Are Christians aware of Jewish law regarding the paschal lamb?

Question

To slay the paschal lamb and eat the flesh roasted, on the fifteenth night of Nisan. Ex. xii. 6, xii. 8.

To observe the second Passover and eat the paschal lamb with ma...ah and maror. Num. ix. 11, 13; ix. 11.

The law commands that the lamb be eaten. Was "the law" cancelled at that exact moment?
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Is this why Christians eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus?
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Answer 1

Not only does their " Christ in the Passover" teaching and hijacking of the Passover seder not teach them the meaning, but it disrespects the central identity and commands in Torah of observance for a memorial..to remember..to teach to each generation.

Here are portions that teach of the meaning of the Passover lamb ..

Exodus addresses the purpose for the blood of the paschal lamb

Exodus Chapter 8 tells this
21. Thereupon, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and he said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land."
22. But Moses said, "It is improper to do that, for we will sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to our God. Will we sacrifice the deity of the Egyptians before their eyes, and they will not stone us? < the lamb is being spoken of here..the people were still yet fearful of he power of the Egyptians over them and in fear to show disrespect to their deities, this will soon pass
Chapter 10 gives another hint about the upcoming use of the lamb…
2. and in order that you tell into the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and [that you tell of] My signs that I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord."
Exodus Chapter 12:12
12. I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and I will smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and UPON ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT will I wreak judgments I, the Lord.

The blood of an Egyptian deity was an act of defiance and a slam on the God’s of EGYPT for their SLAVES to show that they would place their god’s blood on their door and roast and eat their Egyptian deity in the Egyptians sight and God pass over and protect THEM!

This is the MEMORY that Jews are never to forget..it is a central concept of the Exodus and for the Jews for Jesus to claim it represents JESUS is an utter act of complete disrespect to Torah..

The new Testament makes Jesus a deity and their Christ in the Passover tries to make the paschal lamb his blood..when it represented the "life force" of the FALSE EGYPTIAN deity as it was used on the doorpost in the Exodus story. The mark was of allegiance to God and an act of defiance by the Hebrews.


I am Reform Jewish and know that Jews at a Reform synagogue and I can well imagine at any home of a Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Jew, would welcome a Christian guest at a Passover seder. ..What Jews do not appreciate is to see a misrepresentation of the Passover seder performed that teaches false things about every element of the practice whereby they place Jesus into it and remove the real meanings. For example, the original Passover lamb's blood,( the ancients believe blood was the life force)..was symbolic of the life of the Egyptian deity that God was demonstrating was false, showing Egypt that God was more powerful and was punishing..if you read the Torah it's right in there that the "gods" of Egypt were being slammed by the rebellious act of the slaves..the " Christ in the Passover" lectures corrupt every aspect of the Passover service.

That is extremely offensive to anyone of the Jewish religion to see such disrespect given to a core aspect of our faith and connection to God. The Passover lamb was never a sin sacrifice, but a mark of allegiance and loyalty to the God and covenant of Israel and so the angel of death passed over their homes. If you read the story in Exodus, you'd have seen that Moses had previously asked for Israel to be able to go out in the wilderness to sacrifice, but because the animals were representative of one of Egypts gods, they feared to do so for retaliation. By their act of placing the blood of the Egyptian deity on their doors it was an act of UTTER DEFIANCE to Egypt and declared LOYALTY to God. The slaves were saying to all Egypt, LOOK we defy YOU and your gods, we place the very life of your impotent god on our door and eat your god right in front of you and you and your god are impotent in the face of the REAL God to do anything about it. This was a very important part of their emancipation of 400 years of living surrounded by a people whose religion was so overwhelming every aspect of daily life to their gods and threatened the existence of the nation people Israel had they succombed to it. It was as much about declaring loyalty to God as it was to give them empowerment. God saw this mark of loyalty and passed over their homes.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus blood. The Egyptians made humans into representatives of their gods, to try to make the Passover lamb a symbol of a man-god, human sacrifice is NO less disrespectful to Torah and the covenant of Israel than when Antiochus set up idols in the Temple! The paschal lamb has never been a sin sacrifice and to say so is absolutely disrespectful of the commandment by God in the Torah to REMEMBER the story of the Exodus and to teach it to every generation.

****To anyone of the Jewish faith, to see a service called a Passover seder that corrupts every aspect of the true meaning is as if we are watching attempt to try to blot out the memory and completely dishonor the Torah and our very identity as a covenant nation.*****

When Jewish people see the kind of service that is taught in books like what the "Jews for Jesus" organization or a ministry founded by one who often answers for Judaism in Y/A Marji sell in a book, that is every bit as painful as if we were watching the very Torah itself spat upon. Jews continually ask, How can you do something so utterly disrespectful and painful and corrupting of a direct commandment of God in Torah to teach and remember the events and meaning and then you claim to love Torah, love Israel or honor your Jewish heritage??

The disconnect there is deeper than the Grand Canyon.


If you want to attend a real seder..you can! Simply respect the true and deeply spiritual significance of the service and you shall be welcomed. I have had many Christian friends attend seders at my home and we have had them as guests at community seders.

Just please do not disrespect the true meaning of the Passover and then claim you love Torah or are Torah observant. And please, when Jews speak out against the hijacking of one of our central observances of faith and connection to God..do not further degrade it and yourself by claiming we ATTACK you for belief in Jesus.

Jews do not care if you believe in Jesus. We CARE if our faith is hijacked.

EDIT: EATING blood is a serious SIN in the Torah. That would be completely disrespecting the Passover service and Torah.

Oh also for those of you who were told by your ministers that the "stripes and holes" in the matzoh were a "foreshadowing" and representation of Jesus 'body" to eat..with his stripes and wounds. That is also offensive to Jewish belief as well as anachronistic...the STRIPES and HOLES in MATZOH didn't begin until the late 1800s when matzoh started being MACHINE MADE!


EDIT: As much as I loved the Cecil B. DeMille version of the Exodus story, because it took so many liberties with the text of Torah, generations who haven't read the story in the Torah have some big gaps in understanding. I respectfully suggest to any curious here, to read the real story. It is quite fascinating and reads every bit as entertaining as the DeMille version, except nobody was as cool as Yul Brenner when he told his wife..who asked him to bring back the sword with the blood of Moses.."I will to mingle with that of your own"..that line gave me goosebumps every time I heard it! But I digress....
here is the real story in the whole book of Exodus below:

Answer 2

I've seen comments that there's a prohibition against touching a pig, so that one would wear gloves with a football. HOWEVER, I assume this is only for the quite religious who use rules of a very wide wall around Torah. By that I mean the ones who interpret milk & meat separateness to include the nth degree of separation such as keeping two dishwashers... And follow the clothing material commandments (which I don't know) So, unless you're in that category, I'd think it's fine. However, I'm not a Rabbi & don't have specific knowledge. Pigs are supposed to make great pets and be very smart. I've known a few people with one over the years.

Answer 3

Well yes because the New Testament is not a rejection of the Jewish tradition but the continuation. This explained in the Pope´s new book, Jesus of Nasareth.

I wish I understood more how the last supper is linked to the passover tradition.

Answer 4

In Acts, the early church leaders including Peter, Paul, and James the brother of Jesus (who was also the High Priest of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem) got together and decided that Gentiles who converted to Christianity did not have to follow Jewish laws. Most Christians are aware of this and for the ones who aren't, well it doesn't really have anything to do with anything.

Answer 5

Yes, it's actually the Gospel of John that makes Jesus the symbolic paschal lamb, and makes a big point of equating Jesus' flesh and blood with the symbols of the Eucharist - the bread and wine. That's the reason why John's chronology of Jesus' suffering and crucifixion differs from that of the other three gospels: he's making a very clear statement that Jesus is to be regarded as the symbolic paschal lamb, by making sure his timeline fits with the Passover feast.

I think Christians that don't understand the Passover are going to miss a huge part of what their own faith was based upon.

Peace to you.

Answer 6

Good Insight !!!
Some christians say the law was done away with !!!
That is not a biblical concept !!! The law being fulfilled on our behalf is a better understanding !!!
No one can keep the whole law !!! So one came that did and so God's justice was metered out on Himself !!!

God only wants perfection and you cannot achieve that !!! Our paschal lamb is Christ Himself !!!Many OT scholars have tried to make sense out of all of this, but have failed !!!
As Jesus said He was a stumbling block and so He is to some !!!

Answer 7

Yes I was, but we are not required to follow the laws of the old testament, as with Christ we were given a new covenant. And we celebrate the sacrifice of the Lamb every Sunday that we celebrate Holy Communion, where in we take the true body and true blood, in, with, and through the bread and the wine. This is also one reason why many of Jesus' disciples walked away, they were too caught up in the laws of man to obey the law of God.

Edit: To disrepect the Passover or Seder would be to celebrate the Seder meal. But we don't. We do NOT equate the Passover with Holy Communion. Christ abolished the passover. The only Seder I have ever participated in was led by a Rabbi, cooked by the women of the Temple (along with those of us who wanted to learn, and yes we kept a kosher kitchen for the day), and was led to teach us our history.

Answer 8

The blood of the paschal lamb of the Old Testament protects and saves the Israelites in Exodus 12. This link is made explicit in 1 Corinthians 5:7. For Paul, Christians are saved by Christ as their true paschal lamb.

so it's not a jesus reference...that came later, when Paul alluded to Christ as the Lamb of God.

None of this stuff is actually true of course.

Answer 9

Vaguely, I think you're also not to have any type of leaven in the house and you are to eat unleavened bread. That's about all I know.

Answer 10

I'm aware of it. It is a picture of Jesus. It is a shadow, but Jesus is the substance.

The only way for anyone, Jewish or Gentile, to be saved and go to heaven and not eternal hell is by believing that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose again

Answer 11

As it is Jewish law most christians don't follow it and No I wasn't aware.