For me personally, the celebration of Passover is always one of the most meaningful celebrations of the year. There are so many details in the Passover celebration, both from the Bible and Jewish tradition, that focus on the Messiah and perfectly coordinate with the New Testament teaching of Yeshua as the fulfillment of the Passover lamb. In this article, I will focus on one of these details of the Passover celebration as it relates to the weekly Torah Portion.
The Day of Atonement
This week’s reading from the Torah is found in Leviticus chapters sixteen through eighteen. In Leviticus chapter sixteen, we read about the requirements for the Day of Atonement and how to properly apply the blood of the sacrifice in order to make atonement:
Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. – Lev. 16:15-17
It was only by means of the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement that the nation of Israel as a whole maintained right standing with God by being cleansed from their sin and impurities.
In order to be a holy nation unto God, the people of Israel were commanded to keep the Law of the LORD in all of its entirety. Sacrificial atonement by means of an animal sacrifice was foundational to maintaining relationship with God. The blood of the sacrifice was particularly important. It was by means of the blood that atonement was established.
The Prohibition of Consuming Blood
Because of the importance of the blood sacrifice, the Law specifically emphasizes the uniqueness and sanctity of blood itself. Leviticus chapter seventeen provides a detailed explanation of the sanctity of blood. The following verses from this section of Scripture elaborate on this subject of blood:
And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’ So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’ – Lev. 17:10-14
It is the blood that gives life to the flesh and, as a result, we are forbidden to eat the flesh of any bird or animal with its blood still in it because of the reality that blood equals life.
It is completely forbidden to consume blood based on the verses quoted above. We also read this same prohibition in the days of Noah after the flood: “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Gen. 9:4) The eating or consuming of flesh with its blood is forbidden because life itself is identified in the blood.
The Cup of Blood
Since the Law of the Torah is so clear regarding the prohibition of consuming blood, why did Yeshua command His disciples to do something that was seemingly contradictory to the Law by symbolically drinking His blood? It was during the Passover meal that Yeshua took the unleavened bread to represent His body and the cup of wine after the meal to represent His blood:
While they were eating, Yeshua took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” – Matt. 26:26-29
We know that this was only a cup of wine and not a cup of blood. It is also clear from the text that Yeshua was taking this particular cup of wine at Passover and using it to illustrate His blood. This being true, why would Yeshua ask His disciples to partake in something that was forbidden, to consume a cup of blood.
The Flesh & Blood of Yeshua
The Christian church has normalized something that seems totally contradictory to the Hebrew Scriptures. Eating of human flesh (Gen. 9:6) and drinking of blood, whether of a human or an animal, was forbidden. What was Yeshua teaching His disciples and us today?
Yeshua taught on this subject of His flesh and blood before the event of the “Last Supper” or more accurately, the final Passover with His disciples. In John chapter six we read how Yeshua taught these truths to others in His home town of Capernaum:
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. – John 6:47-51
Yeshua testified that it was only by believing in Him that a person could have eternal life. He described Himself as the living bread and invited others to eat of this bread. He also made it clear that the bread which he offers to the world is His very flesh.
These were not easy words to comprehend. Although many in Yeshua’s day saw the miracles which He performed and considered Him to be a prophet, what did it actually mean to eat of His flesh? As we read on in the text, the people struggled to understand this teaching:
Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” – John 6:52-58
It was a valid questions; “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” We need to put ourselves in their shoes and realize that Yeshua was making a very difficult statement. Not only was He equating His flesh as bread to be eaten, but He was also telling them that they must drink His blood.
The statements which Yeshua made were very difficult to comprehend. If we were among those who heard Him in that day, would we have understood what Yeshua meant? Probably not! As we read on in the text of John chapter six, we see that His own disciples struggled to grasp what He meant by these words:
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Yeshua, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” – John 6:59-64
In response to His disciples, Yeshua made it clear that He was speaking of spiritual truths which give life. These spiritual truths were later fulfilled in the Passover observance.
The Third Cup
The Passover is traditionally celebrated with four cups of wine. These four cups are symbolic of the freedom that the Israelites were granted from Egyptian slavery and oppression. The four cups are identified with the following four names:
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- The Cup of Sanctification
- The Cup of Deliverance
- The Cup of Redemption
- The Cup of Praise
The names of each of these cups are based on the verbs used in Exodus 6:6-7 to describe what God did for the people of Israel in delivering them from Egypt.
Since the Scriptures tell us that Yeshua took the cup of wine after the meal, it is believed that Yeshua identified His blood of the New covenant with the third cup, the Cup of Redemption:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Yeshua in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The last piece of food which is eaten before the third cup of wine is called the Afikoman, the broken piece of matzah which is hidden at the beginning of the Passover meal and revealed at the end of the meal. In Judaism, this piece of unleavened bread, the Afikoman, represents the Passover lamb.
The Bread & The Wine
The unleavened bread eaten at the end of each Passover meal represents the flesh of the Passover lamb. Yeshua’s analogy of His flesh being eaten like bread in John chapter six now makes perfect sense. It is also fitting that Yeshua chose the third cup of wine to institute the New Covenant in His blood as He provided redemption for all of mankind through His death on the cross. Immediately following the third cup of wine, in a traditional Passover Seder, there is the expectation of the coming of the Messiah and the establishing of the Messianic kingdom.
Even though Yeshua’s words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood may shock our ears when we first hear them, we can begin to understand them through the bigger lens of the Bible and the reality of Him becoming the Passover Lamb for us:
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed. – 1 Corinthians 5:7
It is much easier for us today to read the New Testament and look back on the Hebrew Scriptures of Isaiah 53 and others to piece together the mystery of the Messiah revealed through the Passover Lamb. It would have been a challenge to put all of these prophetic details together before Yeshua spoke these words and fulfilled these prophecies.
The Great Paradox
Just as it was difficult for the disciples to hear about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Messiah, so much of what Yeshua said and did was difficult to comprehend. In many ways, Yeshua flipped everything around as we read in the letter to the believers at Galatia:
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Messiah Yeshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. – Gal. 3:10-14
Yeshua became the curse of the Law in order to redeem us from it, although He was the only One who has ever fully kept the Law. Yeshua died the death of the firstborn son, although He did nothing to deserve it. Yeshua became the Passover Lamb for us allowing His flesh and His blood to redeem each one of us from our own personal slavey to sin.
The great paradox of the Bible is that so much that is written in it seems almost impossible to be true or even at times to be contradictory, but at the same time there always seems to be a solution to these contradictions. The great paradox of the Messiah is that there are so many details that don’t seem to fit who He should be, but then all the details seem to actually fit together perfectly. Death was defeated by the death of the Righteous One.
…Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:53-54
Shabbat Shalom!
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Torah Portion: Lev. 16:1 – Lev. 18:30
Haftara: Ezekiel 22:1-19
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