TORAH: Exodus 13:17-15:26, Numbers 28:19-25
HAFTARAH: 2 Samuel 22:1-51
GOSPEL: John 20:1-14
Portion Summary
Passover (Hebrew: פֶּסַח Pesach) commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and is celebrated for seven or eight days. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.
Shvi’i shel Pesach is celebrated on both the seventh and eighth days of Passover. This holiday commemorates the day the Children of Israel reached the Red Sea and witnessed both the miraculous “Splitting of the Sea”, the drowning of all the Egyptian chariots, horses and soldiers that pursued them. According to the Midrash, only the Pharaoh was spared to give testimony to the miracle that occurred.
Portion Outline:
Torah
Exodus 13:17 | The Pillars of Cloud and Fire
Exodus 14:1 | Crossing the Red Sea
Exodus 14:26 | The Pursuers Drowned
Exodus 15:1 | The Song of Moses
Exodus 15:20 | The Song of Miriam
Exodus 15:22 | Bitter Water Made Sweet
Exodus 16:1 | Bread from Heaven
Exodus 17:1 | Water from the Rock
Exodus 17:8 | Amalek Attacks Israel and Is Defeated
Numbers 28:19-25 | Passover Offering
Prophets
2 Samuel 22:1 | David’s Song of Thanksgiving
Portion Commentary:
A People Ransomed by God
Looking for spiritual deliverance? The last day of Passover commemorates the crossing of the Red Sea, the final deliverance from bondage, and the miracle of immersion.
Painting of splitting of the Red Sea, September 2009, Source: Biblical Paintings – Dr. Lidia Kozenitzky (Image: Via Wikimedia Commons
Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2).
In Paul’s day, one who wanted to become a disciple of Yeshua had to go through a ritual immersion. This rule applied to both Jews and Gentiles. Prior to the immersion, the new disciple confessed and renounced his sins in keeping with the tradition of John’s immersion. Then he descended into a gathering of living water “for the name of Yeshua.” The immersion brought ceremonial cleansing from Levitical impurity, and it symbolized spiritual cleansing, death, and resurrection.
Judaism teaches that one who immerses in a mikvah (immersion pool) symbolically dies as he descends into the water and is reborn as he leaves the water. The apostles applied the death and rebirth imagery of the immersion ritual:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Yeshua have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death … if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)
Read complete commentary at First Fruits of Zion.
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