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Passover Tidbits #7: The Two Dippings
There are many Passover traditions, all based on the events of the Passover as described in the TaNaKh. Passover is typically not an event celebrated at church, but it is to be celebrated at home with family, extended family, and friends. This year we are going to celebrate Passover at church. All attending will become part of the extended family, and the building will not be a church for the evening, but will be a large family home.
Because Passover is to be celebrated in the home with family and friends, as you might imagine the traditions vary greatly, but one of the more universal traditions is called the Magid. As with many Hebrew words, Magid has several related meanings. The simplest is that Magid here means the telling of the Passover account. A Magid is also a word for a talented itinerant preacher who excels at involving the listener in the account of the Torah, and is a useful part of the Passover feast. He would be a spirited storyteller who can weave the Truth of God, and His Word, into a compelling and enjoyable event for all, and sets the stage for the events of the evening and food that follow.
Typically, the youngest child asks four questions which the Magid answers. The third question goes something like this, "Why on other nights do we not dip even once but this night we dip twice?" There are many correct answers to this question, the dipping of the herbs in the salt water symbolizing the bitterness of slavery and the dipping in the Charoset (honey and apples) symbolize the sweetness of freedom. Other accounts have the Charoset reminding the people of the bricks of the Pharaoh's buildings and the tears of slavery are the salt water. You get the idea.
But sometimes as Gentiles we can be confused by this question. Passover only has one dipping, the Hyssop branch in the blood to cover the doorpost and lintel, right? One of the underlying ideas of the Passover is to include the events leading up to the Passover in the lesson. The Eastern mind sees everything that happened to any ancestor as having happened to them also. They were in the loins of their father when it happened to their father, thus it happened to them. And their father was in the loins of his father, and so on, so everything good or bad considered at the Passover actually happened to all who attend, as well.
In this case Joseph is a major part of the Passover. It is his story that explains how the Jews even came to be in Egypt in the first place. And in that account lies the first dipping of Passover. It was Joseph’s brothers who took his outer garment and dipped it in animals blood to show Jacob his father, that his son Joseph had been killed by wild animals. It is this event that led to Joseph finding himself in Egypt, then in prison, then meeting the Pharaoh and finally becoming the savior of the entire family of Israel (Jacob). So foundational this account is to the Passover, that it is included in virtually every Passover celebration.
As with all of the traditions of the Passover, they are all based on actual events. In this case the two dipping’s are reminders of the dipping of the branch into the blood of the sacrificed lamb, and the painting of that blood on the doorposts and lintels of all who would come under the wings of YHWH. Being covered by the blood was the key to arriving in the Promised Land. The clear picture of the sacrifice later made by the man Y'shua, or Jesus, our sacrificial lamb, to provide for our passage to the promised land.
The second dipping is to remind the celebrant of the coat (with sleeves, not multi colored) of Joseph dipped in blood. The Magid will recount how YHWH allowed Joseph's brothers to mistreat him and sell him into slavery. But YHWH was going to use the hard hearts of the brothers to put in to motion their own salvation. By having Joseph travel to Egypt to later become the number two in the land, YHWH was providing a secure path for His children's survival. This entire account is the very picture of what most Christians remember as Romans 8:28, but more importantly shows beyond a shade of a doubt, that the hand of YHWH is always active and working for His people.
Passover, like all of the feasts, is a wonderful time for all who follow after the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and should not be missed.
CB
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