Portion 15 of 54 · Exodus
בֹּא
Bo
The last plagues fall, and before the people are free they are given a meal to eat standing up and a night to remember for ever.
Start by reading it
Exodus 10:1–13:16
4 chapters. About 16 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Jeremiah 46:13–28
What happens
- 01
Locusts, then a darkness thick enough to feel.
- 02
Israel is told to mark their doors, roast a lamb, and eat ready to travel.
- 03
The firstborn of Egypt die. Pharaoh sends the people out in the middle of the night.
- 04
They leave in haste with dough that has no time to rise, and are told to keep this night every year.
The thing most people walk past
The command to remember comes before the rescue
The instructions for Passover are given while the people are still slaves. They are told how to tell their children about a freedom that has not happened yet. Memory is set up before there is anything to remember.
One verse to carry
And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
'Unto me' — not unto them, long ago. Every generation is told to speak as if it came out itself. That single word shapes the whole Passover night.
A question to sit with
'And thou shalt shew thy son in that day.' Why does the Bible hand the story to children before it hands it to scholars?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.