The Feast of Unleavened Bread

This is a 7 day feast that starts on the evening of the Passover, this will be sunset on Nissan 15 of the Jewish Hebrew calendar and finishes at sunset on the 21st Nissan. It is a symbolic reminder of when the Jews were ordered out of Egypt at the start of the Exodus. It symbolises the haste and speed that they left Egypt after the 10th plague, the death of the First Born. However there is a lot more to the meaning than just "I didnt have time to make normal bread" especially from a Messianic, Christian point of view.

But before we go further we need to go back to the start and see what God had to say to get this Feast into being.

King James Bible : Exodus 12: 1-6 (The Feast of Passover)
1: And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2: This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3: Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

King James Bible : Exodus 12: 15-20 (The Feast of Unleavened Bread)
15: Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16: And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
17: And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
19: Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
20: Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

So we have God telling Moses about the Passover and the Unleavened Bread Feasts notice in verse 2 that God tells Moses that this month will be the beginning of months, the first month in the year. So we can say that we are near the first few days of the month, certainly before the 10 when they are to select the Lamb. So with that bit of info now read the 39th verse:

39: And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.

My thoughts here are that you cant bake the unleavened bread before hand in case it is mixed or touches any leaven you may still have, and this is so serious that if during the 7 days of the feast you do eat leaven, then you are no longer part of God's family, you are cut off. So serious that even today Jews will go through their house sweeping, hoovering, washing and scrubbing every surface for a week before the Passover feast and then go through sweeping the surfaces with a feather the night before the Unleavened Bread feast, this is not left to chance, yes that serious.

Yes this applies to you, the Gentile as well, read verse 19 above again. The Gentile is the stranger, the outsider who aligns himself with the people and God of Israel.

The New Testament sheds more light onto this and explains the Messianic, Christian side of the feast.

King James Bible : 1 Corinthians 5: 6 - 8
6: Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Leaven puffs up the bread, which the Apostle Paul likens to sin and pride.

King James Bible : 1 Corinthians 4: 18: Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
King James Bible : 1 Corinthians 8: 1: Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

Jesus himself spoke about the symbol of leaven
Matthew 16 : 6 :- Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mark 8 : 15 :- And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
Luke 12 : 1 :- In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

As you can see leaven can symbolise sin and unleavened symbolises, pure, humble and simple. But wait we can show even more symbolisation in the bread.

The unleavened bread has lines scored across it and holes pierced through it to help keep it laying flat. This reminds us of Jesus as he was striped with the lash and pierced as he gave his own life on the cross as the ultimate Passover sacrifice.

A tradition during todays Passover has another symbolic meaning. The tradition is to keep three matzot in a cover, break the middle matzo in two, and hide a piece of it. The children are encouraged to search for the hidden piece, which when found and returned to the table is redeemed for a sweet treat. This can speak to us of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – with the β€œSon” being taken out, broken, hidden away for awhile, and bringing redemption – the sweet reward for finding the Son and returning Him to His rightful place being our salvation.

Unleavened bread this is the bread Jesus took at the last supper. King James Bible : Mark 14: 22: And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

As this feast starts, Jesus is in the tomb but see this, leaven e.g. yeast they work by fermentation through the natural process of decay, which is why leavened bread rises. Now watch this one, because of Adam and Eve and their fall in the garden of Eden we have the curse introduced the curse of death and decay. Now if they had not sinned we would not have leavened bread because there would be no way to cause the decay. As Jesus is in the grave he is acting as unleavened bread, his body does not decay it cannot, He was the perfect Lamb without spot or blemish, all our sin infermaties and diseases was placed on Him not in Him, so He is not tainted, His death on the cross killed the power of death. By putting every curse onto Jesus that had been placed onto Adam and Eve and their descendants He took them down to hell and buried them there, and more importantly leaving them there when He arose. Want some verses to back this up, OK, hang onto your hats.

Gen. 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Heb. 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
1 Cor. 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1 Cor. 5:8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God
John 6:29: Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Just a couple of final thoughts here,
John the Baptist called Him "The Lamb of God" John 1:29: The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus called Himself "The Bread of Life" John 6:51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Apostle Paul called Him "The First Fruits" 1 Corinthians 15:20: But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

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  • Ingredients:
  • 2 cups + 2 TBSP flour
  • 1 cup cold water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Instructions to make:
  • Combine the salt and flour together in a large bowl. Stir in the water until the dough comes together. Knead for 5 minutes.
  • Pre-heat skillet over medium-low heat.
  • Pinch off 7 pieces of dough and form into balls. Roll out each piece on a lightly floured surface (approx 6-7-inch ovals).
  • Cook on a hot skillet for 2 minutes on each side. Serve or store covered.

I feel I have to give a warning here about those who say that we must obey and celebrate these feasts.
King James Bible : Romans 14:
5: One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
We are clearly told here by the Apostle Paul that if you want to remember and celebrate a day unto the Lord, then do it, but if you do not wish to keep the celebration then dont. We are not allowed to judge anyone for doing it one way or the other. My thoughts here are why do you wish to hold onto the shadow picture of Jesus when you have the real Jesus living with you and in you.