The Passover

Acknowledgments

In many ways, this book began in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2005 at the end of my MDiv during a conversation with two close friends. Ryan Gold and Aaron Wojnicki sat on our couch telling me how excited they were for my family to move overseas to work with an unreached people group, but how they knew before too long, I would return to academia in some capacity. In the ensuing years, I regularly remembered their words, hoping that one day they would come true. However, I was never sure how a frontier missionary could ever be involved in scholarship. Thank you Ryan and Aaron for your encouragement. Your words proved true.

During my time in Louisville at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, there were also four professors who served formative roles in my life. I would like to thank:

Dr Russell Fuller, for being a Hebrew professor of unmatched skill and inspiring us to learn Hebrew so well we would no longer need our English Bibles;

Dr Peter Gentry, for teaching me the intricacies of Hebrew exegesis and advanced Greek grammar, skills I use every day;

Dr Steve Wellum, for teaching me systematic and biblical theology, causing me to see the beauty and unity of the Bible’s Grand Metanarrative, and for opening up his home to my family;

Dr Tom Schreiner, for teaching me Greek, exegesis, New Testament and biblical theology, and remaining my friend throughout these many years, always being willing to answer my many questions.

In church history we learned that we stand on the shoulders of giants. These four are my giants. Their teachings undergird me every time I open God’s Word. Their scholarship is only outstripped by the godliness of their lives.

There have been many others that have helped in getting this book into print. I owe thanks to my editor at Peter Lang, Dr Phil Dunshea. He has been such a pleasure to work with and patient in answering my tedious questions. I am also indebted to the librarians at three different institutions. Joy Conkey of Gamble Library at Union Theological College, Belfast, was always so helpful and a delight to be around. Emilee Smith of the James P. Boyce Library at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary graciously tracked down, scanned, and emailed me many journal articles and chapters from books. Lisa Janes, the librarian at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, deserves many thanks for helping my mother procure and scan so many resources, as well as the personal interest she took in this project.

Thanks are also due to another librarian, my Aunt Janet, who read this manuscript in painstaking detail and has a superhuman ability for finding errors of every kind. This book greatly benefited from her thoroughness. Her regular encouragement through email was also invaluable. Aunt Janet and Uncle Dick also generously supported this project financially, just as they have done for our ministry for so many years. Trying to raise four children in very underdeveloped places without access to good medical care would likely have been an impossible task were it not for Dr Uncle Dick’s medical expertise as a world-renowned infectious disease specialist.

I would also like to thank our home church, East Cooper, who has given to us so generously, making this project financially possible. Whenever we have a need, East Cooper takes care of it quickly and with such kindness, whether our need be financial or spiritual. We appreciate Dave Bruner and the rest of his team at East Cooper so much.

This book is a revised version of my PhD thesis written under Dr T.D. Alexander. I refuse to believe that there has ever been a better PhD supervisor. His depth of knowledge, scholarship, skill in formulating arguments, and ability to teach is unparalleled, as are his commitment to God’s glory and his Word. His graciousness, willingness to help, and humility are astounding. I am so grateful for all he has done for me and greatly value his friendship.

I would also like to express thanks to my parents who have always been my biggest cheerleaders and encouragers. I would never have begun this project without my father’s wise encouragement that God would provide. I would never have been able to finish it without my mother’s help. Living in a remote area in Asia and without physical access to a theological library, I greatly depended on my wonderful research assistant, my mother. She is probably the only one who knows how many times she went to the library and the countless hours she spent finding the books I needed, painstakingly scanning page after page. I am so thankful for her love, tireless service, and encouraging words which have been with me from infancy to the present.

Lastly, I would like to thank my wife and children, to whom this book is dedicated. To my children: you four are the delights of our hearts. Mom and Dad are so proud of you. May all four of you learn to love and trust the God who delivers from death, purifies us from our sins, and sanctifies us so that we can enter into his presence.

To my wife, who has been my best friend since we were 15: an excellent wife, who can find? You are truly far more precious than jewels. Thank you for turning down the fame and fortune that were nearly within our grasp, to live a lowly life far from family and friends, so that we could see the Kingdom of God come amongst a people who have been marginalised by this world and who had never before heard the Good News. While the radiant beauty of your hair reflecting the sun’s rays may have caused me to fall in love with you, your shining godliness and goodness and kindness have created a much deeper and enduring love. Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.

Soli Deo Gloria

Andrew J. Gehrig

Of all the events described in the Hebrew Bible, the divine deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt stands apart as unique. A series of divine interventions climaxes in what has become known as Passover, when God strikes dead the firstborn males of the Egyptians but spares those of the Israelites. To this day, Passover continues to be commemorated, underlining its importance in the history of the Jewish people.

The author of Exodus narrates the events associated with the first Passover in 12:1-13:16. Apart from providing a selective description of what took place, this passage also describes different ways in which the Passover event was to be commemorated by later generations. Despite the importance of Passover, there is considerable scholarly disagreement over how Passover should be understood.

In the late nineteenth century, Julius Wellhausen, famous for promoting the Documentary Hypothesis, suggested that Passover was originally an ancient sacrifice of thanksgiving, celebrating new births and the increase of their flocks in the spring.¹ Following Wellhausen’s lead, S.R. Driver, the Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, concluded that Passover dates back to Israel’s nomadic period and was a ritual for propitiating God and protecting the people and flocks during the coming year.² The Danish Old Testament scholar J. Pedersen also proposed that Passover was a ritual from nomadic times, but contended that it was held at a desert sanctuary and involved a sacrifice, meal, and other rites.³ Writing in the mid-twentieth century, L. Rost contended that Passover was a nomadic ritual, but posited that it performed an apotropaic function at the time of transhumance.⁴ Adopting a different stance, W.H.C. Propp, discerning similarities between Passover and the Islamic fidya, proposes that Passover originally involved a sacrifice of atonement and had an apotropaic effect.⁵ Most recently, G.I. Davies returns to Rost’s approach, suggesting that Passover was an ancient ritual for protecting the Israelites and their flocks during transhumance.⁶

In Passover studies, not only has there been disagreement over how Passover should be understood, there has also been debate over which methodology should be employed to analyse the ritual. All of the scholars mentioned above take a diachronic approach and focus on the historical origins of Passover. Other scholars examine Exod 12:1-13:16 from a synchronic perspective, interpreting the final form of the text as it now stands. Yet, even among these scholars there are differences of opinion regarding the significance of Passover.

One of the first modern scholars to adopt a synchronic perspective was the Jewish scholar B. Jacob, whose commentary on Exodus was completed in London after he escaped from Germany during World War Two.⁷ He argues that according to the extant text, Passover protects the Israelites from death by consecrating the Israelite houses, turning them into sanctuaries.⁸ Another conservative Jewish scholar, U. Cassuto, proposes that Passover is a sacrifice of substitution for the firstborn Israelite males.⁹ The Irish academic and former missionary to Asia, R.A. Cole, posits that Passover is a blood-ritual with substitutionary, apotropaic, and propitiatory elements.¹⁰ Writing in the 21^st century, V.P. Hamilton suggests that on Passover night, God delivers the Israelites by his ‘protecting presence’ and the blood of the Passover sacrifice.¹¹ Adopting a different perspective, D.A. Garrett contends that the daubed blood of the Passover victim functions as a shield to protect the Israelites from God’s wrath.¹² The German Old Testament scholar C. Dohmen asserts that Passover is an apotropaic ritual with the daubed blood distinguishing the Israelites from the Egyptians.¹³ A somewhat similar position is adopted by H. Utzschneider, who suggests that the blood repels the attacker.¹⁴

While these synchronic analyses of Passover highlight important features of the ritual, it is still unclear precisely how the Passover ritual should be understood. In addition, these scholars’ analyses are often atomistic, focusing on a few key verses in 12:1-13:16, but ignoring possibly relevant materials in the rest of the passage.

The approach adopted in this book resembles that favoured by scholars who take a synchronic approach and focus on interpreting the final form of the text.¹⁵ However, an important distinction that sets this book’s methodology apart from theirs is the incorporation of ideas drawn from the study of Hebrew poetics.¹⁶ Coming to prominence in biblical studies in the early 1980s with the publication of R. Alter’s The Art of the Biblical Narrative,¹⁷ poetics seeks to understand the conventions employed by the ancient Hebrew writers. The insights gained from this study are then used to illuminate the biblical text. Considering the significant differences between Hebrew and modern Western narratives, poetics can sometimes shed new light on texts that were composed oblivious to modern literary expectations.

Due to the fast-paced narration of the preceding signs and their dramatic nature, the reader arrives at Exodus 12 expecting a gripping report of the final sign as Yahweh strikes the Egyptian firstborn and brings the Israelites out of Egypt. Yet, the passage contains surprisingly little narration of action. The bulk of 12:1-13:16 consists of speeches filled with instructions (53 of 67 verses).¹⁸ Some of these instructions relate directly to what the Israelites must do to protect their firstborn (12:1-13, 21-23). However, unexpectedly, the majority of the instructions (34 verses) do not concern the first Passover, but establish future rituals to commemorate the events of Passover night (12:24-27, 43-13:16).¹⁹ Using the insights provided by poetics to analyse this complex passage, I argue that 12:1-13:16 depicts the first Passover as a consecration ritual that delivers the Israelite firstborn males from death and endows them with a degree of holiness.²⁰ Adopting a holistic analysis, I suggest that 12:1-13:16 makes three contributions to the storyline of Exodus by serving as the climax to the signs and wonders narrative, functioning as a turning point in the plot, and foreshadowing important developments in the second half of Exodus. The analysis of Passover as a consecration ritual and observations concerning the contribution of 12:1-13:16 to the overall storyline of Exodus offer new perspectives on this ancient text.

To set the context for the discussion of the portrayal of Passover in Exodus 12:1-13:16, I provide a brief survey in chapter two of some of the scholarly contributions on Passover, beginning with Wellhausen and continuing up to the present day. The discussion involving Passover is complex, prompting B.S. Childs to comment, ‘Few problems in the Old Testament have called forth such sustained scholarly research as has that of the passover [sic]’.²¹ By following a chronological order in the discussion, it is possible to observe the broader trends in research on Passover over time, from J. Wellhausen²² to G.I. Davies.²³ Chapter three contains an introduction to the important field of Hebrew poetics, which will be instrumental in examining the passage. Having laid this groundwork, chapter four begins the analysis of 12:1-13:16, discussing the passage’s poetical character and structure. Chapter five contains a close reading of the passage. In this chapter, I note some of the evidence from within Exodus 12-13 that points to understanding the first Passover as a consecration ritual. A key component of this evidence comes in Exodus 13 where the firstborn males are said to belong to Yahweh and associated with consecration (13:2). Chapter six builds on the analysis of 12:1-13:16, offering additional support for viewing the first Passover as a sanctification ritual for the Israelite firstborn males. According to Numbers 3:12-13 and 8:16-17, the events of Passover night result in the consecration of the firstborn Israelite males. In chapter six, I observe similarities between the Passover ritual and other passages in Exodus that describe a process by which various people are made holy. On each occasion there are sacrificial offerings, the direct or symbolic application of blood to the worshippers, and the consumption of holy food. Having established that the Passover ritual leads to the consecration of the Israelite firstborn males, chapter seven examines the role of 12:1-13:16 within the plotline of Exodus, noting in particular how the sanctification of the firstborn foreshadows God’s desire that the whole nation of Israel should become holy. Chapter eight summarises the book and offers a brief reflection on its contribution to current scholarship and Passover’s importance in biblical and theological interpretation.

1 J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, trans. J.S. Black and A. Menzies (Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1885), 88, 92.

2 S.R. Driver, The Book of Exodus, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: CUP, 1911), 410.

3 J. Pedersen, Israel, Its Life and Culture. Parts III-IV, trans. A.I. Fausbell (London: Oxford University Press, 1940), 398, 412.

4 L. Rost, ‘Weidewechsel und altisraelitischer Festkalendar’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 66 (1943): 205-6, 208-9.