The Horrible Justice of Passover - Reflections on Ex. 12:1-14, 15th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

by John C. Holbert on Saturday, June 20, 2026

         It appears to be a decided letdown for the reader who is deeply engrossed in the ongoing narrative of the Exodus suddenly to confront this liturgical chapter 12. Ex.11 has warned Moses and Aaron that YHWH’s ultimate goal in the long tale of the defeat of the Egyptian oppressors is the death of all firstborn creatures as a sign of YHWH’s complete supremacy over all Egyptian gods and every Egyptian ruler. And chapter 12 does indeed signal the certainty of that terrible reality. Still, instead of a continuing narrative that thrillingly announces the spooky coming of the Destroyer (mashhit) to effect the mass murder, and to “pass over” the Israelite homes smeared with blood, we instead receive instructions for later celebrations of the event. “This day will be a remembrance for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to YHWH through your generations, an everlasting statute you will celebrate it” (Ex.12:14). And, of course, Jews throughout the generations have done just that, celebrate the victory of their God over the forces of oppression in Egypt. Egypt became in the ritual a stand-in for all subsequent oppressors faced by Jews down the centuries, from Romans to Russians, from Gauls to Germans. I have never failed to be moved when I have been invited to such celebrations to witness the survival of Judaism for now three millennia, though regularly faced with destruction and annihilation.

         However, it cannot be denied that the founding ritual itself, outlined in Ex.12, possesses a kind of horrible justice in its formulation. It is certainly justice for the oppressed Israelites, an announcement of freedom from bondage for the helpless oppressed, but it is at the same time a celebration of the murder of countless oppressors, Egyptians both young and old, both peasant and pharaoh, left to wail the loss of their firstborn as a sign of their ignominious defeat and a sign for triumphant Israelites marching out of Egypt to freedom. 

         The fact of this terrible slaughter, lying right at the heart of the Israelite resurrection story, was not lost on the very earliest celebrations called for in Ex.12. The few details of the celebration are well-known and are still followed today in Passover meals, albeit with numerous additions and rich interpretations of the basic outline of the ritual. There should a lamb (though Ex.12:5 suggests that a “goat” will also suffice), and it is made plain that “should a household be too small to have a lamb, it must together with its neighbor, close to its house, in proportion to the persons, each one according to what he/she eats shall take a portion of the lamb” (Ex.12:4). This is a laborious way to say that all members of the community must have enough of a lamb for the celebration, and if a household is too small (or too poor?) to have a lamb of its own, it must join with others so that none go hungry and so that none are unable to join the celebration. 

         In addition, the lamb (goat) must be “fire roasted,” that is cooked in a primitive, desert way, laid directly on the fire. And it must not be eaten raw, with the blood still in it, because the blood will be used to adorn the doorposts of the house in order that the Destroyer of YHWH will know to “pass over” that house during its time of destruction. Also, the bread to be eaten must be “flatbread,” that is bread likewise cooked in the ancient way, laid on a fire without time for leaven to cause it to rise. The origin of the word matzot is lost to us, but its lack of leavening has become the sign of haste in the eating, due to the tension of the night of evil to be endured. Both the lamb and the bread, cooked directly on a desert fire, represent an ancient moment of national history that is to be reenacted in all subsequent ages. The celebrations to come are named “Passover,” due to the use of the Hebrew verb pasach (“to skip, hop, step over”) in Ex.12:13; perhaps this was the old name for a particular lamb sacrifice in a spring festival now tied to the central event in the history of Israel, celebrated yearly in all Jewish homes. 

         Earlier I said that the dreadful irony that lies at the center of this ritual, that is the freedom of Israel made possible by the slaughter of Egyptians, was troublesome to the very first commentators on these stories. A very early writer, when interpreting the event at the Sea of Reeds, when Israel crossed through on dry ground while all the pursuing Egyptians were drowned in the advancing sea, told the tale as follows (I add my own particular additions):

“And all Israel went through the sea and were saved by YHWH, and all the Egyptians were drowned in the sea, the forces of Israel, lead by the prophet Miriam, sang great songs of victory, dancing joyously on the east bank of the waters. And the great song wafted into heaven, where the angels of God, bored by their tedious lives in the sky, heard the glad music, and soon joined in, singing and dancing for the magnificent victory of God. However, from the clouds there came a huge voice, saying, ‘You dare to sing while my children are drowning!’ And the songs stopped and the dancing ceased.”

         Since Egyptians are also the people of God, singing at their deaths will simply not do. How the story shifts in the light of that truth! There is justice in the account for Israelites, and freedom from their oppression, but that freedom comes at a terrible cost—the death of Egyptians. Such painful ironies cannot and should not be forgotten.