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Subject: 7 Festivals Book: The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 15:30:49 -0800
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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Book: 7 Festivals of the Messiah
From the Book
The Seven Festivals of the Messiah
CHAPTER 4
The Festival of Unleavened Bread
(Hag HaMatzah)
by
Eddie Chumney
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) is the fifteenth
day of the month of Nisan, which is the day following Passover (Pesach). It is a seven-day
festival to the L-rd (Leviticus [Vayikra] 23:6-7; Exodus [Shemot]
12:7-8,14-17). On the fifteenth of Nisan and for the next seven days,
G-d forbade the people to have any leavened bread in their houses.
The festival of Unleavened Bread can be found in Exodus (Shemot)
12:14-17, as it is written:
Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate
it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a
permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on
the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever
eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that
person shall be cut off from Israel. And on the first day you shall
have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no
work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every
person, that alone may be prepared by you. You shall also observe the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts
out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day
throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance (Exodus [Shemot]
12:14-17 NAS).
The Book of Exodus (Shemot), chapter 12, describes the Egyptian
Passover. After the lamb was killed, the blood was to be put on the doorposts. The lamb
was to
be roasted in fire and eaten with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter
herbs (Exodus [Shemot] 12:7-8).
Purging Leaven From the House (Bedikat HaMetz)
G-d gave a ceremony of searching and removing leaven from the
house prior to the festival of Unleavened Bread in preparation for the festival. In
Hebrew, this
ceremony is called Bedikat HaMetz, which means "the search for leaven"
The ceremony is as follows:
The preparation for searching and removing the leaven (Bedikat
HaMetz) from the house actually begins before Passover (Pesach). First, the wife
thoroughly
cleans the house to remove all leaven (HaMetz) from it. In the Bible,
leaven (HaMetz) is symbolic of sin.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Spiritually, the believers in
the Messiah Yeshua are the house of G-d (Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:15;
Ephesians
2:19). Leaven (sin) is to be cleaned out of our house, which is our
body (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:15-18).
In cleaning the house, the wife is instructed to purposely leave
ten small pieces of leaven (bread) in the house. Then the father takes the children, along
with a
candle, a wooden spoon, a feather, and a piece of linen cloth, and
searches through the house for the ten pieces of leaven. By nightfall
on the day before Passover (Pesach), a final and comprehensive search
is performed. At this time, the house is completely dark except for
the candles. Once the father finds the leaven (bread), he sets the
candle down by the leaven and lays the wooden spoon beside the leaven.
Then he uses the feather to sweep the leaven onto the spoon. Without
touching the leaven, he takes the feather, spoon, and leaven, wraps
them in a linen cloth, and casts them out of the door of the house.
The next morning (the fourteenth of Nisan), he goes into the synagogue
and puts the linen cloth and its contents into a fire to be burned.
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Spiritually, we are to cleanse
the leaven (sin) from our houses (lives) by allowing the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) to
reveal
to us, through the knowledge of Yeshua and the Scriptures, the sin
that is in our lives. It is only through G-d's Word that we are able
to identify sin in our lives as it is written in Psalm (Tehillim)
119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
So the spiritual understanding of the candle is that it represents the
Word of G-d. The feather represents the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh).
Even though we have the Word of G-d, we need the Spirit of G-d (Ruach
HaKodesh) to illuminate the entire Bible to us, including the Torah
and the Tanach (1 Corinthians 2:11-14).
Messianic Fulfillment. The spoon represents the tree that Yeshua
died upon (Deuteronomy [Devarim 21:22-23). The leaven (HaMetz) (sin) was swept
on the spoon (the tree) as part of the ceremony. Likewise, our sin was
swept or cast upon Yeshua (2 Corinthians 5:21) when Yeshua died upon
the tree. The leaven (Yeshua upon the tree) was then wrapped in linen
and Yeshua was cast out of His house (His body) and went to hell,
which is a place of burning (Luke 16:19-24). Thus He fulfilled the
part of the ceremony where the father takes the linen cloth and its
contents and casts it into the fire to be burned.
The Fifteenth of Nisan -- Purging Out of Sin
The fifteenth of Nisan (Hag HaMatzah) marks the beginning of a
seven-day feast period when Israel was to eat bread without leaven (sin) in remembrance of
their baking Unleavened bread in their haste to escape Egypt. The
primary theme of this feast is the purging out of leaven (sin).
Historically, there are two notable events that happened on this day.
1.The Exodus journey beginning from Egypt (Exodus [Shemot] 12:41).
In Deuteronomy (Devarim) 16:3, the bread is referred to as "the bread of
affliction."
2.The burial of Yeshua after His crucifixion, who is the Bread of
Life (John [Yochanan] 6:35). In fact, the place of Yeshua's birth,
Bethlehem, comes from two Hebrew words, beit and lechem. Be it
means "house" and lechem means "bread." So, Bethlehem means house
of bread. Therefore, Yeshua, who is the Bread of G-d, was born at
a place called the house of bread.
The festivals are fixed appointments (mo'ed) of G-d specifying
what He will perform and the exact time He will perform it. The Jews had to hurry to put
Yeshua's
body in the ground because the sabbath was drawing near. This sabbath
was a high sabbath and the first day of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15).
This can be found in (John [Yochanan] 19:31). This would mean that
Yeshua died on the fourteenth of Nisan, the day of Passover. Yeshua
was in the sepulcher the day following His crucifixion, which was the
fifteenth of Nisan, the first day of Unleavened Bread.
The Messianic Understanding of the Matzah
in the Passover Seder
One of the 15 steps during the Passover Seder is a step called
Yachatz. Yachatz is when the middle of the three matzot is broken into two. During the
Passover
Seder, there is a bag called the matzatosh which contains three pieces
of matzot. The middle piece of matzot is removed, broken, wrapped in
linen, and buried. This piece of matzah is the afikomen. During this
part of the service, the afikomen was removed from sight (this
represented Yeshua being buried) and it remained hidden until later in
the service. Yeshua is the bread that was buried because He is the
Bread of Life who came down from Heaven (John [Yochanan] 6:35). Yeshua
was removed from between the two thieves who were crucified with Him
(Matthew [Mattityahu] 27:38), wrapped in linen, and buried in the
earth (Matthew 27:59-60).
Toward the end of the Passover Seder, the twelfth step to the
service is called Tzafun. During Tzafun, the afikomen that was previously buried is
redeemed and
ransomed. At this point in the service, the matzah, previously
characterized as the bread of affliction, is now transformed and
redeemed. This is a perfect picture of Yeshua, who fulfilled the role
of the suffering Messiah known as Messiah ben Yosef. He suffered
affliction while dying on the tree, but was later redeemed when He was
resurrected by G-d the Father. In the Passover Seder service, the
afikomen is redeemed by the children. The children who find the buried
afikomen receives a gift. This gift is known as "the promise of the
father". Likewise, when G-d resurrected Yeshua after He was buried in
the earth, those who believed upon Him by faith (emunah) are given
gifts by G-d. When Yeshua ascended to Heaven, He gave gifts to men
(Ephesians 4:7-8). These gifts included righteousness (Romans
5:17-18), eternal life (Romans 6:23), grace (Romans 5:12,14-15), faith
(Ephesians 2:8-9), and other spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1,4).
Some other gifts include wisdom, knowledge, healing, the working of
miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, tongues, and
interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-11), in addition to the
gifts of helps and administration (l Corinthians 12:28).
The Feast of Unleavened Bread in the Bible
1.The Feast of Unleavened Bread was so much a part of Passover
(Pesach) that the names of Passover and Unleavened Bread were used interchangeably
or almost synonymously (Luke 22:1).
2.The feast was to be kept seven days (Exodus [Shemot] 12:15-19).
The number seven is the biblical number for completion or
fullness. The believer who keeps this feast is to keep it
fully unto the L-rd and set himself aside completely to Him.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of complete separation
from all things that are leavened (sinful) and feeding upon
Yeshua, who is the believer's bread (John [Yochanan] 6:32-36,38).
3.The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) is a high sabbath
day. A high sabbath in Hebrew is called a shabbaton. During Passover, there
is an extra sabbath besides the weekly sabbath. These sabbaths
are called high sabbaths. The high sabbath of Unleavened Bread
can be seen in John 19:31.
4.Unleavened bread is used for consecration and separation. It is
also anointed with oil. The believers in the Messiah Yeshua are to be consecrated and
separated to do the work G-d has called us to do and to live a
life that is holy to Him. If we do this, the anointing of the
Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) of G-d will rest upon our lives.
a) The bread represents consecration (Leviticus [Vayikra]
8:1-2,26-27;Exodus [Shemot] 29:2-23).
b) It was included in the sacred vow of separation of the
Nazarites (Numbers [Bamidbar] 6:1-21).
c) It was the food for the priests in the meal and peace
offering (Leviticus [Vayikra] 2:1,4,14-16; 6:14-18; 7:11-12).
d) It marked Israel's divine separation from Egypt's (the
world's) life of slavery and bondage (Exodus [Shemot] 12:17,30-34).
e) All leaven was to be put away (Exodus [Shemot]
12:15,19-20). When leaven or yeast is placed in an
unleavened batch of dough, the leaven puffs up the dough.
Likewise, when we allow sin into our lives, it will puff us
up in pride and arrogance.
In the Bible, G-d referred to the leaven of different groups of
people. These are listed as follows:
1.The leaven of Herod (Mark 8:14-15; 6:14-18; Matthew [Mattityahu]
2:7-12).
2.The leaven of the Pharisees (Mark 8:15; Matthew [Mattityahu]
16:5-12; 23:1-3; Luke 11:37-44; 12:1.
3.The leaven of the Sadducees (Matthew [Mattityahu] 16:6-12). The
Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural. They denied the existence of the
Spirit of G-d, angels, and the resurrection (Mark 12:18; Acts 23:6-8).
4.The leaven at Corinth. The leaven at Corinth was sensuality,
chiefly fornication (1 Corinthians 4:17-21; 5:1-13;
6:1,9-11,13,16-18; 8:1; 13:4; 2 Corinthians 12:20-21).
How to Keep the Feast
Spiritual Application (Halacha). Spiritually, the feast is kept
in sincerity and truth. Sincerity involves purity and serving G-d with a pure heart. It
involves putting away the sin in our lives, and separating ourselves
from all evil that has a corrupting influence in the life of the
believer in Yeshua. Historically, Israel learned that keeping the
feast meant a complete separation from Egypt's religion, bondage,
food, and slavery, as well as its worldly glory, wisdom, and splendor.
The children of Israel took the dough before it was leavened
because they could not tarry in Egypt. There was no time to let the leaven get in and work
up the
dough (Exodus [Shemot] 12:34,39). As believers, we are to flee the
world's ways and philosophies that are contrary to the Word of G-d.
Sincerity (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) involves purity and sanctification,
which means holiness and separation. The Bible uses water and washing
to instruct us concerning sanctification and separation (Joshua
[Yehoshua] 24:14; Ephesians 5:26; 6:24; Philippians 1:10; 1 Peter
[Kefa] 2:2). To sanctify means to make holy, to purify, or to
consecrate. The believers are sanctified by obeying the entire Word of
G-d, including the Torah and the Tanach (John 17:17,19; Acts 20:32; 2
Chronicles 30:15; 35:1,6; Exodus [Shemot] 19:10,14; 28:39-41;
Leviticus [Vayikra] 8:30; 11:44; 20:7; Hebrews 10:10,14; 1 Corinthians
1:2).
In First Corinthians 6:11, sanctification is connected to
washing (Acts 22:16). Historically, after Israel celebrated the Passover, they were
immersed (washed) in
the water of the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Likewise, after we
accept the Messiah into our lives, we must immerse ourselves in
studying the Bible and, by so doing, enable the knowledge of the Word
of G-d to transform and change our lives.
***********************************************************************
>From Eddie:
**************
Over the past several years, I have come across many
people who are studying the Festivals in their Sunday school class or
fellowship group. Many times, it is nice for each member to have
their own copy of the Festivals book when studying the subject. In
order to encourage the study of the Festivals and allow each member
of a study group to have their own copies of my Festivals book, I
offer a very nice discount for an order of 5 or more copies of the
book. In the past week, I sent some Festival books to a study group
in the Netherlands for a very nice discount from the standard retail
price. If anyone in the newsgroup is interested in obtaining a copy
of my Festivals book for your fellowship group, please contact me.
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l