EARLY GENTILE BELIEVERS
CELEBRATED THE FEAST OF PASSOVER
We need first to get acquainted with the term used in the Jewish
Scriptures for the non-Jew: "stranger."
Strong's Concordance defines "stranger" :1616
ger
(gare); or (fully) geyr
(gare); from 1481; properly, a guest; by implication,
a foreigner: KJV-- alien,
sojourner, stranger.
Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Lexicon defines "stranger":
1616 ger or (fully)
geyr- sojourner
- a) a temporary inhabitant, a
newcomer lacking inherited rights
- b) used of foreigners within
Israel, though they had conceded rights
In order to
understand what comes next it would be important to begin to look for a "pattern"
in the verses that follow not only in this article but the rest in this
series as you will come to see that God included the non-Jews in the
observance of not only the Festivals but the Sabbath as well. This pattern
can be found not only in the Jewish Old Testament Scriptures but the New
Testament as well. Having seen this then one has to wonder how we lost and
deviated from such a pattern which was established in antiquity by God to
the point where we have lost such obedience and observance today. One
would have to ask Rome that question.
Exodus 12
- 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for
whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off
from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger,
or born in the land.
Exodus 12
- 43. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This [is] the
ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger
eat thereof: (unless circumcised).
Exodus 12
- 48 And when a stranger
shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all
his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he
shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person
shall eat thereof.
2Chronicles 30
- 23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days:
and they kept [other] seven days with gladness.
- 24 For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a
thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the
congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great
number of priests sanctified themselves. {did give: Heb. lifted up, or,
offered} {gave: Heb. lifted up, or, offered}
- 25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the
Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the
strangers
that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
Answer for yourself: Can there be any
doubt that God included the non-Jews in the observance of the Passover and
such obedience brought them rejoicing? What did they know then that we
have not been taught today?
