Although some differences in the details exist, there is good reason to believe that the Passover ritual is about consecrating the people as ‘priests’. The sacrifice of the animal atones for the sin of the people, the blood smeared on the doorposts purifies those within the house, and the sacrificial meat sanctifies or makes holy all who eat it. Understood in this way, the Passover ritual enables all of the Israelites to obtain a holy status, an important requisite for becoming a royal priesthood (Exod. 19:6).
