Unleavened bread feast
The feast of unleavened bread
Chag haMatzah
The unleavened bread feast happens on the 15th of Nisan the day after the passover lamb is killed.
Other names for the feast of unleavened bread are:
1. Pesach – Hebrew words peh and sach means; the mouth speaks
2. Passover
3. Chag hamatzah or the feast of matzah
Unleavened bread feast is a reminder of our slavery to sin and the freedom from it.
Deut. 16:3
“You shall not eat leavened bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of Egypt in haste. As long as you live, you shall remember the day you came out of Egypt”.
The unleavened bread feast: A picture of a cleansing of God’s house, for his presence to dwell!
To summarize my thoughts about the Feast of Unleavened Bread right here, my impression is that what God wants to communicate to us is:
A temple cleansing, (our temples) a covenant and liberation from slavery. We have been saved by the Passover lamb, and a new life has started, new habits, new lifestyle, new thoughts from God who wants us to be led by his Holy Spirit, so that we can live the life God truly has for us.
Jesus has taken our sin, (the lust and wisdom of the flesh), which is the bread of suffering upon himself and freed us from the slavery of the flesh.
Appetitively speaking, we go after what looks good in our own eyes, or feels good, the flesh is controlled by desires, and is just the opposite of what God has for us. He wants us to be controlled by the Spirit, but that is where the conflict occurs, because the Spirit and the flesh are 2 different things and directions for our lives.
In the garden of eden, what looked good and seemed good, Adam and Eve ate of, but with Gods wisdom you will know that not everything that looks good is good for you!
What the Jews had looked at for so many years and celebrated was a visual aid picture that pointed them to Jesus, and prepared them to be able to receive what would come in the flesh and be the reality of the feast. We look at a shadow of what has become a reality in Jesus.
While the Jews removed the physical leavened bread from their houses, Jesus removed the spiritual leavened bread, our sin, from our houses.
Chametz = Leaven and Chamesh = 15
The meaning of leaven and number 15
The 15th of Nisan In all haste, God with a mighty outstretched arm brought Israel out of Egypt, but even after 40 years Egypt had not come out of the hearts of Israel.
Let´s look at the meaning of leaven and 15 since the unleavened bread feast is on the 15th.
Chametz = Leaven and Chamesh = 15
Hebrew meaning of Chametz from Strongs: 2556 – 2557 – 2558
To be sour, leaven, bitter, malicious, oppress, rising, fermented or figuratively harsh, stained, evil, to be sad, vinegar, wine vinegar
Hebrew meaning of Chamesh esre – 15 from Strongs: 2567 and 2568 and 2570 and 2571
To be organized for war, a fifth, divided into 5, the belly, belly, armed, brace.
Notice 15 in the Hebrew root letters also means belly.
The 15th of Nisan = Jesus is in the grave, Jesus was in the belly of the fish, also called Sheol by Jonah.
Jesus said; Like Jonah, He would be in the belly of the fish, for 3 days and 3 nights. He was in Sheol = death. Where he overcame the power of death!
There is a connection with what is to happen to God’s people, something is changing in our bellies, our temple, there are certain images connected with desires and appetite, with old nature and new life / temple and purification in this article.
It is not easy to eat spiritual food if you are used to junk food, the body will crave what it is used to.
Paul describes it for us in Galatians; You should live in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh oppose the Spirit and the Spirit opposes the flesh, and the two are in conflict with each other. But you who are led by the Spirit are not under the law. Gal. 5:16-18
Meaning of Leaven and unleavened
Leaven – Chametz = Sin, bad influence, false teaching, pride, deceit, and other manifestations of sin.
Leaven – Chametz = Representing the person who diverts people from their responsibilities and listens to the influence of foreign ideas, enticing people to sin.
Matzah / Unleavened Bread = Purity before God, Separation from the sin and death of this world.
Matzah / Unleavened Bread = A person who can control and has control over his passionate desires, a disciplined will that is not influenced by external forces.
The eating of unleavened bread became a time of spiritual preparation.
This feast symbolizes renewal and purification.
Our character is formed, out with the old way of thinking, let us be transformed by the cleansing of God’s word.
The feast is a reminder that God calls us out of Egypt, as a people set apart for Him.
What happened on Nisan 15?
What to observe on unleavened bread feast
Lev 23:4-6
These are the feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month, just before dusk, is the Passover to the Lord. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
The 15th of Nisan/Abib is the name of the month in the book of Exodus and is pronounced aviv, but was later changed to the name Nisan, which we use in this text.
D. 14 Nisan is the day the Passover lamb is slaughtered, let’s say about 3:00 P.M., but when we get to about at 6:00 PM, it becomes dark and a new day begins, which is the biblical way, a new day begins.
This feast was the first of the 3 pilgrimage feastivals, a time when all men were to present themselves in Jerusalem, but not empty-handed, because it is written; “Empty-handed no one shall see the face of the Lord.”
Deut. 16:16
God promised that no enemies would invade Israel during the pilgrimage, it was a time when they were to focus on the Lord. Ex. 34:24
4 things to be observed
1. On the first day, all yeast was removed from the home Ex. 12:15
2. For 7 days eat unleavened bread Lev. 23:6 and Ex. 12:15
3. This feast was a Holy Feast assembly, Shabbat Gadol (an extra Sabbath in addition to the weekly Sabbath) no work on the first and 7th day = 15th of Nisan and 21 of Nisan, except for cooking. Exodus 12:16
4. This feast was proclaimed as a perpetual reminder to be kept. Exodus 12:17
The 15th of Nisan, on this day and before;
1. The 15th of Nisan, is the day God’s people left Egypt.
2. The 15th of Nisan, in the first month of the biblical calendar, is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord for 7 days from the 15th to the 21st of Nisan
3. The 15th of Nisan, the night that the Israelites walked very rich out of Egypt.
4.When the Passover meal was to be eaten, one started eating unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12:8. So already at the 14th of nisan on the evening it was said to eat unleavened bread. Ex 12:18
5. Before the 15th, all leaven (Chametz) must be removed from the house.
6. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is number 2 of God’s 7 feasts and it is only because of the Passover Lamb that this feast can be celebrated, we are now freed by the blood of the lamb.
7. Eating of leavened bread during the 7 appointed days, meant being cut off from Israel. Ex. 12:15
8. This feast is a pilgrimage feast, at the temple. Jesus was as a 12-year-old participating in it. Luke 2:41-48
9. John 11:55 a feast time, where one washed oneself ritually in a Mikvah to be ceremonially clean. 4 Mos. 19:19
10. When the Israelites were in a hurry to leave Egypt, they carried their bread on their shoulders. Exodus 12:34
11. Eating of Leaven is only forbidden for the feast of Passover but also unleavened bread was for food dedicated to the Lord through fire.
Repeated Matzah / Unleavened Bread Feast Patterns in the Bible:
Design patterns in the Bible
A pattern I repeatedly see is; That it usually has to do with the establishment of God’s house and the cleansing thereof.
1. Lot’s family baked matzah for the 2 angels who came to Sodom and Gomorrah, they ate it, just before a cleansing was to take place in Sodom and Gomorrah. Gen. 19:3
2. Joshua and his people ate Matzah on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, before they took over Jericho. Joshua 5:11
3. Gideon gives unleavened bread as an offering to the Lord before he goes to war. Judges 6:19
4. Hezekiah also cleanses the temple, and holds the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 2 Chron. 30:13
5. Darius rebuilds the house of God, the priests and Levites were cleansed. On the 14th day, they kept the Passover and then celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Ezek. 6:22
6. Herod who could not keep Peter in prison, because God saved him, with the help of an angel, was at the feast of unleavened bread, Acts 12:3
7. Just before Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread Jesus cleanses the place and says; Destroy this temple and in 3 days I will build it again. The temple he was talking about was his body. Make not my father’s house a merchandise. John 2:13-19
Matzah is also mentioned in the Bible as;
1. Part of the consecration for the priests (Lev. 6:16-17 and 8:26-27)
2. Part of a Nazirite vow (Num. 6:17-19)
3. Food for the angels (Gen. 18:6-8 and 19:3 and Judges 6:19-21)
4. Part of the temple offerings, very often mixed with oil (Lev. 28 and many others.
5. Is a picture of Jesus, his body, in the communion (Luke 22:19 and the body of his followers 1 Cor. 5:7)
What does it mean?
On the 15th of Nisan they went out of Egypt in all haste, their dough was not yet baked Ex. 12:17-39 but in Deut. 16:3 the phrase is repeated; they went out in all haste, but here the unleavened bread is called the bread of affliction.
The unleavened bread is also to remind us of the afflictions in Egypt. God says to remember it every year at the same time, and when we come to a land flowing with milk and honey.
Another image used in the Bible is; that the leavening that occurs in a loaf of bread is also a picture of the peoples sin.
They had to stay unleavened for 7 days, and in this way they experienced a purification.
The number 7 and purification are so often connected. It is mentioned so many times that one had to wait 7 days before being ritually cleansed.
There is a completion happening with the significant number 7
Leavened bread must not be used for grain offerings = Unleavened bread is also a picture of a sacrifice without spot or blemish. Lev. 2:11
No grain offering was to be offered with leaven to the Lord, for no leaven or honey may go up in smoke as an offering made by fire to the Lord. Lev. 2.11
Even with the exception of a peace offering Lev. 7:13 and the bread during Pentecost Lev. 23:17 where it is leavened bread that is used.
But at Passover it means; a separation between the old life of slavery in Egypt and the new life we have been given.
The feast of unleavened bread emphasizes removing pride, evil, sin from the individual home, where God lives.
A house or tent in the Bible is a picture for both a person, as well as a family or the entire body of Christ.
Matzah is a flat bread that is baked quickly, in a hurry. A symbolism that it slips away in a hurry before the yeast can affect it, – the yeast as an image of negative forces and entices people to sin.
Leavened bread is an image of our old life in Egypt and for us today a life without God.
Matzah, the food of faith. There was no time to wait for the dough to rise, so they ate matzah, unleavened bread, with this food they trusted Almighty God, His provision and salvation.
Jesus and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
True power lies in serving others.
John 4:34 My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do.
Jesus overcomes the desires of the flesh in the tests he encounters, he knew no sin, and had no sin in him.
In John 6 it is just before Easter and he offers them the bread of life in John 7 it is just before the feast of tabernacles and he offers them living water. WOW!
The people think in the natural, but Jesus offers the spiritual.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread, He is the provision of life.
Jesus says that He is the bread of life and the bread of God John 6:33-35
The manna they received in the wilderness and to which it pointed has now come.
Just as God provided for his people in the wilderness, so is his Son for every believer, the bread of God from heaven.
Jesus cleanses the religious leaders in the temple and among his own.
Day 2
Jesus curses a fig tree, and in doing so he exposes the corruption of the temple system.
The people are in shock, God is not pleased with Israel’s most respected leaders, and the fig tree is a symbol / sign of this.
Mark 11: 15-26
Jesus cleansed his father’s house in these days when he confronted the religious leaders, right in the middle of the temple square, just as Jeremiah had done, in the exact same place and exposed their sin. He overturned the tables and said; That his father’s house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. At this moment he cleansed his father’s house, by finding the leaven that was hiding in his father’s house.
Isa 56:7 – Matt 21:13 – Jer 7:11
From the 10th to the 14th the religious leaders searched like mad to find some leaven in Jesus, even Caiaphas, Annas, Perodes, and Pilate could not find anything to put him on trial for. There was no sin / leaven in Jesus!
Jesus then reveals among his own disciples, the sinful nature of Judas, another picture of a cleansing and leaven that was found. Leaven affects the rest of the dough.
The leaders of Israel challenge Jesus with their doctrines and traditions.
They hope to publicly show Jesus as a cheat and criminal liar who disrupts their form of control.
But Jesus keeps telling the truth and instead exposes their sin.
They are funny enough mad at God for not being holy enough according to their laws.
They were looking for a king who could make it prestigious for their office and reputation,
They looked for something they thought they needed, but Jesus is the architect, he showed them what they needed, and it looked completely different from what they had imagined.
True power lies in serving others.
Luke 20:1-8
Jesus predicts; that one day, a Roman army will come, which will destroy Jerusalem, He also predicts his own death, but assures that it is not the end.
The night before he died, he broke the unleavened bread and said; This is my body.
Jesus chose the matzah bread for Passover and not the fluffy soft bread that we can see in the davinci picture, no he ate the matzah and took the matzah to tell about himself, he chose that this bread should be a memory of his body. Luke 22:19
Jesus is the reality of the unleavened bread, in Him there was no sin, no leaven and His body would bear our suffering.
It was when the people of Emmaus saw Jesus break the matzah bread, bless it, and break it, that their eyes were opened.
Jesus said to them; this is what I meant, while I was still with you, and told you that everything written about me in the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their eyes so that they could see him through the Old Testament. Here it says that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and in his name by repentance. Luke. 24:44-45
With Jesus’ burial, the feast of unleavened bread is also fulfilled, He was laid in the tomb on the feast of unleavened bread, because like a grain, it must go into the ground and die, in order to rise and bear fruit for many, so Jesus is a picture of the grain / bread that became food for us.
Jesus the unleavened bread of God from heaven was buried with our leavened bread of sin at the same time the Jews celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, the day when all leaven was gone from the homes.
Our old nature has been buried, let us live in his new life for us.
The Matzah and in the Lamb.
Since the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jews have not been able to bring a sacrifice to the temple as they used to. No temple, no altar, no Passover lamb. And yet the lamb was the central part of the very first Passover in Egypt.
But the central part is eating matzah, for every Passover today, whether it is a Jew or a follower of the Messiah.
Isaiah 53:5 gives the matzah a strong expression for what is figuratively described about the bread of suffering.
Matzah is:
Wounded / Pierced – He was Wounded for our transgressions
Stripes – By His stripes we are healed
Broken, figuratively crush destroy, humble – crushed for our iniquities
Burnt – God’s wrath struck him.
Let us walk in the new life
What is your identity?
What food do you eat spiritually?
What are we filling ourselves with?
The Israelites complained about their food, it shows us that what they were filled with was still such a big part of them that they had difficulty eating the spiritual food, they had to first have a new food = new identity.
Egypt presents the world system we live through, its philosophies, which are contrary to the word of God.
Physically, the house is cleaned, as part of preparing for the matzah feast, but it is the cleansing of the inner temple of the holy spirit that is most important.
There are many things that can contaminate, or in yeast language, a little yeast quickly spreads to the whole dough, what do we listen to, be role models, what do we follow, watch on TV, which people influence us, it is all this plus many other things that quickly spread ideas and transform us. It is always healthy to take a check on these things. Ask God for advice, His Holy Spirit will guide you.
Paul describes it: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened. For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
In Eph 4:22 Paul writes about putting off the old and in Gal 5:19-21 what our old and new natures are.
This feast is a feast of sanctification, a separation from this world, one’s old nature and being transformed to become more like Jesus.
Jesus’ sinless body, was to separate us from the sin of this world.
When we become free from ourselves, made small, it is a way to leave our personal Egypt.
It was with the complaint and distrust that the Israelites continued to wander in the desert. Jesus shows that for 40 days he passed the test for us.
Egypt is like a prison that keeps us captive from God’s purpose for our lives.
Before we cross over to the other side of the water, we leave behind the bad and sinful identity in Egypt, after which we start a life led by God. We are now washed clean.
The 3 spring feasts are separation from
Darkness to light
Slavery to freedom
Death to life
Separation to be united to God again.
As Jesus said, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34, 36.
We are a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in.
Sin must die and be buried so that we can rise to new life.
