[1]  It is mainly a translation of the part of the doctoral dissertation: W. Kosek, Pierwotny ryt Paschy w świetle schematu literackiego Księgi Wyjścia 1-18, Kraków 2008, p. 322-357. Some new remarks are present here, also.

[2]  Cf. K. Hagen, Hebrews Commenting from Erasmus to Bèze, 1516-1598, Eugene, Oregon 2011, p. 74. Cf. also S. Lawson, M. Anders (general editor), Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms 1-75, Nashville, Tennessee 2003, p. 130: the author writes about Psa 23:4, “the phrase ‘shadow of death’ (Heb. salmawet) is a Hebrew compound word that joins together the two Hebrew words for shade or shadow and for death.” Cf. also lexicon available in electronic form in BibleWorks 6.0, described as follows: “BDB-GESENIUS Hebrew-Aramaic and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Complete and Unabridged. By Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles Briggs (all D.D., D.Litt.), finished in 1906 and based upon several works of Wilhelm Gesenius (and editors), dated 1833, 1854, 1858, and 1895. Significant Hebrew formatting modifications and improvements made by Michael S. Bushell, 2001, to conform to lemma and inflected Hebrew forms and typeface,” p. 853: צַלְמָוֶת = צֵל + מָוֶת.

[3]   W. Kosek, Pierwotny ryt Paschy w świetle schematu literackiego Księgi Wyjścia 1-18, Kraków 2008, passim.

[4]  Cf. Gen 15:8: בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כָּרַת יְהוָה אֶת־אַבְרָם בְּרִית.

[5]  Cf. W. Kosek, Pierwotny ryt Paschy w świetle schematu literackiego Księgi Wyjścia 1-18, Kraków 2008, passim.

[6]  Cf. P. Briks, Podręczny słownik hebrajsko-polski i aramejsko-polski Starego Testament, third edition, Warszawa 2000, p. 124: חצה; G. Deiana, A. Spreafico (original version), S. Bazyliński (Polish version), Wprowadzenie do hebrajszczyzny biblijnej, Warszawa 2001, p. 120: verbs ל״ה – forms with apocope.

[7]  In Psa 55:24 and Isa 30:28 has a different meaning.

[8]  The form of the word חצה, identical with the name of the 4th point of Seder (יַחַץ), occurs in several other places: וַיַּחַץ in Gen 32:8;33:1; Judg 7:16. The term וַיַּחַץ consists of two words: ו consecutivum and יַחַץ. For the analysis, however, it is significant first of all that the correlation is between the exit out of Egypt (celebrated in the Passover Seder) and one of the texts containing the Hebrew word חצה, not necessarily in the same form.

[9]  Cf. T. Jelonek, Od Zoharu do Chasydów polskich. Monographic lecture in the second semester of the academic year 2001/2002. The script for students of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków (Typescript), Kraków 2002, p. 18; B. S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, London 1983, p. 98; G. Deiana, A. Spreafico (original version), S. Bazyliński (Polish version), Wprowadzenie do hebrajszczyzny biblijnej, op.cit., p. 10: the Hebrew alphabet did not contain special characters to denote vowels. However, to avoid ambiguity, there were many words in which א,Mה,Mו,Mי (i.e., the same signs which denote consonants) were used to express vowels. In the analyzed ‘word’ it is necessary to discover whether י,Mו means vowels or consonants.

[10]  Cf. G. H. Dalman, Aramäisch-Neuhebräisches Wörterbuch zu Targum, Talmud und Midrasch mit Lexikon der Abbreviaturen von G. H. Händler, Frankfurt A. M., 1901, p. 32: the dictionary does not give any words other than similar to it: אָפִיק – 1. Bach, Kanal; 2. Gewaltiger (1. stream, channel; 2. powerful).

[11]  We can apply the same procedure to all ‘words’ derived from the above ‘word’ by first cutting off one character from its right end, then cutting off the next ones until there are no characters.

[12]  Cf. P. Briks, Podręczny słownik hebrajsko-polski i aramejsko-polski Starego Testamentu, op.cit., p. 40: אָפִיק.

[13]  Cf. G. Deiana, A. Spreafico (original version), S. Bazyliński (Polish version), Wprowadzenie do hebrajszczyzny biblijnej, op.cit., p. 22: in the Pentateuch, one can often find the word written as הִיא (she), but read as הִוא.

[14]  Cf. BDB-GESENIUS Hebrew-Aramaic and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, op.cit.

[15]  Cf. for example, the noun זִכָּרוֹן (memorial, reminder), derived from the verb זכר (remember); in Ex 28:12 it occurs in a reduced form: זִכָּרֹן, consisting of ן added to the stem זכר.

[16]  Because the analysis of the word אֲפִיק has shown that it can be not only status absolutus, but also status constructus, therefore וֹ at the end of אֲפִיקוֹ is a suffix expressing the possessive pronoun of the third person singular: see G. Deiana, A. Spreafico (original version), S. Bazyliński (Polish version), Wprowadzenie do hebrajszczyzny biblijnej, op.cit., p. 47.

[17]  Cf. in Ex 16:31 שְׁמוֹ מָן – ‘its name is manna’ – where שְׁמוֹ is the word שֵׁם in status constructus with the third masculine singular suffix.

[18]  Cf. Biblia Poznańska³, Biblia Tysiąclecia4; J. Łach, Księgi Samuela. Wstęp – przekład z oryginału – komentarz – ekskursy, Poznań – Warszawa 1973, p. 481-491; A. Campbell, M. O’Brien, Pierwsza i Druga Księga Samuela, [in:] W. R. Farmer (ed.); S. Mcevenue, A. J. Levoratti, D. L. Dungan (co-editors); W. Chrostowski (scientific editor of Polish edition), T. Mieszkowski, P. Pachciarek (co-editors), Międzynarodowy komentarz do Pisma Świętego: komentarz katolicki i ekumeniczny na XXI wiek, Warszawa 2000, s. 512; H.-W. Jüngling, Księga Pierwsza (Ps 1-41). Psalm 18, [in:] Ibid., p. 690-691; W. Borowski, Psalmy. Komentarz biblijno-ascetyczny, Kraków 1983, p. 94-100.

[19]  The very term שִׁירָה – song – is absent in the headlines of psalms (songs after all!) with one exception – Psa 18. J. Łach draws attention to this peculiarity, indicating at the same time other places: Ex 15:1; Num 21:17; Deut 31:19. 21f. 30; 32:44; Isa 5:1; 23:15; Am 8:3: cf. J. Łach, Księgi Samuela. Wstęp – przekład z oryginału – komentarz – ekskursy, Poznań – Warszawa 1973, p. 482. It should be added, however, that another term of the song – שִׁיר – appears in 33 psalms.

[20]  Cf. H.-W. Jüngling, Księga Pierwsza (Ps 1-41)…, op.cit., p. 690.

[22]  Contemporary researchers suggest other sources of Moses’ name: cf. J. Warzecha, Dawny Izrael od Abrahama do Salomona, Warszawa 1995, p. 74. Biblical etymology, therefore, has significant theological importance, since it seems to differ from the historical origins of this name.

[23]  Ex 14:6.7ab.9.17.18.23.26.28; 15:1.19.21.

[24]  In the table, verse 12:41 is, in fact, a representation of verses 12:40-41, because they both speak about 430 years of Israel’s stay in Egypt.

[25]  No symbolic killing is carried out. In the seder, however, the rule is observed that the lamb-Passover should be eaten only before midnight: cf. Pesachim X.9: “After midnight the paschal lamb renders the hands unclean. [Also] the remains and remnants make the hands unclean.” Cf. R. Marcinkowski, Miszna – Seder Moed. Skrypt dla studentów hebraistyki. Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warszawa 1995, p. 177. This custom is significant for analyses which were carried out in point 3.3.7 of the doctoral thesis: W. Kosek, Pierwotny ryt Paschy w świetle schematu literackiego Księgi Wyjścia 1-18, Kraków 2008 (the eating of the unleavened bread of departure connects with the passage of the Lord through the middle of Egypt-Rahab to punish).

[26]  However one should mention that the understanding of the outer parts of the law pericope, a significant instrument for correct reading of Seder, would be impossible without the structure of Ex 1-18 as the interpretation key.

[27]  This dimension is consistent with what is communicated in Table 3, column 4. The rationale for this law is homogeneous: it is the need to remember with gratitude the God who led Israel out of Egypt.

[28]  This part we can call ‘eating’ = ‘feast,’ as long as we do not confuse this name with that of the whole seder – also ‘feast’ – the Passover one.

[29]  It replaced a sandwich with unleavened bread, the meat of lamb-Passover and bitter herbs, eaten during the existence of the temple in Jerusalem.

[30]  Cf. H.-W. Jüngling, Księga Pierwsza (Ps 1-41)…, op.cit., pp. 690-691; A. F. Campbell, J. W. Flanagan, Pierwsza i Druga Księga Samuela, [in:] R. E. Brown, J. A. Fitzmyer, R. E. Murphy (ed.) and others, Katolicki komentarz biblijny, Warszawa 2001, p. 263.

[31]  Legislative words: חֹק, חֻקָּה, תּוֹרָה occur seven times in this pericope. Moreover, twice, for a summary of the subsequent parts of this pericope (see Ex 12:28.50), the hagiographer emphasized that the People did accurately what the Lord commanded them (צוה) through Moses and Aaron. Compare the meaning of these almost identical verses, analyzed above. Cf. also J. Warzecha, Dawny Izrael od Abrahama do Salomona, op.cit., p. 76: the religion of Israel is to be a factor in awakening people’s response of faith to God’s word, and not merely a passive acceptance of the benefits He gives them.

[32]  Cf. Ex 12:10f. Polish Biblia Tysiąclecia4 translates the word בֹּקֶר (dawn) only generally as the next day. God, however, ordered to stop eating before dawn – before sunrise. Contemporary Jews, on the other hand, interpret this precept as before midnight, that is, before the beginning of a new day, as it is now understood. At the time of Exodus, the Jews began the new day (or, precisely speaking, the twenty-four-hour time) from the moment when the sun fell behind the horizon. Midnight did not begin a new day.

[33]  The law to eat unleavened bread for seven days (cf. Ex 12:15-20; 13:3-11), verbalized in the law pericope, is not the command we here refer. The order to eat unleavened bread (Afikoman) in the third part of Seder does not exist in the verbalized form in the law pericope! One can only read it due to the discovery of a parallel system of internal fragments of this pericope – see the analyses carried out in the previous subsection. However, this command is ‘written’ in the law pericope (although in a manner that is difficult to read)! One can assume, however, that the Israelites in their tradition could interpret Ex 13:3.8-9 as a verbalization of this order. It is because the phrase “You shall tell your son in that day” was interpreted as the order to explain in the first part of seder the meaning of the unleavened pieces of bread, lying before the person telling the story. In justifying this custom, The Haggadah refers to Ex 13:8. Cf. הגדה שׁל פסח Hagada. Opowiadania o wyjściu Izraelitów z Egiptu na pierwsze dwa wieczory święta Pesach. M. Zalcman Bookshop Publishing House, Vienna 1927, p. 14-15. Hagada is currently available in ‘Bibliofilska Edycja Reprintów’ as reprint made from a private collection at Interdruck GmbH Printing House in Leipzig, Warszawa 1991. Hereafter we quote it as Hagada, reprint. The Haggadah in its presently known form does not precisely distinguish between two ideas connected with bread. The first is ‘the bread of humiliating slavery’ (regular bread with acid, for which they worked in the humiliating conditions of slavery); the second is ‘the bread of humiliation’ (humiliation connected with the necessity of a hasty exit, according to Deut 13:8) ordered for seven days, from the evening of 14 Abib to the evening of 21 Abib. One can suppose a similar phenomenon occurs in The Haggadah regarding the ‘unleavened bread of departure’ eaten within the seder, which was not differentiated terminologically from the ‘unleavened bread commemorating the departure’ eaten for seven days, regardless of the seder.

[34]  J. Kanofsky, Przewodnik Pesachowy Fundacji Ronalda S. Laudera. Pesach 5763 / 2003, Warszawa 2003, p. 16-17, 19.

[35]  Cf. Ibid., pp. 8-12; 23-26.

[36]  Contemporary commentaries to Seder place these explanations at the end of the first part, but according to our analyses carried out above one should perceive them as the beginning of the second part, where the explained food-symbols are consumed according to the command of the Lord immediately afterward.

[37]  The comments perceive Afikoman as a symbol of the lamb-Passover, consumed as the last bite of the banquet in the second part of Seder. According to the analyses carried out, Afikoman is, in fact, the unleavened bread of departure instead of a lamb’s symbol. Afikoman belongs to a different part of Seder than the lamb-Passover does.

[38]  Cf. also B. S. Childs, The Book of Exodus. A Critical Theological Commentary, Philadelphia 1974, p. 203. The author notes biblical parallelism between Ex 13:3-10 and 13:11-16, built in the following points: verses 5 and 11 refer to the commitment to enter the Promised Land; verses 8 and 14 focus on the answer given by father to the son; verses 9 and 16 contain the precept of visible sign on hands and of the memory of being led out of Egypt. This deep connection between the two texts, discovered by the modern biblical scholar, also had to be seen by the Israelites who live in biblical culture day-to-day.

[39]  Cf. The Passover Haggadah – published by the Kehot Publication Society and made available in electronic form by Chabad Lubavitch: https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/hagada.txt – chapter: Order of The Pesach Seder, point: Maggid. Cf. also Hagada, reprint…, op.cit., p. 13.

[41]  The question of the wise son in the text of The Haggadah is from Deut 6:20: “When your son asks you what these ordinances, statutes, and decrees mean which the Lord, our God, has enjoined on you?”

[42]  The Passover Haggadah, op.cit., chapter: Order Of The Pesach Seder. Maggid.

[43]  Hagada, reprint…, op.cit., p. 13.

[44]  Cf. S. Reczek, Podręczny słownik dawnej polszczyzny, Wrocław – Warszawa – Kraków 1968, p. 547: wet.1.

[45]  הגדה של פסח The Passover Haggadah. A faithful English rendering by A. Regelson, illustrated by Z. Kleinman, New York 1965, p. 12.

[46]  Cf. M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, New York 1950, vol. 1, p. 104: אֶֶפִִּיקוֹמָן.

[47]  Cf. C. Adler (ed.), The Jewish Encyclopedia (vol. I-XII), New York – London, 1901-1906, vol. I, p. 224: Afikomen: cf. on Internet ← click, please!

[48]  Cf. J. Bonsirven, Textes rabbiniques des deux premiers siècles chrétiens pour servir à l’inteligence du Nouveau Testament, Roma 1955, p. 215.

[49]  Miszna-Pesachim, translated by R. Marcinkowski, op.cit., p. 177.

[50]  H. Danby, The Mishnah. Translated from the Hebrew with Introduction and Brief Explanatory Notes, London 1950, p. 151. The book includes The Tractate Pesachim, pp. 136-151.

[51]  H. L. Strack, P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch. Exkurse zu Einzelnen Stellen des Neuen Testaments Abhandlungen zur Neutestamentlichen Theologie und Archäologie in zwei Teilen, München 1956² I-IV (1-2), vol. IV, Part 1, p. 73.

[52]  Cf. Ibid., p. 73: pPes 10:37d,46: „Was ist אפיקומין? R. Simon (um 280) hat im Namen des R. Jojani b. Sisai (Sissai, um 250) gesagt: Eine Liedart (allerlei Gesänge).”

[53]  Cf. Ibid., p. 73. An explanation of the indicated Hebrew text, based on biblical analyses, radically different from that of Strack-Billerbeck, please see in this paper below.

[54]  Cf. Ibid., pp. 73-74.

[55]  Cf. C. Adler (ed.), The Jewish Encyclopedia, op.cit., vol. 1, p. 224. Cf. also הגדה של פסח Passover Haggadah with a new translation by Chaim Raphael, New York 1972, p. 55: Afikoman – from Greek ἐπικώμιον, which means: dessert or appetizer; it is a particular remnant of the paschal sacrifice; everyone must eat a piece of Afikoman; p. 24: ἐπικώμιον – procession (festival procession). The word had different meanings in Talmudic times, including dessert and savory. The author of the term ‘Afikoman’ in The Jewish Encyclopedia explains on page 224: “The Jewish form of it occurs in Mishnah Pes. X.8, which says: ‘One should not break off the communion meal of the paschal lamb by starting another entertainment, called either ἐπικώμιον [festal song] or, according to others, ἐπíκωμον [an after-meal dessert or pastime].’ This rule of making the paschal lamb the last thing to be partaken of in company was applied at a later time (see Rab and Samuel in Pes. 119b) to the Passover bread; and the piece, eaten at the end of the meal received the name Afikomen. In order to awaken the curiosity of the children, the Afikomen was broken off the mazzah at the beginning of the seder; the custom arising perhaps from a misunderstanding of the passage in Pes. 109a, ‘They hasten [the eating of] the mazzah in order to keep the children awake,’ which may also be translated, ‘They snatch away the mazzah’; and so it became customary to allow the children to abstract the Afikomen from under the pillow of the master of the house, and to keep it until redeemed by him with presents.” Cf. also the text available on the Internet: J. B. Hare (ed.), Scanned at Sacred-Texts.com, September 2002. It contains Talmud text in English, published by The Talmud Society: New Edition of The Babylonian Talmud. Original Text, Edited, Corrected, Formulated and Translated into English By Michael L. Rodkinson, Volume V.: Section Moed (Festivals), Tractate Pesachim (Passover), Boston 1918: http://www.sacred-texts.com: cf. on Internet ← click, please!. This text seems to be the best to analyze Afikoman issues as The Jewish Encyclopedia states; it helps to solve the uncertainties introduced by other publishers into it. On the page 256: Mishnah: ‘It is unlawful to conclude the eating of the paschal sacrifice with a dessert’ (which is the different translation, but concerning the same sentence of the Talmud, given above in The Jewish Encyclopedia: ‘One should not break off the communion meal of the paschal lamb by starting another entertainment’). After it is Gemara, and there is a discussion on the subject: ‘What is meant by this dessert?’ and whether this ban still has to apply now, when you do not eat lamb meat as a paschal sacrifice, but Afikoman (unleavened bread). The text of the dispute stretches to page 258. And here, the next sentence of Mishnah is, the one which Danby, Bonsirven and many others quote as X.8: ‘If any of the company fall asleep during the meal, they may eat of the paschal sacrifice afterwards; but if the whole company have fallen asleep, they must not again eat thereof [upon awakening]…’ Then there is an opinion: R. Jose said: ‘If they are only drowsy, they may eat it, but if they fall fast asleep, they must not eat of it afterwards.’

[56]  It is the participle of the verb הלך (go), feminine plural in status constructus, preceded by the prefix כְּ. Generally, the form of this participle in the Hebrew Bible is הֹלְכוֹת, not הִלְכוֹת, so there may be a change of the first vowel in the presence of the prefix כְּ. One must remember the analyzed text is in Aramaic or Hebrew non-biblical language, hence, there may be differences in vowels relative to the Bible despite the quite substantial similarities between these two languages. One knows that the prefix כְּ in conjunction with an infinitive has meaning when, in time: cf. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, B. K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Chicago, Illinois 1980, an electronic version in BibleWorks 6.0, point 937 (כְּ). Since participles often appear in the same role as an infinitive, the translation is: when the Passover lasts – during the Passover. The same result one can obtain from different reasoning: because participles often are in a noun role, this participle can mean standing. Cf. The electronic version in BibleWorks 6.0.: Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar As Edited And Enlarged By The Late E. Kautzsch. Second English Edition. Revised In Accordance With The Twenty-Eighth German Edition (1909) By A. E. Cowley. With A Facsimile Of The Siloam Inscription By J. Euting And A Table Of Alphabets By M. Lidzbarski, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1910: § 116 The Participles; § 113. The Infinitive Absolute. From now, it will be in footnotes as W. Gesenius, The Hebrew Grammar.

[57]  The participants are to consume nothing but the wine they drink from the third and then from the fourth cup – the cups essential for the structure of the seder. The wine of these Passover cups is not as an ordinary food product, but as a product prescribed by law, in analogy to the matzo and the maror.

[58]  Close to this translation is the English text of the Talmud, which one can find in an electronic version on the following website: www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t03/psc14.htm. It includes the text Pesachim X.8 from Mishnah as well as comments to it (Gemara): “It is unlawful to conclude the eating of the paschal sacrifice with a dessert.”

[59]  Cf. G. Deiana, A. Spreafico (original version), S. Bazyliński (Polish version), Wprowadzenie do Hebrajszczyzny biblijnej, op.cit., p. 83.

[60]  Cf. W. Gesenius, The Hebrew Grammar, op.cit.: § 87. Of the Plural. Point e. The author adds in the footnote No 2: “So also always in the Mēša inscription, e. g. line 2 שלשן thirty; line 4 מלכן kings; line 5 ימן רבן many days, &c.”

[61]  The search in BibleWorks 6.0 for WTM, where Command Center: .*@v?Pmpa+Sxxx*

[62]  The search in BibleWorks 6.0 for WTT for a version with vowels, where Command Center:מַ?ְ?ִי?ִים*

[63]  Cf. J. Kanofsky, Przewodnik Pesachowy Fundacji Ronalda S. Laudera. Pesach 5763 / 2003, op.cit., p. 2; הגדה של פסח, Tel-Aviv 1958, op.cit., p. 8.

[64]  Cf. Ibid., p. 9: the caption under the drawing which shows the way of koshering the dishes for the Passover. See also BDB-GESENIUS Hebrew-Aramaic and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, op.cit., p. 171: גָּעַל Hiphil rinse out with hot water.