During the Exile the Passover was probably one of the few observances still ἘΣΣΙ Ἐς to the Jews, and must have greatly aided in keeping alive religious faith and hope. The memory of
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the deeds once done for the fathers would become the ground of assurance of that inevitable future when Js promise to His chosen people would be realized. The commemorative side would be thus developed, the more so as any connexion with the sacrificial cultus was, of course, impossible. Justas in later days, after the destruction of the temple, so now they would love to linger long, on this night, recalling the past and thinking of the future. The fact that in P the Passover is seen to be in its essential nature a sacrifice, and yet is so unlike all other sacrifices, may be due in large measure to the development and strengthening of the domestic and historical features during this period. We might then understand in part the departure from the view of the Deuteronomist. Undoubtedly, the Passover assumes a new prominence in P. In many points there is a close connexion with Ezekiel, but there is greater amplification and much that differs. Not only is the day definitely fixed, but all the minute details of 7 ea are added. With this writer, further, it is not merely a memorial, but it was instituted beforehand as a means of accomplishing deliverance, and thus gains a deeper historical meaning. It is in the first instance the saving deed itself (cf. Wellh. Proleg.* p. 100).—The Chronicler gives us our last notices in the Canon. By him the priestly legis- lation is usually followed, as it is throughout the norm of post-exilic worship; but in the case of the Passover a striking preference is given to the ordinances of Dt. The sacrificial character again comes into prominence, possibly under the growing influence of worship in one sanctuary.
ii. ORIGIN AND PRIMITIVE SIGNIFICANCE.— Whatever differences there may be in our OT records as to the manner of observing the Pass- over, we have seen that it is uniformly associated with and commemorative of the deliverance from Egypt. Of its meaning to the Israel of historic time there can be no question. But do we thus arrive at the real explanation of its origin and primi- tive significance? Our accounts in their present form are, of course, an inadequate explanation for the institution of an entirely new feast. So much is mentioned as well understood that we see it must have been firmly rooted in the national life when the writers lived. In view of this fact; in view of the many features which seem to point to something behind the interpretation given to them ; in view of what we find in the observances of related peoples, so far as these are known to us ; and in view of the development in the case of all the other great feasts, and the historical interpre- tation which came to be given them,—it is probable that we have here another instance in which Israel’s religion takes up, transforms, and appropriates an existing institution. We might expect to find some starting-point for conjecture in the name Passover,
but it proves of little aid. °
1. Name.—nos, J.-Aram. καρ, Syr. Lu, and hence πάσχα (2 Ch, Jer 38 (31)® φασέκ ; Jos. several times φάσκα. Later derivatives πασχάζω, πασχάλιος, πασχαλικοί). The root ποθ" appears in what are usually regarded as two distinct verbs: (1) ‘to ag over ’ in sense of sparing, with the prepos. Sy
x 123-3-2%, and without Is 315, cf. nppa 1K 54;
(2) ‘to be lame,’ ‘to limp’ (cf. tw! δ᾽, vc), 1K C 18", Pi. 18% (‘ dance’ ἢ, Niph. 2 5 44, For the first, from which the noun Passover is derived, there is no means of gaining a primitive meaning (so Wellh., Benzinger, ef al.). It is undoubtedly an y
old word. In Syriac we? means to be joyous, * Ewald would trace to root 05 Salvere, and from this derive other meanings
PASSOVER
which might give the idea of festal rejoicing, and this would be the most we could inter as to a primal conception. The name Passover is used in a twofold way, (a) of the feast, (δ) of the sacrifice at that time (in 2 Ch we meet the plural ποθ). It is made the object of various verbs. So of ποὺ ‘to keep the feast of the Passover’ (e.g. Ex 12), ony ‘to kill the Passover’ (e.g. Ex 127); nar ‘to sacrifice the Passover’ (e.g. Dt 16%); wxa ὑφ ‘to roast the Passover’ (2 Ch 351%); Sax ‘to eat the Passover’ (6.5. Ex 12*). (On nopa an cf. above, i A.l
chp
2. Older Views.—From the many conjectures regarding the pre- Mosaic Passover there are several which do not commend themselves at present sufliciently to warrant more than a brief mention. George (Die Jiid. Feste, p. 239) starts from the root no> and makes it a commemorative feast of the passage of the Red Sea. Redslob (Hamburger Gymnasial Programm, 1856) regarded it as a shepherd’s festival celebrated in the pas- tures on the night before the Exodus (‘ Ein in der Nacht vor dem Auszug der Hirten auf die Triften gefeiertes Hutfest’). Von Bohlen (Gen. p. 140 ff.) and Vatke (Bibl. Theol. i. p. 492ff.) make it the celebration of the entrance of the sun inte the zodi- acal sign Aries, and so many others have connected it with the spring. (See Kalisch, Hz, p. 184ff.; Dill.-Rys. Ex, p. 120ff.). There have been from time to time views connecting the early rite with human sacrifice (cf. Kalisch, d.c. 186 ff.).