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Religious Historical Study on the Cohesion of the Feasts of Passover(ח꘎꘭ גꖏ) and Unleavened Bread(תוֹצꗫꖏ גꖏ)

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1장로회신학대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to pursue the origin of Passover festival and feast of Unleavened Bread, and reveal how these two festivals were combined through religious historical study. For this study, the author introduces recent research trend of Pentateuch and the so-called Deuteronomistic history, using these methodologies. Through this study, the author tries to reveal that in the beginning Passover which was ancient nomadic apotropaic spring ritual and the seven day feast of Unleavend bread, maṣṣōt which was agricultural spring festival of Canaanite people, existed separately, but later the fact that unleavend bread was to be eaten along with the Passover sacrifice facilitated the joining of the two festivals. According to the author, the feast of Unleavened Bread was seasonal sacrifice circulating local sanctuaries in Exod 23: 15 and 34: 18. However, Deut 16: 1-8 constitutes key section adapting the earlier heritage to the centralisation of the cult. By locating the Passover rite in the sanctuary that God will choose, Deut 16:1-8 changes the celebration from an exclusively domestic rite to part of a national gathering-though families might celebrate individually in that central location. In Exile, these two national festivals were celebrated as family ceremony, and the blood ceremony of Passover was reinterpreted as salvation day from calamity related with the death of firstborns and the seven day of Unleavened bread was re-confessed as the liberation day from slavery and captivity related with the exodus by priest group (P) in Exod 12: 1-20. In post-exilic Chronicles, the feasts of Passover and Unleavened bread were considered as national festivals which were celebrated by all Israel and Judah together in Jerusalem. Ezekiel and Ezra understand those two feasts as the retrospective events of captivity caused by their crime and God's grace of recovery and salvation, and connect them with cleansing ceremony and sin offering. Thus, through this study, we can see those apotropaic and mythical ceremonies in ancient district along the shore of the Mediterranean are developing religiously and historically as the day of faith remembering Yahweh's great activity of liberation and deliverance from captivity through the feasts of Passover and Unleavened bread.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.