I want to run through some evidence for the keeping of the first Passover kept by Israel. Most of the proposals have counterarguments but it is important to consider the weaknesses of ALL the arguments and to recognise that some long held views are constructed on the shakiest of evidence. It is dangerous to hold to one view or another with a dogmatic disregard for its limitations. We cannot allow ourselves to be boxed into a corner based on long standing assumptions and then feel compelled to defend positions that are really not defensible. I think it is important to ask ourselves, do we really know the foundation for our beliefs? Is it conclusive? Is it reasonable considering all the available evidence? I think that is the best that we can do and what God wants us to do with Passover just as with many other inherited beliefs. Below are some of the pillars of some peoples belief system regarding Passover. I explore more on Passover as part of the pattern for the Christian life.

The First Passover of Israel was Unique

The first Passover of Israel was unique. The backbone of this argument is established by the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy was written to explain what was written earlier. This is more obscure in other translations but Young's Literal Translation makes it clear:  beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, hath Moses begun to explain this law, saying, Deuteronomy 1:5 [YLT]. Deuteronomy becomes the Standard. Some people even claim that the expression this Law used by Moses indicates that it is a separate Law because it is so different from what was written before. I do not believe that it was emphasized because it was a new law but because it is the version that is to be used as the authority. As Moses continues to explain the Law we reach Deuteronomy 12. Let us focus on verses 8-11.

Israel had done something special on the first Passover but in the wilderness they deviated and did basically what they wanted. Moses begins to set the record straight. He explains that things will change when they go into the Promised Land which they should have gone into years before. For one thing they will no longer will be bunched up next to each other in a camp. They will be separated by miles in territories and there will be a single place that they have to take all of their sacrifices. Time and distance will become an issue and it is evident that Moses explained how the Law would deal with this by what he has written in various parts of Deuteronomy.

Between the evenings

There was clearly some deviation from the initial celebration of the Passover to how it is currently done. Much of the controversy centres on determining the timing of what is called between the evenings. Can we really determine the timing of the Passover by the use of that phrase in the Hebrew? That is our first question and the second is, suppose the phrase between the two evenings means just what it says, i.e. one part from each of two adjoining days put together to span two days, so that the time is shared between two adjacent evenings? Most scholarly commentaries that I have read force us to choose part from only one day but who said that God wanted us to choose?

The Pharisees interpreted this as meaning between mid-afternoon, when the sun's heat abated, and sunset, whereas the Sadducees took it to mean between sunset and dark. Who is to say that ONLY one was correct or that neither was right? It must be investigated.

Speaking about the Passover lamb we have:

Now contrast this with the instruction regarding the morning and evening sacrifice.

When would between the evenings come? Similarly look at Exodus 29:38-39 [YLT] And this is that which thou dost prepare on the altar; two lambs, sons of a year, daily continually; ³⁹the one lamb thou dost prepare in the morning, and the second lamb thou dost prepare between the evenings;

Both Numbers 28 and Exodus 29 are translated using the same preposition between as Exodus 12 in YLT, but I find that in some Bible versions Numbers 28 and Exodus 29 differ from Exodus 12. In the Bible software that I use the preposition beyn is left out in the Hebrew and the preposition at is inserted in the English instead of rendering it as what was explicitly said in Exodus 12. It presents the Hebrew as asah ereb (asah meaning prepare and ereb meaning the evening, no preposition) but yet inserts a preposition that is different from Exodus 12 in the English. I cannot say which is correct but I would either forget about the preposition that is not there or use the one that was given explicitly in Exodus 12 because it refers to the same time period, but certainly not fabricate one that conflicts with Exodus 12. In any case it is obvious that the second offering would be before sunset on the same day as the first because it belongs to the same day, hence between the evenings has to include sunset.

The example of Elijah

Let's look at another situation. The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is found in 1 Kings 21. It starts out with a challenge by Elijah to see whose God will intercede at the behest of His representative or representatives. The first part was done by the prophets of Baal. They used from morning through noon (v26) until the time of the evening sacrifice (v29).

We know from Numbers 28:4 above that the evening sacrifice was offered between the evenings. We will see that this was the same time that Elijah used to entreat God and much more. After the prophets of Baal came Elijah's turn.

It ends with Elijah having enough light in spite of a dark cloud and blinding rain to run to Jezreel. Now notice what Elijah did within that period:

• Repaired the altar
  
• Dug a trench around it and filled it with water
  
• Piled the wood on the altar
• Sacrificed the bull in the prescribed ritual manner
  
• Drenched the sacrifice and wood three times
  
• Prayed to God
  
• Captured the prophets
  
• Took them to a stream named Kishon and slaughtered them
• Sent a warning to Ahab
  
• Climbed the summit of Mount Carmel
  
• Sent his servant to look toward the sea seven different times
  
• Ran to Jezreel

There is no way that we are talking about a short time period. There is no doubt that between the evenings covered a considerable period of time which could start in one day and continue into the other. It seems to be considered as continuous in the circle for one day. Look at the diagram below. It is not a clock just a diagram showing the darker and brighter parts in a day. Between the very bright and very dark parts is a part that is neither very bright nor very dark and I have it coloured brown. From the evidence of the scriptures given above between the evenings is this very loosely defined period surrounding sunset.

Between the evenings is that period surrounding sunset which is not dark and is not very bright. It depends on the time of the year and the latitude and longitude. If God wanted precision He knew how to tell time and He knew the term sunset. God said just what He meant. Our problem is figuring out from the context which day the between the evenings relates to. Between the evenings does not tell us which day.

Until the Fourteenth

Look back at Exodus 12:6 above. There is an argument presented that the Hebrew word od translated from or until and rendered in ...keep it up until the fourteenth day, does not include the delimiter. By that I mean that the object describing the outer limit is excluded so that from one to three would not include one and would not include three. This would mean that Rebecca in Genesis 24:19 [KJV], And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw [water] for thy camels also, until they have done drinking, did not let the camels quench their thirst; and that God left Jacob before he had fulfilled His promise, And, behold, I [am] with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to thee of, Genesis 28:15 [KJV]. Also consider

Charan in YLT is Haran. Unto is translated from Hebrew od. Did Abraham leave out Haran from the journey?

Did God leave out the beasts?

In fact it could not have been an easy job for the translators because I counted over twenty words that od is translated as in the AV. Strongs actually has different numbers for it (H5703 to H5707). The first time that the word is used is (Genesis 3:19) but the second time is Genesis 8:5,

It says that it happened within the month during first day of the month. People may start arguing about how far in is in but the point is that it is in. Considering my limited Hebrew they could be right but I cannot base my faith on such a weak argument.

Kill it on the Fourteenth; not eat it

This is really two arguments lumped into one. The first is that it is possible to conclude (and I have held that view at one time) that the Passover was eaten on the Fifteenth AT THE TIME OF THE EXODUS. This argument cannot be successfully countered by quoting Exodus 12 to show that God said it was to be kept until the Fourteenth because considerable time can elapse between killing and eating an animal. In addition, requiring that it be kept until the fourteenth does not restrict us from eating on the fifteenth, since the evening of the fourteenth ends as the fifteenth begins. In my view the Passover was killed and eaten on the Fourteenth, the same day that the death angel came.

The second (and more insidious danger) is that it is possible to conclude that Passover MUST ALWAYS be eaten the same day that it is killed i.e. what happened at the Exodus must always be re-enacted not celebrated. The Passover lamb will always be killed on the same day but not necessarily eaten on that same day. The two arguments are not interdependent, that is to say that one does not require the other to be true.

This problem is generally approached from extrapolating the intent rather than identifying facts. The claim is that God intended the eating and the killing to go together FOR ALL TIME. While this is true something actually happened that altered His intentions. He intended that Israel would obey Him and they did not.

In Exodus the instruction was to kill the Passover on the Fourteenth.

There is no instruction specifying the day on which to eat it. The argument is usually based on reasonableness or in other words: It is reasonable to expect that .... Did God know what He was doing? In this first Passover each family killed their own lamb at home but later in Deuteronomy the priests and Levites had to kill it in the same specific place.

This made the time involved an issue that can only be resolved if more time is allocated. God made adjustments for their disobedience. His desire was that they would have all been priests and would continue to kill the Passover on their own at home but that did not continue. Their homes were no longer holy so now it was not only in the same place, a holy place, but it had to be killed only by priests assisted by Levites, holy people.

Now back to Deuteronomy, the logistics involved in getting all Israel to bring lambs to Jerusalem and take them back home (or to their lodgings) to be eaten is now addressed in a practical way as the nation begins to occupy the vast area that is to be inhabited. Moses now clarifies what is a more reasonable approach to move forward with and he does not stipulate that they should occur on the same day. In fact it was never stipulated and that omission is included in organising a long term approach. God had given Himself the flexibility. The instruction now is to kill it on the Fourteenth, that must absolutely be preserved, but eat it at a time convenient for all, which appears to have been the night of the Fifteenth starting on the evening of the Fourteenth.

Nobody Left their House Until The Morning

The first thing to point out is that the discourse does not say that God told the people not to leave until morning.

It is Moses, not God, that gave that warning.

Even so it is my intention to show that they did leave in the morning even though it was also night. Getting back to Moses, he never claims that it was God's instruction. This is important when we come to discuss the vigil much later on. They did not know when the death angel would pass therefore they had to watch. Moses decided that to be on the safe side they should stay inside until morning if necessary.

There is a claim that in order for the Israelites to obey God they would have to kill the Passover on the night of the fourteenth (when the fourteenth begins) and leave the following night (when the fifteenth begins).

We know that they were brought out of Egypt by night (Deuteronomy 16:1) and that they left during the day that followed Passover (the morrow) which was stated to be the fifteenth (Numbers 33:3). The answer must satisfy both Deuteronomy 16:1 and Numbers 33:3. There is no iron-clad solution to this but I believe that my understanding satisfies all of the requirements. This leaving (when they departed from Rameses/ Goshen) applies to the point of their first steps to freedom out of their home territory (Goshen) but it is not the time that they left home (their houses) and is not the time that they all crossed the border of Egypt. Can you even be sure that Ramases is Goshen? What we do know is that Goshen was in the land of Rameses. There appears to be a consensus that the capital of Egypt was Zoan and that Pharaoh lived there. Numbers 13:22 dates Zoan as existing at the time of Abraham because it was built seven years after Hebron. The mention of Zoan suggests the notion that it was the the capital city then. Ramases is claimed to be the same as Goshen so called because Ramases built his store city in Goshen. So we suppose that Goshen became the capital and that we can gauge distance based on our knowledge of Ramases.

There is a lot of supposition but little concrete evidence. Ascribing distances and times is guesswork. Consequently no definite time can be given when they actually left because they had to collect Joseph's bones (which were probably in Ramases and maybe Ramases was the same as Goshen) and assemble in Succoth (possibly for the Feast) before leaving (Exodus 12:37, Numbers 33:3) and nobody knows exactly where Succoth is, but one thing seems sure: they were all in Egypt and Israel never left Egypt until they crossed the Red Sea.

It is clear therefore, that when God talks about leaving by night He does not mean that they all left Egypt at all but their deliverance started then. It came by the edict of Pharaoh on the night of the Fourteenth when they abandoned their Egyptian homes, then they continued in their first steps to freedom out of Goshen on the fifteenth and culminated in crossing the Red Sea. People don't decide to leave by night if they have a choice. Normally people would plan to leave before nightfall if they have time to spare. If you have an extra day would you wait until night to go? While it is possibly true (even though unlikely) that they did leave Goshen after sunset because they spent several hours spoiling and collecting Joseph's bones, the real by night is referring to the edict on the night of the Passover when they quit their homes.

We can refer to the actual instruction in Exodus 12:6 given earlier in the presentation. Now let us get to what until morning means.

It is Moses, not God, who is calling together the elders and speaking. If you check a lexicon you will see that until morning is translated from Hebrew od bqr. This is the actual instruction that God gave concerning killing the Passover. The claim is that this is around daybreak. Is that true? Let us first look at a scripture in the book of Judges because we will try to ascertain what morning means.

This gives us the first clue as to the meaning. They were still abusing her in the morning but let her go when the sun came up. Everyone appears to accept that until the morning means that they (Israel) could leave during the morning but not before, therefore there will be no attempt to validate that assumption, all we have to do is determine when morning is. Let us focus on what is meant by the time period called morning. They abused her until morning and let her go after morning, when the sun was about to rise. So until morning meant before sunrise.

Now let us see if we can dig any deeper into this. My objective is to show that night and morning can refer to the same period of time. A further clue is found in the book of Ruth.

Now we see that it does not mean just a little before daybreak, in this case it meant before you could distinguish peoples' faces. Boaz intended that Ruth should reach home before anyone could recognise her. Notice that the sun was not up hence it was the part of the day governed by the moon or in other words night. If the Israelites left at this time it is perfectly normal to say that they left by night. Morning is not a precisely defined time period. It seems to be used much like it is today where it means that period that joins day and night together but has no definite duration and includes a significant part of the night.

This use of morning continued until the New Testament.

There is no way that a great while before day could still be day. God used morning in this fashion in Genesis too, where it did not even have light or dark to distinguish it. It appears that His presence alone provided the light and heat, but the bodies that determine time might have already been circling but not lit up.

Now it is at this point that God made the sun and moon.

Morning does not require light although it may extend into light (1Sa 25:36 [AV]) And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart [was] merry within him, for he [was] very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. It is simply a period that connects night and day and can fall partially in either. Take note that evening is a similar time period. We will get back to that later.

Finally look at why they were not supposed to leave their homes until morning as per the instruction in Exodus 12:22

It does not say that the Lord will continually pass again and again; the context points to one passing and only at that time will the blood matter. Moses probably could not conceive of the whole thing happening in an instant as it did and imagined a protracted time period since the angel was supposed to pass through but that was never God's instruction. See again:

The argument against going outside seems to be that the death angel could have turned around if they had stepped out of their houses. To me the scriptures convey no such implication. It was one and only one Passover. The situation was explained to them so that they could manage themselves and know when the danger had passed not to frighten them into petrifaction. The actual event is recorded to have happened just as prophesied.

It did not happen between midnight and anything, but It happened one time, at midnight, in a flash. The story then continues in the same context and in the same time-frame.

There was no waiting around implied. These things happened quickly one after the other urged on by the whole of Egypt. Some people say that it goes on to dictate in verse 35 that they left later because of an instruction given by Moses.

The verse describes itself and tells us the reference for did according to the word of Moses; it related to the borrowing alone. This verse cannot honestly be taken out of context to say anything else. They had already quit their homes and did not go back.

Nobody can argue conclusively when all that is provided is the term morning. You cannot base your beliefs on that.

Now let us put that together with this verse in Exodus:

This verse says that they had no time to cook at all and certainly no time to wait until bread would rise since for it was not leavened means that they left in such a hurry. They did not wait around until daybreak doing nothing. From midnight to daybreak is more than enough time for bread to rise and if they were in no hurry to leave they could have made some bread for the journey. Leaving by night and leaving a morning refers to the same period of time so the Israelites left after midnight which was the morning but it was still dark therefore it was night. The morrow after Passover is referring to the daylight part that came after the evening of the fourteenth. We have already looked at the range of time for evening.

When did they spoil the Egyptians?

Just from a practical point of view. If you wanted to borrow something from me, would you wait until I knew that you were permanently leaving to ask for it? How about if the person lived some distance away from you and you had to walk? How about in addition to all this you knew that you would be walking with all your worldly possessions on your shoulder? The Israelites lived separately from the Egyptians and some distance away. Israel knew well in advance that they would be leaving.

and they were supposed to borrow, so why wait until the last minute when you were told that you would be dressed to leave while eating in a condition of haste?

I also want to interject here what I believe to be reasonable to procure before travelling. In Exodus 3:22 it lists jewels etc. but there would be need for a tent and a bed, water, clothes and food for an extended period. Before leaving they would have to round up a considerable herd of animals and drive them ahead.

We understand that the children of Israel were shepherds and that is the primary reason that they lived in Goshen.

We also see that Jacob was primarily concerned about his sheep.

There were only seventy of them at the beginning.

but Israel grew rapidly from the start.

Even before they were oppressed they filled up Goshen.

They grew even more when they were afflicted.

And by the time that they left they were over a half million men and some argue that this puts them at around two million people including women and children.

The truth is that Exodus 12 provides strong evidence that any spoiling done after Passover was something that had been left for the last. They were the primary inhabitants of Goshen so there was nobody there to spoil. If they needed things to use in the wilderness to worship for seven days it would have been wise to go to wherever they could get them before the last minute.  And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. [35] And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: [36] And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians, Exodus 12:34 -36 [AV].

Notice v34: they had already done this. THEY WERE ALREADY PACKED when they did v35 and they were in a hurry (Deuteronomy 16:3). They were walking around with this stuff on their shoulders.

Notice also v39

This verse says that they had no time to even make bread because they left in such a hurry. This is further proof that they did not spend the day idling in Goshen. This is however not the point that I want to emphasize. There is an argument that they did not have to carry their possessions by hand because they had many carts available. Why then did they not bind up the dough and pack it in the cart? Why walk with it? Some commentaries on the kneading bowls propose that they were designed with a leather cover with a drawstring or chain that could be pulled to cover the bowl with the dough in it and hang it on a pack animal. If this is so then why did they not hang it on an animal? This verse indicates that they were in a hurry and had no other means available to them. They walked with their possessions and they walked purposefully as a group intending to find the fastest way out.

To be spoiling like this would be like selling encyclopaedia by actually carrying them door to door. They would have had to unpack to do any major spoiling. The indication is that they were grabbing what they could on their way out. The other related point is that there is no place in the Bible that states that they only took things from people who were in Goshen. They could have gone on a countrywide spoiling. They could even have gone and put down their things and continued spoiling.

On the other hand it is also true that much of the gold could have come from Rameses where they stopped before going to Succoth because it was a treasure city. Egyptians avoided contact with the Israelites because they were shepherds and so it is unlikely that Israelites would have frequented metropolitan areas. In addition they had very little spare time to go anywhere so this is the only time that they would reach these places.

and of course there is the fact of the complete depression of Egypt by the deaths in every family. The Egyptians wanted them to leave at any cost and would have given them anything. It is still true that there was nobody to spoil in Goshen but as they moved on to Raamses or Succoth and further, the items might have been thrust upon them. Finally it was a Sabbath and you can only wonder if God intended them to do their major spoiling on a Sabbath. It was probably only gold and jewels that they took.

The distance that Moses and Aaron travelled

Let me first make the point that Moses' family was not with him in Egypt. They were brought to Sinai later by Jethro. It is also quite possible that Moses never even thought of bringing his family to Egypt since he expected to be there a very short time.

The bible does not say that Moses and Aaron were staying in Goshen so we do not know how long it took them to reach Pharaoh. Now let us look at some of the considerations that Moses had in choosing a place to live. He was not poor and the Israelites were slaves. They had enough troubles of their own for Moses to want to burden them further.

The elders were going home and they met Moses. There was no indication that he was going to Pharaoh at the time or tending any sheep. He was just hanging around probably waiting to hear what happened. He had no herds to mind (they had belonged to his father-in-law) so he could have been staying in or near the city with Aaron. If he was staying in Goshen he could have waited until the elders got back because it is supposed to be about an hour's journey. If you had to be dealing with Pharaoh would you find lodging in the city or go far away?

The point is that we cannot insist that he was staying in Goshen. It does not say how far he was away from Pharaoh. He might have been living on the border and Pharaoh might have been living close to the border on the other side. It is pure guesswork.

Conclusion

We know that days in the Bible begin at sunset, not at midnight and not at dawn. There is quite a bit that we do not know and hence we are guessing. One thing that we do not know is whether Rameses was in Goshen or not. Some assume that the bricks that Israel made were to construct the city of Rameses in Goshen. If it was then Egyptians might have also lived in Goshen or at least close by and spoiling would not have been a problem.

Killing On The End Of The Fourteenth Is Quite Reasonable

Leaving on the Fifteenth was when they left Rameses. If they had all day of the 14^th to spend in Rameses then the urgency is diminished. Based on the available information it is quite acceptable for the Israelites to have followed the steps below:

• killed the Passover on the end of the Fourteenth before sunset
  
• Put the blood on the lintel and go inside to prepare the meal
• Bind up all their belongings and prepare to leave
• Eat the meal in a state of readiness
• Pharaoh calls Moses in the early morning before dawn and releases the Israelites
• Moses Informs the Israelites
  
• The Israelites burn the rest of their meat outside before dawn
  
• The Israelites begin to leave before dawn and spoil some Egyptians on the way

Even though this is possible I do not think that it was the case. The sense of the writing in Exodus directs us away from this but yet we have to deal with Numbers:

The Passover was what occurred at midnight therefore they must have been in Goshen on midnight of the fourteenth. The protection was in Goshen. Numbers is referring to when they left Rameses not Goshen. Goshen was in the land of Rameses but we do not really know exactly what is meant by that.

Killing on the Beginning of the Fourteenth Is Better

The actual instructions for the celebration were given in Exodus 12. The general outline of events is as follows:

1. Kill the Passover at the beginning of the 14^th at dusk
   
2. Eat the Passover the same night, the 14^th
   
3. Burn the leftovers (I believe that they went outside to do this in the morning)
   
4. Spoil Egyptians
   
5. Meet at Rameses
   
6. Leave for Succoth before the night of the Fifteenth

Leaving the border of Rameses where they lived was completed by the time the 15^th came. The days in the Bible end at sunset. By Sunset of the 14^th they had left Rameses and were in Succoth.

This marks a striking difference from the symbolic Passovers discussed afterwards in the Old Testament. In the other cases the Passover was killed in the early evening but here it is killed going on to dark. This means then that they had a whole day to spare so why the urgency? This puzzled me for quite some time. I first came up with practical answers like, the Bible does not say that they spoiled the few Egyptians that were in Goshen alone, they spoiled the Egyptians and Egypt is a huge country. The truth is that the urgency was about eagerness to leave and serve God not because of any time constraints.