Pesach 2 Siddur

Pesach 2 Siddur 4.20.19

“VaYikra 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Matzah to Avinu: seven days you must eat Matzah. 7 In the first day you shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Avinu seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.”

Shemot 12:1 – 13:22 covers Aviv 1 – 19
Shemot 12:16-17, Shemot 12:19-20, Shemot 12:33-42
Shemot 12:51, Shemot 13:3-10, Devarim 16:1-4
B’reishit 15:12-18, Dan 10:8-9, B’reishit 17:3
Yehoshua 5:14, Yeshiyahu 6:5, Yermiyahu 1:6
Gal 3:1-29, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Gal 5:1-9
Luke 12:1

Avinu’s covenant with Avraham:

“8 But he said, “O Avinu Eloheinu, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

“12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then Avinu said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.””

“17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Avinu made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,” (Ge 15:8-18 ESV)

Sunset is the beginning of Nisan 14, and chronologically we are moving into the daylight portion of that day—Passover day. As daylight hits, Avraham asks Avinu for evidence that He will follow through. Avraham receives the command to prepare a sacrifice and a prophecy regarding his family. Verse 12 shows the preparation of the sacrifice was during the daylight part of Nisan 14, because when we get to verse 12, the sacrifice has been prepared, and the sun was going down. That brings us up to the end of the 14th.

Many have wondered why Meshiach was sacrificed during the daylight portion of Nisan 14 in the afternoon rather than at the beginning, and seemingly more in alignment with Passover. Was not the Passover lamb slain at the beginning of Nisan 14, after ben ha arbayim began? Yes, it was. So people think because Meshiach was sacrificed sometime during the afternoon of the 14th that there is something wrong. The answer as to why He was sacrificed during the afternoon rather than at the beginning of the 14th appears here in Genesis 15: Even as the covenant of promise with Avraham was ratified by the sacrifice Avraham makes here, Meshiach’s sacrifice provides the ratification of the New Covenant. Meshiach’s sacrifice, by Avinu’s decree, had to align with the ratification of the covenant of promise with Avraham, not the Passover. The time of the crucifixion aligns exactly with Genesis 15.

Verse 12 specifically states “when the sun was going down.” Therefore, this sacrifice in Genesis 15, like Meshiach’s sacrifice, took place in the late afternoon. What happened at Meshiach’s crucifixion? A great darkness occurred. In Genesis 15, a great darkness occurred to Avraham. In addition to that, a great horror fell upon him. Now what does that picture? There are two possibilities.

1. Avraham was made by Avinu to experience a very small taste of the horror that Meshiach had to face in His crucifixion and burial. Avinu almost scared him to death by putting the fear in him.
2. It could also be a precursor of the darkness and the earthquake that took place at Meshiach’s crucifixion.

I prefer the first one, that Avraham, as the father of the faithful and the first covenantal ancestor of Yeshua HaMeshiach, had to experience a bit of what Avinu’s Son in the flesh would have to go through 1,700 years later.

Something else appears here that is not so readily apparent at Meshiach’s crucifixion: Avraham had to beat off vultures. When the fowls came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Vile birds are the Bible’s symbol of demons. This gives the impression that, as Yeshua was hanging on the cross, a great spiritual battle occurred during which the demons were taunting and persecuting Meshiach to induce Him to give up. Psalm 22 speaks about everybody gawking at Him and taunting Him. It was not only human beings. We can understand it was demons as well, who were doing everything to overcome His courage and to break His spirit.

It was after the time of both sacrifices that Israel began to follow Moshe on it’s journey out of Egypt thus beginning the fulfillment of Avinu’s promise.