Leviticus 23:5
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.”
What does Leviticus 23:5 mean?
This verse marks the beginning of Passover, the Jewish feast commemorating God's deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. The fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, roughly March or April) was set aside as a solemn remembrance of that night when God "passed over" the homes of Israelites, sparing their firstborn while judgment fell on Egypt. For those observing this feast, it became a yearly reset button, a time to remember that they belonged to a God who had rescued them and claimed them as his own. That same remembrance and sense of belonging to God through his acts of rescue runs throughout Scripture, which is why Jesus chose to celebrate Passover with his disciples before his crucifixion. Whether you observe this festival or not, the verse points to something many recognize in their own lives: the powerful need to pause and remember times when God has shown up for us.