Is 2026 a re-enactment of the original Passover story?

The story of Passover could not be more relevant than the days in which we find ourselves. It was 4,000 years ago when the Jewish people were living as slaves in Egypt, today’s equivalent of the Diaspora. 

Before that period, they were actually prospering, growing and enjoying the respect of their neighbors, largely due to the patriarch Joseph, who held the most prominent place of authority, just under the Pharaoh. 

When you think about the Jewish Diaspora, prior to October 7, the parallels are striking.  Antisemitism was still relatively tucked away, seen as an unacceptable bigotry which could not be unleashed, and Jews had risen to the highest and most prestigious ranks that were possible, all throughout the world.

Then, all of a sudden, one day changed everything. Similarly, in the Passover story, the death of one man changed everything. The moment that the Pharoah died, it is recorded in Exodus 1:8 that “A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” 

That king happened to see the Jewish people as a threat, and that was the beginning of their life of bondage. Now, a new up and coming generation lacks the knowledge and history of Jews.  Unaware of the centuries of persecution they suffered, all they did to overcome their victimhood and how they built a nation from the ashes of the Holocaust, they only see them as the finished product.

To them, Israel is a strong, independent nation that is able to defend itself, prosper to the point of supplying countless technological benefits for the world and, despite its tiny size, still able to command great fear and respect among larger and greater nations.

Ignorant of the fact that Jews come from many cultures and ethnicities, today’s young people associate them with the white oppressors whom they despise. Seen as privileged and powerful, this new generation, much like the new king in the book of Exodus, perceives them to be a threat. 

Conveniently, October 7 provided the perfect window of opportunity to implement the bondage under which Jews would be placed, regardless of whether they lived in their homeland or remained part of the global Diaspora community.

That bondage materialized through a massive worldwide opposition campaign, where dissent against Jews was voiced, printed in every media outlet and even expressed through physical assaults against those whose ethnicity was hated.

In a coordinated effort to construct a new vilified image, Jews reverted back to their all-too familiar default position of being persecuted and cast as the world’s enemy. Hating them became a fashionable trend which everyone wanted to get in on.

But it wasn’t only exclusive to young people. Quickly spreading to the realm of politics, entertainment, religious institutions, industry and every segment of society, the popular resolve was that Israel and her people had to be punished, shamed and made to be an example, so that everyone would look upon them with scorn.

That brings us to the plight of the children of Israel during the first observance of Passover. It is in this story where God chooses one man to extricate the Jewish people from their life of bondage, in a bold move to return them to their land and intended destiny.

In many ways, it feels as if we are in that same time and place when the Sovereign God has decided to, once again, re-enact the Passover story. As we watch world events, culminating in the inability of communities to adequately protect their Jewish communities, to the point where armed police and soldiers must be summoned to do the job, we can only wonder how much more will it take before another mass exodus begins in earnest?

With history to fall back on, this time, we can avoid the same pitfalls which delayed entrance into the Promised Land by 40 years. In the original account, the grave mistake of the people was to look back, complain and have a short-sighted vision of the great things that lied ahead.

Ironically, those same impediments are still with us today – especially when it comes to the thought of returning to the ancestral homeland. Immediately, one calculates the cost of leaving behind familiar surroundings, a reliable livelihood, friends, family and an easy way of life.  

The difficulties of learning a new language, culture and starting from scratch seems too daunting to take on.  All of these, despite the unbearable hardships suffered by the children of Israel, were the same mental hurdles they had to overcome in order to agree that this was the time to leave, ordained by God, Himself.

In their case, they didn’t have the luxury of many months, in advance, to plan for a massive move or to prepare themselves emotionally for the great changes they were about to make. They had one night to pack up, eat and leave.

While this is not the case, at the moment, everything is pointing towards the acceleration of the abandonment of Jewish communities as a result of the unwelcoming signs which can no longer be ignored. 

Between the decades of massive Muslim migration to the West and those new generations who, “know not the Jewish people and their history,” there is a compelling reason to conclude that the Diaspora is no longer the safe refuge where Jews can relax and feel unthreatened. 

Those days are gone, and as much as we’d like to pretend that all of this is a temporary setback, most Jews know in their hearts that things will not return to where they were pre-October 7. 

But the good news is that they’re not supposed to, because the divine plan was always to bring us back to our homeland and gather us as a people whose role was to be a light to the nations. And if that time has begun, there must be an acknowledgement and a reckoning that it is not being initiated by one or two men by the name of Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu but, rather, by God Almighty.

Israel is still the Promised Land, and although we are under attack, just as in the time of the original exodus, we are a protected people whose land will remain, as ordained by our divine shield – the God of Israel.

It is why “No weapon formed against us shall prosper and every tongue that accuses us in judgment will be condemned.” Isaiah 54:17