Passover music - this song is a description of the Lamb, the offering of the Lord, whose blood would cause the Angel of Death to pass over the Hebrews.
Were those first lambs in the story of the Exodus generation, with their blood painted on the doorposts, somehow magical with a power to keep death away? No, they were standing in for the Messiah, whom the Lord Yahweh promised would come one day.
Please scroll down the page for the sheet music PDF links.
This piano arrangement is shown in the key of C minor, but I also have it available (see farther down the page) in Dm and Em.
And the bottom of the page, which shows a verse from the book of John in the New Testament:
Please scroll down the page for the sheet music PDF links.
That verse, John 19: 36, makes reference to the Passover lamb.
The Passover week "meaning" is usually taken to refer only to the freedom of the Hebrew slaves from their bondage in Egypt.
Then what is the lamb all about?
All through the Old Testament, which tells the story of God calling Abraham and bringing the Jews into the land of Israel, oblique hints are made about the identity of the coming Savior.
Why just little hints? Perhaps to throw the enemies of God off the scent! After all, we are in a cosmic battle for the souls of humanity!
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
And the Father's plan was for Christ to be crucified, to be that sacrifice like a lamb.
Here is the Passover music with guitar tabs:
Please scroll down the page for the sheet music PDF links.
What does John mean by quoting the verse from Zechariah 12:10?
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Jewish capital punishment was stoning, not "piercing" or crucifixion. That barbaric method would not come about until the time of the Romans. But God saw it coming!
John, in the New Testament, says that this prophecy from the Old Testament is about the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus is the Son of David, and someday the Jewish nation will indeed mourn over him they rejected.
Here is a lead sheet arrangement of the song, in both Dm and Em (see farther down the page).
Please scroll down the page for the sheet music PDF links.
A closeup look at the lead sheet:
I do not know if modern Jews place any significance on the lamb of the Passover. As far as I can tell, Passover to them seems to be all about their freedom from bondage to the Egyptians, and the beginning of the Jewish nation. (And family tradition.)
But there were peculiar things about the lamb that set it apart from other meals.
Why did it need to be spotless, without blemish? Why was it to live among the household from the tenth day until the fourteenth day of the month? Why were no bones to be broken? (Exodus 12:46)
46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
The author of an article at the website AlephBeta.org asks,
"How is Passover Different from Easter?"
He says,
"Although the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter both occur during the spring, the two celebrations are very different. The main connection between the two is due to the events of the Easter holiday originally taking place during Pesach, which explains some of the conflation between the two holidays."
And that's ALL he says!
True, the celebrations are very different, but he is in error thinking that the TIME FRAME is the primary connection between Passover and Easter.
Jesus Christ WAS that Passover lamb, and his death on the cross was the FULFILLMENT of the Passover part of the Exodus story.
His resurrection after three days, like Jonah in the whale, showed that death had no power over him.
Only an entirely "spotless" Lamb - a perfect man - could have been our substitute.
The links to the piano arrangements:
Download Passover music for piano and voice in Cm
Download Passover lyrics and music for piano in Dm
Download Not One of His Bones Will Be Broken for piano in Em
The guitar tabs:
Download Not One of His Bones Will Be Broken with guitar tabs
The lead sheets:
Yes, I misspelled "Zechariah" on the music sheets! Very hard to notice every little detail. Hopefully I will find time to fix this soon, but no promises.
Well, as I understand it, English spelling wasn't really standardized until Noah Webster...
Thank you for visiting!
Esther, For Such a Time As This, the Easy Piano Edition
This digital download version in the key of Em, with chord symbols, is greatly simplified.
Your piano students will be able to handle this one!
Also available at Amazon as a paperback.
A perfect read aloud storybook for little boys or girls.
The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young Christian lad with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.
With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.
Lots of trolls in this book.
Esther: For Such a Time as This
Download this beautiful songbook telling the riveting story of the attempted genocide of the Jews in ancient Persia, and the brave young queen who risked her life to change the king's mind and save her people.
Also available as a paperback at Amazon!
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and this newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
I also happen to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Christian worldview that portrays The Great War in the heavens, in which we here on earth are destined to be a part.
You can find out more about the reason for this website at the Home page.