Passover
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts” (Leviticus 23:1).
These are the eight feasts and celebrations of the Lord, and His holy convocations declared in Leviticus. They belong to Him and point to His first and second advents. Interestingly, the first holy assembly referenced is the Sabbath. The remaining seven festivals are seasonally divided into spring and fall. These include the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits (Resurrection Sunday), Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Feast of Trumpets (Jewish Civil New Year), Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles.
The Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery marked the birth of the nation of Israel, and is considered by the Jewish people to be the single most important event in their history. The delivery itself was both miraculous and divinely orchestrated entirely at His hand. The Lord had sent Moses to Pharaoh to deliver this message; “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1, NKJV).
“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt…” (Exodus 12:1, NKJV).
This chapter details the exodus from Egypt, the laws of the Passover, and the plague of the first-born. But it opens with an intriguing phrase, “in the land of Egypt.” Since we know the story is unfolding in Egypt, why is it necessary for God to reiterate an obvious fact?