Easter, also called Pascha (Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Wikipedia on Easter)
A perplexing issue surrounding the Pascha tradition of the Church is that it was not only changed from the 14th of the month to the Sunday tradition; but it also became associated with the resurrection of Yeshua. This is not an easy connection to be made from scripture as the original Passover (Pesach) of the Hebrews was about atonement, a substitutionary offering and a price that ransomed the firstborn children of Israel from death. The original Pesach was described in this manner.
Exo 12:5-10 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
The original Pesach was a youngin (lamb/kid) of the goats or sheep and ‘of the first year’ was most probably a better translation than ‘a year old’ as is written in some other English versions. It would symbolise pure innocence killed to provide atonement for others. By the morning after, it would be burnt up in fire or in other words – be completely destroyed. To see the Pesach as a type for the resurrection would be like viewing the temple animals that were slaughtered and burnt up on the altar as being a great symbol of living! Such a connection would make no sense. The temple system of offerings would always be associated with atonement, life being in the blood, substitutionary offerings and purging of sin, but never life from the grave. So we see in scripture that Yeshua the lamb would be shrouded in temple type language.
Joh 1:29b… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1Pe 1:19&20 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1Co 5:7b For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Yeshua would give a different type of imagery in Israel that would speak of the resurrection. He would for obvious reasons not use the Pascha.
Joh 2:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
The problem with livestock is that if they die they are useless for producing more life. Their death is good in sustaining other life, but not the furthering of their own lives as it were. This is different to how the Hebrews viewed the sowing of grain in the production of new life giving crops. Grains that could be used for food and sustenance would be sown for the hope that it may be transformed and become a greater harvest.
During the season of our deliverance, the Passover would be followed by a grain offering of firstfruits of the barley harvest. Passover would always be intertwined with this offering of harvested barley because the creator would make the first month of the Passover be called the month of Aviv – ‘green ears’ (of barley).
Exo 13:4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.
Deu 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night
To produce harvestable barley Israel would have understood that barley seed had to be sacrificed. These agricultural realities would have been a part of their understanding. Paul used this connection for the resurrection.
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
Rom 6:5-6 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Israel would not just offer a lamb for their households at the time of the Passover, but it would be followed by a day when a firstfruits harvest would be presented to Jehovah. This was also a significant responsibility to be carried out when up in Jerusalem. The day it was offered would also be significant.
Lev 23:10-11 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
The writers of the gospels would link the resurrection to the day of the harvest offering – the day after the Sabbath.
Mar 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Mat 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Here, there was clearly a symbolic link between resurrection and previously sown seed for a time of harvest.
1Co 15:20-23 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
The connections to the day of the firstfruits are many, but a significant point to make is that the offering was lifted up. Translations say that the priest ‘waved’ the offering. Waving requires lifting up and the Hebrew word used is the same word used for when the Levites were ‘raised up’ above their brothers for certain tasks in the temple. It is also the same word used for when Israel was forbidden to ‘lift up’ an iron implement on the altar. Here in the firstfruits offering would also be connections to the resurrection being described as being ‘raised’ from the dead. Messiah used this raised symbolism frequently. For example:
Mat 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
His followers would link resurrection to the idea of being raised up.
Rom 6:4b&5 …that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
The sacrifice or death of seed for a harvest of new life may have yet another connection to the resurrection. The death of plant seed is made in the dust of the earth or must be sown into the ground. The grave is understood as returning to the earth and so any resurrection hope would need to lie in a concept of something going to the earth, where even worms could destroy us and yet we would rise to life.
Job 19:25-26 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Dan 12:2a And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake
As death was considered sleep, so too, a body dead in the grave can according to scripture be viewed as a seed in the ground that will awaken to life one day. Plant seed can tend to look dead and without life, yet we know that looks can be deceiving.
The changing of the meaning of Pesach / Pascha has shifted definitions of not just time, but also of meaning. For the Passover of the Church to become a representation of the resurrection is in my opinion confusing. Perhaps this is even worse than how Easter became a synonym for the Pascha. It is clear that should we wish to find resurrection fulfilment, it was found in Messiah being the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep and had its origin in offerings of grain that were once just seeds sown in hope and yet through their death a great harvest would be found. In this there is a great symbol of the resurrection and in Messiah there is a great certainty of the resurrection.
Amen to this Andrew.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep
(1 Corinthians 15:20).
In this, Scripture shows us that the celebration of firstfruits, not Pesach, finds its fulfilment in Yshua’s resurrection from the dead.
Thank you for reminding us that Pesach has found its fulfilment in the death of our Saviour and that God, in His making all things possible, has overcome death forever on “the day after the Shabat”.