Are Passover, the Seder, and Easter the Same?

Short Answer: The time of Passover is a joyous time of remembrance, both in what was done in Egypt when Israel was taken to freedom and in the actions that Yahshuah our Savior has done in taking us out of death from sin. Let's take some time this year to focus on the true meaning of the time ... it is not to be found in the man made customs in the Seder or Easter, but in the genuine truth of Scripture, the Word of Elohim. The High days of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Firstfruits offering, and Feast of Weeks cover all of the Messiah's death, resurrection, atonement for sin, and new life for us that we need to know. It is what the Eternal wants us to recognize.

"take heed to thee, lest thou be snared after them, after their being destroyed out of thy presence, and lest thou enquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, and I do so -- even I? 'Thou dost not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every abomination of Jehovah which He is hating they have done to their gods, for even their sons and their daughters they burn with fire to their gods. Deu. 12:30-31 YLT

The Passover Memorial

The Passover sacrifice fore shadowed the atoning sacrifice that Yahshuah made for us as the lamb of YHVH ... the blood that saves all people from the death that comes from sin. It is the theme of redemption from slavery and death, both in the physical and in the spiritual, that we are commanded to remember and to observe and ought to be the focus of our celebrations and our joy.

The Scriptural Passover In the Scriptures, the original Passover and the memorial of Passover thereafter is a relatively simple thing. The first Passover occurred when Israel was taken from Egypt by YHVH's mighty hand ... with the blood of the lamb being the mark that saved the children of Israel from death. After that, Israel is told to remember that night with a simple meal consisting of bitter herbs, lamb, and unleavened bread which is to be eaten while standing with sandals on their feet and staff in hand ... all to remind them to be ready to leave Egypt and the hurried way in which it had happened.

The Rabbinic Seder

In contrast to the Scriptural Passover, we have the Jewish Seder which comes out of the Rabbinic system. By the time of Yahshuah, there was already a rift between the Sadducess who kept the written law of Elohim (the Scriptures) at the Temple and the Pharisees who kept the oral law (those instructions purportedly handed down from Moses above and beyound the written law) which were taught in the synagogues. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Pharisees came to power and the modern Jewish poeple with their traditions and lifestyles was born. This includes the seder meal which celebrates the account of the exodus in a very specific way.

The current seder ceremony was brought into general acceptance around 200 AD when the Mishnah (the first part of the Talmud (a collection of Rabbinic writings)) was written. In the seder, an elaborate ritual emphasizing the freedom from slavery and of teaching this to the children was put in place. It usually includes: a blessing of sanctification, a ritual washing of the hands, a vegetable like parsley dipped in salt water to represent the lowly beginning of the Jews and the tears of slavery, part one of the 3 matzah, the telling of the story of the Exodus which is done by having the children ask 4 questions, the washing of hands and blessing of the grain, eating bitter herbs to symbolize the bitterness of slavery, a sandwich with a sweet mixture and matzah, a meal, part 2 of the matzah by finding the hidden piece which is "ransomed" back, a blessing after the meal, praises from the Psalms, and a closing.

The Jewish people recognize that there will be a Messiah and acknowledge the themes of salvation and redemption found within Scripture ... but it must be clearly noted that they have refused to acknowledge Yahshuah as The Messiah and that this ceremony is ominously lacking of Him even though it is based on the same text which actually describes Him. This ceremony is made up almost entirely of man-made customs which reduces the importance of the Lamb and the purchase from slavery and focuses more on the bitterness of slavery and the joy of freedom. Rather than eat standing ready to go, they recline in this many hour long dinner. It is a meal that is rich with symbolism, but the symbolism points in the wrong direction. Scripture points us forward to Yahshuah, the seder points us to a one time event in the distant past.

The Christian Easter

Within the Protestant denomination I grew up in, the importance of Easter far exceeded anything around it. There was no memorial for Unleavened Bread and the events of the Last Supper were underplayed or somewhat oddly mixed together with or replacing the Passover events. So I will focus more on Easter.

What we know as modern day Easter has, for the most part, come through the traditions taken in by the Catholic / Christian Church. Until the time of the printing press and the reformation caused by Luther, the history of the church meant the history of the Roman Catholic Church which was officially formed by the Council of Nicea under Emperor Constantine. Sadly, the RCC has used the same methodology the Roman Empire used when it expanded and conquered people ... it does not convert them so much as absorb them into its culture taking with it the customs and traditions of the people. For the church, this included electing Bishops from the local peoples and taking the pagan worship methods found there and altering them slightly to put a Christian veneer on them so that outwardly it looked like worship to the One Most High.

Thus, most of the customs now used to celebrate Easter actually come from the pagan rituals used to worship many other false gods. This was easily done since the church had thrown out the Hebrew Scriptures as being authoritative in life ... a whole new set of worship customs and methods needed to be created or taken in to fill in the gap. This sadly misses all the symbolism and meaning of Messiah and His actions here on earth already found in the Scriptures. So instead, we have the last supper in place of the Passover meal, a sunrise service in place of the firstfruits offering, and sometimes even the cross instead of the lamb. We see easter eggs used even in the church as resurrection eggs, traditions including white lilies, easter bonfires, and hot cross buns ... these all have pagan roots dating back to before the time of Messiah and pre-date any 'christian' worship. Even the name of Easter (or Ishtar) itself seems to come from the name of the great mother goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe which was representative of dawn and fertility. The customs and the name are still in place for the worship of this false goddess, but it has been altered to be used for Elohim ... this is not right! In fact, the Scriptures say that worshiping Elohim through pagan methods is an abomination and not be done.

As the next Passover season approaches, let us shake off the man made and pagan traditions that mar our rejoicing and our prayers being heard. Let us return to Scripture and follow the ways given to us by the Eternal. And may we truly celebrate what our Savior has done for us.