Jewish Feasts - Shabbats Before Passover (Part 3)

Shabbat Hagadol – Sabbath before Passover “The Great Sabbath”


Passage: Exodus 12:1-20


First celebrated in Egypt on the 10th of Nissan, which was a Sabbath day, five days before they were leaving. It was on this day that God gave them a command (Exodus 12:3-5), each home was to take an unblemished lamb and care for it until the 14th of Nissan when it will be sacrificed.


Let’s stop here and take in this whole picture. Israelite's are currently slaves in the land of Egypt. One of the main Egyptian gods is Amun, the ram god. So the Israelite's were commanded by God to go and take a lamb, which is highly worshiped in Egypt, for the whole purpose of sacrificing it, ultimately humiliating their deity.

During these four days of caring for it, they would tie this lamb to a bed post. According to stories passed down, the Egyptians would come around and ask the Israelite's, “What’s up with the lamb tied to the bedpost?”. They would then respond, “Oh, glad you asked, we are planning to sacrifice these lambs because the Lord commanded us too. You see, the Lord is going to kill all the firstborn in Egypt.” The Egyptian firstborns heard this, put two and two together based on the previous plagues, and pleaded with their leaders to let the Israelite's free. This dispute led to a battle which is called the “Battle of the Firstborn”. The Israelite's see this a huge miracle that nothing happened to them during these four days.


Here are some other interesting things that happened on the 10th of Nisan.

A special offering and gifts were brought by the tribe of Dan for the inauguration of the Tabernacle
Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, died – 39 years after the Exodus
Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land
Jesus entered Jerusalem, the day the Israelite's were selecting their Passover lamb.