Passover & The Apocalyptic Preacher - Part 1

Passover & Yom Kippur: Ancient Traditions in History

Agnus Dei c. 1635–1640, by Francisco de Zurbarán, Prado Museum.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francisco_de_Zurbar%C3%A1n_006.jpg

According to the majority scholarly consensus among historians, biblical scholars & archeologists, Jesus of Nazareth was born around the year 5BCE in the Herodian Kingdom of Judea. He was tried & crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem under the orders of the Roman province governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate. Scholars estimate that this happened around the year 30CE.

This series of articles will use peer reviewed scholarly work to paint a historical picture of the events that led to Jesus of Nazareth's death. We will go through Pilot & Jesus's trial in Historical Context, and then allegory & metaphorical literature elements in the gospels. 

These articles will be done with critical historical methodology & sourcing, and are not indented to be understood or analyzed from a devotional perspective.

Before we get to the topics mentioned previously, we should cover some historical background about the historical Jesus and also the sacred Jewish traditions of Passover & Yom Kippur in ancient traditional context.

Passover (Pesach):

Around 30CE, Jesus and his followers traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem to observe Passover.

Since ancient times, Passover was held annually (As it still is today), and was one most important Jewish festivals. It was instituted to commemorate the events of the Exodus, mentioned in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The tribes of Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, but their God heard their cries and raised up for them a hero, Moses. Moses was sent to the Pharaoh and demanded, speaking for God, that he free the Hebrews. But the Pharaoh had a hard heart and refused. In order to persuade him, God empowered Moses to send ten horrible plagues against the Egyptians, the last of which was the worst. Every firstborn Egyptian child and animal would be killed by the angel of death.

The Israelites were given instructions to avoid having their own children slain. Each family was to sacrifice a lamb, take some of its blood, and spread it on the doorposts and lintel of the house where they lived. Then, when the angel of death arrived that night, he would see the blood on the door and “pass over” that Israelite house, moving on to houses without the blood, to murder a firstborn child. And so it happened. Pharaoh was struck to the heart, and in anguish he let the Israelites (600 000 men, plus the women and children) leave his land. But after they set out, he had a change of heart, marshaled his army, and chased after them. He tracked them down at the Red Sea, but God performed yet another miracle, allowing Moses to part the waters of the sea so the Israelites could cross on dry land. When the Egyptian armies followed in chase, God caused the waters to return and drowned the whole lot of them.

Israel was saved from its slavery in Egypt. God commanded Moses that from that time onward the Israelites were to commemorate this great event by a special meal, the annual Passover celebration.

Preparing for the Passing Over of the Angel of Death.

Maidun Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

On the Day of Preparation the lamb was slaughtered and the meal was prepared in the afternoon. The meal was eaten that night, which was actually the beginning of the next day (because of relative hour in Jewish tradition). The meal consisted of a number of symbolic foods: the lamb, to commemorate the original slaughter of the lambs in Exodus; bitter herbs, to remind the Jews of their bitter slavery in Egypt; unleavened bread (bread made without yeast) to remind them that the Israelites had to flee from Egypt without much warning, so that they could not wait for the bread to rise; and several cups of wine. The Passover day, then, began with the evening meal and lasted approximately twenty-four hours, through the morning and afternoon of the next day, after which would begin the day after Passover.

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur):

While the Temple in Jerusalem was standing (until 70 CE), the High Priest was mandated by the Torah to perform a complex set of special services and sacrifices for Yom Kippur to attain Divine atonement for the people of Israel, once a year. The High Priest sacrificed a bull as a sin offering to atone for sins he may have committed unintentionally throughout the year. Subsequently he took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. Two goats were chosen by lot, one to be for the God of Israel, which was offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other to be the scapegoat to be sent away into the wilderness and pushed down a steep ravine where it died.

The "sacrificial goat" & "scapegoat"

The blood of the slain goat was taken into the Holy of Holies behind the sacred veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant. Later in the ceremonies of the day, the High Priest confessed the intentional sins of the Israelites to God placing them figuratively on the head of the other goat, the Azazel scapegoat, who would symbolically absorb the sins of the people, and take away their sin. This is also where the metaphorical term "Scapegoat" originated from.

The Scapegoat, by William Holman Hunt, 1854

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Holman_Hunt_-_The_Scapegoat.jpg

References, bibliography & further reading:

Ehrman, Bart D. (1999). Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Oxford University Press

Ehrman, Bart (2009). Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them). New York: HarperCollins.

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/old-testament.html

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Old-Testament-Audiobook/B00DII1TBA

On the Historicity of Jesus, Richard Carrier, 2014, Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd

The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong, Grove Press; Reprint edition (November 1, 2008)

"Yom Kippur: the meaning of its name". Texas Jewish Post. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2021-01-16. Numbers 29:7 "The High Holidays". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved September 27, 2020. "The 120-Day Version Of The Human Story". chabad.org. Retrieved 2021-06-08. "Yom Kippur Theology and Themes". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved September 27, 2020.