The Passover Instructions

An Invitation to a New Beginning
Exodus 12 is a fascinating chapter that contains an inexhaustible number of lessons. First, God instructed His people to change the calendar. What was about to happen was so remarkable that it merited a change of calendar, and this event was supposed to be remembered and celebrated every year. In fact, it was to be celebrated even before it happened. The children of Israel were offered a new beginning, freedom from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, and they had an opportunity to partake in a journey to the Promised Land. God also gave them a promise of protection from the tenth plague.

But how were the Israelites to go about accepting freedom, beginning their journey, and avoiding the tenth plague? In Exodus 12 God gave Moses and Aaron extensive and detailed instructions on how to escape the devastating plague and celebrate the Passover.

Detailed Instructions
For as long as I can remember, whenever I read the story of the Exodus I wondered why God’s directions regarding the Passover celebration were so detailed. For example: Put some of the blood on the doorposts, eat the flesh at night, don’t boil it, roast it on a fire, eat bitter herbs and unleavened bread, burn all remains in the morning. Eat with your belt fastened, with sandals on your feet and with your staff in hand. And “in the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening” (Ex. 12:18, ESV).*

Today we understand the symbolism, the meaning behind the instructions, and can compare this event to the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Those lessons, however, we draw from the story when reflecting on it after the fact. The Israelites in Egypt did not have the bigger picture. They had to act in faith. Since God knows each heart, He surely knew which households were committed to Him. Were all these instructions necessary? Why would the act of painting blood on the doorpost make a difference between life and death? The people of Israel demonstrated their faith in God in this way, believing and trusting that He would deliver them.

Faith isn’t only about believing in God in our hearts, but also about acting by faith and exercising our trust in Him.

Demonstrations of Faith
There are multiple examples in the Bible of individuals receiving detailed instructions from God. In those stories the outcome depends on people following the instructions by faith. The instructions are not always logical, and sometimes quite unusual or challenging, but they serve as a test of obedience, an exercise in trusting God.

Even though forming it made no sense and went against all human logic, Gideon’s army was given victory over the Midianites after Gideon followed God’s instruction and shrunk his army from 32,000 to 300 soldiers. Gideon exercised trust in God and demonstrated his faith by following God’s directions.

Is it logical to believe that the walls of a city will collapse as a result of marching and shouting? The Israelites showed obedience and repeatedly demonstrated their faith in God when they went to conquer the city of Jericho. They followed God’s specific instruction of marching around the city every day for six days and then seven times on the seventh day, and then shouting. After they marched around the city for a week, the walls of Jericho collapsed.

Naaman was not an Israelite; he was a Gentile. Yet he received instructions from a prophet of God and was told to dip himself seven times in a river to be healed from his sickness of leprosy. Not any river, but specifically the river Jordan. Naaman expected to be healed in another way, but eventually, and maybe a bit reluctantly, decided to trust and follow God’s specific instructions, even though they didn’t make sense to him. As a result, he was healed.

Another example of demonstrating faith by following detailed instructions is the story of the blind man who regained his eyesight after following Jesus’ directions to wash in the Pool of Siloam. There are several examples in the Bible in which healing requires action in response to Jesus’ instructions.

Peter had been fishing all night without any success when Jesus told him to cast his net again. There was no reason casting the net again would make any difference except for the fact that Jesus was telling him to do so. Peter obeyed and caught a lot of fish. He could have relied on his experience as a fisherman, but he chose to follow Jesus’ instruction, thereby demonstrating his faith.

Abraham, known as the father of faith, trusted God in the most impossible circumstances. He left his homeland, believed that God would give him a son in his old age, and was even willing to sacrifice his only son. He believed God, who was his faithful friend, and trusted that He knew how to best work things out.

Obeying and trusting God is not always easy. Jonah was reluctant to obey and tried to flee from his mission. But God did not give up on him. Jonah repented, took his second chance, and went to Nineveh to deliver God’s message about the impending judgment of the city.

Noah followed extremely detailed instructions when building the ark. Despite being ridiculed by others, he preached the impending flood for 120 years, having never seen rain.

These biblical examples are accounts of real experiences of real people. It is impossible to fully comprehend what they went through, but they teach us that faith isn’t only about believing in God in our hearts, but also about acting by faith and exercising our trust in Him. Not only when it is convenient and reasonable, but every time God instructs.

At the Passover the people of Israel demonstrated their surrender and trust in God. Protection for their household against the tenth plague depended on their obeying God’s specific instructions. They didn’t know it at the time, but ahead of them was a long journey and countless challenges and trials through which their faith and obedience would be tested.

Remembering What God Has Done
Has God instructed you to do something specific? Are you unable to see the big picture? Are you struggling to see the end from the beginning? Let the Passover account and the other examples mentioned, in which people experienced healing, protection, deliverance, victory, and blessings, be an encouragement to trust God enough to obey.

It is crucial to remember what God has done for us and the faithful examples in the Bible. God instructed the Israelites to observe Passover every year, to remember the miracles and how He had led them. His people were to retell it vividly to their descendants. Remembering God’s leading in the past makes it easier to trust Him today and to have faith that He will continue to do good for us in the future.

*Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.