Day 253: Jesus in the Old Testament – Deuteronomy 15 vs 19 to 16 vs 8.

19-20 You must set aside for the Lord your God all the firstborn males from your flocks and herds. Do not use the firstborn of your herds to work your fields, and do not shear the firstborn of your flocks. Instead, you and your family must eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God each year at the place he chooses. 21-23 But if this firstborn animal has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. Instead, use it for food for your family in your hometown. Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat it, just as anyone may eat a gazelle or deer. But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.

Chapter 16 vs 1-2 In honour of the Lord your God, celebrate the Passover each year in the early spring, in the month of Abib, for that was the month in which the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Your Passover sacrifice may be from either the flock or the herd, and it must be sacrificed to the Lord your God at the designated place of worship - the place he chooses for his name to be honoured.  Eat it with bread made without yeast. 3 For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, as when you escaped from Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread (the bread of suffering) so that as long as you live you will remember the day you departed from Egypt.  4 Let no yeast be found in any house throughout your land for those seven days. And when you sacrifice the Passover lamb on the evening of the first day, do not let any of the meat remain until the next morning.

5-6 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you. You must offer it only at the designated place of worship - the place the Lord  your God chooses for his name to be honoured. Sacrifice it there in the evening as the sun goes down on the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt. 7-8 Roast the lamb and eat it in the place the Lord  your God chooses. Then you may go back to your tents the next morning. For the next six days you may not eat any bread made with yeast. On the seventh day proclaim another holy day in honour of the Lord your God, and no work may be done on that day. Deuteronomy 15:19-16:8 From New Living Translation paraphrase (English Standard Version link)

It was a long reading today so my comments will be brief. We see that the people were to set aside the firstborn animals of flock and herd and offer them as a sacrifice, and eat the meat at the place where God's sanctuary would be set up. They were also to celebrate a festival called 'Passover' each year. And while it says the sacrifice could be from flock or herd it goes on to speak of the Passover lamb which was to be eaten along with bread made without yeast. What was the purpose of these ceremonies according to verses 1-3 of Chapter 16?

The lamb, and especially the bread of suffering, were so that as long as they lived they would remember the day they departed from Egypt. They’d had to leave in a great hurry and had no time to make their bread with yeast. God didn't want them to ever forget the powerful way He had rescued them out of their bondage. The firstborn animals they dedicated to Him were also a reminder of how their firstborn had been spared when the firstborn animals and people of Egypt were struck down at that time. Do you think there was possibly a further meaning to these instructions Moses gave them?

When the apostle Paul was dealing with a very serious issue of sin at Corinth he wrote to them and said: “Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” . . . then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

So the ceremonies we see in Deuteronomy were also a preparation for understanding what the Messiah would do when he came into the world. He would be the true sacrifice that enables God to pass over our sins – and we need to respond by putting sin out of our lives. It was through Christ's sufferings that we have escaped the bondage of sin and death. We must never forget that as long as we live.