Passover

Illustration of Passover

Passover is the annual commemoration of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage - the night when the destroying angel passed over houses marked with lamb's blood, as prescribed in Jubilees 49. The annual commemoration of Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt holds a central place in the calendrical and ritual traditions preserved within these ancient pseudepigraphal works. Far from a simple historical memorial, the observance is presented as an eternal statute binding upon future generations, one that reinforces the covenantal relationship between the divine and the chosen people. In the Book of Jubilees, this festival is woven into the fabric of sacred time, aligning the events of the Exodus with a divinely ordained solar calendar that ensures its perpetual recurrence on the fourteenth day of the first month. Particular emphasis falls on the precise manner of its celebration within the sanctuary. Jubilees 49 outlines strict requirements for the sacrifice of a year-old lamb or kid, its blood to be sprinkled on the altar, and the meat to be roasted whole without breaking any bone. Participants are instructed to eat the meal in haste, girded and prepared for departure, while the ritual itself must be conducted only at the central sanctuary after the tabernacle or temple has been established. These regulations underscore the text's concern for purity and centralized worship, transforming the meal into an act of atonement and remembrance that protects the community from plague and affirms their separation from surrounding nations. The Book of Jasher supplies the narrative backdrop to these prescriptions, recounting the final plague and the hurried departure from Egypt in chapters that detail the smearing of blood on doorposts and the subsequent flight. Within the wider Enochic corpus, such observances echo broader themes of heavenly tablets and predetermined festivals, linking the earthly ritual to cosmic order. Together these accounts portray the festival not merely as historical recollection but as an ongoing mechanism for covenant renewal and communal identity.

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Details

Category
Spring
Timing
14th of Nisan (1st month)
Season
Spring

Key Chapters

The Book of Jubilees 49 Regulations regarding the Passover 7 min read The Book of Jubilees 48 The Plagues and the Exodus 5 min read

Key Passages

Institution of Passover

The Book of Jubilees 49:1-23

Remember the commandment which the Lord commanded thee concerning the passover, that thou shouldst celebrate it in its s...

R1emember the commandment which the Lord commanded thee concerning the passover, that thou shouldst celebrate it in its season on the fourteenth of the first month, that thou shouldst kill it before it is evening, and that they should eat it by night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of the setting of the sun.

2 For on this night -the beginning of the festival and the beginning of the joy- ye were eating the passover in Egypt, when all the powers of Mastêmâ had been let loose to slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the captive maid-servant in the mill, and to the cattle. 3 And this is the sign which the Lord gave them: Into every house on the lintels of which they saw the blood of a lamb of the first year, into (that) house they should not enter to slay, but should pass by (it), that all those should be saved that were in the house because the sign of the blood was on its lintels. 4 And the powers of the Lord did everything according as the Lord commanded them, and they passed by all the children of Israel, and the plague came not upon them to destroy from amongst them any soul either of cattle, or man, or dog. 5 And the plague was very grievous in Egypt, and there was no house in Egypt where there was not one dead, and weeping and lamentation. 6 And all Israel was eating the flesh of the paschal lamb, and drinking the wine, and was lauding, and blessing, and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers, and was ready to go forth from under the yoke of Egypt, and from the evil bondage. 7 And remember thou this day all the days of thy life, and observe it from year to year all the days of thy life, once a year, on its day, according to all the law thereof, and do not adjourn (it) from day to day, or from month to month. 8 For it is an eternal ordinance, and engraven on the heavenly tablets regarding all the children of Israel that they should observe it every year on its day once a year, throughout all their generations; and there is no limit of days, for this is ordained for ever. 9 And the man who is free from uncleanness, and does not come to observe it on occasion of its day, so as to bring an acceptable offering before the Lord, and to eat and to drink before the Lord on the day of its festival, that man who is clean and close at hand shall be cut off: because he offered not the oblation of the Lord in its appointed season, he shall take the guilt upon himself. 10 Let the children of Israel come and observe the passover on the day of its fixed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, from the third part of the day to the third part of the night, for two portions of the day are given to the light, and a third part to the evening. 11 This is that which the Lord commanded thee that thou shouldst observe it between the evenings. 12 And it is not permissible to slay it during any period of the light, but during the period bordering on the evening, and let them eat it at the time of the evening, until the third part of the night, and whatever is left over of all its flesh from the third part of the night and onwards, let them burn it with fire. 13 And they shall not cook it with water, nor shall they eat it raw, but roast on the fire: they shall eat it with diligence, its head with the inwards thereof and its feet they shall roast with fire, and not break any bone thereof; for of the children of Israel no bone shall be crushed. 14 For this reason the Lord commanded the children of Israel to observe the passover on the day of its fixed time, and they shall not break a bone thereof; for it is a festival day, and a day commanded, and there may be no passing over from day to day, and month to month, but on the day of its festival let it be observed. 15 And do thou command the children of Israel to observe the passover throughout their days, every year, once a year on the day of its fixed time, and it shall come for a memorial well pleasing before the Lord, and no plague shall come upon them to slay or to smite in that year in which they celebrate the passover in its season in every respect according to His command. 16 And they shall not eat it outside the sanctuary of the Lord, but before the sanctuary of the Lord, and all the people of the congregation of Israel shall celebrate it in its appointed season. 17 And every man who has come upon its day shall eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord from twenty years old and upward; for thus is it written and ordained that they should eat it in the sanctuary of the Lord. 18 And when the children of Israel come into the land which they are to possess, into the land of Canaan, and set up the tabernacle of the Lord in the midst of the land in one of their tribes until the sanctuary of the Lord has been built in the land, let them come and celebrate the passover in the midst of the tabernacle of the Lord, and let them slay it before the Lord from year to year. 19 And in the days when the house has been built in the name of the Lord in the land of their inheritance, they shall go there and slay the passover in the evening, at sunset, at the third part of the day. 20 And they shall offer its blood on the threshold of the altar, and shall place its fat on the fire which is upon the altar, and they shall eat its flesh roasted with fire in the court of the house which has been sanctified in the name of the Lord. 21 And they may not celebrate the passover in their cities, nor in any place save before the tabernacle of the Lord, or before His house where His name hath dwelt; and they shall not go astray from the Lord. 22 And do thou, Moses, command the children of Israel to observe the ordinances of the passover, as it was commanded unto thee; declare thou unto them every year and the day of its days, and the festival of unleavened bread, that they should eat unleavened bread seven days, (and) that they should observe its festival, and that they bring an oblation every day during those seven days of joy before the Lord on the altar of your God. 23 For ye celebrated this festival with haste when ye went forth from Egypt till ye entered into the wilderness of Shur; for on the shore of the sea ye completed it.

Passover and exodus

The Book of Jubilees 48:1-19

And in the sixth year of the third week of the forty-ninth jubilee thou didst depart and dwell in 2372 A.M. the land of ...

A1nd in the sixth year of the third week of the forty-ninth jubilee thou didst depart and dwell in 2372 A.M. the land of Midian, five weeks and one year. And thou didst return into Egypt in the second week in the second year in the fiftieth jubilee.

2 And thou thyself knowest what He spake unto thee on 2410 A.M. Mount Sinai, and what prince Mastêmâ desired to do with thee when thou wast returning into Egypt on the way when thou didst meet him at the lodging-place. 3 Did he not with all his power seek to slay thee and deliver the Egyptians out of thy hand when he saw that thou wast sent to execute judgment and vengeance on the Egyptians? 4 And I delivered thee out of his hand, and thou didst perform the signs and wonders which thou wast sent to perform in Egypt against Pharaoh, and against all his house, and against his servants and his people. 5 And the Lord executed a great vengeance on them for Israel's sake, and smote them through (the plagues of) blood and frogs, lice and dog-flies, and malignant boils breaking forth in blains; and their cattle by death; and by hail-stones, thereby He destroyed everything that grew for them; and by locusts which devoured the residue which had been left by the hail, and by darkness; and by the death of the first-born of men and animals, and on all their idols the Lord took vengeance and burned them with fire. 6 And everything was sent through thy hand, that thou shouldst declare (these things) before they were done, and thou didst speak with the king of Egypt before all his servants and before his people. 7 And everything took place according to thy words; ten great and terrible judgments came on the land of Egypt that thou mightest execute vengeance on it for Israel. 8 And the Lord did everything for Israel's sake, and according to His covenant, which he had ordained with Abraham that He would take vengeance on them as they had brought them by force into bondage. 9 And the prince Mastêmâ stood up against thee, and sought to cast thee into the hands of Pharaoh, and he helped the Egyptian sorcerers, 10 and they stood up and wrought before thee the evils indeed we permitted them to work, but the remedies we did not allow to be wrought by their hands. 11 And the Lord smote them with malignant ulcers, and they were not able to stand, for we destroyed them so that they could not perform a single sign. 12 And notwithstanding all (these) signs and wonders the prince Mastêmâ was not put to shame because he took courage and cried to the Egyptians to pursue after thee with all the powers of the Egyptians, with their chariots, and with their horses, and with all the hosts of the peoples of Egypt. 13 And I stood between the Egyptians and Israel, and we delivered Israel out of his hand, and out of the hand of his people, and the Lord brought them through the midst of the sea as if it were dry land. 14 And all the peoples whom he brought to pursue after Israel, the Lord our God cast them into the midst of the sea, into the depths of the abyss beneath the children of Israel, even as the people of Egypt had cast their children into the river He took vengeance on 1,000,000 of them, and one thousand strong and energetic men were destroyed on account of one suckling of the children of thy people which they had thrown into the river. 15 And on the fourteenth day and on the fifteenth and on the sixteenth and on the seventeenth and on the eighteenth the prince Mastêmâ was bound and imprisoned behind the children of Israel that he might not accuse them. 16 And on the nineteenth we let them loose that they might help the Egyptians and pursue the children of Israel. 17 And he hardened their hearts and made them stubborn, and the device was devised by the Lord our God that He might smite the Egyptians and cast them into the sea. 18 And on the fourteenth we bound him that he might not accuse the children of Israel on the day when they asked the Egyptians for vessels and garments, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze, in order to despoil the Egyptians in return for the bondage in which they had forced them to serve. 19 And we did not lead forth the children of Israel from Egypt empty handed.

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Did You Know?

1

Jubilees insists it must be kept only in the sanctuary, not in homes.

2

The date is tied to the solar calendar exactly.

3

Jubilees prohibits celebrating it at home - it must be eaten at the central sanctuary, unlike other traditions.

4

No bone of the lamb may be broken - the animal must be roasted whole and completely consumed.

5

The date is fixed to the solar calendar, preventing it from ever drifting to the wrong season.