V.
HEBREW PASS-OVER, OR CROSS-OVER,
SACRIFICE.
1. NEW MEANING IN AN OLD RITE.
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.
Long before that day, a covenant welcome was given to a guest who was to become as one of the family, or to a bride or bridegroom in marriage, by the outpouring of blood on the threshold of the door, and by staining the doorway itself with the blood of the covenant. 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.[[541]]
In announcing this desire for a welcoming sacrifice by the Hebrews, God spoke of it as “Jehovah’s passover,” as if the pass-over rite was a familiar one, which was now to be observed as a welcome to Jehovah.[[542]] Moses, in reporting the Lord’s message to the Hebrews, did not speak of the proposed sacrifice as something of which they knew nothing until now, but he first said to them, “Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover”–or the threshold cross-over;[[543]] and then he added details of special instruction for this new use of the old rite.
2. A WELCOME WITH BLOOD.
A lamb was the chosen sacrifice in the welcome to Jehovah. Each household, or family, was to take one lamb for this offering. No directions were given as to the place or manner of its sacrifice; for that seems to have been understood by all, because of the very term “pass-over,” or threshold cross-over. This is implied, indeed, in the directions for the use of the blood when it was poured out: “Kill the passover,” in the usual place; “and ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is at the threshold [Hebrew, saph], and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is at the threshold.”[[544]]
In that welcome with blood there was covenant protection from Jehovah as he came into Egypt to execute judgment on his enemies. The Egyptians had already refused him allegiance, and put themselves in open defiance of his authority. They were now to be visited in judgment.[[545]] But in order to the distinguishing of the Lord’s people from his enemies, the Hebrews were to prepare a blood welcome at their doorway, and the Lord would honor this welcome by covenanting with those who proffered it.
“And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of cattle.... But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”[[546]]
In furtherance of this purpose, the Lord asked for the sacrifice of the threshold cross-over by the Hebrews: “For the Lord will pass through [the land] to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts [of the Hebrew homes], the Lord will pass over [cross-over or through] the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.”[[547]] Obviously the figure here employed is of a sovereign accompanied by his executioner, a familiar figure in the ancient East. When he comes to a house marked by tokens of the welcoming covenant, the sovereign will covenant-cross that threshold, and enter the home as a guest, or as a member of the family; but where no such preparation has been made for him, his executioner will enter on his mission of judgment.[[548]]