The Meaning of Passover:
Protection, Redemption, and Access
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Protection
The record of the first Passover is in Exodus.
Pharaoh refused to let the people go, so one after another, 10 plagues fell upon Egypt. The first nine plagues came against specific gods that the Egyptians worshipped. These plagues showed that the God of Israel was much greater than their gods.
God told the Israelites to kill a lamb and put its blood on the posts of the doorway. Then they should roast it and eat all of it. They should eat it standing up with their shoes and coats on, ready to go.
Exodus 12:11 ESV:
In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
The Hebrew word for Passover, pesach, is interesting. Up until the Latin translation was made, everyone just called it pesach. It was in the Latin translation that it became known as Passover. Traditionally, people say it was called “Passover” because the destroyer passed over the houses that had blood on the doorposts. But there is a deeper meaning.
Exodus 12:12 ESV:
For I will pass through [abarti] the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
“Pass through” comes from a different Hebrew word that can also mean “pass over,” but that word is where the term Hebrew comes from. The Hebrews passed through or passed over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers when they [Abraham’s family] came over from Ur of the Chaldees.
Exodus 12:23 ESV:
For the Lord will pass through [abar] to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over [pesach] the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
Pesach could be better translated as “protection” or a “protected sacrifice.”
Isaiah 31:5 ESV:
Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare [pesach] and rescue it.”
Exodus 12:27 ESV:
you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover [pesach], for he passed [pesach] over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
The word “Passover” came to mean the price (the blood) that was paid for the protection, and as the protection itself.
1 Corinthians 5:6–7 ESV:
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover [protection sacrifice] lamb, has been sacrificed.
The latter part of verse 7, from Aramaic, reads: “For our Passover is Christ, who was sacrificed on our behalf.”
Christ, as our Passover, shed his blood for our protection.
Redemption
There are several Hebrew words for redemption, but let’s examine the specific word for “kinsman redeemer.”
In Hebrew, the verb is gaal. To call a person a kinsman redeemer, the word is goel.
The story of Ruth is the story of the kinsman redeemer.
Naomi was Ruth’s mother-in-law. Naomi and Elimelech had two sons. Because of a famine, they left their land and went to Moab. While they were in Moab, the two sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. While in Moab, Elimelech and his two sons died, leaving Naomi with just her two daughters-in-law.
Naomi heard that the famine was over in Israel, so she decided to return home. She told her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab because she didn’t know what had happened to her land (her husband’s inheritance) back in Israel. Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth goes with Naomi to Israel.
They return near the time of the barley harvest—near the time of Passover.
Naomi tells Ruth to glean what she could in the fields, and they would live off of that. Ruth goes out into the fields and happens upon the field of Boaz, a prominent man in the community. Boaz sees her and how faithful she is in taking care of Naomi, so he tells her to glean in the fields behind his servants, eat with them, and he protects her.
Ruth 2:17–20 ESV:
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley [that’s a lot]. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers [one who has the right to redeem].”
Boaz had the right to be a kinsman redeemer for Naomi and Elimelech. Naomi tells Ruth to
Ruth 2:21–23 ESV:
21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Kinsman Redeemer Qualifications
A kinsman redeemer needs three qualifications.
- He must be the nearest blood relative who is willing.
- He had to have the means to be the redeemer.
- He had to be willing to redeem.
The man, Jesus Christ, was a blood relative. He had the means (sinless blood) to redeem us. And he was willing to do redeem us.
Ruth 4:8–11a ESV:
8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses.
Boaz and Ruth have a son named Obed. Obed becomes the father of Jesse. And Jesse becomes the father of David. So Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of David.
The duties of a kinsman redeemer are interesting.
- To redeem someone who was sold into slavery or had lost their land.
- To redeem the land; to reinstate the inheritance.
Redemption is always from something to something. See the teaching Living in Redemption.
Galatians 4:4–7 APNT:
4 But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son. And he was from a woman and was under the law,
5 so that he would redeem those who are under the law and [that] we would receive adoption.
6 And now that you are sons, God sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son that calls, “Father, our Father.”
7 From now on, you are not servants, but sons, and if sons, [you are] also heirs of God by way of Jesus Christ.
Because we are redeemed, we are going to receive this full inheritance in the future. The Spirit is sent into our hearts right now as a downpayment of our inheritance.
We were redeemed. We’re being redeemed. We will be redeemed.
The third duty of the kinsman redeemer is:
- To avenge the death of the kinsman (the avenger of death).
Jesus avenged us from the penalty that we otherwise would have had to pay for our sins—death. He redeemed us from that to life.
Hebrews 7:25 APNT:
And he is able to give life forever to those who come near to God by way of him, for he is always alive and sends up prayer for them.
When the destroyer passed over the Israelite’s homes, then Pharaoh let the people go. The point was to go from bondage to the promised land.
Access
Redemption gives us access so that we can go straight into the throne room of God.
Hebrews 10:19–22 APNT:
19 We have, therefore, my brothers, boldness in the entering of the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus
20 and a way of life that is now made new for us by the veil that is his flesh.
21 And we have a high priest over the house of God.
22 Therefore, we should come near with a steadfast heart and with the confidence of faith, our hearts being sprinkled and pure from an evil conscience and our body washed with pure water.
Hebrews 4:16 APNT:
Therefore, we should boldlycome near the throne of his grace to receive mercies and to find grace for help in time of adversity.
Access is influence.
Ephesians 3:12 APNT:
in whom [Christ] we haveboldness and access in the confidence of his faith.
Putting “boldness” and “access” together is the figure of speech, Hendiadys. Two words are used, but one thing is meant. It means “speaking access.”
Ephesians 1:3–5 APNT:
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ,
4 even as he chose us beforehand in him, from before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy [ones] and without blemish before [katenopion] him. And in love, he marked us out beforehand for himself
5 and he adoptedus in Jesus Christ, as was pleasing to his will,
In the phrase “holy and without blemish before him” (verse 4), the word “before” comes from the Greek word katenopion. It means literally “before the eyes,” or “face to face.”
Colossians 1:20–22 APNT:
20 and by way of him to reconcile everything to him. And he made peace by the blood of his cross by his hands, whether in earth or in heaven.
21 For you also, who previously were strangers and enemies in your minds because of your evil works, he has now made peace
22 by the body of his flesh and by his death, so that he would establish you before [katenopion, face to face] him, holy, without blemish, and without blame.
YouTube Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It:
Christ, our Passover, shed his blood for:
- Our protection.
- Our redemption.
- Our access.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
See Also
This audio file is also available from the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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