The story of Passover belongs to the time when the Pharaoh of Egypt
enslaved Israelites about 3000 years ago. The Pharaoh was known as
Ramses II and was very cruel and harsh to his slaves. Haggadah, the Book
of Exodus, mentions that Moses who was a simple Jewish shepherd felt
deeply for the downtrodden conditions of his brother. God instructed him
to go to the Pharaoh and demand the freedom of his people. However,
Pharaoh ignored his plea. Moses once again warned Pharaoh of the God's
wrath but Pharaoh turned a deaf ear to him. God then unleashed a series
of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt, one by one and after each
punishment, Moses again repeated his plea to the Pharaoh. These plagues
were:
- The water of River Nile turned into blood.
- Frogs.
- Lice (vermin).
- Wild Beasts (flies).
- Blight (Cattle Disease).
- Boils.
- Hail.
- Locusts.
- Darkness.
- Slaying of the First Born.
The first nine plagues only served to daunt the Pharaoh's wild
spirit but were unable to make him submit to the will of God. Finally,
God ordered the Hebrew slaves to make a sacrifice of the lamb in the
Holy Temple of Jerusalem and mark their doors with the blood of the
lamb, as an indication to the God to 'pass over' their houses while
slaying the first born males of the Egyptians. Hebrews followed the word
of God and thus, their first born males were saved from the tenth
plague. 'Pesach' means 'passing over' or 'protection' in Hebrew. This
finally calamity was a final blow to the Pharaoh and he ordered
Israelites to be set free immediately and allow their passage to
freedom.
In their hurry to finally be able to live free lives, Israelites did
not even wait to let their dough rise and bake bread but took raw dough
instead to bake in the hot desert sun as hard crackers called Matzohs on
their journey. Moses led them through the desert. The angry Pharaoh sent
his army to chase these ex-slaves and kill them all. But with the grace
of God, Jews managed to reach the Red Sea, where they were trapped by
the vast expanse of water. Moses called upon the God for assistance and
suddenly Red Sea parted to give way to the Israelites and thus, they
safely passed over to the other side. They were protected forever as the
waves closed over the shocked army of the Pharaoh and drowned the whole
army at once.
