Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•The “sons of Paseah” were among the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:49)
Pashur
(freedom).
•One of the families of priests of the chief house of Malchijah. (1 Chronicles 9:12; 24:9; Nehemiah
11:12; Jeremiah 21:1; 38:1) In the time of Nehemiah this family appears to have become a chief
house, and its head the head of a course. (Ezra 2:38; Nehemiah 7:41; 10:3) The individual from
whom the family was named was probably Pushur the son of Malchiah, who in the reign of
Zedekiah was one of the chief princes of the court. (Jeremiah 38:1) (B.C. 607.) He was sent, with
others, by Zedekiah to Jeremiah at the time when Nebuchudnezzar was preparing his attack upon
Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 21:1) ... Again somewhat later Pashur joined with several other chief men
in petitioning the king that Jeremiah might be put to death as a traitor. (Jeremiah 38:4)
•Another person of this name, also a priest, and “chief governor of the house of the Lord,” is
mentioned in (Jeremiah 20:1) He is described as “the son of Immer.” (1 Chronicles 24:14) probably
the same as Amariah. (Nehemiah 10:3; 12:2) etc. In the reign of Jehoiakim he showed himself as
hostile to Jeremiah as his namesake the son of Malchiah did afterward, and put him in the stocks
by the gate of Benjamin. For this indignity to God’s prophet Pashur was told by Jeremiah that his
name was changed to Magor-missabib (terror on every side) and that he and all his house should
be carried captives to Babylon and there die. (Jeremiah 20:1-6) (B.C. 589.)
Passage
Used in the plural, (Jeremiah 22:20) probably to denote the mountain region of Abarim on the
east side of Jordan. It also denotes a river ford or mountain gorge or pass.
Passover
the first of the three great annual festivals of the Israelites celebrated in the month Nisan
(March-April, from the 14th to the 21st. (Strictly speaking the Passover only applied to the paschal
supper and the feast of unleavened bread followed, which was celebrated to the 21st.) (For the
corresponding dates in our month, see Jewish calendar at the end of this volume.) The following
are the principal passages in the Pentateuch relating to the Passover: (Exodus 12:1-51; 13:3-10;
23:14-19; 34:18-26; Leviticus 23:4-14; Numbers 9:1-14; 28:16-25; 16:1-6) Why instituted .—This
feast was instituted by God to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage
and the sparing of their firstborn when the destroying angel smote the first-born of the Egyptians.
The deliverance from Egypt was regarded as the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites
were then raised from the condition of bondmen under a foreign tyrant to that of a free people
owing allegiance to no one but Jehovah. The prophet in a later age spoke of the event as a creation
and a redemption of the nation. God declares himself to be “the Creator of Israel.” The Exodus was
thus looked upon as the birth of the nation; the Passover was its annual birthday feast. It was the
yearly memorial of the dedication of the people to him who had saved their first-born from the
destroyer, in order that they might be made holy to himself. First celebration of the Passover .—On
the tenth day of the month, the head of each family was to select from the flock either a lamb or a
kid, a male of the first year, without blemish. If his family was too small to eat the whole of the
lamb, he was permitted to invite his nearest neighbor to join the party. On the fourteenth day of the
month he was to kill his lamb, while the sun was setting. He was then to take blood in a basin and
with a sprig of hyssop to sprinkle it on the two side-posts and the lintel of the door of the house.
The lamb was then thoroughly roasted, whole. It was expressly forbidden that it should be boiled,
or that a bone of it should be broken. Unleavened bread and bitter herbs were to be eaten with the
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William Smith