"Passover by Email"
A student's dilemma: 2 The Story

by James Coates

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The history of our people is a long and painful one, full of trouble and misinterpretation. I am aware of the Christian claims about their so called 'Messiah', Jesus, but will come to that in another letter.

Our people were chosen by God when God called Abraham out of Ur and promised him descendants more numerous than the sand and the stars. As you know, God blessed Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob and was with them until Jacob and his family went to Egypt. There in Egypt the twelve tribes of Israel grew in number to become a great nation. However the Egyptian Pharaoh forced us into slavery, a slavery that brought suffering and torment to our people. You can find the story in Exodus.

How are we to be freed? For, surely, slavery was never what God intended for us!

We had been promised a land flowing with milk and honey where we could worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For 430 years we were slaves to a regime of brutality and oppression. In those four centuries God was silent, and we suffered. The Pharaoh was worshipped as a deity, his people worshipped hundreds of false gods and it seemed that they had the upper hand. In their brutal way they tried to curb population growth by having the boys killed. This scheme failed because of the brave Hebrew midwives.

Into this world of violence and oppression Moses was born, the one whom God had chosen to lead us to freedom.

Moses was a special baby (Exodus 2:1) whose parents risked everything to keep him alive. God however had a plan to train up this child to be the leader He wanted. He was found in a floating basket by an Egyptian princess who raised him as her own. There in Pharaoh's court Moses learnt the ways of the evil regime and as he grew up he struck out for freedom and killed an Egyptian guard. This act of violence saw him fleeing for his life to the desert.

In the desert Moses joined the family of Reuel, a priest of Midian, and there in the desert he learnt the ways of survival until at last he was ready. God called him through a burning bush to go and set our people free. At this moment in our history our view of God is transformed. God is no longer out there watching, he is here to intervene. He gives his name to Moses as the "I AM":  the God who is constantly with us, a God we cannot define, yet a God who hears and answers the cries of our hearts.

So Moses, the man of God's choice, empowered by God to produce signs and wonders, returned to Egypt to take on the Pharaoh.

What happened next is the stuff of legend. Pharaoh would not let us go, so, through Moses, God brought against Pharaoh 10 plagues. Each plague an apparently natural event, yet controlled by Moses in when it started and stopped. Each plague striking a blow against the pantheon of Egyptian gods. Each plague demonstrating the power of our God Yahweh and the folly of worshipping Egyptian gods. Each plague systematically destroying the land, economy and people of Egypt.

By the time the last plague was announced Egypt was already decimated. But the final plague was different. It was no natural event. God struck down the first born in all of Egypt.

At last we have come to the Passover.

A way to avoid death was provided by God. This time the promise was not just to our people but to everyone who obeyed the word of God. As you should know (from Exodus 12) each household was to choose a lamb, a spotless male lamb, and watch it for four days to see that it was indeed clean. The lamb was to be killed at twilight and its blood painted on the doorposts and lintels of the house. The lamb was then roasted with bitter herbs to remind us of our bitter slavery. We ate unleavened bread to remind us to the haste of our departure. We ate with our cloaks tucked into our belts just itching to leave Egypt and this meal was called Passover.

Through the blood of the male lamb the life of the first born of each house was saved. It seems that God was willing to accept the lamb as a substitute. Our people, who obeyed God, were indeed saved from death and that night left Egypt.

A freedom that was to be short lived.

A few days later we find the nation trapped between the sea and a vengeance seeking Pharaoh. Once again God, through the man of his choice, Moses, provided a way out. Moses just obeyed, the people just stood and watched, and God, our great "I Am", our God, present to help, not distant or aloof, performed His wonders again. A way through the sea was made. Our nation passed through the sea that should have caused our death yet instead provided a way through to life.

The exodus is truly about our sovereign God and His work in saving His chosen people.

• Salvation from an oppressive evil ruler.
• Salvation by breaking down all the power of Egyptians.
• Salvation by the blood of a clean male lamb.
• Salvation through the sea to freedom.

We have our history and our Passover to celebrate.

What can your Christians have with their crucified teacher that can compare to God's work in our nation's history?

Shabat Shalom,

Rabbi Simeon