Passover

Passover the first and most important of the three great annual festivals — the other two being pentecost and the Feast of tabernacles — on which the male population appeared before the Lord in Jerusalem. In the present article it is our aim to combine the Scriptural notices of this institution with whatever information ancient or modern authors give, especially the Talmudical regulations for its observance. See FESTIVAL.

I. Name and its Signification — The Heb. word פֶּסִח, Pesach (from פָּסִח, pasach, to pass through, to leap, to halt [2Sa 4:4; 1Ki 18:21], then tropically to pass by in the sense of sparing, to save, to show mercy [Ex 12:13,23,27; Isa 31:5]), denotes —

1. An overstepping, passover, and is so rendered by Josephus (Ant. 2:14, 6, ὑπερβασία), Aquila (ὑπέρβασις), and the English version.