2 – Passover Lamb is killed on Abib 14

So you may wonder by now how they came up with the number 613 for the laws of Moses. The short answer is Rabbi Maimonides. However the exact number is debatable. We’ll use Maimonides list however we’ll start with Moses (excluding Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 32:33) because we want to focus on what is academically referred to as the dispensation of law. (What allows me to modify the great Maimonides’ list of commands? Chutzpah!) Now a cursory scan of the New Testament will reveal that while there is not statutory law (if you are found guilty of crime X, you must pay restitution of Z) as is found frequently in the Pentateuch, rather you will find significantly more imperatives. According to one count there are over 1,000 commands in the New Testament (49 by Jesus alone).

The Passover commands precede the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 but we can connect the Passover law of Exodus 12 to the later legal code and thus concur with Maimonides.

As we saw in Commandment 1 (not in priority order) the first step is to re-order the calendar from Creation-centric to Passover-centric. Here we see the Passover is tied to the first full moon of the re-ordered year – as the lunar month starts at the New Moon.

And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Exodus 12:6

And to find the latter discussion in the Torah

And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.

Numbers 28:16

Again, dispensationalism explains that while there were significant sacrifices post-fall (i.e. none in the first dispensation of Innocence), there was not a set date until Moses.

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Genesis 4:4

In fact, the Noahic post-flood sacrifice was at the end of the second month of the Creation Calendar

[13] And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
[14] And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
[20] And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:13-14, 20

The most significant individual sacrifice was that of Abraham offering the ram instead of Isaac.

[13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Genesis 22:13

Compare this to the Passover – a sacrifice offered in place of the firstborn son.

[12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
[13] And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:12-13

But now in the New Testament, Paul – the Jew par excellence –

And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Galatians 1:14

says this command is null to focus on a date

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Galatians 4:9-11

Why was this command revoked? It was fulfilled! Instead of a regular annual sacrifice, The Sacrifice was made once for us, as Hebrews 9 focuses on.

[12] Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

[25] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

[26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Hebrews 9:12, 25-26

Amazingly, the date of The Passover Lamb’s sacrifice was tied to the annual Passover observance

[2] Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

Matthew 26:2

While churches may recognize Good Friday, more importantly we can recognize the date that the blood of The Substitutionary Lamb

[29] The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

was applied to our heart’s door! If you haven’t done that – Today can be the Day!

[2] (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

2 Corinthians 6:2

But as we saw with the previous commandment, in the future Millennial Kingdom, Passover will once again be observed.

In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Ezekiel 45:21

Just as Moses looked forward to The Passover Lamb, so the Millennial Temple will look backward to The Passover Lamb!