Gilgal’s Passover

The LORD then said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you." Therefore, that place has been called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land. - Joshua 5:9-11 HCSB

Most Jews tend to focus on the first Passover at this time of year. You know - the one in Egypt when Yahweh delivered His people from Egyptian bondage and made freedmen of slaves.

Most Christians tend to focus on the other famous Passover - the one where Yeshua spoke of His coming crucifixion and our delivery from the bondage of sin.

Today, I would like to draw your attention to another, lesser known Passover. The Israelites crossed over the Jordan during the harvest,[1] observed the Passover,[2] and then took Jericho according to the Lord's command.[3] Thus Israel’s national existence began with this act of religious obedience.

In all the time that they were wandering in the wilderness, only one other Passover was actually recorded.[4] That one was particularly notable because it marked the origin of the only exception clause in regards to the timing of the Passover – namely what to do if someone were ritually unclean or physically incapable of performing the rituals at the appropriate time.

That wilderness Passover took place in the second year after the Exodus. In other words, it was the second one after the initial Passover in Egypt. So thirty-nine Passovers had gone by without note by the time Israel camped at Gilgal.

There are a couple points I’d like to make. First, consider that the Egyptian Passover presaged our ancestors’ deliverance from Egypt’s slavery; Gilgal’s came just prior to Israel’s first conquest in the Promised Land; and Yeshua’s marked our delivery from the Dark Kingdom. Do we see a pattern in this? When Yahweh’s people are obedient to His ordinances, victory comes shortly thereafter.

The second, and in my mind the more crucial, point that I’d like to make is the thousands upon thousands of other Passover celebrations that were simply observed without fanfare or reward. I don’t think that Yahweh would have granted the victory had our people not quietly and steadily obeyed. It is when we are “faithful in the small things” that we are granted “great things.”[5]

This Saturday our church will be gathering to observe Passover. The children will go through the building hunting for ch’ametz; our ladies will light the festival candles; we will partake of the cups of Sanctification, Plagues, Redemption and Praise. We will eat and rejoice in the long, rich history of interaction with Merciful God our people has had. We will do it, hoping for further great victories and deliverances. But should this be one of thousands of other quiet Passovers, we will obey nevertheless.

L’shannah ha-ba’ah bi Yerushalaim! Next year in Jerusalem! Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.

[1] Joshua 3:15
[2] Joshua 5:10
[3] Exodus 12:18, Leviticus 23:5 and Numbers 28:16
[4] Numbers 9:1
[5] Matthew 25:23; 1 Corinthians 4:2