The Christmas Shepherds, Levitical Priests for Their Bethlehem Flocks

Shepherds and sheep hold a prominent place in the Bible. The most famous are the Christmas shepherds!  Is it possible that Mary birthed Jesus in a shepherd’s hospital near Bethlehem instead of an “inn with no room?” In Hebrew, Migdal Eder (Migdal-tower and Eder-flock) the Tower of the Flock stood on the road between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

 Migdal Eder no longer stands. However, the bible mentions Migdal Eder (or Edar) in two passages, Genesis 35:21 and Micah 4:8. Jewish sages writing in the Mishnah (Jewish Oral Tradition), confirm the existence of the Tower of the Flock. Also reinforced due to shepherds retelling stories around campfires for hundreds of years, a Byzantine monastery was built over Migdal Eder in the fourth century.

For millennia, shepherds were familiar with The Tower of the Flock. The Sadducees, in charge of Temple sacrifices, chose the Bethlehem shepherds who were experts in animal husbandry.  They considered them as Levitical Priests because the lambs they tended on the birthing floor of Migdal Eder were destined for Temple sacrifices. Exodus 12:5 mentions, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year:” 

Migdal Eder was a two-level stone structure, allowing the Chief Shepherd to look out over the flock for predators.  (Photo-only an example.) At birthing time, shepherds led the ewes from the fields into the tower. The ancient veterinarians reached into the ewe’s womb to pull out the newborns, then snugly wrapped the lambs in swaddling cloths. If the lamb harmed its limbs at all, it would be rejected as a Temple sacrifice. Shepherds laid the lamb in a stone manger until it calmed down. Then they unwrapped the swaddling and let the lamb return to its mother for feeding.

When angels appeared to the shepherds in the Bethlehem fields, they immediately understood the directions in the glorious angelic birth announcement! “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  Shepherds knew that  Bethlehem was the “town of David,” King David’s birthplace. As a shepherd boy, he was likely familiar with Migdal Eder too. We don’t know how far the shepherds ran to see the promised Messiah, but no GPS was needed. The Tower of the Flock was their ancient office.

The shepherds excitedly shared the magnificent news of Messiah’s birth to everyone in the vicinity. Imagine the astounding privilege they experienced seeing the angels and the Messiah in one night!

When lambs reached a year old, the shepherds herded thousands of them into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, called The Day of Lambs in ancient Jewish culture. The Temple Priests examined each lamb allowing only the perfect ones for sacrifices. Jesus Christ, Emanu-El, God with us, is the Perfect Passover Lamb and our Good Shepherd! How fitting that Jesus, possibly born in or near the Tower of the Flock, entered Jerusalem for His last Passover, this time with the parade of lambs destined for Temple sacrifices. Maybe the Bethlehem shepherds who beheld Jesus at His birth, marveled once again as He rode a donkey among the lambs. And He shall reign forever and ever!   Arlene Bridges Samuels

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing Jesus is the Most Spectacular Gift Now and Forever!

One word occurred to me last week that explains a lot about the disturbing results of the pandemic. Within a dark, supercharged veil hanging over our nation and our world, we are often living in an atmosphere of GRIEF. We grieve the far-reaching changes in our personal and national life. Our radically altered daily lives and losses in the pandemic have produced deep-seated loneliness. Increased suicides, drugs, and alcohol usage, and family members dying alone in hospitals have taken a national toll. The shock of fast-moving totalitarianism we could have never imagined has created anxiety and a sense of helplessness.

These two bible passages have served as a secure stake in the ground for me. First, Isaiah 5:20 describes our upside-down world in ancient and modern times saying, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.”

Living in what I call a "Five-Twenty world," (Isaiah 5:20) the Lord has bestowed hope and blessings on me with His presence. Thankfully, in facing the realities of Isaiah’s words, Psalm 23 is a frequent touchstone encapsulating the beauty of our Lord’s unconditional love, comfort, trustworthiness, and sovereignty. I prefer the King James bible for this profound passage:

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

With these and other verses, I remind myself that we are all passing through this world on our way to another. Our eternal citizenship is in heaven. Our Lord Jesus stamped our permanent passport with His shed blood on the cross freeing us from sin’s destination when we recognize Him as our Perfect Sacrificial Lamb Who threw off His graveclothes and rose up under His own power on Resurrection Day! Our confessions, repentance, and asking Him to rescue us with His forgiveness and unmerited grace, open the door for His Holy Spirit reside in our hearts.

For those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ-and for those that I pray will consider Him as Savior-here is what God promises us when we arrive in Heaven, our final destination. Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

I hope my thoughts offer comfort and encouragement in whatever challenges you may face.

Photos by Ned McNair, Mr. Sunrise

Healing in the Nail Scarred Hands

Our Lord Jesus chose the pain pounded into His hands and His feet. Not as a martyr but as a Savior. He substituted Himself, bestowing hope and life eternal on us amid the chaotic pain of living in our fallen world.

To the Romans, His friends, family, and enemies, the wooden cross looked like the end for Him. His resurrection three days later proved them wrong. In His redemptive destiny, our Lord became the pain of sin itself when He obeyed Father God’s plan in the Garden of Gethsemane. 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus was more than acquainted with grief and sorrow. He was intimately connected with it. He could have avoided the nails hammered through His flesh and bones because He was God. Scripture reminds us in Isaiah 53:3 that Jesus “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

He was God nailed on an ancient tree.

Nailed there not by the will or hatred of ancients, but by the will of His own obedience; His own choice to take our place as the Perfect Lamb of God with the purest blood coursing through His veins. The divine perfection of God-blood mysteriously joined with a young Jewish mother’s blood. In that way, Jesus experienced first-hand the walking, talking, feelings of humankind.

The Romans slamming nails into Jesus’ body outside Jerusalem took place while priests were killing thousands of lambs in The Temple. It was a ritual to sacrifice lamb’s blood during Passover week. On crucifixion day, another fact came into view; thousands of lambs were no longer needed since the one Perfect Lamb took care of all sins from beginning to end. In only a few hours, the King of the Jews changed the trajectory of humankind from death to eternal life.

The crucifixion tree, a violent symbol of cruelty was meant for permanent death yet it turned into an instrument of life for sinners. A new reality was locked in when Jesus rose up by His own power from a donated tomb three days later. Thus, the risen Savior opened the way for us to live now and forever.

Bowing in worship to ask for His forgiveness, then honor and thank Him, we can barely comprehend His gift. Nevertheless, we know His sacrifice and resurrection to be true and transformative …the most profound love straight from the heart of Father God.

In His hands, the nails He suffered became hope. His nails became deliverance, healing, and new life.

Most of us have lived through emotional nails of sorrow, challenge, and even desperation. Some of those sorrows have to do with mental, physical illness, and diseases, ours and others. When we call on our Lord, He reaches out to help us with his nail scarred hands.

With His hands, Jesus fashions us into emblems of His deliverance and salvation. He removes the nails that have sunk deep into our souls and spirits. It may not happen in an instant. More often, we go on a sometimes long journey with Him. But hope is always much more possible through Him as opposed to not calling upon our Lord at all.

The enemy always drives the nails into our lives and spirits aiming for permanent damage and spiritual death. Jesus’ resurrection proved the enemy incapable of overpowering Him. Counting on Jesus as our willing Substitute for our sins, the finished work of our Lord on the tree outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, gives us endless options of hope and help.

Even with the ravages of sin’s nails, nevertheless God renews and sustains us no matter what. Jesus pulls our nails out by the power of His Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He gently removes life’s nails and tosses the accumulated pains away.

Thanks be to God!

Flowers and Weeds

 Southern spring, now summer has burst out with flowers.  My husband and I are not master gardeners, but we plant, water, and then enjoy flowers of many kinds. Every year we experiment with different flower ideas on our small patio and deck.  Last year, our gladiolas were not a success. Only two long-stem blooms emerged from the twenty-or so bulbs. We also planted two small Hydrangeas and this year they bloomed into beautiful, rounded visions of lavender/blue.

Our 7-foot-tall gardenia bush busted out with fragrances and blooms more plenteous than ever. The blooms weighed so heavily on the branches that we had to encircle the bush with rope and tie it together. And insects!! They have enjoyed a field day eating holes in the leaves of our rose bushes. I think I have now stopped their leafy food frenzy with a killer spray. 

Anyone who enjoys gardening looks at weeds as an unwelcome guest. They invade anywhere they like, ruining a lovely scene. Pulling weeds is my least favorite task but I am always happy with the results. Panting and pulling in the hot sun, means that later I can sit under our patio umbrella, take long sips of water or iced tea, while taking in the beauty of God’s floral handiwork.  The sounds of our small fountain and songs of birds visiting Paul’s feeders create a full picture of shalom. 

                                              
Often, simple analogies come to mind when I am gardening. Here's what surfaced this morning.  The Lord created a magnificent palate of nature’s beauty for us. However, the magnificence of His beautiful sacrifice, the red of His shed blood, redeems and covers us with His snow-white palate of hope.  God on the cross. The Perfect Lamb hanging there as our Substitute for sin’s dark grip.  

Beginning my journey with Jesus at seventeen, I discovered that it was not a straight line. Yes, flowers have filled my life. The mission field, wonderful jobs, friends. Nevertheless, weeds have sprung up many times. Some weeds popped up because of my inattention to the Lord, some weeds that had nothing to do with my neglect or sin, but from the outside…wild weeds of pain.

When I chose to turn away from the Lord for five years, I lived a self-imposed winter. Years later, a winter of sorrow with empty arms was followed by the glorious springs of two miracle adoptions.

Some weeds cover life like kudzu vines draping over trees in the south. Or many big, ugly weeds stubbornly infest marriages. In our marriage, we found that the Master Gardner kept planting His gorgeous blooms of

healing, helping us pull out the stubborn weeds. He always provided His love-and His correction-tending the garden of our lives. With His enabling, we kept choosing outrageous commitment to save our love.  Now those commitments have lasted 45 years already.

Yes, weeds of sins, pain, and pop-up problems where winters seem like an endless garden of despair. Always though, the Master Gardner returns with gifts of His Presence, the spring of renewed hope and strength.  

Hosea 14:5-6 is a precious promise that comes from God’s heart through the minor prophet Hosea. God told Hosea to remain faithful to his wayward wife, in essence to seek her out, redeem, and forgive her unfaithfulness. It is a timeless picture of God’s redemption, saving us from ourselves, our sins, and life’s weeds.

 “I will be like dew to the people of Israel. They will blossom like flowers. They will be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon. They will be like growing branches. They will be beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like cedars from Lebanon.”

 

 

Unburdened!

Sheep walk along many word paths in the books of the Bible; grazing, resting, sacrificed, or lost. Sheep are mentioned five-hundred times in scripture, more than any other animal. We ourselves are described as sheep.  Psalm 23 is my favorite where the first verse proclaims, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

I recently ran across a story about Baarack, a lost sheep in Australia. Baarack was near death. He carried a heavy burden, a burden of wool.  Barely walking, he foraged for bits of grass made even worse because the wool almost covered his eyes rendering him practically blind. And in the wildness of the woods, predators lurked.

 Found by someone walking in the woods, he was in dreadful condition.  Fortunately for Baarack, he was transported by pick-up truck to Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary near Melbourne, Australia. Their wonderful work is a rescue operation for neglected or abandoned farm animals. Like kind shepherds to animals in need, the staff gently unloaded Baarack when he  arrived.

After removing insects, leaves, and twigs from his matted fleece, they pulled out the shearing tool and began to cut away Baarack’s burden. When they finished shearing, they weighed the fleece.  The scales registered seventy pounds! And the staff name for their rescued sheep is so clever, Baa-Rack!

His before and after photos are an astonishing display of redemption.

 Baarack’s story is our story. We carry burdens too heavy. We are lost in the challenges of life that often render us hopeless. Then, we encounter Jesus, the Perfect sacrificial Lamb, the Eternal Rescuer, the  One Whom God the Father sent two thousand years ago to redeem us.  The One who chose to shed His blood on the cross, making way for the Holy Spirit to shear off the burdens that beset us.

Baarack’s new life began with the kind hands of the farm’s staff. When Jesus rescues us, Matthew 11:28-30 describes our new life:  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” 

The Perfect Lamb’s blood covers us not with cumbersome burdens but with spiritual life abundant. Our world-blinded eyes are opened to another  world, a world of hope. We feed at a table of love provided and guided by Jesus, our Good Shepherd Who rescues us from ourselves.

Here are ways to follow and learn about the wonderful work at Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary: www.edgarsmission.org.au  @edgarsmission, and on Facebook.

Israel: An Environmental Wonder Making its Deserts Like Eden

 

In Israel, the Holy Land, the earth itself is indeed Holy! The earth where Jesus walked overflows with flowers and vineyards that depict nature as a visual symbol of rebirth. With the profusion of emerging plants and vast flocks of migrating birds, the renewal of spring is draping itself not only over the land but in the sky. God’s promises are abundant, too. 

Isaiah, who could be considered a biblical prize-winning prophet of Nobel-like stature, transmitted our Creator’s words in chapter 35:1-2: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.” The prophet goes on to write, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground” (Isaiah 44:3). 

Israel is an arid land, upwards of 60 percent desert. How did God bring/transform His ancient land to the modern environmental miracle it is today? First, Israel’s environmental beauty flows through the Jews, originating with God’s biblical covenants about their Promised Land. In Genesis 17:19, God tells Abraham that Sarah will miraculously birth Isaac: “I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come.” The Bible includes more than a thousand verses bolstering the fact that God connected the Jews with the land, the earth. 

Fast forward from God’s almost 4,000-year-old promises to the year 1910, when the land was called “Palestine” under the British Mandate—nomenclature that continued until 1948. The first communal settlement (kibbutz in Hebrew) was established south of the Sea of Galilee. Young Jewish men and women—mostly from Eastern Europe—responded with hopeful hearts to a movement that officially began in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress. Theodore Herzl, the visionary Hungarian-Austrian writer, had famously authored Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) in 1896. The following year, he convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. He is considered the Father of Zionism.  

From about 1908 to 1910, several significant milestones materialized. Degania (Hebrew for grain and flowers) holds the distinction as the first kibbutz set up by young Jewish pioneers. Greeted by scenes of unhospitable sand, deserts, and swamps, they faced a formidable task. Not schooled in agricultural skills and beset by mosquitoes in malaria-ridden swamps, these pioneers determined to forge ahead anyway, learning how to farm and survive. 

Using shovels, plows, and rakes, the sacrifices of the early “kibbutzniks” (members) of the kibbutzim (plural) laid the foundation for the Jewish state’s modern rebirth in 1948. They developed close-knit communities where they highly valued work, ate together, shared resources, and gave freely to one another. They relied on the principle, “to each according to his/her need.” In the early kibbutzim, they ran a direct democracy where each decision was made by all members. 

As the kibbutz movement grew in pre-state Israel, it experienced the trials and tribulations of any pioneering effort. The movement was founded on socialist and Zionist principles that the pioneers brought from their previous countries. Prominent author and biblical translator Martin Buber at Hebrew University wrote in Paths in Utopia that the kibbutz was an experiment that didn’t fail. 

In 1920, 12 kibbutzim existed with 805 members. By 2020 the kibbutzim numbered 270, with a population of around 170,000. Many are now privatized. They grow 34 percent of Israel’s crops and account for 9.2 percent of the nation’s industrial output. 

The pioneers of Tel Aviv likewise grew from nothing—to nothing short of amazing! Around 1908–1909, a group of 60 Jewish families founded Tel Aviv on the coastline. They bought 12 acres of dunes and began building houses. They officially adopted the name Tel Aviv (Hebrew for spring mound) in 1910.  

On one of my trips to Israel, I bought a simple black-and-white framed photo. It shows Jewish families standing on the beach looking, not at the Mediterranean, but up at the sand dunes. The 1908 photo shows their backs, not their faces. It’s an interesting photographic perspective. I’m guessing the families were imagining what they planned to build. The ladies in their long dresses and the men in their suits were forerunners of the many visitors to today’s top Israeli tourist destination! In their wildest imaginations, they could not have envisioned the beaches of today visited by millions of visitors and citizens each year. Tel Aviv is Israel’s financial center and the richest city in Israel. Some call it the “Mediterranean metropolis that never sleeps.” 

Israel’s early pioneers knew that turning the desert into farmland and cities was a national priority. Their sacrificial hard labor, matched with organizational competence and vision, paved the way for Israel’s bounty. Despite their homeland’s distressing lack of natural resources, the Jewish people themselves were—and are—the true natural resources. Their water-related innovations have stopped desertification not only in the Holy Land but in nations worldwide to help grow crops and make use of smart water management. 

Since 1901, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has planted 250 million trees. Their successes are described on their website: “Covering over 250,000 acres, Jewish National Fund forests provide an invaluable green canopy for both the people of Israel and the roughly 2,241 different species of land animals and birds who call it home. From the mighty oak and the almond, to the cypress and the exotic Atlantic cedar, every tree makes a difference, every tree connects to the future, and every tree calls out, ‘Am Yisrael Chai.’” Long live Israel! 

All the trees are planted by hand. For visitors, planting a tree in the Land is a special activity. On several of my trips, picking up a shovel and digging a small hole for my tree was so fulfilling. In a tiny way, I could follow the example of the Jewish pioneers. And a donation to JNF and other organizations means an Israeli will plant it for you to honor a loved one. This commitment to tree planting has really paid off: Israel is one of only a few nations that welcomed the 21st century with more trees than it had 100 years ago. 

Arising from the pioneering kibbutzim enterprise, Israel today is teeming with bountiful examples of nature’s glory. In addition to the nation’s innovations in irrigation, water generation, and planting trees, its animals, vegetables, fruits, and birds are at once fascinating, beautiful, and enjoyable. Land animals like foxes and ibex constitute 116 species. With so many domesticated animals, such as Holstein cows, Israel leads the world in milk production. The Israel Dairy Board reports that kibbutz herds produce 64 percent of what Israel needs. In Exodus 3:8, God described Israel as “flowing with milk and honey.” For such a small country, Israel’s huge dairy cow production is remarkable.

Since the 1930s, Israelis have grown bananas by using special netting to protect them from high heat. In the 1970s Israel developed cherry tomatoes. And since 2008, Israelis have worked on cultivating ancient date seeds. They have found more seeds in the Judean desert at archaeological sites. Naming six of them—Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, and Hannah—scientists hope for date palms from these ancient seeds sometime in the future. 

In Deuteronomy 8:8, God calls Israel “a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.” The olive tree, not surprisingly, is Israel’s national tree. With 2,600 native species of plants, Israel blooms profusely—with dramatic roses, lilies, tulips, carnations, iris, and gladiolas. And the small beautiful national flower, the anemone—also called the windflower—waves and dances on hillsides and in gardens. 

Gardens are found throughout Israel, beginning in the north at Haifa’s Baha’i Gardens, which draw half-a-million visitors every year. The gardens are so spectacular that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated it as a World Heritage site. The 30-acre Jerusalem Botanical Gardens and the Wohl Rose Garden are major attractions in the capital city. Further south, the Eilat Botanical Garden features 1,000 species of fruit trees, offering a green oasis in the middle of the desert.

Annually, 500 million birds fly round-trip over Israel as they migrate between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Israel itself has 70 native birds. In 2008, Reuters reported an interesting bird story. Israelis voted for the Hoopoe (Duchifat in Hebrew) as their national bird. The Hoopoe is mentioned in the Old Testament, but it’s forbidden as food, as are the eagle and pelican. The colorful bird is extraordinary with its long bill, crested head, and pink, black and white colors. The Hoopoe is unique, like Israel itself.  

One of the proofs that Israel is the Jewish homeland cannot be ignored. Since they have returned from exile, Israelis have created a brilliant canvas of Israeli nature that has thrived under its rightful owners. The Jewish Agency reports that between 2009 and 2019, the largest numbers of immigrants—out of a total of 255,000—were from Russia, Ukraine, France, the United States, and Ethiopia. Jews from 150 nations have come home to their Holy Land, fulfilling Scripture.  

Join CBN Israel in praying for Israel and her people this week:

• Pray that Israel’s innovations, in nature and beyond, will continue blessing our world. 
• Pray for Israel’s economy to boom as the nation emerges from COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
• Pray for the people who have been broken by this pandemic to be restored in every way.
• Pray for tourism to return to Israel not only for the sake of the Israeli economy but also so that people around the world can experience the Holy Land again. 
• Pray for Israel’s fourth election in two years on March 23, 2021 and that the government will be able to work together for the good of the country.

May we praise God for all the promises He has fulfilled for His chosen people: “For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3). 

Passover and Easter: A Divine Connection

 

The Christian Broadcast Network Israel asked me to write a booklet which they published last year on March 9, 2020. “Passover & Easter: A Divine Connection: Enriching your Easter Celebrations with Passover Parallels.” The text is below and I also created a Power Point. Easter and Passover Divine Connection 2019 Power Point .pptx I welcome you to share it in your celebrations and social media with attribution to Arlene Bridges Samuels, CBN ISRAEL Weekly Columnist and THE BLOGS, Times of Israel. www.ArleneBridgesSamuels.com And here's a song the Lord imparted to me in 1999, “Under Your Tallit.” https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvqwSKMJT7QcsQVt1N1yvo4npUV0  

Passover is celebrated March 27-April 4 and Easter celebrations on April 4, 2021.

 Judaism rocked the ancient cradle of Christianity two thousand years ago when God sent His beloved Son into our world as The Living Torah, The Living Word. Jesus fulfilled the prophetic announcements of the Older Testament, then Jewish scribes regaled His magnificent earthly life throughout the New Testament. Jesus fastened the Older and New Testaments into one story in the history of humankind. Passover is one of three primary Jewish festivals, the festival of freedom celebrating God’s deliverance of the Jewish slaves from Egypt. Passover is intimately connected with Holy Week, Jesus’ last days on earth. 

Born into a Jewish family and culture, Jesus lived His 33-year journey on earth fully engaged in the Jewish customs and religious observances of His day.  Today, many Christians are fascinated by the Jewish roots of Christianity and want to learn more. This discovery adds a rich dimension to our Christian faith. Passover’s freedom celebration vividly informs Easter’s solemn observance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Then in His resurrection, His victory over death liberated us- not from a Pharaoh’s cruelty - but from sin’s dark enslavement opening the door to eternal life.

Before sharing an easy-to-use guide highlighting several significant connections between our ancient faiths, here are a few contextual facts. Passover and Easter appear on two different calendars. Israel’s calendar is lunar using the moon’s cycle and Christians use the Gregorian calendar based on the sun. These towering festivals annually occur near each other. In both faiths worldwide, the cultures, customs, and denominations vary in countless details, yet each faith retains its quintessential themes.  Like Christians, the Jewish community also has varying branches. Recognizing the variegated tapestry of multiple Jewish and Christian offshoots, I've curated a guide based on basics. I pray that your Holy Week will grow richer by adding Passover’s ancient meaning into your modern Easter observances.

The Day of Lambs and Palm Sunday  Jewish and Christian communities commemorate Passover and Easter for a week. Our Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ last week on earth. By the time of His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ reputation for teaching and miracles drew a swelling crowd to welcome Him. They threw down their coats and waved palm branches thinking He was their hoped-for King to liberate them from their Roman oppressors. In Jewish custom, the day we call Palm Sunday is the Day of Lambs.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem five days before the Jewish Passover. Estimates are hard to come by, but the historian Josephus estimates a million or more Passover pilgrims were already flowing into the capitol. Look in history’s rearview mirror for a moment. At the very first Passover in Egypt, God instructed each Israelite to choose an unblemished, perfect lamb to kill not only for food, but to apply its blood to the doorposts of each home. God promised that when the Angel of Death swept over Egypt and saw the blood, death would not come to the Israelites’ first-born. This was God’s final plague on the Egyptians to un-harden the Pharaoh’s heart to free His people. The blood of lambs saved lives.  

When Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem on our Palm Sunday, it occurred on the same day when shepherds annually herded huge flocks of Passover lambs into Jerusalem, the Day of Lambs! Divine context at its finest!

The Sadducees owned these lambs and required them to be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem …Jesus birthplace! Only these lambs could be sacrificed during Passover in The Temple in Jerusalem. The Sadducees’ custom was like a “lamb beauty contest.” The priests stood outside the Lamb’s Gate and inspected each one making sure none were blemished. Perfection was the rule. When Jesus rode by on the donkey, the priests saw The Perfect Lamb yet felt threatened among the adoring crowd since their bureaucratic system had grown into out-of-control corruption. The Sadducees controlled every step of the sacrificial process including selling the lambs to the Passover pilgrims.  You can now understand why later, on the Day of Lambs, Jesus walked up the Temple’s southern steps in a display of righteous anger. Using a whip to drive them out, He overthrew the money changers’ tables and coins saying in Matthew 21:12-13, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Just three years earlier at the Jordan River John the Baptist proclaimed in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world." John was speaking from the context of the ancient Jewish sacrificial system which was such a significant part of their Passover freedom narrative. The bible mentions lambs and sheep 500 times! 1 Peter 1:18-19 says it this way, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Allow this realization to sink deeply into your soul:  That Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God rode into Jerusalem on the Day of Lambs. The picture is exquisite. The Perfect Lamb with thousands of bleating, scampering perfect lambs parading into the holy city on Holy Week herded by shepherds from Bethlehem, Jesus birthplace, for the Temple sacrifices.   

The Passover Seder & The Last Supper     Jewish custom tells us that that Jesus celebrated Passover every year of His earthly life. It’s still the zenith of the Jewish year.  Imagine Jesus’ thoughts when He instructed Peter and John in Luke 22:8 to “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” He knew what was ahead. He knew it was His last Passover on earth. And later in Luke 22:12 Jesus expresses His heart and intense emotion in the Upper Room while reclining at the table with His disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

The Day of Lambs-Palm Sunday-had already taken place. The dramatic events of Jesus’ last Passover, the Last Supper, swiftly moved forward culminating in The Perfect Lamb of God hung on the cross beams of the tree splattered with His blood.

Ancient Passover meals are described in historical, yet limited texts but Passover at least consisted of lamb, unleavened bread, and wine. The modern Jewish Passover meal is called a Seder, meaning “order.” It lasts for hours with prayers, the feast, and recounting the Exodus stories of freedom. Jewish families use the Passover Haggadah, a teaching tool, a script developed over hundreds of years.

From generation to generation, the Passover Seder recounts the theme of freedom from slavery. In the Christian community we celebrate the redemptive freedom Jesus won for us on the cross and in His resurrection 2,000 years ago. When we partake of The Last Supper, we are reenacting Jesus’ instructive words at His last Passover. We eat the bread to honor Him, the Bread of Life which sustains us. We drink the juice/wine in thankfulness for the shed blood of our Perfect Lamb. 

The ancient Passover in Egypt 3,000 years ago is the setting for the Christian Last Supper a thousand years later through Jesus at His last Passover. When we invite our Lord Jesus into our lives, His sacrificial shed blood covers the doorposts of our life. Now when our holy God the Father looks at us, He sees the Perfect Lamb’s blood saving us from the death Angel and giving us the gift of eternal life. The Seder is an opportunity to once again recall the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt. And in the same way, the Christian community rejoices in Jesus’ liberation of our lives from sin!

Seder plate symbolism Remember, Jewish custom has its Passover differences just as we do in Christian denominations for Easter. First, how wonderful to know that the Jewish apostle Paul included Christians in the Feast of Unleavened Bread and by association, the Passover which he himself annually celebrated as a Jew! In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul says, “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

Shankbone- Zeroa A lamb bone representing the first Passover lambs in Egypt. For Christians, the shankbone represents our Paschal Lamb, Jesus.

Egg- Bei’ah, A roasted hard-boiled egg symbolizing either the spring season or grieving Jerusalem's destruction and The Temple. For Christians we celebrate the newness of life.

Bitter herbs (Maror) A reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. Horseradish is often used. For Christians, it reminds us of sin's bitterness.

Charoset A sweet mixture of apples, pears, nuts and wine. This fruit paste is likened to the mortar and bricks made by the Jews in Egypt.

Karpas is a vegetable such as parsley or celery. It is dipped into salt water and eaten to represent the tears shed by the enslaved Israelites. 

Matzo -three pieces of Unleavened bread in a pouch or napkin. For Christians it may symbolize the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Yet, the Matzo holds more secrets for Christian community.

The Secrets Hidden in the Matzo-Unleavened Bread In their escape from Egypt, the Israelites left in a hurry, taking their bread dough with them; with no time to rise, thus Unleavened Bread. Try to imagine Moses, more than 80 years old, waving his staff rushing possibly 600,000 thousand or more Israelites to flee for their lives. They shouldered their children, their bread dough, and valuable objects thrown at them by the Egyptians. Complete chaos reigned amidst the loud wailing and weeping of Egyptians crying over their dead first-born sons in the Tenth Plague.  Thus, at Passover the matzo, a flat cracker bread, is prominent in its meaning. 

One of the secrets of the Matzo appears when looking closely at a piece of matzo. You will quickly notice that the cracker is pierced and striped. For Christians, the Matzo is a visual representation of nails piercing Jesus’ body on the cross and the stripes inflicted by Roman whips in the hours before arriving at Golgotha.

Matzo, also called the Afikomen, holds another inspiring meaning during the Seder.  The definition of Matzo is "that which comes after," "dessert," or “the coming one.”  Early in the Seder the head of the household reaches for the middle matzo in a stack of three.  The middle matzo is broken in two. The larger half is hidden in a napkin or pouch for a “dessert” shared by all after the meal. (After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD70 Jews as a custom, eat a piece of matzo- afikomen- at the end of the meal in remembrance.)  

At the end of the meal, children go on a treasure hunt to find the hidden Afikomen. When the children find it, they run to the head of household for a reward, looking for a redemption where they receive candy or a coin. The Matzo is then broken and passed around. Communion! Eucharist! In the Christian culture the Afikomen represents Christ wrapped in a burial cloth and hidden in the tomb and then His third day resurrection. Once again, a Passover pattern is found in the Seder celebrating Easter, and our Paschal-Passover-Lamb named 29 times in the bible.  

I’m touching only on the use of four cups of wine, or grape juice- at the Seder each with prayers and symbols.  Of note though, when Jesus handed the disciples the third cup, “the Cup of Redemption” He said in Luke 22:20 …” after the supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.’”

When we take Communion/Eucharist, we honor His redemptive blood!

After Jesus shared the Passover meal and His extraordinary last teaching, He and His-now eleven disciples-left the Upper Room. (If you wish, read John 17 for Jesus’ intercessory prayer at His last Passover) In the darkness the group walked about a mile to the Mount of Olives, familiar to all Jerusalemites since it was an important manufacturing area which produced olive oil. Jesus and His disciples frequently visited Gethsemane for prayer at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The English word “Gethsemane” is the combination of two Hebrew words, Gat and Shmanim defined as “the place where olive oil is pressed.” The Garden of the Olive Press was a popular, well-known gathering place.  

Crushed in Gethsemane Among the Olive Presses The geographical location of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives is rich with physical and spiritual symbolism. In Isaiah 53:5 we read this compelling verse, “He was crushed for our iniquities.” Like the wooden beams holding the stones, our Savior Jesus bore the wooden beams of the crucifixion tree crushed under the weight of our sins. Knowing some of the mechanics of olive presses it’s easier to visualize the crushing emotions Jesus experienced. 

During Roman rule, olive presses numbered in the thousands in olive groves scattered all over Israel and the Roman Empire. Large and small olive presses made of stone crushed the harvested olives. The larger presses included stones suspended with ropes from wooden beams which weighed up to a ton for the crushing. The pulp eventually underwent enough crushing so that the precious commodity emptied into clay jars. The refined oil was used in cooking, anointing oil, and Temple lights.

In the Garden of the Olive Press, Jesus cried out in Mark 14:36 “Abba, (Aramaic for Father) everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”  The Christian community is well-versed knowing Jesus’ anguished prayers laced with tears of blood before His arrest. Hematidrosis is the medical name for Jesus’ tears, a rare occurrence where blood is mixed in sweat. Crushing is the method of preserving and getting what’s most valuable, the oil, out of the olive. 

Jesus’ crushing in the garden of olive presses produced the precious oil and blood of our redemption. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Eventually, a mob of Roman soldiers and civilians carrying torches and swords showed up. Judas Iscariot led the way where he placed the kiss of death on Jesus’ face. As we follow Jesus from the Olive Garden through the traumatic night, it’s essential to recall what He said to the Pharisees in John 10: 17-18 “No man takes my life from me; I am laying it down of my own will. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Jesus was willing to be crushed and to pour out the pure oil of His life on the cross. It was God’s redemptive plan & no man could prevent it!

The Crucifixion and the Killing of Lambs The ancient Romans executed tens of thousands by crucifixion in their vast empire. By all accounts, crucifixion was a torturous means of death intended to cause its victims maximum suffering and humiliation. While soldiers hammered nails into Jesus body and gambled at the foot of His cross, families and Temple priests were slaughtering the Bethlehem lambs by the thousands. Priests threw lamb’s blood all over the temple court. Expertly wielding their knives, the priests chanted the Hallel, Psalm 113-118. Maybe Jesus could hear snippets of the chants where He hung outside Jerusalem’s walls. Psalm 115:16 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.” Psalm 116:3 “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.” Or Psalm 118:2 “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”

When the skinning, then roasting of lambs for food began, the lambs hung on hooks by their front legs stretched out in the shape of a cross. Like a conveyor belt of killing and cooking, many Temple lambs also died at the ninth hour as Jesus took His last breath. God’s Perfect Lamb perfected John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

In this era of rising anti-Semitism, we cannot underestimate the importance of crucifixion truth. Over the centuries, Jews have suffered the blame for “killing Jesus.” Yes, many accomplices were involved, including religious leaders, Judas, a Jewish mob, Roman soldiers, Pilate, and others.  Yet, this was a redemption plan from the heart of God. 

No one could stop God’s plan. Recall once again, Jesus’ words in John 10:18, “No one takes my life. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." And that’s exactly what Jesus did. Walking through Holy Week with its glorious Resurrection conclusion, God’s redemptive plan though His Perfect Lamb bequeathed eternal life and salvation to all who believe! Thanks be to God!  

Jesus Sacrificial Death and the Torn Veil  In a physical feat only the mighty Hands of God could achieve, He tore the purple, scarlet, and blue veil/curtain in The Temple in two when the Perfect Passover Lamb breathed His last breath on the tree.  Matthew 27:51 verifies it. “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.”  Luke 23:44 wrote it this way, “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.”

Keep in mind, the curtain was 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and four inches thick. The curtain hid the Holy of Holies, God’s Court, containing the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. The Jewish community viewed the Holy of Holies as the place of God’s Shekinah glory. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and only once a year at the Feast of Atonement-Yom Kippur. Throughout the centuries from the movable Tabernacle in the desert, 369 years in Shiloh, and the First and Second Temples, the Jewish people revered the Holy of Holies with a profound sense of awe, respect, and yes, fear. It is easy to imagine the Priests’ stark fright and screams when they saw the curtain rent in two. It was incomprehensible. 

Yet when God tore the veil in two, He welcomed us into the Holy of Holies through the blood of His Perfect Lamb so that we could step inside, both Gentile and Jew!  Hebrews 10:20 states, “Just as the veil was torn in two so Jesus’ body was torn to give us access to the Holy of Holies.”

While the physical rending of the curtain was spectacular, Jesus, our sacrificial Substitute bridged the cavernous, impassable gap between Holy God the Father and us.  Jesus is now our great High Priest making a forever path to a living, relationship with Him guaranteeing our eternal destination. The Lamb took His place as the Shepherd of our souls.