Moses and Jacob: On the Origins of Passover

The Bible has two names for the great spring festival: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This essay puts forward the view that Passover was not a separate festival, but a new name given to the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when a biblical author added the commemoration of the exodus from Egypt to its original agricultural meaning. This view is based on a comparison of the story of Moses with that of Jacob. Previous scholars have drawn attention to the many elements that the two stories share. However, they did not note that both stories feature a meal that is associated with firstborn sons. The Passover sacrifice is associated with the death of the firstborn, whereas Rebekah prepared a meal for Isaac when he gave the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob. This essay uses inner-biblical allusions to show that the story of Moses is based on that of Moses. In particular, this essay will try to show that the meal prepared by Rebekah is the source for the Passover sacrifice.