Spring Has Sprung

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, THAT THEY MAY HOLD A FEAST UNTO ME IN THE WILDERNESS. Exodus 5:1

Verse 3 goes on to say; "...let us go we pray thee, three days journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword."

This is the first of several encounters between Moses and Pharaoh and the rational Moses uses as his argument. Passover has not occurred. Yet, a springtime festival is of such importance Pharaoh must--let my people go lest he (God) fall upon us with a pestilence.

And what are springtime festivals? Celebrations of rebirth. Winter (death) has been overcome and life (metaphorically) reborn in the form of a god. The Sumerians had Tammuz (Dumuzid), the Egyptians Osiris, and the Greeks Dionysus, hundreds (and hundreds!) of years before Passover.

"Different references to Passover in the Torah as well as knowledge of other ANCIENT RITUALS that took place at the same time of year indicate that there may have been several origins of the Pesach festival. The ancient Israelites took what was originally one or more separate Canaanite spring holidays and imbued them with a HEIGHTENED SIGNIFICANCE when they made Pesach a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt." ~My Jewish Learning (see link)

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Passover/History.shtml

A week ago Sunday was Easter and the oh so typical debate was rehashed; is Easter a pagan ritual? Christians deflect this inquiry (which can't be refuted at face value) with, "we aren't celebrating Easter, but Passover." This dodge falls flat once the origins of Passover become known however. The Jews themselves acknowledge the source of their spring festivals. The difference is simply they have infused the pagan ritual with "heightened significance."

So it is with Christians. They have taken what is older than written symbols (cuneiform and hieroglyphics) and recast it in another light. That Jesus was the only begotten (monogenes) Son of God who died and was resurrected. But the motif--the theme--is well known. The evidence in the form of springtime festivals in all cultures goes back thousands of years. (circa 3000 BC for the Sumerians) What is it about us (homo sapiens) that insists on eternal life? That death be overcome? What is it that seems to be in the very fabric of our DNA?

To Be Continued