Endnote 3 – The Exodus of Abraham

The verb pasach , which is otherwise rare in the Hebrew Bible (see 2 Samuel 4:4; 1 Kings 18:21, 26; and Isaiah 31:5), appears three times in the Exodus account (Exodus 12:13, 23, 27), and therefore became intimately associated with the Passover. Whether the verb pasach gave rise to the Hebrew name for this holiday (Pesach) or vice versa is unclear, as is the exact meaning of this word. Some of the proposals include: “pass over,” “protect,” “skip,” “limp,” “dance,” and “halt at.” For further discussion, see William H.C. Propp, Exodus 1–18: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary , Anchor Bible 2 (New York: Doubleday, 1999).