PARTRIDGE

[Heb., qo·reʼʹ].

The Hebrew name of this bird means the “caller” or “crier.” In the two references to the bird (1 Sam. 26:20; Jer. 17:11), the Latin Vulgate rendered it by the word perdix, and the Septuagint Version had used the Greek equivalent thereof in the latter of the two texts. From perdix comes the English word “partridge.” While the partridge does have a ringing call, some believe its Hebrew name is intended to imitate the grating “krrr-ic” sound the bird makes when it is flushed.

The partridge is a chickenlike (gallinaceous) bird, stout-bodied, smaller than the pheasant, able to run and dodge with great swiftness, seldom resorting to flight and tiring quickly when it does. Among the more common partridges found in Palestine are the sand or desert partridge and the red-legged or chukar partridge. The sand partridge has a sandy buff color to its plumage and a white stripe runs behind the eyes. It is found in the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea region, and along the Wadi Arabah. The chukar partridge has red legs and bill, a white throat trimmed with black and heavily barred feathers on its flanks. In Palestine it is found principally in the hill country. The partridge’s diet consists of insects, grains, berries, and similar fare.

The partridge has a delicate flesh and was hunted as food from ancient times, the hunters often using throwing sticks to bring down the bird when it was flushed from cover. Since the partridge seeks escape by running, dodging behind rocks and other obstacles, and seeking out a hiding place in clefts of rocks or similar places of concealment, David, moving from hiding place to hiding place in his endeavor to evade King Saul’s relentless pursuit, aptly likened himself to “a partridge upon the mountains.”—1 Sam. 26:20; compare Lamentations 3:52.

The text at Jeremiah 17:11, likening the man unjustly amassing wealth to “the partridge that has gathered together [or, possibly, hatched] what it has not laid,” has been the subject of much discussion. Whereas certain ancient writers described the partridge as taking eggs from other hen’s nests and incubating them, present-day naturalists state that none of the birds classified as partridges have such practice. However, the Hebrew lexicon of Koehler and Baumgartner (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, p. 851) refers to Jewish zoologist Israel Aharoni (1882-1946), a writer of works on Palestinian animal life, as having found “2 layings of 11 eggs each of 2 different females [partridges] in the same nest.” A later source, the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (May-Oct. 1955, p. 133), shows “that the chukor [partridge] lays two clutches of eggs, one for herself and another for the cock.” The cock’s incubating such eggs might have some connection with the meaning of the text, though this cannot definitely be stated to be the explanation. The translation of Jeremiah 17:11 by the Jewish Publication Society reads: “As the partridge that broodeth over young which she hath not brought forth, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days he shall leave them,” and the comment thereon in the Soncino Books of the Bible quotes naturalist Tristram as suggesting that the meaning is that the partridge hen commences to sit but, due to her many enemies, human and others, who hunt for her nest to rob it of its eggs, she is speedily deprived of her hopes of a brood.

Whatever the exact meaning, it is evident that the simile used in Jeremiah’s prophecy was one understood by the people of his day. It may be kept in mind that, even among birds belonging to the same family or kind, the different varieties within such family sometimes have very distinct or peculiar characteristics or habits. (Some cuckoos are parasitical, others are not; some eagles hunt fish, others do not; most owls hunt at night, but a few, such as the snowy owl, hunt by day.) The bird described some two thousand five hundred years ago in Jeremiah’s writings could be of a type or variety of partridge no longer in existence.

PARUAH

(Pa·ruʹah) [sprouting, blooming].

Father of the Jehoshaphat who served as Solomon’s food deputy in the territory of Issachar.—1 Ki. 4:7, 17.

PASACH

(Paʹsach) [divider].

Family head in the tribe of Asher; son of Japhlet.—1 Chron. 7:30, 33, 40.

PAS-DAMMIM

(Pas-damʹmim).

Evidently another name for Ephesdammim, a place between Socoh and Azekah.—1 Sam. 17:1; 1 Chron. 11:13.

PASEAH

(Pa·seʹah) [limper].

1. A descendant of Judah in the line of “Chelub the brother of Shuhah.”—1 Chron. 4:1, 11, 12.

2. Forefather of a family of Nethinim, some of whom returned from the Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E.—Ezra 2:1, 2, 43, 49; Neh. 7:51.

3. Father of the Joiada who helped repair the Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem’s wall (455 B.C.E.).—Neh. 3:6.

PASHHUR

(Pashʹhur) [what remains round about].

1. Father of the Gedaliah who was one of the princes of Judah responsible for having Jeremiah thrown into a cistern.—Jer. 38:1, 4, 6.

2. A prince in the delegation King Zedekiah sent to inquire of Jeremiah concerning the future of Jerusalem. (Jer. 21:1, 2) Pashhur also petitioned the king for permission to put Jeremiah in the cistern. (Jer. 38:1, 4, 6) Pashhur is called in these two passages “the son of Malchi[j]ah.” The family of priests returning from Babylonian exile contains a similar link in their genealogy, “Pashhur the son of Malchijah.” (1 Chron. 9:12; Neh. 11:12) If prince Pashhur was indeed a priest, he may be the same as No. 3 below, and perhaps the one from whom the “sons of Pashhur” (No. 4 below) draw their name.

3. A priest, “the son [or descendant] of Immer, . . . the leading commissioner in the house of Jehovah.” Pashhur, objecting to Jeremiah’s prophecies, struck him and put him into the stocks and released him the following day. As a result Jehovah, through Jeremiah, foretold captivity and death in Babylon for Pashhur and, accordingly, changed his name from Pashhur to “Fright all around” (Heb., Ma·ghohrʹ mis·sa·vivʹ) (Jer. 20:1-6), an expression occurring several times in this book.—Jer. 6:25; 20:3, 10; 46:5; 49:29; see No. 2 above.

4. The “sons of Pashhur” were a paternal house of priests, 1,247 of whom returned from the exile with priest Jeshua in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 36, 38; Neh. 7:41) Six of these married foreign wives but sent them away after Ezra arrived in 468 B.C.E.—Ezra 10:22, 44; see No. 2 above.

5. A priest, or the forefather of one who in the time of Governor Nehemiah supported the covenant not to take foreign wives.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 3, 8.

PASSOVER

[Heb., peʹsahh, an overleaping, or passing over; Gr., paʹskha].

Passover was instituted the evening preceding the exodus from Egypt. The first Passover was observed about the time of full moon, on the fourteenth day of Abib (later called Nisan) in the year 1513 B.C.E. This was thereafter to be celebrated annually. (Ex. 12:17-20, 24-27) Abib (Nisan) falls within the months March-April of the Gregorian calendar. Passover was followed by seven days of the Festival of Unfermented Cakes, Nisan 15-21. Passover commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and the ‘passing over’ of their firstborn when Jehovah destroyed the firstborn of Egypt. Seasonally, it fell at the beginning of the barley harvest.—Ex. 12:14, 24-47; Lev. 23:10.

Passover was a memorial celebration; therefore the Scriptural command was: “And it must occur that when your sons say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ then you must say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the passover to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he plagued the Egyptians, but he delivered our houses.’”—Ex. 12:26, 27.

Since the Jews reckoned the day as starting after sundown and ending the next day at sundown, Nisan 14 would begin after sundown. It would be in the evening after Nisan 13 concluded that the Passover would be observed. Since the Bible definitely states that Christ is the Passover sacrifice (1 Cor. 5:7) and that he observed the Passover meal the evening before he was put to death, the date of his death would be Nisan 14, not Nisan 15, in order to fulfill accurately the time feature of the type or shadow provided in the Law.—Heb. 10:1.

LAWS GOVERNING ITS OBSERVANCE

Each household was to choose a male sheep or goat that was sound and a year old. It was taken into the house on the tenth day of the month Abib and kept until the fourteenth, and then it was slaughtered and its blood was splashed with a bunch of hyssop on the doorposts and the upper part of the doorway of the dwelling in which they were to eat it (not on the threshold where the blood would be trampled on). The lamb (or goat) was slaughtered, skinned, its interior parts cleansed and replaced, and it was roasted whole, well-done, with no bones broken. (2 Chron. 35:11; Num. 9:12) If the household was too small to consume the whole animal, then it was to be shared with a neighbor household and eaten that same night. Anything left over was to be burned before morning. (Ex. 12:10; 34:25) It was eaten with unfermented cakes, the “bread of affliction,” and with bitter greens, for their life had been bitter under slavery.—Ex. 1:14; 12:1-11, 29, 34; Deut. 16:3.

“Between the two evenings”

The Israelites measured their day from sundown to sundown. So Passover day would begin at sundown at the end of the thirteenth day of Abib (Nisan). The animal was to be slaughtered “between the two evenings.” (Ex. 12:6) There are differences of opinion as to the exact time meant. According to some authorities, as well as the Karaite Jews and Samaritans, this is the time between sunset and deep twilight. The Pharisees and the Rabbinists considered it otherwise: the first evening to be when the sun began to descend and the second evening to be the real sunset. Due to this latter view the rabbis hold that the lamb was slaughtered in the latter part of the fourteenth, not at its start, and therefore that the Passover meal was actually eaten on Nisan 15.

On this point Professors Keil and Delitzsch say: “Different opinions have prevailed among the Jews from a very early date as to the precise time intended. Aben Ezra agrees with the Caraites and Samaritans in taking the first evening to be the time when the sun sinks below the horizon, and the second the time of total darkness; in which case, ‘between the two evenings’ would be from 6 o’clock to 7.20. . . . According to the rabbinical idea, the time when the sun began to descend, viz. from 3 to 5 o’clock, was the first evening, and sunset the second; so that ‘between the two evenings’ was from 3 to 6 o’clock. Modern expositors have very properly decided in favour of the view held by Aben Ezra and the custom adopted by the Caraites and Samaritans.”—Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, ed. of 1951, The Pentateuch, Vol. II, p. 12; see DAY.

From the foregoing, and particularly in view of such texts as Exodus 12:17, 18, Leviticus 23:5-7 and Deuteronomy 16:6, 7, it seems that the weight of evidence points to the application of the expression “between the two evenings” to the time between sunset and dark. In either case, this would not allow the Passover meal to be eaten before the time corresponding to our six o’clock, for, by the time the animal was slaughtered, skinned, cleaned and thoroughly roasted and other preparations made, it would be considerably later before the passover could be eaten, hence, on Nisan 14, which had begun at sundown. Deuteronomy 16:6 commands: “You should sacrifice the passover in the evening as soon as the sun sets.” Jesus and his apostles observed the Passover meal “after evening had fallen.” (Mark 14:17; Matt. 26:20) Judas went out immediately after the Passover observance “And it was night.” (John 13:30) When Jesus observed the Passover with his twelve apostles there must have been no little conversation; then, too, some time would be occupied by Jesus in washing the apostles’ feet. (John 13:2-5) Hence, the institution of the Lord’s Evening Meal certainly took place quite late in the evening.

At the Passover in Egypt the head of the family was responsible for the slaying of the lamb (or goat) at each home, and all were to stay inside the house to avoid being slain by the angel. The partakers ate in a standing position, their hips girded (so their robes would not impede walking), staff in hand, sandals on so as to be ready for a long journey over rough ground (whereas they often did their daily work barefooted). At midnight all the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, but the angel passed over the houses on which the blood had been spattered. (Ex. 12:11, 23) Every Egyptian household wherein there was a firstborn male was affected, from the house of Pharaoh himself to the firstborn of the prisoner. It was not the head of the house, even though he may have been a firstborn, but any male firstborn one in the household under the head, as well as the male firstborn of animals, that was involved.—Ex. 12:29, 30.

The ten plagues upon Egypt all proved to be a judgment against the gods of Egypt, especially the tenth, the death of the firstborn. (Ex. 12:12) For the ram (male sheep) was sacred to the god Ra, so that splashing the blood of the passover lamb on the doorways would be blasphemy in the eyes of the Egyptians. Also, the bull was sacred, and the destruction of the firstborn of the bulls would be a blow to the god Osiris. Pharaoh himself was venerated as a son of Ra. The death of Pharaoh’s own firstborn would thus show the impotence of both Ra and Pharaoh.

IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE PROMISED LAND

Only one Passover celebration in the wilderness is mentioned. (Num. 9:1-14) The keeping of the Passover during the wilderness journey likely was limited, for two reasons: (1) Jehovah’s original instructions were that it must be kept when they reached the Promised Land. (Ex. 12:25; 13:5) (2) Those born in the wilderness had not been circumcised (Josh. 5:5), whereas all male partakers of passover had to be circumcised.—Ex. 12:45-49.

RECORD OF PASSOVERS OBSERVED

The Hebrew Scriptures give direct accounts of (1) the Passover in Egypt (Ex. chap. 12), (2) in the wilderness at Sinai, Nisan 14, 1512 B.C.E. (Num. chap. 9), (3) when they reached the Promised Land, at Gilgal and after the circumcision of the males, 1473 B.C.E. (Josh. chap. 5), (4) at the time that Hezekiah restored true worship (2 Chron. chap. 30), (5) the Passover of Josiah (2 Chron. chap. 35) and (6) the celebration by Israel after the return from Babylonian exile. (Ezra chap. 6) (Also, mention is made of passovers held in Samuel’s day and during the days of the kings, at 2 Chronicles 35:18.) After the Israelites were settled in the land, the Passover festival was observed “in the place that Jehovah will choose to have his name reside there,” instead of slaying and eating the lamb at each home or in their various cities. In time, the chosen place came to be Jerusalem.—Deut. 16:1-8.