The Exodus is the central saving event of the Old Testament. In the Exodus, God called Moses to be His prophet and to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land to become a great nation. The centerpiece of this great drama of salvation is the Passover which God established for His people to participate in and to remember for all time their salvation. God also gave His name to His people, revealing that He is knowable and that He invited us to know Him and be in relationship with Him.

The Exodus

The descendants of Jacob, who were brought to Egypt by Joseph to live in the best land in Egypt, became enslaved by the Egyptians after a new pharaoh arose who refused to recognize the former relationship Egypt had with the Israelites. After some time as slaves, the Israelites grew in number, so much so that the pharaoh ordered that the male children born to Hebrew women be killed by being thrown into the Nile River. A Hebrew woman refused to comply and placed her new born child in a basket to float down the Nile, where he was found by Pharaohs’ daughter, who raised him as her own. She named Him Moses, which means “to draw out.” After witnessing the harsh treatment of his people by the Egyptians, the adult Moses killed an Egyptian soldier and fled into the wilderness where he became a shepherd for many years until God called him and gave him a mission. God sent Moses back to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh and tell him to release the Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh refused, and through Moses, God sent ten plagues as signs to the Egyptians and to the Israelites that God is the God of the universe and has power over all things. After the final plague of death, Pharaoh released the Israelites, but soon changed his mind and pursued them to the shores of the Red Sea. There, through Moses, God parted the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through on dry land. Once safely on the other side, and with the Egyptian armies still pursuing through the sea, God sent the waters crashing down again, destroying the Egyptian army. Safely on the other side, Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness according to God’s commands. God fed His people bread from Heaven, and miraculously provided water from rocks in the desert. He gave His people the Ten Commandments and the Law. Even though the Israelites were unfaithful to God and grumbled against Him and Moses, God formed them and after forty years in the wilderness as punishment for their sins, the People of God entered the Promised Land.

The Name of God

When God first called Moses from the burning bush, He revealed His name to Moses: YAHWEH, or I AM WHO AM. This revelation, or theophany, was a profound turning point in the history of God’s relationship with man. No longer was God an anonymous force in the universe. Now He had a name. And like anyone with a name, He could be called upon and known. God’s name reveals His true essence, that He is existence, that He is. And it reveals that He is a Person who is knowable and invites us to know Him and be in relationship with Him.

The Passover

If the Exodus is the central saving event of the Old Testament, the Passover is the central event of the Exodus. The final plague God would send upon Egypt was a plague of death. The first born of every family of Egypt would be killed. God gave Moses instructions for the Israelites to follow, however, in order to be passed over by the plague of death. Each family was to procure a year-old unblemished male lamb, slaughter it at a specific time of day, roast it, and eat its flesh in a sacred meal of unleavened bread, wine, and bitter herbs. Then, they were to spread the lamb’s blood over their doorposts that night as a sign to be passed over by the plague of death. God also commanded that the Israelites commemorate this original Passover event each year with a representation of the sacred meal.

The Passover is not only the central event of the Exodus, but foreshadows the central event of the New Covenant, Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. The night before He died, Jesus ate a Passover meal with His disciples. There, He took the elements of the Passover meal and associated them with Himself. He transformed the bread and the wine into His own Body and Blood. And He commanded His disciples to repeat this sacred meal always to make His sacrifice present to all who participate. When we receive the Eucharist at Mass, we are making present the one sacrifice on the Cross of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, for our salvation from the slavery of sin.