39. An Ongoing Memorial

Meditations in Exodus: 39. An Ongoing Memorial

Ex 12:14   This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.

In the previous meditation we noted that the focus of every new year was to be the Passover, the reminder of how the Lord redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt and took them and made them a people of His own. That is at the heart of all this, and thus the Lord now reiterates that very clearly to Moses: “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.” (v.14)  but it isn’t just a one-day thing, it is in fact to be a week-long thing. The trouble with a one-day event is that it is gone so quickly that it can almost be forgotten or lose its significance.

So we find instructions for this one-week memorial: “For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel” (v.15) Note, first of all, how serious this is: if anyone fails to follow these instructions that is tantamount to outright disobedience which will take away the meaning or significance of what they are doing.  We noted before the absence of yeast in their bread is to be a strong reminder of the haste with which they eventually left Egypt. This is an important thing. For months (or years?) these plagues had been building and building and there was no sign of any movement in Pharaoh and then all of a sudden, after this last plague, there is going to be almost a violent spewing out of Israel from Egypt and they are going to have to be ready to leave at an instant and then go very hastily. This was all because of the work of God and that essential piece of information was to be incorporated in this ‘meal’ lasting a week, every year.

Now what follows is not what will happen now before this plague comes, but what they are to do every year thereafter as a memorial. On the first and the seventh day of this ‘feast’ everything else, except the food preparation, is to come to an end: “On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat–that is all you may do.” (v.16) i.e. there is to be no work done on either of those two days. Those two days were for a special gathering together to remember before the Lord, the wonder of what He had done for them.

This becomes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because unleavened means to be without yeast (normally when yeast is used in making bread it takes time for it to rise in the bread. Such was their haste they would not have time to wait for the yeast to rise so they had to make bread without yeast, i.e. unleavened). “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.” (v.17)

Now we have to re-emphasise the importance of the absence of yeast:  “In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” (v.18-20) We emphasise it because the emphasis is there in the Lord’s instructions. Some, wanting to typify this, say that yeast is a picture of sin and therefore everything here is about obedience to the Lord and therefore the absence of sin. Nevertheless the main emphasis, we believe, is what we have already picked up on, that it was all about recognising the amazing work of God that brought about the exit of haste from the land of slavery, deliverance to a new life in a new land.

Now there may be some confusion between the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in terms of timing. Note again the timing in the verses we have already considered: “In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.” (v.18)

In the Law we read, “The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.” (Lev 23:5,6)

What actually happened was that the lamb was slain at sunset on the 14^th. Now in Hebrew reckoning the next day began after sunset of the previous day and ended at sunset of the next day. So technically the Passover was celebrated on the 14^th and because the 15^th started straight after sunset there would be no gap of time between the death of the lamb, the sprinkling of the blood and the keeping of the feast. In what happened in Egypt, the lamb was slain in the evening of the 14^th, the judgment fell at midnight and the redeemed people of God started out of Egypt in the morning of the 15^th.

The seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread that would be celebrated in subsequent years was able to be celebrated because of the Passover and the two are often spoken of as one. In the days of Unleavened Bread there was opportunity to reflect upon the wonder of what the Lord had done, not only in the event of the Passover but also in the days of escape that followed in which the power of the Lord was seen yet further, which we will yet see in future meditations. It was also a time of communion with God and thankfulness for their very existence that was due entirely to Him. It was a time of presenting burnt offerings to the Lord (Lev 23:8) as a gift to the Lord (Deut 16:16,17) – and it was all possible because a lamb had been slain. Hallelujah!

But that unique night in Egypt they were feasting on their particular lamb, as someone has said, ‘not in cool indifference, nor unconscious slumber, but in anticipation’, dressed to travel, wondering about the hours ahead, how it will all work out. For years they have been slaves under the domination of the ruling Pharaoh, in the midst of this occult-heavy, superstitious people. Now the word has come to them – be ready, you are about to witness one of the most horrendous judgments of history and yet be untouched, and then you will be free to follow the Lord as He will lead you out of this place of slavery to a new future.

So much of this study has been about ‘remembering’ in the future the events that were about to take place. When we participate in ‘Communion’ or ‘the Lord’s Supper’ we are remembering Jesus’ death on our behalf. That is something built into our corporate life, but I wonder how often we reflect back on our own lives and remember the things that the Lord has done for us over the years.  Some times those things will be very obvious, other times less obvious and we say by faith, ‘it had to be the Lord.’ It is important that we remember and keep on remembering.

25. Gathering/Scattering

Meditations in Ecclesiastes : 24 :  A Time for Gathering or Scattering

Eccles 3:5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

Probably in life, stones are something you’ve never really thought about. They are a background feature, if you like, that almost get missed. For a gardener, stones can be a blessing or a bane. We can take them and build a rockery, or put them down to form a base on which we build a shed, but in the midst of the flower bed or a lawn they can be a real nuisance and need to be removed. Isaiah spoke of the need to get rid of, or scatter stones: “He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.” (Isa 5:2) This was God clearing the ground so that Israel could grow and flourish. Travelling around the country you may see dry-stone walls, mile after mile of walls made by these stones wedged together. In old towns we may take for granted the buildings that have been put together with stone. Stone and stones are there all around us and most of the time we don’t see them.

In Old Testament times, piles of stones came to have greater significance than we might think. See here with Jacob: “So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.” (Gen 31:45-49) This pile of stones became a memorial. The first two names given to it, in Aramaic and Hebrew respectively, mean ‘witness heap’ and the last one, ‘watchtower’.  This pile of stones was to act as a reminder of a family relationship and that they were now under God’s watchful eye. Similarly when Joshua took the people into the land crossing the Jordon, the Lord instructed him, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” (Josh 4:2,3) so that, “In the future, when your children ask you, `What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (v.6,7) Again this pile of collected stones were to remind people in the days to come of the Lord’s covenant with them and what He had done for them taking them through on dry land. Piles of stones thus came to be monuments or reminders of a relationship.

Thus be can see now how the parallelism works – “and a time to embrace”. Embracing is a sign of unity, of harmony, of relationship. In other words, there are times when it is right to build relationships and create signs of relationship. The smallest precious stone on the finger of a young woman is a sign that a young man has covenanted to join himself to her. Many churches have ‘membership’, a formal sign of wanting to join together and be a committed part of this local body of God’s people. When we join a team to work together, there is this same sense of committing to something. If we’d lived in Jacob’s day we’d have each gathered a stone and made a pile as a reminder of the point in time when we came together to work together in relationship.

But then there is a time to scatter stones. If the gathering together of stones was a sign of a relationship being built, the scattering of the stones is a sign that the relationship has come to an end. If it is a marriage that is a tragic thing for God’s intent was that it should be a lifelong commitment. At other times there are unhappy disagreements and a parting of the ways. That happened to Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-39) and, sadly, it sometimes happens with us. But there are other times when it is just right to move on and although the relationship may continue in the hearts of the two parties, for practical purposes it is ended. This is life. There are times for such relationships to come together, blossom and flourish, and then there are times with the circumstances of life, when it is time to part. There may be a final embracing, but thereafter it is a time to refrain. This is life, this is what happens.

I have referred in previous meditations to life being a kaleidoscope where you tap it and the colours and shapes change. Edith Schaeffer in her book, What is a Family?, uses the picture of a changing mobile – the sort of thing you see in a child’s nursery that hangs there, moving, perhaps catching the light, held by the various strings but otherwise constantly moving. That is a good picture. We knit to our partner and a relationship is established. Children come along and new tiny, fragile relationships are created – and there is lots of ‘embracing’. They grow up and become teenagers and often there is a refraining from embracing as they learn to be an individual, and once they are through that, they too start forming a new relationship and we embrace them again in celebration and one day as grandparents we will embrace their new generation as well. It’s a constantly changing mobile, a changing kaleidoscope, this life. Sometimes joyous, sometimes sad, but never the same.