God created a second chance for those who missed Passover in what is known as “Pesach Sheni” – the second Passover, exactly a month later. This provision speaks of God’s character, making a second chance for those who miss out.
How “Second Passover” began
While the night of Passover takes place when the moon is at its fullest in the middle of the month of Nissan, Pesach Sheni takes place at the same time the following month, in Iyar. Here’s how that system started:
And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord‘s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it.” (Numbers 9:5-11)
These men were ritually unclean after touching a dead body, and in the month of Iyar we read the Torah portions about leprosy and various ailments and conditions that render people unable to join in the fellowship until certain conditions have been met. In His earthly ministry, the Messiah healed lepers, those with an issue of blood or blindness, conditions that put people outside the camp. He also included Gentiles for the first time. Here we see God’s heart even then: A bit like “second breakfast,” our generous God makes provision to make sure no one misses out — a taster of what was to come in Yeshua.
The second month of second chances
The month of Iyar, the second month in the biblical calendar, seems to be replete with second chance symbolism, with Noah and his family exiting the ark with the animals and starting over again, a second chance at living on the planet. A do-over, with a rainbow covenant promise to boot.
Solomon began building the temple in the second month 480 years after the Exodus, and made a covenant with the king of Tyre in Lebanon in the month of Iyar, just as the leaders of Israel and Lebanon are discussing peace treaties today. Peace between the two countries almost came about back in 1983, but maybe we’re getting a second chance now — and in the second month no less.
Work on the second temple also began in the second month, a second chance after the punishing exile in Babylon:
Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. (Ezra 3:8)
It’s often the second son that is chosen in the line of redemption, and as Stephen points out to the crowd who would later stone him to death, it was on the second visit that Joseph made himself know to his brothers, giving them a second chance — a do-over — as he expressed forgiveness for all they had done to him (Acts 7:13).
Later in the book of Acts we see that God warns Peter not just once but also a second time that what He had made clean should not be called unclean (Acts 10:15). The time had come to gather in the Gentiles, the unclean were pronounced clean, including them into the family of God.
The ultimate second chance
The Apostle Paul painstakingly explains in his letters how the Messiah Himself is the ultimate provision of a second chance for mankind.
“The first man was from the earth, a man of dust,” Paul explains. “The second man is from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47)
Yeshua was the “second Adam” come to right the wrongs of the first Adam. He also inaugurated the new covenant in His own blood, making the deal unilaterally. Instead of trying to achieve God’s perfect standards, we are invited to just receive the forgiveness and righteousness that only He can attain.
“For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:7)
Now we can be born again, starting a brand new life, for a second time. In fact it is required, as Yeshua explained to Nicoldemus, a member of the Sanhedrin.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5)
In being born of the Spirit we get a fresh new chance at life — a clean slate, and the hope of eternity on the basis of His righteousness, not our own. The Passover points to the Messiah’s self sacrifice that made a brand new life possible. The sacrificial blood covers us so that death passes over and we are saved.
Today the Jewish exiles have been regathered for a second time. Israel is back in the land and we’re waiting for the second coming of the Messiah who has been rejected by His own people for so long. Israel’s rejection made sure that the Gentiles could be included, but God doesn’t want Israel to miss out either! So you know what? They get a second chance too. Many of the original olive branches are being grafted back into the tree, as Paul describes it — Jewish people have been coming to faith more than any other time in history since the first century! And when Yeshua comes again in glory, all Israel will be saved.
We have made a terrible mess of the paradise God made. Each one of us has failed to reach God’s standards and we have missed the mark. But through Yeshua He has provided a second chance for us — a do-over — like Pesach Sheni. We can enjoy real fellowship with God, the way it was always supposed to be.
Photo by Logan Ward on Unsplash
