Passover in Early Judaism

Passover, which commemorates the Israelite exodus from Egypt, combines two biblical observances: the offering of a lamb (called the pesaḥ, or Passover, sacrifice) by each household and the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread, during which no leavened grain products are eaten (see Exodus 12:43–49, Leviticus 23:5–8, and Deuteronomy 16:1–8). Early rabbinic literature expands the consumption of the Passover sacrifice into a ritualized symposium-like meal including four cups of wine (see “The Rabbinic Passover-Eve Ritual”).

While the Temple stood, Passover was one of the three major pilgrimage festivals that brought a massive influx of Jews to Jerusalem. In Josephus’ writings, these festival gatherings are often occasions for mass expressions of political unrest. It is, therefore, hardly accidental that early Christian literature recalls the Passover pilgrimage as the occasion of Jesus’ execution in Jerusalem—although this specific occasion also comes to be invested with theological meaning, as Jesus’ death is construed as the ultimate redemptive Passover sacrifice.