Philo’s Explanation of Passover

Josephus

On the Special Laws 2.145–161

First Half of 1st Century

After the New Moon comes the fourth feast, called the Crossing-feast, which the Hebrews in their native tongue call Pascha. In this festival many myriads of victims from noon till eventide are offered by the whole people, old and young alike, raised for that particular day to the dignity of the priesthood. For at other times the priests according…

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Philo’s explanations of the festivals both paraphrase scripture and supply the author’s own philosophical symbolism, which draws on Stoicism and Middle Platonism. His explanation of Passover addresses several distinctive features of the festival, including consumption of unleavened bread and the fact that the Passover sacrifice is made by individual households rather than priests in the Temple. Philo also discusses the date of the festival: the Passover sacrifice is offered at twilight on the fourteenth of Nisan, designated the first month in the Bible (Exodus 12:2), and the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteenth, at the spring equinox.

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Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

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