The first reference to Passover has been found in the Book of Exodus and
then in the New Testament of the Bible. According to Exodus 12, King
James Version, about 3000 years ago, God promised the people of Israel
to free them from the slavery in Egypt and unleash the tenth plague that
was to 'Smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.' To be sure that
Israelites were not the ones to save his wrath, he instructed them to
mark their door posts with lamb's blood, stating: "and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you." The book was later translated to
English in William Tyndale. Thus, the name 'Passover' came into vogue
for this celebration. Since the original word in the Hebrew Torah for
'pass over' was 'Posach', the celebration is also known as 'Pesach'.
There have been references that confirm that the parts of this feast
were observed even in earlier times. The Genesis 19:3 talks about
'unleavened bread' while Maimonedes has a short commentary saying - "It
was Passover". Though there have been no particular reasons stated
for eating unleavened bread but the best guess is that people used to be
in such a hurry to serve the angels that they did not have enough time
to let the dough rise and prepare proper, leavened bread. Besides the
two main commandments of eating matzoh and prohibiting leavened foods on
the days of Pesach, one of the ancient rituals still followed by
Samaritans was to offer sacrifice of a lamb in the evening on the 14th
of the Hebrew month of Nisan (or Abib). These commandments are now
clubbed together as observing Seder or the special Passover feast on the
first two evenings of the holiday.
