Passover Part 1: The Threshold Covenant

Hello Dear Readers!  So good to be with you today as I have some thoughts to pen about Passover.  As usual, I'm using this space as a scrapbook to gather my thoughts, as I have been following a trail of breadcrumbs that need to be formed into a loaf 🍞. I am always honored that anyone would want to be part of my exploration.  I do not promise expertise on this trail, but perhaps you will find some breadcrumbs of your own as we journey together.  This is a topic that I tend to get longwinded about, so my plan is to break it down into a few separate posts.  We begin with a practice, already ancient at the time of the Biblical exodus, and will end with Messiah Yeshua, our Chief Cornerstone and High Priest.  That's a lot of ground to cover, so we had better get started.  Ready?  Let's go!

References

Exodus 12:1-20  

The Threshold Covenant, by H. Clay Trumbull

Did YHVH use a pagan rite to communicate with Israel? -- added by Debbie in response to a great question

Because our topic today is Passover, let us review what we are told about the very first passover in Exodus 12:1-20.  

We find YHVH's instruction to Moses regarding the final plague/judgment of Egypt and how Israel should prepare their homes with blood in order to be "passed over."  

I used to read that and think to myself, "how bizarre."  But recently I have learned that, although the Passover blood ritual would seem bizarre to the contemporary western mind, the ancient eastern mind was well acquainted with it.   

What?  

 

It turns out that the instructions that YHVH gave Israel to act out for the original Passover, were part of an ancient ritual known as the threshold covenant.  It would have been well known to the peoples of the ancient world.  We see Biblical hints of it as early as Abel outside of the Garden of Eden, in the altars that Abraham built as he walked the promised land of Canaan, and even in the ancient book of Job.     

So let us take a little side trail to learn just a bit about the ancient threshold covenant.  My source for this excursion is H. Clay Trumbull's work entitled, The Threshold Covenant, first published in 1896.  It now lives in the public domain and can be downloaded, at no cost from Project Gutenberg.  The selections that I am sharing were chosen in order to help present what was known in ancient times about this covenant AND familiarize our western minds with its practice.*

*(Note: This books is 374 pages long, so if it feels like I am leaving a few things out...well, it's because I am.  If you find that this topic interests you, I highly recommend that you download it and give yourself the opportunity to fill in the gaps).  

“The primitive altar of the family would seem to have been the threshold, or door-sill, or entrance-way, of the home dwelling-place. This is indicated by surviving customs, in the East and elsewhere among primitive peoples, and by the earliest historic records of the human race. It is obvious that houses preceded temples, and that the house-father was the earliest priest. Sacrifices for the family were, therefore, within or at the entrance of the family domicile.”  Excerpt From: H. Clay Trumbull. “The Threshold Covenant; or, The Beginning of Religious Rites.” iBooks. 

So from this, we see the ancient home was thought of as a temple, and the leader of the home acted as priest.  This would have been a familiar element of world view to both the Egyptians and Israelites during the time of the Biblical exodus.

“How the significance of the Hebrew passover rite stands out in the light of this primitive custom! It is not that this rite had its origin in the days of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt, but that Jehovah then and there emphasized the meaning and sacredness of a rite already familiar to Orientals. In dealing with his chosen people, God did not invent a new rite or ceremonial at every stage of his progressive revelation to them; but he took a rite with which they were already familiar, and gave to it a new and deeper significance in its new use and relations."  Excerpt From: H. Clay Trumbull. “The Threshold Covenant; or, The Beginning of Religious Rites.” iBooks. 

Here we see YHVH communicating with His people in a way that they understood.  Threshold sacrifices were something that the Israelites and Egyptians would have known well.  In this instance, all of the deities of Egypt had been judged during the first 9 plagues.  YHVH uses this final judgement to let Pharaoh know that YHVH is the only deity.  Period.  

Interestingly, Pharaoh would have known what was coming, because, to not offer blood in the threshold, was to disrespect the deity.  Through the plagues, YHVH had shown His superiority to the gods of Egypt.  Pharaoh did not have to be told what the punishment for disrespecting YHVH was.  It was a well-known part of the rite...

“The idea seems to have been that he who covenanted by blood with God, or with the gods, when his house, or his city, was builded, was guarded, together with his household, while he and they were dwellers there; but, if he failed to proffer a threshold sacrifice, his first-born, or the first person who crossed the bloodless threshold, would be claimed by the ignored or defied deity.”  Excerpt From: H. Clay Trumbull. “The Threshold Covenant; or, The Beginning of Religious Rites.” iBooks. 

To not welcome YHVH meant...

"And now Jehovah announced that he was to visit Egypt on a designated night, and that those who would welcome him should prepare a threshold covenant, or a pass-over sacrifice, as a proof of that welcome; for where no such welcome was made ready for him by a family, he must count the household as his enemy."  Excerpt From: H. Clay Trumbull. “The Threshold Covenant; or, The Beginning of Religious Rites.” iBooks. 

And resulted in DEATH.

So, now that we have learned a bit about the threshold covenant, we realize that the Israelites nor the Egyptians were ignorant as to what the blood in the basin and on the doorposts meant.  They understood the significance of the lamb.  They understood the welcoming of The Deity.  They knew the consequences of disrespecting YHVH.

They understood that participating in Passover was entering into a covenant.  

YHVH tells Israel that "This day is to be a memorial for you.  You are to keep it as a feast to YHVH.  Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance."  Exodus 12:14

Well Debbie, that's just great for Israel.  But why would this really matter to me as a follower of Yeshua? Isn't Passover just for the Jews? 

I'm so glad you asked.  

I'll be back soon to explore that question and dig a little deeper into the Passover / Threshold covenant.  And when I do, I hope you will...

Come Seek With Me!

Ready to Keep Going?

Passover Part 2: Who Gets to Celebrate