Lent is often misunderstood as a later church invention, a season of imposed fasting or ritual discipline. But the rhythm it reflects is far older than the church itself. Long before Lent had a name, Scripture already knew its shape.

In the Bible, moments of redemption are rarely sudden. They are preceded by preparation. God does not rush transformation, but He prepares people for it, often by leading them away from noise, familiarity, and security.

The Hebrew Bible repeatedly places preparation in the midbar (מדבר), the wilderness. In the midbar, Israel is removed from Egypt not only geographically, but inwardly. Old dependencies are unlearned, trust is rebuilt, identity is reshaped before destiny is revealed.

The Bible describes these wilderness seasons as nisayon (נסיון), times of testing that make trust visible. They are not rushed moments, but extended periods in which God prepares His people for what comes next. That is why Scripture so often marks them with forty days or forty years.

Moses remains forty days on the mountain before covenant is sealed. Elijah walks forty days into the wilderness before encountering God in stillness. Israel spends 40 years in the midbar before entering the land. Again and again, Scripture shows that God prepares before He delivers.

This pattern continues with Jesus. Before His public ministry begins, before healing and teaching, before the Passover that will become the turning point of history, Jesus is led into the wilderness for forty days (Matthew 4:1–2). The Gospels present this not as an interruption, but as necessary preparation. What follows could not happen without what came first.

The New Testament itself frames Jesus’ death as preparation for redemption. At Passover (Pesach פסח), Israel remembered liberation that began not with triumph, but with waiting, obedience, and trust. Jesus’ final week follows this same biblical rhythm: withdrawal, testing, obedience - and only then deliverance.

Seen this way, Lent reflects a biblical truth: before God brings freedom, He prepares the heart. Before Pascha, there is the wilderness, a season of nisayon (נסיון), a measured time of testing in which trust is revealed and readied. Scripture invites us to see preparation as grace: the quiet work God does in us before something decisive unfolds.

This season invites us to slow down and see more clearly. To step back from familiar assumptions and allow Scripture to speak in its own voice: shaped by its language, its culture, and its understanding of how God forms His people before He redeems them.

(From Israel Bible Center Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg)