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IV. “The Night To Be Much Observed”
Other than the Passover itself, which had been performed to ensure their very survival during the evening when all the firstborn of Egypt were dying, this “night to be much observed” celebratory meal was the first ritual law the Israelites were given. This evening, which occurred at the beginning of the 15th Nisan (Abib), was an evening for these freed slaves which must have been an evening of dancing and singing and feasting. For the believer in Jesus or Yeshua, this day symbolizes their personal deliverance from sin and this evil world of Satan’s. This evening also marks the beginning of the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the first Holy Day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread. This seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread would be spent marching out of Egypt to the western shores of the Red Sea, where the Israelites would really become free from Pharaoh and his evil army, seven days spent eating unleavened bread as they marched out. Now that is very significant as well. We as believers are living the Christian life, eating of the Word of God, marching through this life, living on this earth which is still Satan’s, but not living in this world spiritually any more. But this evening is a time for Christians and Messianic believers alike to rejoice as we acknowledge God’s deliverance, Jesus’ deliverance and intervention in our lives. Each of us has a story of how Jesus led us out of spiritual bondage to this world, drugs, alcoholism, sins of the world---out of “spiritual Egypt.”
The “Night To Be Much Observed” was foreshadowed long before
Israel ever became a nation
“At the end of 430 years, even on this selfsame day”, that is a phrase in Exodus 12 we will zero in on, for it is very significant. Exodus 12:40-42, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” Now, like Passover, this should be an evening observance the Jews should be observing, but has somehow fallen out of usage. And the Jews have also changed their observance of the Passover meal, their Seder, to the beginning of the 15th Nisan when these Israelites were celebrating their night be much observed. By the time of Jesus Christ, many Jews, if not most of them were celebrating their Passover meal 24 hours later than the one first kept by the Israelites here. It is just another proof of how long periods of time can mess things up, and knowledge can be lost. So let us see where the real significance of this day came from. Turn to Genesis 15. Genesis 15:1-4, “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, LORD GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” As we shall see, this is the afternoon of the very same day 430 years later, of the evening that would be the beginning of the Passover night, when all the firstborn would be killed in Egypt. Genesis 15:5-6, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the number of stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” So it must be night when God, Yahweh made this promise to Abram, Abraham. Then as we read on, we see it must have become daylight, so this would be the daylight portion of the 14th Nisan (we’ll see how we know this was the 14th Nisan in a little bit, hang on folks). This promise by God is where Yahweh is promising Abram, Abraham, that he’ll have so many descendants that he wouldn’t be able to number them. There was no light pollution back them, multiple billions of stars could have been visible. But also in Galatians we are told that believers in Jesus are the spiritual children of Abraham. Well, this promise to Abraham also includes all the spiritual heirs, children he would have, which amounts to a considerably higher number of children than merely his physical heirs, the 12 tribes of Israel. Every time a person accepts Jesus into his or her life, that person becomes a descendent of Abraham according to Paul in Galatians 3:7 and verse 29, which says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham…And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” This shows that God is bringing “many sons to glory”, Hebrews 2:10, through the promised seed (singular), which is Christ (Galatians 3:16).
The
next morning after God’s promise about Abram’s
descendents numbering as the stars in the heavens
Genesis 15:7-12, “And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, LORD GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And then when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away…” Now this must have been after the evening before, on the daylight portion of the 14th Nisan. Doing all this in the dark is inconceivable. Also, scavenger fowls, such as crows and vultures roost at night, and do not fly at night at all. They’re all bedded down. I have turkey vultures and crows roosting all around my neighborhood. We’ll see how we can pin the date so accurately in a minute, be patient. Abram spent the day preparing this special “covenant between the parts” sacrifice, right up until sundown. So we have the daylight portion of the 14th when Abram was slaughtering all these animals, dividing them in half, and placing them so there was a path between the severed parts. And then he was busy driving away birds of prey that came down to try and eat these slaughtered animals. It is now twilight, with the evening portion of the 15th Nisan coming on. “…And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him” (verse 12). This was known as “a covenant between the parts”, where two individuals would pass between the divided parts of slain animals, both of them stating that if one (or both) of them broke the stated covenant, the individual breaking the covenant would likewise be put to death. But as we see here, Yahweh put Abram into a deep sleep so that he could not walk between the slain animal parts. But Yahweh himself would walk through the slain animal parts while Abram lay there sleeping on the ground nearby. On Nisan 14, during the day, Yahweh-shua, Jesus died on the cross---as the daytime portion of Nisan 14 was ending and was being put into a tomb just before the sun set, as the 15th Nisan drew on. Now God, Yahweh states this to Abram, Genesis 15:13-18, “And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces…” That would be God, Yahweh, the one who became Christ, walking through the slain divided animals alone, alone taking on the curse for anyone who broke the covenant. “…In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed [plural seed] have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” And we as believers will inherit that land along with faithful Abraham, at the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. Now, how do we know this was the 14th Nisan, going into the evening portion of the 15th Nisan? Exodus 12:40-42, And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” The selfsame day---that Yahweh made the covenant with Abram, Abraham---it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt…It is a night to be much observed.” On the very same, identical night Yahweh ratified his covenant with Abraham, some 430 years earlier, the children of Israel departed from Rameses on the evening of the beginning of the 15th Nisan---a nation of free men, women and children, free from slavery! And about 1430 years later, Yeshua died, freeing a growing, innumerable multitude of believers in Him from slavery to sin and to Satan’s evil world. And some say the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread hold no significant meaning for born-again believers in Jesus Christ??? How utterly stupid. The apostle Paul himself said these things written in the Old Testament were written for us, as an example, so that we might learn from them (cf. 1 Cor. 10, verses 1, and 11). Deep spiritual lessons are contained in these days, which the Israelites themselves didn’t properly understand at the time. These days were only a physical type of what Jesus would do for us spiritually. Their meaning is both deep and meaningful for the believer in Jesus, Yeshua. And Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua, as well as Sabbatarian Church of God believers in Jesus have every right to observe these days. I would personally venture that these days, Sabbath, and God’s Holy Days given to Israel in Leviticus 23 have far more spiritual meaning behind them than do Sunday, Christmas and Easter, which all have pagan origins. Jesus rose in the late afternoon of a Saturday, not Sunday. He died on Passover, which was a Wednesday that year, not on a Friday. His death, burial and resurrection were specifically timed by God around the Hebrew Holy Days God had given to his people. Now back to Egypt in the spring of 1446BC. Following the Passover sacrificed lambs on the sundown beginning portion of the 14th Nisan, the subsequent death of the Egyptian firstborn occurred that same evening, which forced Pharaoh Amenhotep II to free the Israelites. During the daylight portion of the 14th the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians for silver and gold. The Egyptians being so anxious to be rid of them, would have given anything, and they did. That evening, as the 15th Nisan drew on the Israelites started their trek out of Egypt. Exodus 12:17, “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.” Which day as an ordinance?---the day Yahweh brought them out, late the 14th Nisan going into the evening portion of the 15th Nisan, the Night To Be Much Observed. It’s an ordinance for all Israel, as well as the Passover. Most miss that. As Israel started marching out of Egypt, it became a night to be much observed. Now through ignorance, Jews observe their Seders on this evening.
The Covenant God ratified
with Abraham
The covenant Yahweh ratified with Abram was none other than the covenant of faith by which all believers in Jesus, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are saved. (Galatians 3:29, also see http://www.unityinchrist.com/galatians/Galatians3-1-29.htm.)
What
the Night To Be Much Observed Pictures
The Night To Be Much Observed pictures the exodus of believers in Jesus, Yeshua, from sin and being in bondage to this evil world of Satan’s. Pharaoh Amenhotep II was merely the unwitting symbol for Satan and his evil world. This evil world was symbolized by Egypt. Unleavened bread and the feast by that name picture Jesus Christ, the unleavened Manna we are supposed to feed off of for the rest of our lives, pictured by seven days of eating it, seven being one of God’s numbers for completeness. The Word of God, as John brings out in John 1:1-14 is Jesus, and the written Word of God, having the words of Jesus, both in his pre-incarnate state (Yahweh, Old Testament), and Yeshua, Jesus (New Testament) is the Bible. We are supposed to feed off of the Word of God, as Jesus brought out in John 6:33,41-56, and Matthew 4:4. So eating unleavened bread for seven days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread symbolizes our complete lives as believers, feeding on both the Living and written Word of God throughout our lives, as believers in Jesus, Yeshua. So the Night To Be Much Observed, unknown to most believers in Jesus, pictures our release from sin and the world, on whatever day that might have occurred in our own personal lives. On this night we should reflect on the incredible truth that God has called us to understand, and the incredible salvation he has given us by calling us out of and freeing us from slavery to this world, and our own personal sins and addictions. It is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ that has delivered us, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, that has delivered us from the 2nd death and bondage to Satan’s evil world (Colossians 1:13). Recounting how we were saved should be shared with all who are eating this meal together. It should be a sumptuous meal or pot-luck of good food shared with brethren, recounting the personal stories of their salvation and how they came to Christ. If you feel like observing this evening, it should start after sundown, beginning the initial evening portion of the 15th Nisan. Since the evening portion begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread, if you are observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread (as most Messianic Jewish believers will be), then unleavened bread should be served at the meal. A few believer families can share this meal together in small groups for a nice evening of fellowshipping, recounting how the Father drew them to Jesus, drawing you out of this present evil world, releasing you from whatever bondages you may have had in the world. It’s to be an enjoyable evening of recounting personal stories of salvation, even as we continue to be ongoing works of salvation in Jesus’ hands, a night where we acknowledge the Lord’s personal intervention in our lives---leading us out of spiritual bondage to this world---our “spiritual Egypt.” The Night To Be Much Observed is currently only being observed by Sabbatarian Churches of God, the Jews and Jewish believers in Jesus having lost the true significance of the day, often replacing it with the Passover Seder, which has become a combination of Passover service and the “night to be much observed” for them all rolled up into one observance, which if you study those verses, you will see they were two separate events, separated by a time period of 24 hours. Clearly those who try to observe both at the same time are no longer following the Scriptures as given in Exodus 12.
V. Flight to the Red Sea
Satan doesn’t like it when God calls someone out of his world, out from under his evil sway and deception. He will fight to retain what once was one of his slaves. Pharaoh Amenhotep II was no different. Here we will look at the passages that deal with the Israelite’s flight to freedom during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 13:17-20, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt…’ This makes sense. Psychologists have a word for this, they call it becoming “institutionalized.” It describes when a slave or prisoner becomes so used to his or her captivity or slavery, that they start identifying with their captor. The slightest problems encountered by one who has been set free from such a set of circumstances has the person longing to return to his or her captivity. The Israelites were no different, so God wanted to protect them from this. In reality, this generation would have to die off, because they would never successfully throw off this condition, and feared to even enter the Promised Land. A new generation had no problem trusting in the Lord to deliver them, and take up arms as he commanded. I sometimes see poor women under slavery to an abusive husband, and this mentality has taken them over, where they are afraid to do anything to escape their captivity. It is really sad. “…So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.” This would have been across the Bitter Lakes, and down the western shore of the Sinai Desert, which is still within Egyptian territorial land. Egypt maintained mines in the Sinai, and had watchtowers stationed on strategic mountains along the Sinai. “And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.’ So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” I am following the latest and most plausible route to, and location of, the Red Sea crossing, which is at the south-eastern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The underlined portion of the above verses indicates they march all day long, and into a good portion of each evening. It is roughly 320 miles from Goshen, their starting point, and the crossing point on the southeastern tip of the Sinai Peninsula---and all this to reach the Red Sea crossing point in seven days, at the end of the seven days for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That would have meant marching for fourteen to fifteen hours a day, catching a little shuteye, eating on the march, and going onward, at an estimated speed of no greater than the slowest person, say 3 miles per hour. Don’t forget they have flocks of sheep and herds of cattle in the springtime, when heifers and lambs are born. The really little ones would have had to have been carried. Their real freedom from Pharaoh and his armies would not be achieved until the end of those seven days. Exodus 14:1-4, “Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.’ And they did so.” At the end of this section I will give you a couple links, one of which goes to a very good explanation for the reason why I chose this location for the Red Sea crossing. Although I do not agree at all with the Christian group’s prophetic beliefs, which are way out on a limb, their research article on this subject is very good, and pretty airtight. Now we see the text refers back to Pharaoh’s reasoning as he set out to chase the Israelites. The Israelites had probably been traveling roughly five days, on foot, 3 miles an hour max. A chariot can cover 80 to 90 miles in three or four hours, depending on how hard the horses are being driven. So I give them a couple days to catch up with the Israelites. And we see they catch up with the Israelites right at the crossing point of the Red Sea. So the next verses describe a time from about five days into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to the sixth day toward evening. They’ve been driving their chariots hard, men and horses are tired. It is thought that one of the mountains where the Israelites encamped near on the Red Sea near the crossing point was a look-out post for the Egyptian army. Makes sense, a lookout post near a major waterway on the border of your land---or else how would Pharaoh have known where to direct his chariots to? Exodus 14:5-9, “Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, ‘Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?’ So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them…” These “six hundred choice chariots” were special inlaid gold chariots, along with all the rest Pharaoh had in his charioteer force. This was a mobile striking force which was the pride of all Egypt, and the fear of all the nations round about. But driving them hard for two days didn’t help the primitive bearings they had holding the wheels onto their axles. “…And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Phi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.” Now Pharaoh and his charioteer force comes galloping up and spots the Israelites. Naturally, Pharaoh’s elated, but has to stop to rest the horses and chariot crews, who by now are exhausted. But the Israelites catch sight of the Egyptian forces, probably seeing a long dust-cloud pointing toward them, and getting closer by the minute. This throws a panic into the Israelite people. Exodus 14:10-12, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them…” They’re marching now, not flying at full-speed in their chariots. They’ve gotta be tired, and the horses are, if not the men. “…So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.’” Now that’s classic “institutionalization” of a whole people, a slave people. They will repeat this phrase many times to Moses as they wander the desert, encountering problems they wouldn’t have had in Egypt, where the Egyptians did their thinking for them. People in bondage don’t think for themselves, their captors do their thinking for them, and they get used to it. Many black slaves at the end of the Civil War did not want to leave their owners. This is part of the reason, a big a part of it.
Moses
steady’s the people, God gives Moses his plan of attack
God is patient though, and so is Moses. Exodus 14:13-18, “And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go over on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
God
puts a cloud of darkness between the encamped Egyptians and
Israel
Night
has drawn on. The Egyptians
are camped not far from the Israelite camp. Well
then, why not attack? God
doesn’t allow it. He
places his pillar of cloud between the two camps, a real dark fog
on the Egyptian side, but shedding light on the Israelite side. Like
a good shepherd puts himself between his sheep and the predators
of the night, so God has done the same thing. He
could have just killed the Egyptians, but he wants this to be a
slam-dunk miracle that nobody is going to forget. The
Egyptians will go on to deny it ever happened, as they always did
when they lost a battle, but it’s going to leave the inhabitants
of Canaan shaking in their boots when word reaches them of this
event, which it will. Exodus
14:19-20, “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp
of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud
went from before them and stood behind them. So
it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus
it was a cloud and darkness to
the one, and it gave light by night to
the other, so that the one did not come near the other all
that night.”
God
puts his plan into action
Exodus 14:21-23. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.” Now you can picture this, men and horses rested up. This strange evening fog has lifted, and they see their “slaves” getting away, 2.5 million of them marching down into this breach in the sea. So they take off, perhaps as many as several thousand chariots, along with regular cavalry. Remember me mentioning the chariot wheels and axles? “Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.’ Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.’ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on their left. So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses” (verses 24-31). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 11, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank of that spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ…Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come.” Here we see by Paul’s own words, that the Israelite’s crossing through the Red Sea was their baptism into Moses. When Jesus frees a person from spiritual bondage to this world and the sinful lifestyles found in it, that person has crossed the his Red Sea into redemption. That person is no longer a slave to this world or the god of this world, no longer a slave to addictions and sins of the past. Each of us, as believers, has his or her own story of redemption. Jesus is a God of redemption that sets slaves free. Rahab knew Yahweh “as a God of slaves”, a God who sets slaves free. Rahab wanted to be free from the slavery of sin she was under in Jericho, and she dared to dream that this God of slaves could free her. That’s what the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, that’s what these days represent. Some people like to call these days Old Covenant, but they really aren’t. The Lord has just restored the Jewish branch of the body of Christ by calling roughly 1 Million Jews to belief in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, all within the past 40 years. Almost all of them observe these days as their chosen days of worship.
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Airport visible where Israelite camp was, on left of photo.
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