Echoes of the Passover in the Old Testament
The Passover in Egypt, and the Exodus that followed immediately after, were the “birth-pangs” of the nation of Israel. The covenant Yahweh then made with the children of Israel was to be renewed with each succeeding generation, as it reached the age of accountability. We see that Moses was doing this very thing when, at the threshold of the Promised Land, he spoke to those who had been either very young or unborn at the time of the Exodus:
“The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers (i.e., with our fathers only), but with us (i.e., us also), even us, who are all of us here alive this day” (Deut. 5:2, 3).
In the continuation of Israel’s national life, and in the individual lives of faithful Israelites, the deliverance from Egypt through the Passover was the “touchstone,” to which every succeeding deliverance by God was compared. (So true this was, and so much was Moses the “Saviour” revered by Israel, that every prophet who arose in the nation—Jesus included — was compared unfavorably with Moses. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews was written with the primary purpose of demonstrating to backsliding Jewish Christians that Christ was indeed, in every particular, greater even than Moses and the deliverance that he wrought and the law that he mediated.)
It is interesting to note, with this in mind, how often the visions of the prophets include references back to the Passover and Exodus. Jeremiah pictures a great deliverance from a later captivity in such language:
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” 16:14, 15; cp. 23:7, 8).
The prophet perceives Yahweh’s future deliverance of Israel from bondage as being so stupendous as to eclipse utterly the memory of the wonderful events of the first Exodus.
An Example From The Psalms
As an example of one of many possible references in the Psalms, let us consider Psalm 49. This is a psalm that describes man’s hopelessness apart from God. The psalmist evidently has in mind some rich and powerful and proud antagonist, a “brutish person,” who is threatening his life (vv. 6, 10, 16, 17). He reassures himself with the knowledge that the grave and nothing else awaits such a man, whilst God will at the last redeem the writer from the grave. The language used is Passover/Exodus language: God gives a “ransom,” a “redemption” price for His people (vv. 6, 7)—which has nothing whatsoever to do with material riches (v. 6). Those who boast in their great riches (v. 6) and build houses and tombs intended to stand for all generations (the Pyramids!)1 and call their lands after their own names (Ramses! — Exod. 1:11) (v. 11) cannot at the last redeem themselves (v. 7). They can carry nothing with them into another life (a reference to the Egyptian practices of mummifying corpses and stocking tombs with goods for the “next world”) (vv. 16, 17). In fact such “brutish” men will leave their wealth to others (v.10) — an allusion to the Jews’ carrying out great wealth from Egypt (Exod. 11:2; 12:35) !
“Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; ‘Death’ shall shepherd them” (v. 14, RSV).
While the Angel of Life was watching over and protecting the houses of the righteous, sprinkled with the blood of the lamb; the “Angel of Death” was “shepherding” the firstborn of Egypt to “Sheol,” the grave. Like sheep, like beasts, they perish (vv. 12, 20). And the upright had dominion over them in the morning (V. 14) — the “Exodus” morning!
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psa. 30:5).
When the morning of Israel’s “birth” came, the flock of Moses was “shepherded” out of Egypt, having been saved by the “precious” (v. 8; cp. 1 Pet. 1:18, 19) blood of the lamb of redemption!
All this, and more, was no doubt in the mind of the psalmist as he penned the beautiful and expressive words of this psalm. And though his trials and his deliverance were ages after that of the Egyptian Hebrews, how apt were those times and those figures to his own experiences!
Other Echoes
Other prophets and writers single out this birth of the nation out of Egypt, as the earnest of the greater deliverance to come, when a “nation shall be born in a day” (Isa. 66:8):
“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isa. 63.9).
That this prophecy has a Passover/Exodus background is proven by vv. 1-3 and especially 11-13. It reveals to us something left unsaid in the original narrative —that, when Israel cried out in their affliction in Egypt (Exod. 2:23), not only did Yahweh hear, but He was also afflicted. What tenderness and compassion there is expressed in this simple statement, and what love!
“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered . . . 0 God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness . . . the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel . . .” (Psa. 68:1, 7, 8).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt” (Isa. 11:11, 12, 15, 16).
“For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (Isa. 43.3-7).
In this last passage, we are informed that in v. 4 the word translated “men” is actually in the singular — “Adam”. What a type is here seen; “Therefore will I give a man for thee!” How vividly it foreshadows the great redemption, of which all else is only a shadow!
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Pet. 1.18-20).
Other passages, just as appropriate, relate the first Exodus to a “second Exodus” of far greater magnitude: Ezek. 20:36, 37; Dan. 9:15-19; Hos. 12:7-14; Mic. 7:15-20; Hab. 3:1-3, 18, 19.
And the great New Testament prophecy joins the chorus, with reference to the overthrow of “the great city which spiritually is called . . . Egypt” (Rev. 11:8) by the outpouring of (not ten this time, but) seven last plagues (15:1) !
Hezekiah’s Passover Deliverance
One historical incident is positively magnificent as an echo of the Passover and Exodus, and as a type of future deliverance:
“And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses” (2 Kings 19:35).
Scriptural evidence favors the destruction of the Assyrian host at Jerusalem2:
“It shall be at an instant suddenly. . . so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against mount Zion” (Isa. 29:5, 8.
“Through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down . . . For Tophet (the valley of Hinnom, or ‘Gehenna’, adjacent to Jerusalem) is ordained of old” (Isa. 30:31,33).
This salvation of Jerusalem, in the days of righteous Hezekiah, was a “passover” deliverance!:
“As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it” (Isa. 31:5).
“Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept” (Isa. 30:29).
(The only holy feast of Yahweh observed at night was the Passover !)
King Hezekiah, during the final onslaught of Sennacherib’s mighty army, found himself, at the traditional Passover time, “shut up” in the city.3
Outside, in the darkness, was the great enemy. But inside the besieged city, instead of food rationing and hoarding, the king commanded the slaying of lambs and the preparation of the Feast. In figure as well as fact, the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts of Jerusalem, and the Angel of Yahweh hovered over the city in protection. While there was life in the city, through the long dark night, there was death — sudden and unexpected—in the camp of the enemy.
Against this background, Isaiah invokes all the wonderful imagery of the Pass-over in ch. 26:
26:13: “0 Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us”: The first such were the mighty Pharaohs of Egypt. Hezekiah prays that Sennacherib along with his proud legions may share the fate of those earlier “lords” who held dominion over the children of Israel.
26:14: “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish”: The devastation of the Assyrian camp, compared to the devastation of the Egyptians.
26.17,18.’ “Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in Thy sight, 0 Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen”: The trials of Hezekiah and the nation are compared to those of a woman with child, whose birth-pangs have been long drawn-out. This figure of speech recalls the “birth” of the nation of Israel out of Egypt.
26.19: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise”: The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was also comparable to a “resurrection” from the dead. This “resurrection” was being re-enacted in Hezekiah’s day — first with his own miraculous recovery as a sign to the nation (typical of Christ also!) ; and secondly, with the salvation of Jerusalem and the remnant therein through the defeat of the invaders.
26:20, 21: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over past. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain”: Here the Passover imagery reaches a crescendo. Every phrase is absolutely appropriate to the first Passover, and—needless to say—points forward to the future realization of all the hopes of the faithful in the return of their Lord.
The “Lamb” Who is A Man
One final prophecy deserves special attention under this heading. Isaiah 52:13-53:12, based as it is on the experiences of the good king Hezekiah, continues the “Passover” echoes with a lamb which is slain for the redemption of the nation. But this “lamb” will be a man! Such a mysterious picture to the Hebrews of that day! Mysterious even to the believers in later times:
“Of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” (Acts 8:34).
The consideration of this prophecy must be deferred until our next installment.
- Perhaps v. 11 should read: ‘Their inward homes (i.e., their graves) will continue forever.”
- This is contrary to the general consensus of secular history (borrowed from the sometimes unreliable Herodotus) that Sennacherib’s army met its fate far away from Jerusalem, on the borders of Egypt.
- This was Sennacherib’s boast, on the “Taylor Prism”: “Hezekiah himself I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem his holy city.” This boast, like political propaganda of every age, was designed to “cover up” Sennacherib’s devastating loss. What it left unsaid —that is, that Hezekiah and Jerusalem were not taken — is surely more significant than what it said!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One