Sacrificial Lamb Requirements

In Exodus chapter 12, the Torah gives instructions for the celebration of Passover. The children of Israel were to choose a lamb for the Passover sacrifice on the 10th day of the 1st month, 4 days before the actual slaughter. According to John`s timeline, this is the 10th day of the 1st month when Yeshua enters Jerusalem and people make their choices. Yeshua fulfilled the requirements of the Passover Mass. “Your lamb must be perfect, a male, a year; You can take it to sheep or goats. (Exodus 12:5) “An Israelite slaughters the Passover lamb and a priest receives the blood, gives it to his companion and his companion to his companion, each receives a full basin and makes an empty one. The priest closest to the altar sheds blood in a single act. (Pesachim 5:6) The Passover lambs were killed in three successive waves. While the carnage was being celebrated, the Levites in the temple chanted Psalms 113-118, the same hallel that Yeshua and His disciples had sung the night before (Pesachim 5:1-7). The Passover offering belongs to the category of zevachim eaten by the owner (similar to Shelamim), and therefore forms one of the sacrifices in which the meal is the main part, indicating communion between God and man. It is really a family or family sacrifice, and each household is considered a small community in itself, not only because the lamb is eaten at home, but also because every member of the family is obliged to take part in the meal, although every man must be circumcised to eat. And everything must be ritually pure. The fact that the Passover lamb could only be killed in the central sanctuary of Jerusalem, on the other hand, implies that each household was only one member of the larger community; It also shows the national character of the sacrifice, which kept alive in the memory of the nation the preservation and liberation of the entire people.

[2] By their cries, they proclaim him as the long-awaited Messiah. They shout, “Save us, I pray! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom that is coming! Our Father David! Save us from the Most High. Save us, son of David! Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel! With these cheers, the people made it clear; they have made a decision; You have made a choice; they chose the Messiah. By mass acclamation, Yeshua is named the Messiah. Without knowing it, the masses chose their Passover lamb on the day the lambs were to be chosen. A central lesson of the Passover lamb is that its shed blood provoked God`s wrath to “pass over” those who used it in their homes. The sacrificial animal, which was either a lamb or a kid, was necessarily a male, one year old and without blemish. Each family or society offered a sacrifice together, which did not require “semikah” (laying on of hands), although it was mandatory to determine who should participate in the sacrifice so that the murder could take place with the right intentions. Only those who were circumcised and pure before the law could participate; And they were forbidden to have food in their possession during the killing of the Easter lamb. The beast was killed on the eve of Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, after the Tamid sacrifice was killed, that is, at three o`clock or, if the eve of Passover fell on Friday, at two o`clock.

The murder took place in the temple courtyard and could have been carried out by a layman, although the blood must have been collected by a priest, and rows of priests with gold or silver cups in their hands stood in a row from the temple courtyard to the altar where the blood was sprinkled. These cups were rounded at the bottom so that they could not be placed; Because in this case, the blood could clot. The priest who caught the blood as it fell from the sacrifice then handed the chalice to the priest next to him and received an emptiness from him, and the full cup was passed along the line until it reached the last priest, who scattered its contents on the altar. The lamb was then hung on special hooks or sticks and skinned; but when the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the skin was removed only up to the chest. The belly was then opened and the fatty parts intended for the altar were removed, placed in a container, salted and offered by the priest on the altar, while the remaining intestines were also taken out and cleaned. This is the story of the Exodus and the Passover Lamb of Egypt. Paul tells us that the Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed. By his blood, attached to the doorjambs of our lives, we are spared the fate of the firstborn Egyptian. Through His blood, applied to our lives, the Last Judgment passes upon us. The carnage took place in the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem. Slaughter could be carried out by a layman, although blood and fat treatment rituals had to be performed by a priest.

[2] [3] Blood was to be collected by a priest, and rows of priests with gold or silver cups in their hands lined up from the temple courtyard to the altar, where the blood was sprinkled. These cups were rounded at the bottom so that they could not be placed; Because in this case, the blood could clot. The priest who caught the blood as it fell from the sacrificial animal then handed the chalice to the priest next to him and received an empty one from him, and the complete chalice was passed along the line until it reached the last priest, who scattered its contents on the altar. The lamb was then hung on special hooks or sticks and skinned; but when the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the skin was removed only up to the chest. The belly was then opened and the fatty parts intended for the altar were removed, placed in a container, salted and offered by the priest on the altar, while the remaining intestines were also taken out and cleaned. [2] Accomplishment: Yeshua, the Lamb of God, was delivered and publicly killed on a Roman execution stake when the Passover lambs were slaughtered.