Exodus 12:14-20; 13:3-10

“This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the Lord. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time. ¹⁵ You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses because anyone who eats leavened bread anytime during those seven days will be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ The first day and the seventh day will be a holy occasion for you. No work at all should be done on those days, except for preparing the food that everyone is going to eat. That is the only work you may do. ¹⁷ You should observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this precise day I brought you out of the land of Egypt in military formation. You should observe this day in every generation as a regulation for all time. ¹⁸ In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you should eat unleavened bread. ¹⁹ For seven days no yeast should be found in your houses because whoever eats leavened bread will be cut off from the Israelite community, whether the person is an immigrant or a native of the land. ²⁰ You should not eat anything made with yeast in all your settlements. You should eat only unleavened bread.”

Key Verse:

This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the LORD. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time. —Exodus 12:14

Commentary:

Before God even completed the tenth plague, God established a festival in honor of the Israelites gaining their freedom. Still today, Jewish families celebrate the Passover, beginning with a ritual feast called a seder (SAY-der) meal. During the meal participants recite certain prayers and passages, retelling the story of the Passover. And they eat special food items, such as horseradish or other bitter herbs to symbolize the hardships of slavery, celery dipped in salt water representing the tears the ancient Israelites shed, and a roasted egg to represent new life. The meal also includes matzah, which is unleavened bread (baked without yeast) that symbolizes the Israelites’ leaving Egypt in such a hurry that they couldn’t wait for their bread dough to rise. During the seder participants sing songs and celebrate God’s great victory so long ago.

Questions to Discuss:

Why, do you think, is it important for Jewish people today to remember something that happened so long ago?

What are some ways that you remember the great things God has done for you?