Pesach, Hebrew for Passover, begins on the 15^th day of the first month. The festival lasts for seven (eight days in the diaspora) days, in eretz Israel, and ends on the 21^st (22^nd for those in the diaspora) day of the first month, for those who live in eretz Israel.

On Passover we celebrate the liberation of HaShem’s people from Egyptian slavery and, together with it, the liberation from, and negation of the ancient Egyptian system and way of life, the "abominations of Egypt." Thus we celebrate our physical liberation together with our spiritual freedom. Indeed, there cannot be one without the other: there can be no real freedom without accepting the precepts of our Torah guiding our daily life; pure and holy living eventually leads to real freedom.

Strong’s defines Passover, from its first usage in Torah, as:

Shemot (Exodus) 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; [with] your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it [is] HaShem’s Passover.

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6453 pecach, peh'-sakh; from 6452; a pretermission, i.e. exemption; used only tech. of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim):-Passover (offering).

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6452 pacach, paw-sakh'; a prim. root; to hop, i.e. (fig.) skip over (or spare); by impl. to hesitate; also (lit.) to limp, to dance:-halt, become lame, leap, pass over.

One of the major festivals in the Torah is Passover. It is a holiday of rejoicing when Jews all over the world recall their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The word Passover comes from the idea that HaShem passed over the houses of the Israelites, who had marked their doorposts to signify that they were children of HaShem. This way the firstborn sons of Israel were spared when HaShem smote the firstborn sons of the Egyptian taskmasters on the eve of the Exodus. The sons of Israel were thus redeemed from the land of sin, Egypt, and redeemed from Pharaoh to serve HaShem.

The Number Four (4)

As you study the Passover, notice how often the number four shows up. The great Kabbalist, the Maharal of Prague, teaches that when something is true, it is true on every possible plane. It is true philosophically, linguistically, mathematically and spiritually.

And so we learn that the number four is the number more than any other that encapsulates the message of exile and redemption, otherwise it would not be the one used. Keep in mind that our Sages teach us that the Egyptian exile is the prototype for all future exiles (see the redemption study for more on this topic)..

We were in exile, estranged from our land and from our G-d. Therefore, HaShem, Blessed be He, redeemed us with four:

Shemot (Exodus) 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel,

1. I [am] HaShem, and

2. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and

3. I will rid you out of their bondage, and

4. I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

The redemption of Shemot 6:6 is represented by the four cups of wine.

The Midrash Rabbah explains that the four cups of wine correspond to these four stages of redemption. By contrast, the Gemara says:

Pesachim 117b R. Hanan said to Raba: This proves that Grace after meals requires a cup [of wine]. Said he to him: Our Rabbis instituted four cups as symbolizing freedom: let us perform a religious act with each.

The Gemara indicates that the number four expresses freedom, and connects each cup to a particular mitzva of the seder night: the first cup is that of Kiddush; over the second cup we recite the haggadah; the third cup is that of birkhat Hamazon (Grace after the Meal); and over the fourth cup we recite hallel.

4 cups of wine.

The four questions reflect, that our redemption, if we are to be redeemed, must come about when we leave exile and leave estrangement from HaShem. The question of the wise son reflects that we are only truly free when we stop serving the world and start serving HaShem:

- If we are free, why do we still eat matza -- "the bread of affliction"?

- If we want to recall the bitterness of servitude by eating bitter herbs, why do we recline like royalty?

- Why do we dip our food luxuriously in what represents our tears?

4 questions.

This exile and estrangement from HaShem embitters the wicked son. He wants to retreat back into the comforting complacency of spiritual exile.

It mystifies the son who no longer believes in answers. We must use the empathy and compassion that a mother would have for her child to free him enough to listen.

But the same paradox frees the simple son to redefine what the experience means to him.

The freest of all is the wise son. Once the door is open, he asks the most honest question of all "How shall I serve the God who has made me free?"

4 sons.

The nation of Israel became full and complete upon the fulfillment of the fourth utterance of redemption, the fourth and final stage in their development.

Celebrated on the 10 + 4^th day of Nisan.

The women came to His Majesty’s empty grave on the fourth day of Passover.

The Jews came out of Mitzrayim (Egypt) after 4 x 100 years:

Bereshit (Genesis) 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

The Jews came out of Mitzrayim in the 4^th generation:

Bereshit (Genesis) 15:13 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet full.

We may eat chametz on Erev Pesach only until the end of the fourth hour ("zemanis"), i.e., only within the first third of the day.

The festival of Passover is given four different names in either the Bible and in the oral Torah:

1. The Festival of Pesach - Shemot 34:25.

2. The Festival of Matzoth - Shemot 23:15.

3. The Time of Freedom and Redemption -(Mishna Pesachim 10:5).

4. The Festival of Spring - Devarim 16:1.

"four cups of comfort which HaShem will in the future give the Jewish people to drink."

In the first chapter of Yechezkel, the number four in various ways, appears fourteen times. As the Jews are going into the Babylonian exile, HaShem informs us that He is going into exile as well.

So, as you study Passover, notice how intimately the number four is woven into the fabric of this feast. Remember:

The number four signals a

whole, a fullness, and a completion. It signals exile, but, it also signals redemption!

Forty (40) is 10 X 4 and is therefore intimately associated with the number four. You will also see this number showing up repeatedly in the story of our exile and redemption. Some well known examples are:

Moses was 40 years in Mitzrayim, 40 years in Midian, and 40 years in the wilderness.

Moses went up on mount Sinai three different times for 40 days each.

The spies spied out the land for 40 days.

The Children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years.

II. Our Redemption

The primary theme of Passover is REDEMPTION. The Torah indicates that each of God's people was redeemed from Egypt, therefore each one of us must come to regard himself as though he had personally gone out of Egypt.

Micah 6:1-9 Listen to what HaShem says: "Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, HaShem’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For HaShem has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember [your journey] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of HaShem." With what shall I come before HaShem and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will HaShem be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does HaShem require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Listen! HaShem is calling to the city--and to fear your name is wisdom--"Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

Unless we see the Passover as though God had personally redeemed each of us, we will fail to understand what Passover is all about. Passover is all about OUR redemption!

Shemot (Exodus) 13:14-16 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand HaShem brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, HaShem killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to HaShem the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that HaShem brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."

As you study Passover, notice how often the Torah addresses us personally.

Every redemption of the sons of Israel will be patterned after the redemption from Egypt, even if it does not have the elements of miracles and signs. In "Derishat Tzion," Rabbi Kalisher includes a chapter advocating offering the Pesach sacrifice in modern times, as if to emphasize that the Egyptian redemption is the source and the inspiration for all later events. Indeed, even the Prophets speak of our future redemption in relationship to our redemption from Egypt:

Micah 7:12-17 In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders." Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to HaShem our God and will be afraid of you.

The Talmud also speaks of our future redemption in relation to Passover:

Rosh HaShana 11a On New Year the bondage of our ancestors in Egypt ceased;[1] in Nisan they were redeemed and in Nisan they will be redeemed in the time to come. R. Yahoshua (Joshua) says: In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; in Nisan the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on New Year Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were visited; on New Year Joseph went forth from prison; on New Year the bondage of our ancestors ceased in Egypt; and in Nisan they will be redeemed in time to come.

Rosh HaShana 11b On New Year the bondage of our ancestors ceased in Egypt’. It is written in one place, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,[2] and it is written in another place, I removed his shoulder from the burden.[3] ‘In Nisan they were delivered’, as Scripture recounts. ‘In Tishri they will be delivered in time to come’. This is learnt from the two occurrences of the word ‘horn’. It is written in one place, Blow the horn on the new moon,[4] and it is written in another place, In that day a great horn shall be blown.[5] ‘R. Yahoshua (Joshua) says, In Nisan they were delivered, in Nisan they will be delivered in the time to come’. Whence do we know this? — Scripture calls [the Passover] ‘a night of watchings’,[6] [which means], a night which has been continuously watched for from the six days of the creation. What says the other to this? — [He says it means], a night which is under constant protection against evil spirits.[7]

As you study prophecy regarding the "Acharit HaYamim”, the end of days, notice the striking similarity of our future redemption, to our redemption from Egypt.

The redemption from Egypt could have been the Final Redemption. This helps us understand the exchange between Moshe and HaShem at the burning bush. Moshe asked HaShem, "Why do you choose me to redeem your people? Send, instead, Pinchas/Elijah, who you have chosen to redeem your people at the End of Days!"[8] Moshe was suggesting that the redemption from Egypt ought to be a full and final one. HaShem answered, that the time had not yet come for a final redemption.

Thus we see that the Targum associates the “end of days” with the seventh day of Pesach!

Moshe himself, the greatest of the Prophets and his sister, Miriam, who was also a great Prophetess, sing / sang the “the Song of the Sea”, which according to Chazal was not focused on the event that had just transpired, the splitting of the sea, but actually on the future of the people of Israel, specifically at the time of "Acharit HaYamim," the "End of Days".

III. Torah Readings for Passover

Ok, lets begin our study of Passover, by examining the traditional Torah, and Haftorah, readings that the Sages have compiled for Passover. These are the most important passages for us to remember as we look forward to our redemption. Remember that there are no Nazarean Codicil associated in this list, because the Nazarean Codicil were not yet written at the time that these readings were compiled.

IV. The Appointed Time

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, begin late in the afternoon of Nisan 14. ait is an appointment with HaShem! The Passover seder begins after sunset on Nisan 15. Nisan 15, Passover, is therefore longer because we have added some time from Nisan 14 to Nisan 15. Lets see where this is defined in the scriptures:

Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:5 HaShem’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Shemot (Exodus) 13:4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.

5761, September 2001 through September 2007 (approximately), marks the 3,320th anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt. (Midrash Mechilta, B'shalach 2).

Now, lets examine a chronology of Yeshua's last week of life as it relates to Passover: The Sages teach us that we do not celebrate Passover because of the events which happened in Egypt during the days of Moses. Rather, we celebrate Passover, on Nisan 15, because this was the date, ordained before the creation of the world, for HaShem’s mighty acts of redemption.

The following is the chronology of the Passover week, in the days of Mashiach ben Yoseph, which I learned from my teacher, His Eminence Hakham Dr. Yoseph ben Haggai.

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NISAN 13

EVENING (End of Nisan 12 Beginning of Nisan 13) - Tuesday Evening that year

a.. Sadducees search for Chametz

MORNING (Nisan 13) - Wednesday morning that year

b.. Sadducees burn Chametz before mid-day

AFTERNOON (Nisan 13) - Wednesday about or after 3:00 p.m. in that year

c.. Sadducees kill the Korban Pesach

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NISAN 14

Evening (End of Nisan 13 Beginning of Nisan 14) - Wednesday evening in that year:

a.. Sadducees eat their Korban Pesach and have the Pesach Seder

b.. Mashiach partakes with his Talmidim of this Korban Pesach (only on this year) since the dispute on when the Korban Pesach was to be killed was for the sake of heaven (i.e. that he could eat one and die on the other).

c.. Pharisees search for the Chametz

Late Evening (Nisan 14) Wednesday night that year:

a.. Messiah is apprehended by the Temple Garden at Gat-Sh'manim (Gethsemane) whilst praying.

b.. Messiah is interrogated by the illegitimate High Priest and Priests and delivered to Pilate.

Morning (Nisan 14) - Thursday morning that year:

a.. Pharisees dispose of the leaven

b.. Messiah is tried by Pilate and following the counsel of the illegitimate Priests is disposed off by being sentenced to death

Afternoon (Nisan 14) - Thursday afternoon at bout 3:00 p.m. that year:

a.. Messiah dies hanging on a Roman cross at Maqom Gilgulet for sedition

b.. Pharisees are killing their Korban Pesach

c.. Mashiach is hurriedly laid in a borrowed tomb

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NISAN 15 - CHAG MATSAH (one day only in Eretz Israel)

Evening (Ending Nisan 14 and Beginning of Nisan 15) - Thursday evening of that year

a.. Pharisees eat their Korban Pesach and have their Pesach Seder

Morning and afternoon of Nisan 15 - Friday morning and afternoon of that year

b.. Proper embalming of Messiah

c.. Door of tomb is sealed by order of the Kohanim with a great stone

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NISAN 16 - SHABBAT CHOL HAMOED PESACH

Evening (Ending Nisan 15 and Beginning Nisan 16) - Friday night of that year

a.. Kabbalat Shabbat for all (Sadducees, Pharisees and Nazareans) - no work allowed

Evening (Ending Nisan 16 and Beginning Nisan 17) Saturday evening of that year

a.. Messiah is risen from the dead sometime during Shabbat

b.. Havdallah (many of the prayers in this service concern the topic of resurrection - and the ritual of extinguishing (transporting) a life (light) from the day (dimension) which is all Shabbat and injecting it into the dimension of time of the living on earth - the sea of wine on the dish)

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NISAN 17 - Yom Rishon [Chol HaMoed Pesach]

Evening (Ending Nisan 16 and Beginning Nisan 17) Saturday evening of that year

a.. Pharisees cut the first of the first fruits and start counting the Omer since the previous day was Shabbat

b.. Sadducees also start counting the Omer

Dawn - Early morning Nisan 17 - Sunday morning that year

a.. Women visit the tomb

b.. Big earthquake

c.. Soldiers guarding the tomb flee for their lives and inform the corrupt Kohanim of that time

d.. Women are informed by an angel not to fear and that their Master has risen

e.. Miriam is asked not to touch him since he is "not yet ascended (presented) to the Father"

Morning service Nisan 17 at the Temple - Sunday Morning of that year

a.. The Omer is waved by the High Priest before Ha-Shem at the Bet HaMikdash

b.. Messiah ascends through the 7 heavens (figurative of the seven days) and composed like the ashes of the red heifer of "ESH" (fire) and "MAYIM" (water) and which purify him from his state of ceremonial uncleanness to present himself as the wave offering (first of the first fruits) before Ha-Shem's throne of Glory. Offering accepted.

Afternoon Nisan 17 - Sunday afternoon of that year

a.. Mashiach returns back that same day to earth and again transverses through the seven heavens (a figure of the seven days a person unclean by touching a corpse must wait before being purified, and composed like the waters of the Red Heifer of Aish (fire) and Mayim (water) and is purified once more).

b.. "That very day" His Majesty appears to two of his very terrified Talmidim on the way to a village about seven miles from Yerushalayim called Amma'us and chats and teaches Torah to them.

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IYAR 18 - LAG BAOMER

Morning/Afternoon

After a period of 40 days teaching his Talmidim after his resurrection (2 Luqas (Acts) 1:3), Mashiach ascends finally to the heavens (2 Luqas 1:6-11), awaiting his return at the time appointed by Ha-Shem, Most Blessed be He!

Israel was forty years in the Sinai Wilderness. G-d had shown Moshe the Heavenly Tabernacle, or Temple, and had instructed Moshe to make a Tabernacle in the wilderness alike the order of the one shown to him at the mountain. It took one year to build the Tabernacle of Israel, which Israel used as the meeting place of G-d with them for the remaining thirty-nine years. During those thirty-nine years, Israel spent six years moving about with the Tabernacle dismantled and unused. This brings us to the point that the Tabernacle of Israel was in use as the meeting place for G-d and His people for exactly thirty-three years of the forty years of the wilderness experience.

In the Jewish year of 3828 on the ninth day of the month of Av, the Romans destroyed the Temple for the second time. However, Titus, alike Nebuchadnezzar, put Jerusalem under siege on the day of Lag B'Omer.

When His Majesty King Yeshua was Lag B'Omer in age (thirty-three years of age) his body (temple) was put to death by the Roman execution of the cross.

I believe that when Yeshua ascended, He was fulfilling His obligation to send us a Comforter to instruct us in all wisdom. Amen and therefore triumph over Nebuchadnezzar and Pilate ...

Notes:

a.. Nowadays, and after the calendrical reform at the hands of the Pharisees who sit on Moshe’s seat of authority, the calendar has been so engineered as to prevent the counting of the Omer according to the Pharisees to ever coincide with the counting of the Omer according to the Sadducees as it happened that year.

b.. Our contention is that in that year in which the events of the death of His Majesty took place (before the calendrical reform) the counting of the Omer occurred coincidentally on the same day for both Pharisees and Sadducees.

c.. We further contend that the dispute concerning when to eat the Korban Pesach (the night beginning, or the night ending the 14th of Nisan) was one for the sake of Heaven, and which G-d allowed so that His Mashiach could eat and partake of the Korban Pesach of the Sadducees and die at the same time that the Perushim were killing their Korban Pesach as Hakham Shaul (himself a Perushim) informs us in 1 Cor. 5:7.

V. Passover Events

Because Nisan 15 is appointed as a day for redemption, we ought to be able to see other Torah events which have the same themes as the redemption from Egypt. Any event which mimics these themes can be identified as occurring on Nisan 15. Lets examine a couple of the more obvious events which took place on Nisan 15:

In the Haggadah we read of the following Passover events:

Of old, You performed many miracles by night. At the beginning of the first watch of this night.

To the righteous convert (Abraham) You gave victory when there was divided for him the night.

You judged the king of Gerar (Abimelech with death) in a dream by night.

You frightened the Aramean (Laban) in the dark of night.

Israel (Jacob) fought with an angel and overcame him by night.

The first-born children of the Egyptians You crushed at midnight.

They did not find their host when they arose at night.

You swept away the army of the prince of Charoshes (Sisera) with the stars of night.

The blasphemer (Senacherib) had planned to raise his hand against Jerusalem; You laid low his dead by night.

The idol Bel was overthrown, with its pedestal, in the darkness of the night.

To Daniel, in whom You delighted, the secret vision was revealed at night.

He who caroused from the holy vessels (Belshazzar) was slain on that same night.

From the lions' den was rescued he who interpreted the meaning of the terrors of the night.

Haman bore hatred in his heart and wrote proscriptions at night.

You began Your triumph over him when You disturbed the sleep of his king at night.

You will tread the wine-press to help those who ask the watchman, 'Ah, when will there be an end to the long night?'

He will exclaim, like a watchman and say" 'Morning will come after this night.'

Bring near the day (with the coming of Mashiach), that is neither day nor night.

Show, Most High, that Yours is the day as well as the night.

Appoint watchmen to Your city (Jerusalem) by day and by night.

Illumine as with the light of day, the darkness of the night.

The following is said on the second night of Pesach. On the first night, skip the next passage.

You displayed wondrously Your mighty powers on Passover.

Above all festivals You elevated Passover.

To the Oriental (Abraham) You revealed the future midnight of Passover.

At his door You knocked in the heat of the day on Passover.

He satiated the angels with matza-cakes on Passover.

And he ran to the herd, symbolic of the sacrificial beast of Passover.

The Sodomites provoked (God) and were destroyed by fire on Passover.

Lot was withdrawn from them, he had baked matzoth at the time of Passover.

You swept clean the soil of Moph and Noph (Egypt) when You passed through on Passover.

God, You crushed every firstborn of On (In Egypt) on the watchful night of Passover.

But Master, Your own firstborn, You skipped by merit of the blood of Passover.

Not to allow the Destroyer to enter my doors on Passover.

The beleaguered (Jericho) was besieged on Passover.

Midian was destroyed with a barley cake from the Omer of Passover.

The princes of Pul and Lud (Assyria) were consumed in a great conflagration on Passover.

He (Senacherib) would have stood that day at Nob, but for the advent of Passover.

A hand inscribed the destruction of Zul (Babylon) on Passover.

As the watch was set, and the royal table decked on Passover.

Hadassah (Esther) gathered her people for a three day fast on Passover.

You caused the head of the evil clan (Haman) to be hanged on a fifty-cubit gallows on Passover.

Doubly, will You bring in an instant upon Utsis (Edom) on Passover.

Let Your hand be strong, and Your right arm exalted as on the night when You hallowed the festival of Passover.

The Bereshit (Genesis) Passover

Bereshit (Genesis) 18:1-10 HaShem appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way--now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three se’ahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread." Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said. Then HaShem said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

The only kind of bread that you can make quickly is matza (unleavened bread). That same day the angels saw Lot:

Here we have an apparent Passover because of the

1. Unleavened bread.

2. The haste.

3. The leaving of Sodom.

4. Bereshit (Genesis) 18:14 contains the Hebrew word, moed, which means an appointed time. This is the Hebrew word that also is translated "festival". All of God's festivals are called moed.

The Midrash agrees with this assessment:

Midrash Rabbah - Shemot (Exodus) XV:12 AND THEY SHALL TAKE OF THE BLOOD, AND PUT IT ON THE TWO SIDE-POSTS (XII, 7): So that I may pass over you and protect you.’ Take care that it be eaten that night, for it says: AND THEY SHALL EAT THE FLESH IN THAT NIGHT, ROAST WITH FIRE (XII, 8); ‘this is for the sake of Abraham whom I saved from the fiery furnace. AND UNLEAVENED BREAD (ib.)-in honour of Sarah who prepared cakes for the angels, though they did not taste bread.[12] WITH BITTER HERBS (ib.)[13] in honour of Jacob; for just as his sons were persecuted in Egypt, so did Esau persecute him. AND YE SHALL LET NOTHING OF IT REMAIN UNTIL THE MORNING (XII, 10). ‘Just as I will not leave one soul alive of the firstborn in Egypt, So YE SHALL LET NOTHING OF IT REMAIN UNTIL THE MORNING.

As an aside: Why was HaShem visiting Abraham? If you look in the paragraph which precedes chapter 18, you will notice that Abraham has just circumcised himself and his household. The third day after his circumcision is the most painful day. Therefore, HaShem was visiting His friend, Abraham, who was sick. This is bikur cholim, visiting the sick!

At any rate, Lot was celebrating a Pesach feast and he served his angelic guests, matza. Now, the Sages also link this Pesach seder with the Purim seudah. They see that the same word used for the feast (Mishteh) that Lot had with the angels is also used in connection with the Purim seudah:

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

This feast this Mishteh that Lot served is also the feast, the Mishteh, that constituted the Purim seudah:

Esther 8:17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

Esther 9:17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Esther 9:18 But the Jews that [were] at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth [day] thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Esther 9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

Esther 9:22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

In Talmudic literature, the word Mishteh is ONLY used in connection with the Pesach seder and the Purim seudah. The Sages, therefore teach that this Pesach seder was also a Purim seudah! This was a combination feast!

Now lets see what two of those same angels did, on that same day, for Lot:

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-3 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square." But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

The sages understood that Isaac was born on Passover. Take a look again at Bereshit (Genesis) 18:14, which is where we are told that Isaac will be born on the festival which Abraham was now celebrating. This began the 400 years spoken about in:

Bereshit (Genesis) 15:12-14 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then HaShem said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

The Talmud confirms this:

Rosh HaShana 10b It has been taught: R. Eliezer says: In Tishri the world was created; in Tishri the Patriarchs[14] were born; in Tishri the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on New Year Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were visited;[15] on New Year Joseph went forth from prison

Rosh HaShana 11a Whence do we know that Isaac was born on Passover? — Because it is written, On the [next] festival[16] I will return unto thee.[17] Now when was he [the angel] speaking?[18] Shall I say [he was speaking] on Passover and referring to Pentecost? Could she bear in fifty days?[19] Shall I say then that [he was speaking on] Pentecost and was referring to Tishri? Even in five months could she bear? I must suppose then that he was speaking on Tabernacles and referring to Passover.[20] Even so, could she bear in six months? — It has been taught that that year was a leap year. All the same, if the Master deducts the days of uncleanness,[21] the time is too short? — Mar Zutra replied: Even those who hold that when a woman bears at nine months she does not give birth before the month is complete[22] admit that if she bears at seven months she can give birth before the month is complete, as it says, And it came to pass after the cycle of days;[23] the minimum of cycles is two, and the minimum of days is two.

The Egyptian Passover:

Egypt, in Hebrew, Mitzrayim, literally means a

"Place of Narrowness."

The Torah's name for Egypt is Mitzrayim, and this name does not just refer to a geographical location. The root letters of this Hebrew name spell metzar, a word which means "confinement or distress".

To be in "Mitzrayim" is to be in a place of confinement or distress --physical and/or spiritual.

With this in mind, lets examine the Passover that took place in the days of Moses:

Shemot (Exodus) 12:1-14 HaShem said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire--head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is HaShem’s Passover. "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am HaShem. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to HaShem--a lasting ordinance.

"This month shall be the beginning of months" is the first commandment given to the entire nation of Israel. To obey this commandment requires that you understand when a month begins and when the year begins. The written Torah never answers these questions. The Talmud does address this issue. Unless Israel has the authority to declare the new moons, the Rosh Chodeshim, then they would not have the ability to carry out this command. Unless this command is carried out, there would be no festivals.

According to this next passage, Israel entered Egypt on Passover:

Shemot (Exodus) 12:40-42 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all HaShem’s divisions left Egypt. Because HaShem kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor HaShem for the generations to come.

Notice who came out of Egypt:

Shemot (Exodus) 12:31-38 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship HaShem as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me." The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. HaShem had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

So, not only Israelites, but Gentiles as well! This is significant because these were the same folks who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received the Torah (instruction or law). As an aside, of the 600,000 men who came out of Egypt, only two entered the promised land: one Israelite: Yahoshua (Joshua) the Benjamite, and one Gentile convert: Caleb the son of Jephuneh, the Kenizzite. Please recall that the Kennizzites are one the people who's land is promised to Abraham in the covenant between the parts.

Two of the first things that HaShem tells Moshe when sending him To take the Jews out of Egypt are that He is rescuing them so as to bring them to Israel[24] and that on their way out of Egypt, Moshe Should take them to Har Sinai[25]. Perhaps more than any other holiday, Passover, as presented in Tanakh, represents a major change in the Jewish people and their relationship to HaShem and the land of Israel. We read of Passover celebrations during the times of Yahoshua (Joshua), Samuel, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel. In each case, the celebration came along with "major changes".

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Here is another story which is very much like the story of Moses and the Egyptian Passover:

Shoftim (Judges) 6:11-22 The angel of HaShem came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of HaShem appeared to Gideon, he said, "HaShem is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if HaShem is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not HaShem bring us up out of Egypt?' But now HaShem has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." HaShem turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." HaShem answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And HaShem said, "I will wait until you return." Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of HaShem touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of HaShem disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of HaShem, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of HaShem face to face!"

Here we see Gideon able to stand up to an angel and demand to know where his signs and wonders are. Throughout the Tanakh when a man encountered an angel, he would fall on his face like a dead man. How did Gideon generate the strength to talk to an angel like this? The Sages teach us that it was the first day of Passover and Gideon’s father had just inspired him at the seder table. Thus Gideon was imbued with the spiritual strength to stand up to the angel.

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Bereshit (Genesis) 15:9-16 So HaShem said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then HaShem said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

This word "generation" means:

1755 dowr, dore; or (short.) dor, dore; from 1752; prop. a revolution of time, i.e. an age or generation; also a dwelling:-age, X evermore, generation, [n-] ever, posterity.

So, we can see that HaShem is using this ambiguous word to not only indicate a generation, but, also to indicate the fourth millennium after Abram which would put us at the beginning of the seventh millennium - The millennium ruled by Yeshua!

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The following is a summary of all Biblical events that occurred during Passover, that I have found so far:

Date	Torah[9]	Nevi'im[10]	Ketuvim[11]

Nisan 14	Shemot (Exodus) 12:21-51	Yahoshua (Joshua) 3:5-7	Tehilim (Psalm) 113 – 118
	Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:16-25	Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:2 - 6:1
		Yahoshua (Joshua) 6:27
Nisan 15	Vayikra (Leviticus) 22:26 - 23:44	Melakim alef (I Kings) 23:1-9	Tehilim (Psalm) 113 – 118
Nisan 16-20			Tehilim (Psalm) 113, 114, 115:12-18,
			Tehilim (Psalm) 116:12-19, 117, 118
			(Half Hallel)
Intermediate Shabbat	Shemot (Exodus) 33:12 - 34:26	Yehezekel (Ezekiel) 36:37- 37:14	Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs)
Nisan 21	Shemot (Exodus) 13:17 - 15:26	Shmuel bet (II Samuel) 22:1-51
	Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25
Nisan 22	Devarim (Deuteronomy) 15:19 - 16:17	Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 10:32 - 12:6
	Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25

Event	Delivered from:	Scripture

Abram leaves Ur	The exile in Ur	Bereshit (Genesis) 15:6-16
Abram goes to Egypt	Egyptian bondage and exile	Bereshit (Genesis) 12:10 - 13:4
Angels visit Abraham	Circumcision pain	Bereshit (Genesis) 18:1-18
Angels visit Lot	The Sodom exile	Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-29
Isaac is born and is Bound	Jews delivered from death	Bereshit (Genesis) 18:1-10
Yeshua is born and is bound	Gentiles delivered from death	Marqos (Mark) 15:37-42