection of Yeshua during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We could call it the Feast of Incorruptibility. Messiah kept the appointed time by exchanging His corruptible flesh for incorruptible flesh during the festival. He exchanged the mortal for the immortal, as Scripture says, He whom God raised did not undergo decay (Acts 13:37). During this appointed time of the Feast of Incorruptibility, the women discovered the empty tomb and the risen Yeshua appeared in the midst of His bewildered disciples.
The Omer
When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. (Leviticus 23:10)
The command to bring the sheaf of the first fruits to the Temple is an obscure appointment on the biblical calendar, sometimes called the First Fruits of the Barley Harvest but better known simply by its biblical name, The Omer. An omer ( )is a biblical unit of measure that indicates about one sheafs worth of grain. The Omer is a minor festival with major messianic implications. The harvest ritual of gathering this barley omer was for a special firstfruits offering to the LORD. The Torah prohibited using or eating any grain or produce from the new years crops until the first omer of grain to ripen was harvested and brought to the Temple. By divine design, the rituals of offering the barley omer in the Temple coincided with the death and resurrection of Yeshua.
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Resurrection and the Omer

On the same day that Caiaphas and his associates tried the Master, three apostles from the Sanhedrin went out to a barley field not far from Jerusalem. On the same day that the Romans bound and crucified the Master, the apostles from the Sanhedrin bound up the standing barley into bundles while it was still attached to the ground so that it would be easier to reap. Saturday night, they returned to the barley field after the conclusion of the first day of Passover. Crowds from the local villages had gathered to witness the ceremony. Brandishing sickles, the three apostles of the Sanhedrin addressed the crowd, asking, Has the sun set? The people replied, Yes! They repeated the question two more times, and they received a total of three affirmations from the villagers. Then they asked three times, Shall we cut with this sickle? and the crowd responded with three enthusiastic affirmations. Three times the apostles from the Sanhedrin asked, Shall we place the grain in this basket? Each of the reapers asked, Shall I begin to cut now? Each time, the crowd responded enthusiastically, Yes! In this manner, the new harvest began. The reapers collected three seahs of barley in their baskets and carried it back to Jerusalem that same night. The baskets contained more than enough grain to constitute a full sheafs worth (an omer, ), enough to fulfill the Torahs mandate:
You shall bring in the omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the omer before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus23:1011)
The Torah prohibited using or eating any produce from the new years cereal crops until the priesthood offered up to the LORD the first of the new grain. The barley crop ripens first in Israel, so the priesthood always offered an omer of barley. The commandment of the barley omer reminded Israel that the land and its produce belong first to God. Until the people harvested and offered the first fruits of the barley in the Temple, the rest of the crops were not considered kosher. That same night, the priests in the Temple threshed, roasted, and ground the barley into flour. All night they prepared it. The same night that our Master left the tomb, the priests refined the freshly milled flour by sifting it through thirteen sieves. Sunday morning, while the women discovered the empty tomb, the high priest was busy mixing the barley flour with oil and frankincense to prepare it as a bread offering. The priests mixed the flour into dough with
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olive oil and incense. Caiaphas took the batch of dough in hand and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering. Then he touched the barley flour to corner of the altar. After the morning sacrifice and the additional Passover sacrifices (described in Numbers 28:24), Caiaphas offered a portion of grain offering on the altar as a memorial portion. The priests baked the remainder of the dough into loaves of unleavened barley bread to be shared among the priesthood. Caiaphas concluded the ceremony by sacrificing a single male lamb as a burnt offering to accompany the new grain. That day began the fifty-day count to the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost).
Counting the Days

You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:16)
The Harvest of the Barley Omer occurs on the second day of the seven days of Unleavened Bread. It is a miniature appointed time within a larger appointed time (the Feast of Unleavened Bread).8 Beginning on the day that the first omer of barley was harvested and brought to the Temple, a countdown to the next biblical festival began. The Torah commanded the Israelites to count off forty-nine days and then celebrate the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) on the fiftieth day. The day the omer was brought was day one of what is called counting the omer. The next day was day two of the omer count, the next was day three and so on. During the forty-nine days of the omer count, the wheat crop in Israel ripens. By the end of the omer count, the crop is ready for harvest, and the first fruits of the wheat crop can be brought to the Temple for Pentecost (Shavuot). Because of the resurrection and the connection to Pentecost, the counting of the omer is an important mitzvah for believers. Jewish tradition prescribes the recitation of Psalm 67 on each of the forty-nine days of the omer count because that Psalm is composed of exactly forty-nine Hebrew words. The Psalm is seasonally appropriate because of its harvest motif. It is spiritually appropriate because it speaks clearly of Gods salvation (Yeshua) being made known over all the earth. Counting the days of the omer creates a countdown to Shavuot, the time of the giving of the Torah and the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit. It remembers the days of the journey from the crossing of the sea to Mount Sinai. It is a journey that begins with unleavened bread (the symbol of
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our salvation in Yeshua) and is completed at Pentecost (the symbol of our completion through the Spirit). The Masters resurrection makes the counting of the omer a season of special significance and joy. For His disciples, it is a time to remember the resurrected Yeshua. All of His post-resurrection appearances fell within the days of the omer count. On the first day of the omer, He rose and appeared to the women, to Peter, and to the two on the way to Emmaus. On the second day of the omer He appeared among the twelve. On the ninth day of the omer, He appeared again and Thomas was with them. During the counting He appeared to five hundred and to James, and to the seven while they fished on the sea. On the fortieth day of the omer He led them out to a hill near Bethany, and they saw Him ascend to heaven. Before He ascended He commanded us not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. They waited and counted the days. Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine days of the omer . . . and when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
haftarah for the second day of passover

Torah Revival
And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. (2 Kings 23:2) Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Three: Voice of the Prophets
When Hilkiah the priest found the scroll of the Torah in the Temple, it was rolled to Deuteronomy 28, the curses and the blessings. King Josiah took this as a sign and omen from heaven and decided to read that passage aloud to all Israel.9 King Josiah summoned all the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Temple. He imitated the covenant renewal ceremony described in Deuteronomy 29. As Moses had done in the plains of Moab across from Jericho, Josiah summoned the elders of Judah and Jerusalem the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great (23:12). He read the Torah aloud to them as Moses commanded, When all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this Torah in front of all Israel in their hearing (Deuteronomy31:11). Rather than rebuke the people for their sin, though, Josiah made the repentance personal. He publically made a personal covenant before the LORD, promising to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments
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and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul (23:3). The wording sounds like Deuteronomy. Josiah vowed to keep all the commandments and words written in the scroll of the Torah. When the people heard the terrifying litany of curses and saw the kings fervent and heartfelt repentance, they were moved to join him. All the people entered into the covenant (23:3).
Torah Rediscovered
In Josiahs day, most of the people of Judah had forgotten the Torah of Moses. They practiced religious forms and traditions inherited from earlier generations and adopted from foreign nations, not even realizing that their worship of God was polluted with idolatry forbidden by Moses. Their ignorance of the Scriptures allowed them to believe that they were serving God appropriately through sacrifices at high places and aberrant cultic practices. The faithful of the prophetic community, represented by individuals like Jeremiah and Huldah, preserved the scriptures. They knew that the nation wallowed deep in apostasy, but their warnings went unheeded. False prophets circulated among the people, endorsing the apostatized and idolatrous form of Judaism the people practiced. In Josiahs day, the average person believed that devotion to God included idolatry and foreign rituals. A similar situation exists for most of us today. Christianity did not lose or forget the Torah, but by means of false theological assumptions, we declared it irrelevant. For most of Christian history, we have accepted the axiom that the New Covenant abolishes and replaces the Torah. Imagine how different worldwide Christianity might look today if the early Church fathers had understood that Jesus did not abolish the Torah. Churches would meet on Saturday instead of Sunday. Christians would have maintained a close relationship with greater Judaism. Anti-Semitism and replacement theology never would have evolved. Pastors would encourage Jewish believers to maintain their Jewish identity through faithfulness to the whole of Torah. Perhaps they would encourage their Gentile congregations to keep the biblical dietary laws, the Sabbaths, and festivals in order to maintain the unity of Jewish and Gentile believers and to comply with the biblical model. Every church would keep Passover and the seven days of Unleavened Bread in honor of Jesus death and resurrection. Everything would be different. The modern-day advent of Messianic Judaism and the Jewish Roots movement is akin to Josiahs rediscovery of the Torah. Today, thanks to modern scholarship, we are beginning to rediscover the Torah. We are realizing that the Torah is still valid and binding. Many believers are incorporating the Sabbath, the festivals, and even the dietary laws into their lives.
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As in the days of Josiah, we are realizing that many of our hallowed and time-honored religious practices are inappropriate for the people of God. Yet the modern rediscovery of the Torah lacks one thing. We have no king to enforce it. Without the authority of someone like Josiah behind the Torah reformation, progress is slow. Until King Messiah returns and takes up His seat on the throne of David, our situation is similar to that of Israel in the period of the Judges. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges21:25).
Josiahs Passover
Then the king commanded all the people saying, Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this book of the covenant. (2 Kings 23:21)
As the season of Passover drew nigh, Josiah issued a royal edict. He commanded all of his subjects to celebrate the festival according to the statutes of the Torah. Josiahs Passover held a special significance. A pre-requisite to the pesach-offering is the removal of chametz [leavened products]. Chametz symbolizes idolatry and other forms of sinfulness, and since Josiah removed such chametz to an unprecedented degree, it is fitting that his monumental accomplishment was marked by such a unanimous observance of the pesach-offering. 10 Such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah (2 Kings 23:22). On the fourteenth day of the first month of the eighteenth year of King Josiah, all the people assembled in Jerusalem. Josiah summoned the Israelites who remained in the north to attend the Passover. Thus the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days (2 Chronicles 35:17). The Levitical singers sang the praises of God from their assigned stations as the people slaughtered their Passover sacrifices. The priests caught the blood. Levites skinned and prepared the animals for roasting. So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and carried them speedily to all the lay people (2 Chronicles 35:13). The king and his officers brought so many burnt offerings that the priests were occupied until late that night. While the priests continued to offer up the sacrifices, the Levites prepared Passover lambs for them lest the priesthood miss the seder.
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There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (2Chronicles 35:18)
The great Passover of Josiahs eighteenth year is a glimpse of the great seder to come in the Messianic Era. Before the Passover can be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, King Messiah will rebuild the Temple, reinstate the priesthood and the Levites, and command all Israel to attend. At that great Seder of His Fathers kingdom, He will again take the fruit of the vine and eat of the Passover with His disciples:
I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. (Luke22:1516)
Endnotes
1 Luke 22:17, 20. 2 John 13:5. 3 Luke 22:19. 4 John 13:26. 5 Matthew 26:30. 6 John 17. 7 A thing leavened is traditionally understood as any wheat, barley, rye, spelt or oat product that has been moistened or has experienced any fermentation. Leavening includes things like yeast, sourdough starters and grain vinegars. The Hebrew words for grain, vinegar and things leavened are nearly identical. 8 Leviticus 23:11 says the omer is to be brought on the day after the Sabbath. The Torah does not make it clear whether the verse is referring to the weekly Sabbath or the special high Sabbath that begins the week of Unleavened Bread. In ancient times, the meaning of the verse was hotly debated between the Pharisees and a sect of the Sadducees. The Sadducees understood the day after the Sabbath as being Sunday. The Pharisees argued that it meant the day after the first festival Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. In first-century Temple practice, the Pharisees ultimately prevailed, and the Jewish world counted the omer according to their reckoning, as did the Master and the apostles. See Acts 2; Josephus, Antiquities 3.10.56; Philo, Special Laws 2:29 150. See also the lxx on Leviticus 23:11. 9 Nosson Scherman, ed., The Early Prophets With a Commentary Anthologized from the Rabbinic Writings: 1-2 Kings (Brooklyn, ny: Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2008), 408. Hereafter cited as Scherman, The Early Prophets: 1-2 Kings. 10 Scherman, ed., The Early Prophets: 1-2 Kings, 416.
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Intermediate Weekdays
first weekday chol hamoed exodus 13:116
On the first weekday of Chol HaMoed Passover we read Exodus 13:116 and Numbers 28:1925 from the Torah.
Seven Days of Unleavened Bread

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. You shall tell your son on that day, saying, It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. (Exodus13:69)
Excerpts from Torah Club Volume One: Unrolling the Scroll
The Torah explains the significance of unleavened matzah bread in that the children of Israel did not have time to let their bread rise before they had to leave Egypt. They were in such a hurry that they only had time to bake the dough before leaving. To commemorate the exodus, leaven is removed at Passover and unleavened matzah bread is eaten for seven days. Matzah refers to a special type of flat, cracker-like bread. In order to be Passover matzah, the bread dough must be baked less than eighteen minutes after the flour is moistened with water. If the dough is not baked
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within eighteen minutes of being moistened, it begins to ferment from the naturally occurring leavening agents in the atmosphere. In ancient times, there were only two ways to leaven bread dough. One way was to mix the flour with water and let it stand until it began to ferment naturally. More typically, a small batch of already leavened starter dough left over from the previous days batch was tossed in with the flour and water. The old culture of leaven in the starter dough quickly spread through the new batch of dough. As the saying goes, A little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6). By means of this method, a single culture of leaven was passed on from loaf to loaf to loaf, day to day. This is how sourdough bread is still made today. The commandment to remove all leaven prior to the festival makes this second method of leavening impossible. The starter dough would have to be disposed of prior to the festival because it is already leavened. This is the imagery that the Apostle Paul is referring to when he says, Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:78). The old starter-dough leaven represents our old way of life. It is sin, godlessness, bad company, bad habits and all the things that taint our lives. Like an old culture of leavened starter dough, those things continue to leaven our lives from day to day, conforming us to our past. Paul urges us to make a clean break with the old culture and to start over as a new batch, like unleavened bread. When the children of Israel left Egypt, they were leaving behind their old culture. While in Egypt they had absorbed much of the wickedness and idolatry of Egyptian society. The unleavened bread symbolized a new beginning. They were starting over. In a spiritual sense, we leave Egypt when Messiah saves us. Thats what it means to be born again. It is a matter of starting over. When we become believers, we are supposed to die to our old way of life and begin life again as new creatures. We have to leave our old ways behind us. Addiction counselors warn recovering addicts about falling back into old patterns. The recovering addict is at greatest risk when he spends time with old friends or revisits familiar hang-outs. To successfully overcome his addiction, it is important to break with the past, carve out new patterns of behavior and develop new, healthy habits. It is the same for all of us. The leaven in our lives comes in a variety of disguises. It may be certain entertainments, amusements, vices, habits, or social circles. Paul suggests that it may lie in the wicked and malicious attitudes of our hearts. Passover
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is an opportune time to break with our past and start over as new creatures in Messiah. Passover is an annual reminder that we must leave the old culture behind. Every Passover is a chance to start over. At Passover we remember that we have left our spiritual Egypt. We are free from the past, and we need to set aside those things in our lives that continue to enslave us. After all, starting over is what it means to be born again.
second weekday chol hamoed exodus 22:2423:19

On the second weekday of Chol HaMoed Passover we read Exodus 22:2423:19 and Numbers 28:1925 from the Torah.
The Pilgrimage Festivals

Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. (Exodus 23:14)
Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot) are called pilgrimage festivals because the Almighty commands all the men of Israel to appear before Him in the Temple for those three, annual festivals. Until that day when the Temple is restored, the requirement of pilgrimage is suspended. Although the commandment is not incumbent upon God-fearing Gentiles, in the days of the holy Temple, God-fearing Gentiles did come to Jerusalem to celebrate the three pilgrimage festivals in the holy city along with the people of Israel. On one occasion, Paul brought Gentile delegates from his Diaspora congregations to Jerusalem for the festival of Shavuot. God-fearing Gentile believers should not hesitate to keep the festivals to the best of their ability. The command to bring a prescribed animal offering is expressed in the words, none shall appear before Me empty-handed (Exodus23:15). Even though the commandment cannot be literally kept without a Temple, our Master had the custom of distributing charity to the poor prior to the pilgrimage festivals in partial fulfillment of that precept.1 In this passage, the Torah refers to Shavuot as the Feast of the Harvest of the First Fruits and Sukkot is called the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year (Exodus 23:16). On this basis, Shavuot became the favored festival for bringing agricultural first fruits up to the Temple. Sukkot is connected with the harvest at the end of the agricultural cycle.
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Leaven and the Pesach Sacrifice

You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread. (Exodus23:18)
The laws of the Temple and the sacrifices prohibit offering any bread offering on the altar that contains chametz (leavened flour). Chametz symbolizes the process of decay and corruption, a process which God bans from His presence. Therefore the Torah says, No grain offering, which you bring to the LORD, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven as an offering by fire to the LORD (Leviticus2:11). Exodus 23:18 prohibits offering any leavened bread on the altar in conjunction with any type of animal sacrifice. Even though the Torah was speaking about all sacrifices, the sages derived an application from the commandment specific to sacrificing the Passover lamb: Not to slay the pesach while in possession of chametz. To observe the commandment, a person must destroy the last of chametz in his possession prior to the time when the pesach can be sacrificed on Nisan 14 (the eve of Passover). From the time of the slaughtering of the pesach lamb, which is afternoon on the eve of Passover, anyone observing the festival should have no chametz in his or her possession.
Burn up the Fats

Nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning. (Exodus23:18)
The sacrificial laws prohibit chametz from the altar because it represents corruption, spoilage, and decaysymbols of death and mortality. For the same reason, the Torah requires the meats of the sacrifices to be consumed or burned with fire prior to the onset of putrefaction. In the case of thanksgiving offerings, such as the pesach sacrifice, the meat must be consumed or burned before dawn. Exodus 23:18 applies the same rule to the sacred portions of the Passover sacrifice that are placed on the altar. They must be consumed by the fire before morning. This commandment teaches the principle that God desires life and bans death from His presence.
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third weekday chol hamoed numbers 9:114

On the third weekday of Chol HaMoed Passover we read Numbers 9:114 and 28:1925 from the Torah.
The Second Passover

But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. (Numbers 9:6)
Numbers 9 tells the story of the first Passover celebrated in the wilderness. When it came time to keep the first anniversary of Passover, several men protested to Moses, saying, Though we are unclean because of the dead person, why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the sons of Israel? (Numbers 9:7). The Torah forbids anyone in a state of ritual impurity from eating of the sacrifices.2 Members of the priesthood refused to enter Pilates palace lest they be rendered unclean and be unable to eat the Passover that night.3 In the narrative of Numbers 9, several men of the community had become unclean through contact with a corpse. Purification from corpse contamination took seven days.4 They would not be able to participate in the Passover. On that basis, they protested to Moses. Moses took their complaint to God, and the LORD introduced the commandment of the second Passover. The second Passover was celebrated one month after the first. It was celebrated by people who were unable to participate in the first Passover because they were either unclean or could not reach the Tabernacle/Temple for the first night of Passover. All the laws that applied to the first Passover sacrifice also applied to this special second Passover sacrifice. However, there was no second Feast of Unleavened Bread because uncleanness or absence from the Temple did not prevent someone from keeping the seven days of unleavened bread. Therefore, the second Passover included only the sacrifice of the lamb and the seder meal that followed. The story of the Passover in the wilderness (an event disrupted by contact with a dead body) reminds us of the Passover of Messiah and the precious body of Yeshua, for it was at Passover time that He suffered and died. In the traditional explanations of the Rabbis, the dead body that engendered the uncleanness of the men in Numbers 9 was none other than the corpse of Joseph, the son of Jacob. Remember that the Israelites were
carrying Josephs bones with them as they left Egypt. Once again, Joseph prefigures the Messiah. On the Passover of the Masters death, two men found themselves ritually unclean by caring for the Masters body. Nicodemus (Nakdimon ben Gorion) and Joseph of Arimathea, two secret disciples of the Master, both members of the Sanhedrin, removed the Masters body from the cross. By caring for the body of the Master, these men rendered themselves levitically unclean. As a result, neither of them would have been allowed to eat the Passover that evening. Both Joseph and Nicodemus were men of prestige and influence. They could have sent servants to take care of the burial of Yeshua so as not to forfeit their Passover seders that evening. But these two obscure disciples of the Master showed their love and devotion by attending to His body personally. One month later, somewhere in Jerusalem, on the fifteenth day of the second month, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus sat down to make their seders. Perhaps they reclined at a table together, lifting cups in remembrance of the resurrected One. In our own day, there is no Temple, so there is no Passover sacrifice. Even though we keep Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we do not slaughter a lamb or make a sacrifice, so the commandment of the second Passover does not apply to us. Even if we are unclean or outside of Jerusalem, we may keep the first Passover seder because there is no sacrifice involved. However, some communities of Chassidim remember the second Passover by making a small seder meal that night and eating unleavened bread. Messianic communities might consider doing something similar in memory of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Nor Break a Bone of It

They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. (Numbers 9:12)
The Torah commands that, when making a Passover sacrifice, a person must neither leave any of it until morning nor break a single bone of the lamb. In the gospels, Yeshua is portrayed as a fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice. His death on Passover clearly paints this picture for us. Amazingly, both the commandment to leave none of the Passover lamb until morning and the commandment not to break a single bone of the lamb find fulfillment in Yeshuas death. Yeshua died on the day before the high Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. The gospel of John says, Because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was
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a high day), [the Judeans] asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away(John 19:31). With their legs broken, the condemned men would no longer be able to elevate themselves on the crosses enough to breathe. When a man hangs in the crucifixion position, his diaphragm and lungs are unable to expel his breath. A crucified man had to hoist himself up with his legs in order to exhale and inhale. The crucified might live on in agony for several days by lifting themselves for breath, but with broken legs the men would asphyxiate quickly. John 19 goes on to say:
So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Yeshua, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. (John 19:3233)
The Apostle John saw this as a fulfillment of a passage from Psalm 34:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:19) For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture [in Psalm 34:19], Not a bone of him shall be broken. (John 19:36)
Yeshuas body was savaged, but His bones were left unbroken. As John points out, this happened in fulfillment of Psalm 34:19, but it is also a fulfillment of the two commandments in Numbers 9:12: They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it. In Hebrew, the masculine pronoun it can just as easily be read as he. So the verse could be read, They shall not leave any of him until morning, nor break a bone of his. When the soldiers came to Yeshua, they found that the Master had already died. He had not resisted death by rising for breath. They found it unnecessary to break His legs, fulfilling the words, They shall not break a bone of his. They removed Him from the cross, and two of His disciples buried Him immediately, fulfilling the words, They shall not leave [him] until morning (Numbers 9:12).
Endnotes
1 John 13:29. 2 Leviticus 7:21. 3 John 18:28. 4 Numbers 11:1116.
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed

exodus 33:1234:26 D ezekiel 37:114
On the Sabbath that falls during the intermediate days of Passover (Shabbat Chol HaMoed Passover), we read Exodus 33:1234:26 and Numbers 28:1925 from the Torah. The haftarah portion is Ezekiel 37:114.
Grace Negotiations
Then Moses said to the LORD, See, You say to me, Bring up this people! But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight. Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people. (Exodus 33:1213)
Ever since the sin of the golden calf, the LORD had not referred to Israel as His people. Rather, they were Moses people: Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:7). Moses, on the other hand, remained in Gods favor. As he negotiated for forgiveness and atonement, he banked heavily on Gods favor for him. He complained that, although he remained in Gods favor, he felt disfavored because he was told to lead the people without Gods presence. The Hebrew word translated as favor (chen, )can also be translated as grace. Thus Moses argued for mercy and forgiveness on the basis of Gods grace toward him.
You have said, I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight. If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed
Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people. (33:1213)
On the basis of Moses complaint, the LORD relented ever so slightly. Whereas previously He had declared that He would not go with Israel as they went up from Sinai, now He conceded that He would go with Moses. He said to Moses, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest (Exodus 33:14). Note that the pronoun you appears is in the singular form. The LORD only promised to go with Moses and give Moses rest. He did not say so regarding Israel, nor did He acknowledge them as His people. Moses rejected the offer. Speaking in the first-person plural form, he said, If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here (Exodus 33:15). It was not adequate for God to accompany Moses, He needed to accompany the whole people. Moses deliberately identified himself with the people. It was as if Moses said, If you want to show me favor and go with me, you need to show us all favor and go with all of us, because I am with the people. Moses would accept nothing less than grace for the whole nation. He knew that he enjoyed the favor of the LORD; he sought to include the nation in the merit of Gods favor for him:
For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? (Exodus 33:16)
Moses deliberately identified himself with the people, saying us, we, and, I and Your people. He no longer appealed to the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He no longer appealed to the what-willthe-Egyptians-think argument. He appealed merely to Gods expressed favor for him. On his own merit in Gods eyes, Moses hoped to atone for the entire nation. It was the only thing he had left with which to negotiate. The LORD conceded again and responded, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name (Exodus 33:17). God agreed to forgive the nation, go with them, and acknowledge them as His people on the basis of His favor for Moses. This story illustrates the Chasidic concept of tzaddikism where the merit and favor of a single righteous person can be extended to others. On the basis of Gods gracious favor for one man, the entire nation received the forgiveness of sin and a restoration of relationship with the Almighty. On the merit of one righteous mans standing with God, all Israel is granted standing with God. These are the mechanics of the gospel. The ultimate
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed
redeemer is like the first redeemer, making atonement for the entire nation on the basis of His merit alone. The story also illustrates the meaning of the word grace. Christian teachers sometimes define grace as Gods unmerited favor. On the contrary, grace (chen, )implies merited favor. Someone did merit it. Our righteous Messiah merited Gods favor, and He identified Himself with us so that we might share in that favor.
Show Me Your Glory

Then Moses said, I pray You, show me Your glory! And He said, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. (Exodus 33:1819)
Having negotiated past Gods anger and disfavor with Israel, Moses suspected that he had uncovered something about Gods essential character. He pressed the negotiations one step further. He entreated the LORD, Show me Your glory! The revelation for which he asked was more than just a vision of the Almighty. He asked to see an accurate representation of Gods character. The LORD replied, I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion (Exodus 33:19). The LORD promised to proclaim His name to Moses, that is to say, to reveal the full meaning of His name. It was as if God said to Moses, I am going to tell you all about who I really am.
Cleft of the Rock

Then the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen. (Exodus33:2123)
The LORD agreed to grant Moses an unparalleled revelation of His glory. He told Moses to conceal himself in a cave while He passed by, covering the mouth of the cave with his hand to protect Moses, but allowing him to catch a glimpse of His unshielded glory.
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed
The anthropomorphisms should not be taken literally. The LORD does not have a corporeal form with a front side and a back side. It merely means that He offered Moses a small apprehension of His limitless glory. Standing in the cleft of the rock, Moses received a higher revelation of God than any man since Adam, but even so, he perceived only a fraction of the Almightys manifest presence. Moses prepared to ascend Mount Sinai again; he broke his forty-day fast and began another one.
New Stone Tablets

Now the LORD said to Moses, Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. (Exodus 34:12)
If the breaking of the old tablets symbolized the breaking of the covenant, then the carving out of two new stone tablets symbolizes a new covenant. According to the traditional reckoning of the calendar, Moses carved out two new stone tablets and ascended Mount Sinai again on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the first day of the sixth month. Jewish tradition commemorates his ensuing forty-day fast on Mount Sinai with forty days of repentance beginning on Elul 1 and concluding on Yom Kippur. Moses stood hidden in the cleft of the rock, tablets of the new covenant in his hands, calling upon the Name of the LORD. As he did, the LORD passed by proclaiming His Name, that is, making the full meaning of His name knownrevealing His glory to Moses.
haftarah for shabbat chol hamoed

Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Three: Voice of the Prophets
A Resurrection Passage
Why did the sages assign Ezekiels vision of the dry bones for Shabbat Chol HaMoed? Rashi cites a rabbinic folk tale about a failed exodus from Egypt that the tribe of Ephraim attempted thirty years before Moses returned from Midian. All the Ephraimites that tried to leave Egypt early died in the attempt, and the valley of dry bones that Ezekiel saw was a repository of their remains. On some occasions, the sages did choose haftarah portions on the basis of folk tale and legendary associations. Another rabbinic opinion cites a tradition that the resurrection of the dead will take place in the month
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed
of Nisan. Therefore, the synagogue reads the classic resurrection text as a rehearsal for the event. From an apostolic perspective, the reading cannot be separated from the historical recollection of our Masters resurrection. The first Sabbath to fall within the seven days of Unleavened Bread is the anniversary of our Masters sojourn in the grave. According to Matthew 28:1, He rose from the grave that Saturday night, as the Sabbath concluded and the first day of the week began.
The Resurrection and the Life

Again He said to me, Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. (Ezekiel 37:4)
The LORD tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones saying, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life (37:5). The Hebrew word the nasb translates as breath is ruach (). Depending on context, the same word may sometimes be translated as spirit and sometimes as wind. The biblical writers often use the term spirit (ruach) to indicate Gods Spirit, and sometimes they use the term to speak of the pre-existant soul (neshamah, )that God places within human beings. Ezekiels prophecy over the dry bones alludes back to the creation narrative when the LORD formed Adam from the ground and breathed a neshamah into his nostrils: 1
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah, )of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis2:7)
First the LORD formed Adams human body, then He breathed the neshamah into it. Likwise, in Ezekiels vision, the bones rejoin and flesh forms on them, but there was no breath (ruach) in them (37:8) to animate them with life. The lifeless bodies await the return of neshamah. The LORD tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the ruach, instructing the four winds (ruach) to breathe into the corpses and bring them to life:
Prophesy to the ruach, prophesy, son of man, and say to the ruach, Thus says the Lord GOD, Come from the four ruchot, O ruach, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life. (Ezekiel 37:9)
Rabbinic interpretation says that the four winds carried the souls of the slain back to their bodies: In that hour the four winds of the heaven went forth, and opened the treasure-house of the souls, and each spirit returned to the body of flesh of man. 2
Shabbat Chol HaMoed
The prophets often use the term four winds or four corners of the earth to describe the dispersion of the Jewish people in exile. The LORD says to the Jewish people in Diaspora, I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens (Zechariah2:6). The prophet Isaiah predicts that the Messiah will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:2). Yeshua tells us that, at the time of the great trumpet, the Son of Man will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven (Mark13:27). In Ezekiels vision, the four winds carry the souls of the dead back to their bodies, and the Spirit of God breathes the souls into the bodies. Figuratively speaking, the scene depicts the messianic ingathering of Israel from the four ends of the earth. Literally speaking, the scene predicts the resurrection of Gods people at the time of the messianic ingathering, as it says, You will come to life, and I will place you on your own land (37:14). Apostolic teaching also links the resurrection with the messianic ingathering.3 Ezekiel prophesied as the LORD instructed. The bones reassembled. Flesh grew on them. Skin covered over them. Then the wind breathed the spirit into them.The breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army (37:10). Rabbi Jonathan said, The dead of Ezekiel can be compared to a man who enters a bathhouse. The articles of clothing he took off first he puts on last (Genesis Rabbah 14:5).
Unlocking the Graves

Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off. (Ezekiel 37:11)
The LORD explains the vision to Ezekiel. He tells him that the dry bones symbolize the exiles of Israel. After the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah, the people lost all hope. Our hope has perished. We are completely cut off. They had no more hope of returning to the land or seeing the nation reestablished than a corpse has hope of coming back to life. With God, however, all things are possible: The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up (1 Samuel2:6). The resurrection metaphor is more than just a metaphor though. In various places and through many prophecies, the LORD promises to redeem His people, gather them together, and return them to their land. Are these promises only for those who are alive and remain at the time of the redemption? How can these promises profit those who die while
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Shabbat Chol HaMoed
sojourning in exile? Those who yearned for the days of the Messiah, but expired before His coming, cry out, We had hoped to be gathered in with the rest of Israelnow we are cut off; we had hoped for lightand darkness came now our hope is lost. 4 Rabbi David Kimchee explains that those people destined to die on foreign ground felt eternally excluded from sharing in the experience of Israels ultimate salvation. Ezekiel offered them hope. The time will come when they will rise from their graves.5 The LORD promises that the resurrection of the dead is not just for those buried in the land of Israel. Even those who perish while exiled in foreign lands will be raised at the time of the ingathering:
Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. (Ezekiel 37:12)
The Hebrew verb translated as open (patach, )can also be translated as unlock. The sages taught that God will resurrect the dead by means of a special key that He uses for unlocking graves:
Rabbi Yochanan said, The Holy One blessed be He keeps the key of the resurrection of the dead, for it is written [in Ezekiel 37:13], Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have unlocked your graves (b.Taanit 2ab)
The keys of the Holy One, blessed be He, have been given into the hand of His son Yeshua. He tells us so Himself, saying, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Revelation 1:18). Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice (John5:28).
Endnotes
1 Two formations [of man], one in this world and one in the world to come. (Genesis Rabbah 14:5) 2 Pirkei dRabbi Eliezer 33. 3 1 Corinthians15:52; 1 Thessalonians4:1517. 4 Pirkei dRabbi Eliezer 33, Yalkuts reading as cited in Eisemann, Yechezekil, 571. 5 Eisemann, Yechezekil, 563.
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exodus 13:1715:26 D 2 samuel 22:151
On the seventh day of Passover, we read Exodus 13:1715:26 and Numbers 28:1925 from the Torah. The haftarah portion is 2 Samuel 22:151.
The Camp by the Sea

As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD. (Exodus 14:10)
Six days after leaving Ramses, the children of Israel lit cooking fires and prepared to settle in for the night in their encampment beside the Red Sea. Animals brayed; children scurried about, dodging their mothers, and all seemed well with the world. As the sun set on Egypt, the people looked back toward the land from which they had come. They saw what at first appeared to be smoke rising against the red horizon. Perhaps the LORD has poured out fire on Egypt as he did to Sodom after Lot had left, some may have mused, but as they peered into the sunset, the smoke seemed to come closer, like a sandstorm blowing in across the desert. An uneasy feeling spread through the camp. Mothers took children into their arms. Men lifted their eyes and squinted into the setting sun. A low, sustained rumbling seemed to emanate from the ground. As the people peered into the approaching haze, they could see the silhouettes of Pharaohs horses and chariots coming out of the sunset. Six hundred of Egypts best chariots led the charge at the head of the Egyptian army. Panic spread through the camp. They were cut off. They
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had no place to run. Miriam, the sister of Moses, let her tambourine slip from her hand. The people of Israel faced a no-win scenario. If they tried to escape through the sea, they would drown and die. If they faced the Egyptians, they would die. They cried out to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? (Exodus 14:11).
Not the Time for Long Prayers

Then the LORD said to Moses, Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. (Exodus14:15)
Moses assured the people that God would surely save them. Then he turned to the LORD and began to petition the LORD for rescue. The LORD interrupted him, Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. Rabbi Eliezer, who could never reconcile himself with imposing the long liturgical prayers of the Temple and synagogue onto individuals, taught that God was rebuking Moses for making long prayers during an emergency:
Rabbi Eliezer says, The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, Moses! My children are in distress! The sea blocks you in and the enemy is pursuing, and you stand there reciting long prayers! Why are you crying out to Me? (Mechilta, Beshalach)1
Between the Camps

The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night. (Exodus14:1920)
The LORD rescued Israel by interposing His Divine Presence between the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. To the Egyptians, the Shechinah appeared to be a cloud of complete and impenetrable darkness. To Israel, however, the cloud shone brightly, illuminating their night. The revelation of God illuminates the righteous, but it appears opaque and dark to the wicked. Likewise, during the plagues, the LORD blanketed the land of Egypt in darkness for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings
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(Exodus 10:23). The midrash applied Psalm 27:1 to the salvation that night beside the Red Sea: The LORD is my light and my salvation.
In the Messianic Era as well, God will bring darkness to sinners but light to Israel, as [Isaiah 60:2] says, For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. (Exodus Rabbah 14:3)
A Big Miracle
The crossing of the Red Sea stands apart as a momentous miracle. That night, by the light of the mysterious pillar of cloud and fire, Moses lifted his hand over the sea. From across the water a cool breeze formed ripples on the surface. The wind quickly increased in strength until Moses found it difficult to stand facing the wind. Waves began to crash. Miriam picked up her tambourine. Like the wake behind a ship at full sail, with a roar like many waterfalls, the water split to the left and to the right. It mounted and climbed, frothing and spraying, churning and splashing until it had formed a passage with a wall of water standing on the left and a wall of water standing on the right. The great and numerous multitude crossed all night long. They went with their wives and husbands, their children, their pack animals, and their livestock. They descended into the mikvah, leaving behind their former lives of slavery, and they arose on the other side as free men, new creatures, every one of them born again.
Revelation at the Sea

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD. (Exodus15:1)
Moses and all the children of Israel uttered a prophetic song, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Miriam took a tambourine and led the women in song and dance. While the people sang beside the sea, all Israel attained the gift of prophecy and spiritual revelation. Even a mere slave-woman saw at the sea that which the prophets did not see. 2 Rabbi Meir used to say, Even the unborn babies, still in their mothers wombs, uttered a song at the Red Sea. 3 Meir used a passage from Psalm 68 for his proof-text:
The singers went on, the musicians after them, in the midst of the maidens beating tambourines. Bless God in the congregations, even the LORD, you who are of the fountain of Israel. (Psalm68:2627[2526])
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Bless God, exalt the LORD, O fetuses still in the bellies of their mothers, O seed of Israel. (Psalm 68:27[26], Targum Yonatan)
Chasidic teaching says that the people at the sea received the revelation of Messiah. For that reason, the Baal Shem Tov taught that we too can receive special revelation about Messiah on the seventh day of Passover. The Song at the Sea, also called The Song, occupies an important place in Jewish liturgy. In the days of the holy Temple, the Levites chanted the song every day. The siddur calls for its recitation every morning as part of the verses of song before the morning prayers begin. Verses from the song at the sea appear throughout the whole liturgy. Synagogue tradition refers to Shabbat Beshalach as Shabbat Shirah ( ), i.e., the Sabbath of the Song. The cantillation for the Song at the Sea follows its own unique melody, setting it apart from other Torah readings in the synagogue. The congregation stands during the reading of the song and sings along. We also read the Song at the Sea on the seventh day of Passover. The first and last days of the festival are special Yom Tov sabbaths. The first day commemorates the day of the slaying of the firstborn and the departure from Ramses. The seventh day commemorates the crossing of the Red Sea. The synagogue Torah reading for the seventh day of Passover includes Exodus 13:1715:26 and the recitation of the Song at the Sea. The song weaves through several of the Passover prayers for that day.
haftarah for the seventh day of passover

Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Three: Voice of the Prophets
Waves of Death and Cords of Sheol

For the waves of death encompassed me. (2 Samuel 22:5)
David compared himself to a drowning manimagery that reminded the sages of the crossing of the Red Sea. In the second two lines he compares himself to trapped animal. 1. For the waves of death encompassed me; 2. The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; 3. The cords of Sheol surrounded me; 4. The snares of death confronted me.
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Midrash Shocher Tov pairs each of the four expressions to an era of Jewish history. The waves of death refers to the Babylonian exile. Torrents of destruction refers to the Persian-Median period. Cords of Sheol refers to the conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent Greek era. Snares of death refers to the Roman era and current exile.4 Reading these words in the context of the Passover week, we are reminded of the suffering and death of our Master who sank beneath the encompassing waves of death, who succumbed to the torrents of destruction, held fast by the cords of Sheol, snared by death. The waters of death could not keep Him submerged; the bonds of death could not restrain Him.
The Theophany
In my distress I called upon the LORD, yes, I cried to my God; and from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help came into His ears. (2 Samuel 22:7)
Snared by the cords of death, David calls out to the LORD. From upon His throne in the eternal, heavenly Temple, the LORD hears Davids voice. His entreaty comes to His ears. The LORD immediately rushes to the earth to rescue David. The passage describing the LORDs descent to the earth resembles several other similar passages in biblical poetry. Bible scholars refer to the poetic units that describe Gods descent to earth as theophanies. Second Samuel 22:716 provides an exciting example of a classic theophany. The LORD hears of Davids distress and reacts with anger. The heavens and the earth shake with Gods anger. The LORDs nose grows so hot that He breathes out fire.5 He is in such a hurry to assist David that He does not take the time to traverse the entire distance between heaven and earth. Instead, He bends the heavens low, closer to the earth, collapsing the intervening distance. He does not wait for His chariot to be hitched to the cherubim angels. Instead, He mounts one of cherubim and rides it like a horse, flying as if on the wings of the wind.6 He arrives in clouds of storm; thick clouds, heavy with waters, surround him like a shelter of darkness. Lightning-like brightness flashes forth from before Him and sets things ablaze. His voice thunders in the heavens. He shoots lightning bolts like arrows, sending Davids enemies flying in retreat. At the fury of His coming, the waters of the sea retreat and lay bare the sea floor.
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Splitting the Sea

Then the channels of the sea appeared (2 Samuel 22:16)
The theophany scene in which the LORD lays bare the sea floor, blowing back the waters with a blast of the breath of His nostrils reminded the sages of the crossing of the Red Sea:
Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. (2 Samuel 22:16) At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing waters stood up like a heap; the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. (Exodus15:8)
One midrashic tradition interpreted the phrase the channels of the sea appeared to mean that God created twelve different routes through the Red Sea, one for each tribe. David returns to his drowning man metaphor to describe the rescue scene. He says, He took me; He drew me out of many waters (22:17). Again, the sages and rabbis connected the imagery to the crossing of the Red Sea:
Rabbi Yochanan taught, As the last Jew emerged from the Red Sea, the last Egyptian entered. How was this possible? Werent there handicapped Jews who lagged behind the rest? However, Hashem, so-to-speak, stretched forth His hand and pulled them out; as it says, He pulled me out from many waters. Raish Lakish taught, The verse relates an even greater miracle: When the water flooded back onto the bed of the Red Sea, both the Jews and the Egyptians were still in the sea. However, Hashem miraculously pulled out all the Jews before the water harmed them. (Midrash Shocher Tov)
Another opinion on He drew me out of many waters has it that David thanked God for saving his ancestor Nachshon ben Aminidab, who was the first one to plunge into the Sea of Reeds before it split. He kept pushing into the sea until the water was up to his neck, and then his heroic display of faith in God was rewarded when God split the sea.
Endnotes
1 Exodus Rabbah 21:8. 2 Song of Songs Rabbah 3:9. 3 b.Ketubot 7a; b.Sotah 30b31a.
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4 Midrash Shocher Tov, cited in Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says On the Weekly Haftaros, vol. 3 (Brooklyn, ny: Bnay Yaakov Publications, 1996), 420. 5 In biblical Hebrew, a hot nose is an idiom for anger. 6 Midrash Shocher Tov, cited in Weissman, The Midrash Says On the Weekly Haftaros, vol. 3, 423.
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deuteronomy 15:1916:17 D isaiah 10:3212:6
In the Diaspora, on the last day of Passover, we read Deuteronomy 15:1916:17 and Numbers 28:1925 from the Torah. (If the last day falls on a Sabbath, the Deuteronomy reading is replaced with Deuteronomy 14:2216:17.) The haftarah portion is Isaiah 10:3212:6.
The Three Pilgrimage Festivals

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. (Deuteronomy 16:1)
Deuteronomy 16:116 reiterates the obligations of three moedim (appointed times) from the Leviticus 23 biblical calendar: Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Booths. These three festivals are different from the other appointed times because they are all pilgrimage festivals. Moses says it is incumbent upon all the men of Israel to make pilgrimage to the Temple for the celebration of these three festivals:
Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 16:16)
When Yeshua was a boy, his parents made regular trips to Jerusalem for the celebration of the pilgrimage festivals, as it says, They went up there according to the custom of the Feast. (Luke 2:42) In the Gospel of John, we see Yeshua and the twelve faithfully attending the pilgrimage festivals in
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Jerusalem. In John 2:13, He travels to Jerusalem for Passover. In John 4, He is likely returning to Galilee from a festival in Jerusalem, possibly Pentecost. In John 5, He is back in Jerusalem for another festival, perhaps the Feast of Booths. In John 6, the Passover is near, and we assume He went up as was His custom. In John 7, He attends the Feast of Booths. In John 12, He is back in Jerusalem for His last Passover. The three pilgrimage feasts are especially important in foreshadowing the work of Messiah. Passover and Unleavened Bread was the time of His death and resurrection. Pentecost was the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Booths looks forward to the Messianic age when Yeshua will reign out of Jerusalem. Some have even suggested that Yeshua may have been born at the Feast of Booths. As His disciples, we can celebrate each of these pilgrimage festivals in memory of Him and in anticipation of that glad day when we will all make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to see King Messiah.
Leaving Egypt in Haste

You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 16:3)
Moses mentions that when Israel left Egypt, they left in haste. The Torah explains the ritual of eating unleavened bread as a result of the Israelites leaving so quickly that their bread dough did not have time to rise before they baked it. They left in haste, wasting no time in getting out of Egypt. The Mechiltah (a midrash collection on Exodus) says that they left Egypt at once, not even tarrying for a wink of an eye. 1 The wink of an eye or twinkling of an eye is a term which appears frequently in rabbinic literature to describe something that happens instantaneously.2 For example, in his book Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim cites a passage from another collection of rabbinic material called Pesiqta Rabbati which says that repentance takes effect as in the twinkling of an eye. 3 How long does it take to repent? According to the Sages, it takes only the twinkling of an eye, the same amount of time it took for Israel to leave Egypt after they were given permission to leave. This teaches an important practical lesson about salvation and repentance. Just as Israel went from bondage to freedom in the twinkling of an eye, repentance and faith in Messiah transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
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light instantaneously. When we confess Messiah and trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins, we are immediately forgiven and set free from bondage to the adversary. In the twinkling of an eye, we become free men. Every Passover season is an annual opportunity to experience salvation afresh as we further refine our lives and leave behind the old ways. Each time we repent, we are whisked into new life and a new reality. In haste we left Egypt! the Passover Haggadah declares. In the future to come, the great messianic redemption will also be instantaneousin the twinkling of an eye:
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)
The Joy of the Master

And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns. (Deuteronomy 16:14)
God commands us to rejoice on the pilgrimage festivals. This is one of the very few occasions in the Torah when we receive a commandment telling us how we should feel. Usually the commandments of the Torah tell us what to do, not what to feel. When we celebrate the appointed times of Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles, we are to do so with a genuine spirit of joy. It is interesting that biblical Hebrew has about half a dozen different words for joy. English only has one. This tells us that joy is an important part of biblical faith. The connection between joy and the pilgrimage festivals translates into the joy we experience in Yeshua. Each of the pilgrimage festivals uniquely foreshadows and typifies the redemptive work of Yeshua. They are seasons for rejoicing in the work of the Master. According to the apostles, our normal, daily experience of faith is to be joy-centered. The disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:52) The practice of faith without joy is like marriage without love. Yeshua modeled a life of joy for us. That is not to say that joy and happiness are the same thing. Joy is much deeper and stronger than happy feelings. In fact, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that joy compelled Yeshua to endure the cross:
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Fixing our eyes on Yeshua, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
According to Galatians 5:22, joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that it is an automatic experience for believers though. In the same way, Paul lists self-control as one of the fruits of the Spirit, but every believer can testify that self-control is not an automatic attribute. Instead, we must daily discipline ourselves to walk in self-control. In the same way, joy should be regarded as a discipline. We must deliberately practice an attitude of joynot a fake joy, but a real depth of emotion that comes from the Spirit. We need to nurture that joy in order to bear the Spirits fruit. If we endeavor to express that joy on a daily basis, we allow the Spirit to live through us. When we allow ourselves to foster feelings of bitterness, anger or pessimism, we squelch the joy of the Spirit. Joy should not be contingent upon good circumstances. Instead, James tells us that we are to face the trials of life with joy. He says, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials (James 1:2) He is only echoing the sentiment of the Master who told His disciples to regard persecution as a cause for rejoicing.4 Paul demonstrated this attitude even at the end of his life, saying, even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. (Philippians 2:17) Paul tells us to rejoice always, (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and He says that the Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17) Clearly, the Apostles taught that joy is the normal experience for the follower of Yeshua:
And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)
Yeshua desired for us to experience joy. He said, these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. (John 17:13) He told His disciples to keep the commandments of Torah so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:11) When He returns, He will reward His faithful servants with the words, Well done, good and faithful slave enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25:21) If we find that our lives are not characterized by joy, then we need to work to bring our emotions into concert with our faith. Just as a person must endeavor and strive to remove thoughts of lust or immorality from
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his mind, so too a believer should endeavor and strive to continually exude a spirit of joy. Perhaps this is one reason that the early believers were so successful. Joy is contagious. It is always delightful and uplifting to be in the company of people who are truly joyful. This is not to suggest that we should put on a pretense of joy or fake happiness. Nothing is more repelling than a plastic smile and phony cheerfulness. Neither should we substitute joy with levity or silliness. Instead, we must daily endeavor to cultivate real joy in our lives and communities. Joy like that manifests as optimism and a pleasant disposition. Such joy should be symptomatic of the followers of Yeshua. We have a biblical obligation to rejoice and to rejoice alwaysespecially at the appointed times.
haftarah for the eighth day of passover

The Nations and the Nes
Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10) To him shall be the obedience of the peoples (Genesis 49:10) that is, to whom the nations of the world will flock as it says [in Isaiah 11:10], Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious. (Genesis Rabbah 98:8; 99:8) Excerpts from Torah Club Volume Three: Voice of the Prophets
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him (Matthew 25:3132). They will say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths (Isaiah 2:3). Then the Messiah will teach them the Torah,5 and it will go forth from Zion; the word of the LORD will go forth from Jerusalem. They will seek Him and find Him in His glorious resting placethe Holy City Jerusalem and the Temple Mount within it:6
This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. (Psalm132:14)
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Isaiah refers to Messiah as a signal for the peoples (11:10) and a standard for the nations (11:12). The word that the nasb translates as signal in 11:10 and standard in 11:12 is nes (). The word nes can also be translated as miracle, but in this context, it means pole or standard. Isaiah thinks of the Messiah as the standard-bearer of the LORD. In the Torah, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, and set it on a nes.7 Yeshua links the serpent-in-the-wilderness nes with the messianic nes of Isaiah 11. He says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up (John 3:14), referring to the story of the bronze serpent on the nes. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself (John12:32), He says, referring to the nes of Isaiah 11. As a signal for the people and a standard for the nations, He draws all men to Himself, and they flock after Him. Men and women from every people cast their allegiance with Him. Through Him, the Torah of God goes out even to the most distant coastlands. His followers are a gathering of nations.
The Second Redemption

Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people (Isaiah 11:11)
When the Messiah comes, the LORD will gather in the scattered children of Israel. Isaiah lists a few countries where the remnant of Israel is sojourning: Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, the islands of the sea. Assyria and Egypt were the two major population centers and world powers in Isaiahs day: Assyria north of the Israel and Egypt south of Israel. Pathros is Upper Egypt, still further south. Cush is Ethiopia, south beyond Pathros. Elam is southern Media, east of the Tigris. Shinar is also part of Mesopotamia, near the intersection of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Media and Shinar represent the east. Hamath is the territory north of the Lebanon, sharing the same Eastern Mediterranean world with Israel, while the islands of the sea signal the Mediterranean coastlines including southern Europe. These are the lands of the west. Was the Diaspora already so wide in Isaiahs day? The Assyrians had deported the people of the ten tribes, but that cannot account for Israelites in Upper Egypt and Europe. Instead, Isaiah prophetically sees the day of Messiahs coming and offers representative countries for the four corners of the earth (11:12).
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The Passover Reader
Why does Isaiah call the final redemption a second time? The first time might refer to the first redemption, the exodus from Egypt.8 At the time of the exodus from Egypt, however, the LORD did not redeem only a remnant of His people; He redeemed all of Israel. At the time of the exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel did not sojourn in Mesopotamia or the islands of the sea. Perhaps the first ingathering refers to the redemption from Babylon and Persia in the days of Cyrusa future event for Isaiah, but one he perceives prophetically as having happened in the past. Under the decree of Cyrus, the LORD brought back a remnant of His people from all the nations where He had scattered them. In the future to come, He will do so a second time. He will again recover, the second time, the remnant of His people. He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (11:12). In the Messianic Era, Judah and Ephraim will set aside their ancient antagonism.9 As Ezekiel says, One king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms (Ezekiel37:22). Together they will subdue all nations. Isaiah specifically mentions the bordering states of Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, nations that historically encroached upon Israels territory.10 As the LORD gathers in the exiles from Egypt and Mesopotamia, He will repeat the miracles of the past. Just as He split the sea for Israel when he brought them up from Egypt, He will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt (11:15) to make a permanent path through the Red Sea. Just as he stopped the Jordan River as He brought Israel into Canaan, He will split the Euphrates into seven streams. The returning exiles will cross that great river in sandals without getting their feet wet. Isaiah pictures a highway flowing with returning exiles, a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left (11:16).11
Endnotes
1 Mechilta on Exodus 12:4142 as cited in the Gutnik Edition Chumash: The Book of Deuteronomy, (Brooklyn, ny: Kol Menachem) 117. 2 In the Talmud (b.Berachot 2b), Rabbi Yosi purports that the period of time between the end of one day and the beginning of another is only the twinkling of an eye. 3 Pesiqta Rabbati, 163b as cited by Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995) 351. 4 Matthew 5:12. 5 Genesis Rabbah 98:9. 6 Cf. Numbers 10:33; Psalm 132:8. 7 Numbers 21:8. 8 Exodus Rabbah 1:5.
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9 Isaiah recalls the recent Syro-Ephramite attack on Judah.While Damascus and Samaria badgered Ahaz from the north, Philistia took western territories and Edom took southeastern territories. In the future, the people of God will set aside their internal squabbles and fight together for the common good. 10 Numbers Rabbah 14:1 notes the reversal of Genesis 21:23 and Deuteronomy 2:4, 9, 19. 11 Cf. Isaiah 19:23.
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The Passover Reader
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