Passover Meal

While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the LORD gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects. Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal--including the head, legs, and internal organs--must be roasted over a fire. Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning. These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD's Passover." Exodus 12:1-11

Choose your perfect lamb.

Hurry up and eat! There are not too many times that you hear or say that—only if there is a slow eater dawdling at mealtime and the family has plans after supper. Most of the time you’ll hear health advocates telling you to “slow down” and chew your food well so that you get the most nutrients out of the food, eat less and lose weight. Good advice—but not what God had in mind when He instituted the Passover Meal. Roast that lamb and eat it quickly. Don’t eat it raw or boiled. Get ready to leave those Egyptians behind.

God was pretty specific about how they were to treat the lamb before they sacrificed it, how they were to cook it over a fire and eat it with bitter salad greens and unleavened bread. They were to dress in their traveling clothes and be ready to go.

Prayer ~ Lord God—You had a great plan to rescue the Hebrew people from their slavery in Egypt. Open our eyes to the things that we are enslaved to today and rescue us.

Daily Bible Reading: February 10 – Exodus 33-35

Friday’s Feast at the King’s Table

As usual every Friday is Feast Day—Feasting at the King’s Table. We can’t live on just spiritual food …nor can we live on bread alone. We’ve got to have some meat, veggies and fruit. It’s been interesting to look again at God’s promise for Moses to rescue the Hebrew people in Egypt on that night of the first Passover. Tuck away this menu for Passover which doesn’t begin until sunset on April 10, 2017 this year. As always…do this in remembrance.

The Passover Menu includes:

Roasted Lamb

Roasted egg – that represents the sacrifice. It is a sign of mourning and symbol of resurrection and hope.

Bitter herbs that represent the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.

Horseradish – another bitter herb.

Salt water – to represent the blood sprinkled on the doorposts that night of the first Passover.

Parsley – hyssop that was used to sprinkle the blood.

Charoset – a mixture of chopped apples, raisins, cinnamon, honey and nuts.

Unleaven bread - matzah

Salt

Wine – four cups of promise

Roasted Lamb

We don’t often roast food over an open fire…unless we are really roughing it when we are camping. Roasting is usually done in the oven or occasionally in a BBQ. If you use a BBQ use indirect heat and roast the lamb over a pan of hot water.

Basic instructions for Roasted Lamb.

Rinse and dry the roast. Season with:

2 teaspoons dill weed

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon rosemary leaves

¼ teaspoon pepper

Place roast, fat side up, in a shallow roasting pan—using a rack or thick sliced onion beneath the roast. Place in a 325 degree oven and roast about 30-35 minutes per pound, until the internal -temperature reaches 175-180 degrees. No basting is necessary. Remove from the oven and let it rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

© 2017 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted

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