When the time approached in which, according to the promise made to
Abraham, his children would be redeemed, it was seen that they had no
pious deeds to their credit for the sake of which they deserved release
from bondage. God therefore gave them two commandments, one bidding
them to sacrifice the paschal lamb and one to circumcise their
sons.[201] Along with the first they received the calendar in use among
the Jews, for the Passover feast is to be celebrated on the fifteenth
day of the month of Nisan, and with this month the year is to begin.
But the computations for the calendar are so involved that Moses could
not understand them until God showed him the movements of the moon
plainly. There were three other things equally difficult, which Moses
could comprehend only after God made him to see them plainly. They were
the compounding of the holy anointing oil, the construction of the
candlestick in the Tabernacle, and the animals the flesh of which is
permitted or prohibited.[202] Also the determination of the new moon
was the subject of special Divine teaching. That Moses might know the
exact procedure, God appeared to him in a garment with fringes upon its
corners, bade Moses stand at His right hand and Aaron at His left, and
then, citing Michael and Gabriel as witnesses, He addressed searching
questions to the angels as to how the new moon had seemed to them. Then
the Lord addressed Moses and Aaron, saying, "Thus shall My children
proclaim the new moon, on the testimony of two witnesses and through
the president of the court.[203]
When Moses appeared before the children of Israel and delivered the
Divine message to them, telling them that their redemption would come
about in this month of Nisan, they said: "How is it possible that we
should be redeemed? Is not the whole of Egypt full of our idols? And we
have no pious deeds to show making us worthy of redemption." Moses made
reply, and said: "As God desires your redemption, He pays no heed to
your idols; He passes them by. Nor does He look upon your evil deeds,
but only upon the good deeds of the pious among you."[204]
God would not, indeed, have delivered Israel if they had not abandoned
their idol worship. Unto this purpose He commanded them to sacrifice
the paschal lamb. Thus they were to show that they had given up the
idolatry of the Egyptians, consisting in the worship of the ram.[205]
The early law was different from the practice of later times, for they
were bidden to select their sacrificial animal four days before the day
appointed for the offering, and to designate it publicly as such, to
show that they did not stand in awe of the Egyptians.
With a heavy heart the Egyptians watched the preparations of the
Israelites for sacrificing the animals they worshipped. Yet they did
not dare interpose an objection, and when the time came for the
offering to be made, the children of Israel could perform the
ceremonies without a tremor, seeing that they knew, through many days'
experience, that the Egyptians feared to approach them with hostile
intent. There was another practice connected with the slaughter of the
paschal lamb that was to show the Egyptians how little the Israelites
feared them. They took of the blood of the animal, and openly put it on
the two side posts and on the lintel of the doors of their houses.[206]
Moses communicated the laws regulating the Passover sacrifice to the
elders, and they in turn made them known to the people at large. The
elders were commended for having supported the leader at his first
appearance, for their faith in Moses caused the whole people to adhere
to him at once. Therefore God spake, saying: "I will reward the elders
for inspiring the people with confidence in Moses. They shall have the
honor of delivering Israel. They shall lead the people to the Passover
sacrifice, and through this the redemption will be brought about."[207]
The ceremonies connected with the Passover sacrifice had the purpose of
conveying instruction to Israel about the past and the future alike.
The blood put on the two side posts and on the lintel of their doors
was to remind them of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the bunch of
hyssop for sprinkling the blood on the doors was to imply that,
although Israel's position among the peoples of the earth is as lowly
as that of the hyssop among the plants, yet this little nation is bound
together like the bunch of hyssop, for it is God's peculiar
treasure.[208]
The paschal sacrifice afforded Moses the opportunity for inducing the
children of Israel to submit themselves to circumcision, which many had
refused to do until then in spite of his urgent appeals. But God has
means of persuasion. He caused a wind to blow that wafted the sweet
scents of Paradise toward Moses' paschal lamb, and the fragrance
penetrated to all parts of Egypt, to the distance of a forty days'
journey. The people were attracted in crowds to Moses' lamb, and
desired to partake of it. But he said, "This is the command of God, 'No
uncircumcised person shall eat thereof,' " and they all decided to
undergo circumcision. When the Lord passed through the land of Egypt,
He blessed every Israelite for his fulfilment of the two commands, the
command of the paschal sacrifice and the command regarding
circumcision."
The Lord performed a great miracle for the Israelites. As no sacrifice
may be eaten beyond the borders of the Holy Land, all the children of
Israel were transported thither on clouds, and after they had eaten of
the sacrifice, they were carried back to Egypt in the same way.[210]