Passover is
celebrated on the first month of the
biblical year (Nisan). This feast celebrates the freedom from slavery, out of
Egypt and out of sin.
The first
time the Israelites celebrated this feast was the day before they left Egypt.
The blood of the Lamb over their door posts opened the door to their freedom.
The second time they celebrated it was a year later, in remembrance of their
release.
(Numbers
9:1-5) And the LORD spoke to
Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after
they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, (2) “Let the people of
Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. (3) On the fourteenth day
of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according
to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” (4) So Moses
told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. (5) And they
kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at
twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that
the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did.
However, not
everyone could celebrate that Passover.
(Numbers
9:6-7) And there were certain men who were
unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover
on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. (7) And
those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we
kept from bringing the LORD’s offering at its appointed time among the
people of Israel?”
Some people could not celebrate Passover in that occasion because they
were not in a clean state; it could have been that a close relative had died.
But they did have a point in their favor: they wanted to celebrate the Feast,
and they didn’t want to miss it. So, they appealed.
The legalist answer would have been that they simply could not do it.
But Moses did not turn these people away, but searched for God’s will.
(Numbers 9:8-13) And Moses said
to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning
you.” (9) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (10) “Speak to the
people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean
through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the
Passover to the LORD. (11) In the second month on the fourteenth day at
twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. (12) They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any
of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep
it. (13) But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep
the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not
bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his
sin.
God looks at the heart. If the intentions are bad, he will not overlook
it. But if there is a good intention, the Lord is willing to give us a second
chance.
For those who could not celebrate Passover on the 14th of
Nisan, they have a new opportunity of doing it on the 14th of Iyar:
The Second Passover (heb. Pesach
Sheni).
Interestingly, this year (2012), on the 14th of Iyar there
will be a sign in the sky: the “Super Moon”. The moon will look bigger than
usual because it will be closer to Earth. Could the Lord be giving us a second
chance?
SECOND CHANCE
This second chance to celebrate Passover was used in the times of King
Hezekiah, in Israel.
(II Chronicles 30:1-5) Hezekiah sent
to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that
they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the
Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. (2) For the king and his
princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the
Passover in the second month— (3) for they could not keep it at that time
because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor
had the people assembled in Jerusalem— (4) and the plan seemed right to
the king and all the assembly. (5) So they decreed to make a proclamation
throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and
keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they
had not kept it as often as prescribed.
God gives us second chances… Will we take advantage of that?
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