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Every year as the members and friends of Congregation Shema Yisrael gather to celebrate Passover, we recite the following words from the Haggadah: “This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt; let all those who are hungry enter and eat of it. All who are in distress, come and celebrate the Passover.”
I’d like us to consider the welcoming aspect of Passover; that all humanity is invited to join themselves to the God of Israel.
Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude (HCSB: “an ethnically diverse crowd”) also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock (Exodus 12:37-38).
When Israel left the land of Egypt, we were accompanied by various other people. We’re not told how many non-Israelis, but presumably more than a handful. The Holy Spirit directed Moses to include that fact when he penned the Torah. I take it as one of many biblical hints that God was going to welcome men, women and children from other nations to become part of His people.
We find such hints all the way back in Genesis. After emerging from the ark, Noah prophesied, saying, “May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem (Genesis 9:27).” That prophecy has been, and continues to be realized. Japheth became the progenitor of many of the nations in the northern hemisphere of the earth, and Shem, of course, became the progenitor of the Semitic people, in particular the Jewish people.
The prohibition in the Torah that no sojourner or hired servant shall eat of it (Exodus 12:45) was not an exclusion of people on the basis of ethnicity. But in order to participate, one had to already have joined himself or herself to the faith of the God of Israel. It could be argued that a Gentile follower of Messiah Yeshua, who genuinely believes in Adonai, and in the historical truth of the account of the Exodus from Egypt, has more right to the Seder table than a Jewish person who denies God and treats the Exodus as mythology.
And, we are not living in the under the authority of the Sinai Covenant. The New Covenant dispensation has come. Yeshua beckons people from every nation join Him at that table. Meanwhile, woven throughout all of Scripture are precious promises that people from all nations join with Israel to offer praise and thanks to Adonai.
A small sampling of God welcoming Gentiles in Scripture
Three times in Isaiah (ch’s. 42, 51, 60) we read that the coastlands will wait expectantly for Messiah’s “Law” (instruction). And then there’s Isaiah 56:6-8:
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”
Those words were written about 740 BC. The theme keeps popping up here and there throughout the Jewish Scriptures; and more explicitly in the New Covenant. Consider Yeshua’s words in His encounter with a believing Roman centurion:
“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness” (Matt. 8:10-12).
To a group of Pharisees who prided themselves on their Jewish ancestry, and who looked on Gentiles with contempt, Yeshua spoke these words, and I’m sure it startled them.
“I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me – just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd” (John 10).
Even the early Jewish apostles needed reminding that God had bigger plans than just to save a remnant from Israel. One afternoon on a rooftop in Yafo, Peter was summoned north to Caesarea at the behest of another exceptional Roman centurion named Cornelius. When Cornelius and his family heard and believed the Good News, they were filled with the Spirit. Listen to Peter’s reaction.
Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34-35).
Happy Hints Hidden in the Hallel
Passover is one of those very special occasions, during which we recite the Hallel – Psalms 113 through 118. They are such beautiful praises to God, yet contained even within the Hallel itself are hints of the joyful invitation to all the world to join in giving praise to Adonai for His love and goodness.
Psalm 113:3
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
This isn’t about the earth’s rotation. It is a promise that all the world will one day praise the name of the Lord!
Psalm 114:7
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.
This isn’t about earthquakes or natural disasters. It is a summons to the entire world to have reverence for the God of Israel.
Psalm 115:9-13
O Israel, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great.
And again in Psalm 118…
Psalm 118:2-4
Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.”
Did you notice the three-fold division? Israel, Israel’s priests, and then all who fear the Lord (not just in Israel). But the real ‘centerpiece’ is Psalm 117.
Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples! For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
That’s the whole psalm! Two verses long – the shortest chapter in the Bible; Yet it expresses the greatest hope of all time: The whole world is invited to Messiah’s Passover. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait!