“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.”-Exodus 12:12
When Messianic synagogues and christian churches teach about Passover, the focus is overwhelming on how the Passover lambs foreshadowed Yeshua’s sacrifice and how Yeshua is the ultimate Passover lamb.
No doubt this is correct but there is another interesting element of Passover that we shouldn’t overlook and it is wrapped up in the statement “I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt”.
It is important to understand that lambs were sacred animals to Egyptians.
They were seen as divine.
When the animals were taken into the homes of the Hebrews and kept as pets, it was viewed as mocking the gods of the Egyptians.
However, the Hebrews taking the animals into their homes was just the beginning.
The lambs were later slaughtered in front of the houses outside in plain view of any Egyptian passerby walking by.
And then to make matters worse, the blood of the animal was put on display by smearing it on the doorposts and the lintel of the door.
It was as if the Hebrews were telling the Egyptians, “We have brought your gods into our houses, treated them as our pets and have murdered them!“
It was a bold act of contempt toward the Egyptians and their gods.
This must have taken a lot of courage on the part of the Hebrews.
Every plague that God poured out on the Egyptians was a direct attack on the gods of Egypt.
And this final 10th plague was the ultimate humiliation.
With this final plague, God was telling Egypt that He could snuff out their gods’ lives at whim.
The sons of Jacob had burned the gods of the Egyptians.
The burning of the lambs was to demonstrate that the Egyptian deities were unable to survive the fire.
Now let’s contrast this with the day when God appeared to the entire nation of Israel from Mount Sinai.
Notice that God made His covenant with Israel from the fire.
Although the gods of Egypt weren’t able to endure the flames, YHVH not only survived but thrived in the midst of the fire on the mountain.
On one level, the Passover sacrifice foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Yeshua.
But on another level, it also symbolizes the rejection of the multitude of the gods of Egypt that Israel had come to revere.
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