a solemn festival of the Jews, instituted in commemoration of their coming out of Egypt; because the night before their departure, the destroying angel, who put to death the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Hebrews without entering therein, because they were marked with the blood of the lamb which was killed the evening before, and which for this reason was called the paschal lamb. This feast was called peschah by the old Greeks and Romans; not we presume from πασχω "I suffer," as Chrysostom, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, suppose, but from the Hebrew word pesach, passage, leap. The following is what God ordained concerning the passover of the Jews, (Exod. xii.) The month of the coming forth from Egypt was looked upon from this time to be the first month of the sacred or ecclesiastical year, and the fourteenth day of this month, between the two vespers, that is, between the sun's decline and his setting: or rather, according to our manner of reckoning, between two o'clock in the afternoon and six o'clock in the evening at the equinox, they were to kill the paschal lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day following being the fifteenth, counting from six o'clock of the foregoing evening, which concluded the fourteenth, was the grand feast of the passover, which continued seven days. But it was only the first and the seventh day that were solemn. The lamb that was killed ought to be without any defect, a male, and yeasted that year. If no lamb could be found, they might take a kid. They killed a lamb or a kid in every family; and if the number of those that lived in the house was not sufficient to eat a lamb, they might join two houses together. With the blood of the paschal lamb they sprinkled the door-posts and lintel of every house, that the destroying angel, at the sight of the blood, might pass over them, and save the Hebrew children. They were to eat the lamb the same night that followed the sacrifice; they eat it roasted, with unleavened bread, and a salad of wild lettuce. The Hebrew says literally, with bitter things, as suppose mustard, or any thing of this nature to give a relish. It was forbid to eat any part of it raw, or boiled in water, nor were they to break a bone, (Exod. xii. 46. Numb. ix. 12. John xix. 36.); and if any thing remained to the day following, it was thrown into the fire. They that eat it were to be in the posture of travellers, having their reins girt, their shoes on their feet, their staves in their hands, and eating in a hurry. But this last part of the ceremony was but little observed, at least it was of no obligation, but only upon that night they came forth out of Egypt. For the whole eight days of the passover no leavened bread was to be used; and whoever should eat any, was passover threatened to be cut off from his people. With regard to the ceremonies which are observed in relation to the bread, see the article Bread, p. 531. col. 2.

They kept the first and last day of the feast, yet so as that it was allowed to dress victuals, which was forbidden on the Sabbath-day. The obligation of keeping the passover was so strict, that whoever should neglect to do it, was condemned to death, (Numb. ix. 13.) But those who had any lawful impediment, as a journey, sickness, or any uncleanness, voluntary or involuntary; for example, those that had been present at a funeral, or by any other accident had been defiled, were to defer the celebration of the passover till the second month of the ecclesiastical year, or to the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, which answers to April and May. It was thus the Lord ordered Moses, upon the occasion of the inquiry of some Israelites, who had been obliged to pay their last offices to some of their relations, and who being thus polluted, were not capable of partaking of the paschal sacrifice, (2 Chr. xxx. 1, 2, &c.) The modern Jews observe in general the same ceremonies that were practised by their ancestors, in the celebration of the passover. On the fourteenth of Nisan, the first-born fall in memory of God's smiting the first-born of the Egyptians. The morning prayers are the same with those said on other festivals. They take the roll of the pentateuch out of the chest, and read as far as the end of the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and what is contained in the eighteenth chapter of Numbers, relating to the passover. The matron of the family then spreads a table, and sets on it two unleavened cakes, and two pieces of the lamb, a shoulder boiled and another roasted, to put them in mind that God delivered them with a stretched out arm. To this they add some small fishes, because of the leviathan; a hard egg, because of the ziz; some meal, because of the behemoth, (these three animals being appointed for the feast of the elect in the other life;) and peas and nuts for the children, to provoke their curiosity to ask the reason of this ceremony. They likewise use a kind of mustard, which has the appearance of mortar, to represent their making bricks in Egypt. The father of the family sits down with his children and slaves, because on this day all are free. Being set down, he takes bitter herbs, and dips them in the mustard, then eats them, and distributes to the rest. Then they eat of the lamb, the history and institution of which is at that time recited by the master of the family. The whole repast is attended with hymns and prayers. They pray for the prince under whose dominion they live, according to the advice of Jeremiah (xxix. 7.), "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." See the article Feast, &c. The same things are put in practice the two following days; and the festival is concluded by the ceremony hatdala or distinction. This ceremony is performed at the closing of the Sabbath-day, at which time the master of the house pronounces certain benedictions, accompanied with certain formalities, requesting that every thing may succeed well the week following. After going out of the synagogue, they then eat leavened bread for the last time. (Leo of Modena, Vol. XIV., Part I.) While the Passover was standing, they brought their lambs thither, and sacrificed them, offering the blood to the priest, who poured it out at the foot of the altar. The Passover was typically predictive of Christ our Christian Passover, (1 Cor. v. 7.) As the destroying angel passed over the houses marked with the blood of the paschal lamb, so the wrath of God passes over them whose souls are sprinkled with the blood of Christ. The paschal lamb was killed before Israel was delivered, so it is necessary Christ should suffer before we could be redeemed. It was killed before Moses's law or Aaron's sacrifices were enjoined, to show that deliverance comes to mankind by none of them; but only the true Passover, that Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, (Rom. iii. 25, Heb. ix. 14.) It was killed the first month of the year, which prefigured that Christ should suffer death in this month, (John xviii. 28.) It was killed in the evening, (Exod. xii. 6.) So Christ suffered in the last days, and at this time of the day, (Matt. xxvii. 46, Heb. i. 2.) At even also the sun sets, which shows that it was the Son of Righteousness who was to suffer and die, and that at his passion universal darkness should be upon the whole earth, (Luke xxiii. 44.) The Passover was roasted with fire, to denote the sharp and dreadful pains which Christ should suffer, not only from men, but from God also. It was to be eaten with bitter herbs, not only to put them in remembrance of their bitter bondage in Egypt, but also to typify our mortification to sin, and readiness to undergo afflictions for Christ, (Col. i. 24.) Many erroneously imagine, that the Passover was instituted in memory of the Israelites passing the Red Sea; though it is certain the feast was held, and had its name, before the Israelites took a step of their way out of Egypt, and consequently several days before their passing the Red Sea. Besides the Passover celebrated on the fourteenth of the first month, there was a second Passover held on the fourteenth of the second month after the equinox, instituted by God in favour of travellers and sick persons, who could not attend at the first, nor be at Jerusalem on the day. The Greeks, and even some of the catholic doctors, from the thirteenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth, chapters, of St John, take occasion to conclude, that Jesus anticipated the day marked for the Passover in the law; but the authority of three evangelists seems to evince the contrary. See Whitby's Dissertation on this subject, in an appendix to the fourteenth chapter of St Mark. F. Lamy supposes, that our Lord did not attend at the Passover the last year of his life; which sentiment has drawn upon him abundance of opposers. F. Hardouin affirms, that the Galileans celebrated the Passover on one day, and the Jews on another.