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The Passover Sacrifice

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The Passover Sacrifice THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE BY MENAHEM HARAN Jerusalem I. THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE PASSOVER AND ITS SUPPOSED ORIGIN The passover sacrifice is mentioned indirectly in all the Pentateuchal sets of laws: in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xxiii 18) and the Smaller Book of the Covenant (Exod. xxxiv 25)-as we shall demon­ strate later on; within the framework of the Priestly Source, i.e. in the calendar of "the sacred occasions" (Lev. xxiii 5) and in the list of additional sacrifices offered up during the year (Num. xxviii 16); also in the code of Deuteronomy, where a number of details relating to this sacrifice are cited (Deut. xvi 1-7). 1 The actual traits, however, of the offering are specified in "nar­ rative" passages constituting a part of the story of the exodus. These are two in number: a detailed P passage (Exod. xii 1-20; and the appendix at the end of this chapter, vv. 43-50) and a J passage (ibid. 21-27). The Rabbinic sages understood these passages as referring mainly to the passover offered up in Egypt in contradistinction to the permanent passover referred to in other sections (Mekhilta to Exod. xii 3; B. T. Pesal).im 96a et ai.), and they were followed by the medieval commentators and a number of moderns.l Indeed, one cannot deny that these passages are said to be spoken in Egypt and the accomplish­ ment of the sacrifice is inseparable from the story of the deliverance itself. As the story has it, the signs of the blood of the sacrifice that was presented in Egypt caused Yahweh to pass over the houses of the Israelites, when he smote all the first-born of man and beast on the eve of the exodus (Exod. xii 12-13, 23). By this, the name of the 1 Like A. EHRLICH, U. CASSUTO, and even A. KAHANA; needless to say, a commentator like S. D. LUZZATTO adopted this interpretation. THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE 87 sacrifice is also explained-m;,"" Nm not), "It is the passover sacrifice to Yahweh," because on that night he passed over the houses of the Israelites (ibid. 11,27).1 The very offering of the first passover sacrifice rescued, then, the Israelites from the catastrophe and also enabled them to leave that country (cf. Num. xxxiii 3). Nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that the first sacrifice presumably serves as a model for the future and that in every generation the details of the sacrificial rite have to be repeated in exactly the same manner. There is no indication that any distinction should be made between the Egyptian passover and that which would be offered up in future generations. Express notes concerning the validity of the sacrifice for the ages to come are even appended to the P (Exod. xii 14, 17) and J (ibid. 24-27) passages. Similarly it is stated in the continuation of the P passage that just as the first night was "a night of vigil for the Lord" so it must remain one of vigil "for all the people of Israel throughout their generations" (ibid. 42). This means to say that the account of the preparation of the first sacrifice becomes a statute, or, in other words, the presentation of the law against the background of the exodus furnishes the broad aetiological explanation of the dramatic features of the sacrifice. Need­ less to say, the two passages are only parallel literary formulations of a single theme. A mention should further be made of the P statute regarding the duty of observing the Second Passover incumbent on anyone who was "defiled by a corpse or on a long journey" at the proper time. This law, too, is prescribed in a narrative framework (Num. ix 1-14). Following are the features that characterize the passover offering and the dramatic gesticulations connected with its preparation. Ac­ cording to the P passage (Exod. xii 1-14) this sacrifice is to be offered up on an exact date in the year, namely the fourteenth of the first month, and is to be slaughtered at twilight (on this detail cf. Lev. xxiii 18; Num. ix 3, xxviii 16). The offering is held in readiness from the tenth of the month, and is eaten by the members of the household 1 The phrase m;,"" IN,;,j nOt), occurs in this form in all the sources (see further Exod. xii 48; Lev. xxiii 5; Num. ix 10,14, xxviii 16; Deut. xvi 1-2; 2 Kings xxiii 21, 23). Possibly it contains an intimation of the pagan origin of the ceremony. We find similar locutions such as m;,"" m~~;, In "the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh" (Lev. xxiii 6; cf. Exod. xii 14, xiii 6); 1m;,"" ... m::lO;' In, "the feast of booths to Yahweh" (Lev. xxiii 34; cf. ibid. 41; Num. xxix 12); ,";'''N m;,"" m~~w In, "the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God" (Deut. xvi 10); cf. also Exod. xxxii 5. Possibly the rituals of the pilgrimage festivals, too, being bound up with agriculture and settled conditions oflife, have pagan origins. .
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