The Feast Of Unleavened Bread
By NeorahYah Germaine Yisra'el
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or as some prefer, the Feast of Matstsah, is often overshadowed by the Pesach. There is an influence that often has the two feasts lumped together into one observance, labeling the entire eight day observance as the Pesach. This should not be done. They are in fact, two different Appointed Times, representing two different aspects of Yahushua's mission on earth.
The Pesach is a memorial of Yahuah's judgement of the gods of Egypt by, killing the firstborn of man and cattle, seeing the mark of the covenant, and 'passing over' the houses of His Chosen Ones. The Pesach points to Yahushua, HaMashiach in his first coming, as our sacrificial lamb, who atones for us via the shedding of his blood.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates our hasty departure from the land of Egypt, the very next day. In the scripture, Egypt is symbolic of idolatry, lawlessness, and sin. Leaven is always equated with sin, as found in:
'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.' ~Galatians 5:9~
For more information on Egypt's idolatry and on which gods of Egypt, and why Yahuah specifically delivered judgement, see The Judgement Of Egypt.
Sin came into the world with the fall of Adam and Eve. Since then, no matter how hard we try, no matter how perfectly we strive to live our lives, we are never free of sin. Sin has a way of popping-up unexpectedly, sometimes with simply a wayward thought. We are truly born into sin:
'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of Yah.' ~ Romans 3:23 ~
This is why the Yisraelites were instructed to place the Mark of the Covenant on the their doors, and remove the chamets from all of their houses. The mark was done as a requirement for the 'passing over;' while the removal of the chamets represented their quick departure from Egypt, and the purging of sin
See The Pesach And The Tav for more information on this.
Here is the Torah concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat matstsah,
until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening. seven days shall there be no chamets
found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is with chamets, even that soul shall
be cut off from the assembly of Yisra'el, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
You shall eat nothing with chamets; in all your habitations shall you eat
matstsah.' ~ Exodus 12: 18-20 ~
As you can see, Yahuah did not expect that after more than 400 years in Egypt, His people would necessarily remember the teachings of their ancestors; and if they did, it would most likely have been corrupted. So He re-educated Yisra'el through the mouth of Mosheh and Aharon. He iterated the rules, which were:
1. Remove all leaven/chamets from out of the houses. No leaven to be eaten for eight days. ~Exodus 12:15~
2. Begin the feast on the 15th Day of the Monthly Count of Abib. ~ Leviticus 23:6 ~
3. In the 1st Day of the feast is a Shabbat. ~Exodus 12:16 ~
4. The 7th day of the feast is ended at sundown, followed by the Shabbat. ~Exodus 12:16 ~
5. No work is to be on the 1st Day Shabbat, or the 7th day Shabbat except what you may cook. This was the
only thing to be done. ~ Exodus 12:16 ~ You could cook and work on days 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the feast (pay attention to the punctuation).
6. Remove all leaven from your houses; and eat no leaven for 7 days (a re-iteration). ~ Exodus 12:15-18 ~
7. Duration of Rules: In the 1st Month, on the 14th Day, until the one and 20th Day. ~ Exodus 12:18 ~
8. No leaven/chamets with burnt or grain offerings. ~ Exodus 34:25, Leviticus 2:11, 6:17, and 23:18 ~
*Side Note 1:
For confirmation; #'s 2, 3, 4, and 7 are scriptural witnesses of Yahuah's simultaneous Weekly and Monthly Counts.
It is easy to go astray when 'Counting The Days' of this feast. What we need to remember is:
1. According to Yahuah, Day follows Night, not the other way around.
'And the evening and the morning were the first day.' ~Genesis 1:5~
2. The numbering of the days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are according to a MONTHLY count, not a Weekly Count. Pay attention to
~Exodus 12:18~
3. We must take into account, the Wave Sheaf Offering.
The Pesach occurs in the evening of Abib 14. Although the Set-Apart time of the day is sunrise to sunset; the Shabbat begins when the day begins;
at evening. That brings us to the Wave Sheaf Offering. According to Torah, there was a specific time when the Wave Sheaf was to be brought:
'...When you are come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of
your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahuah, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Shabbat the
priest shall wave it.' ~Leviticus 23:10-11~
The Shabbat began simultaneously with the Pesach and ended the following evening of Abib 15. The Wave Sheaf - which also included the FirstFruits offering - was brought before Yahuah when the Shabbat ended. This was a commandment by Yahuah for a specific reason. They could not eat of the old grain Yahuah provided for them when they came into the Promised Land, until they had performed the Wave Sheaf. Once that was done, the Yisraelites were free to take advantage of the Promised Land grain to bake bread for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began that evening ~Leviticus 23:14~
That brings us to the Monthly Count. When you begin your count in the evening of Abib 15, and count forward 7 days; the feast ends on the 21st Day of the Monthly Count, followed immediately by the beginning of the Shabbat that evening, as Yahuah commanded.
A Monthly Count of 7 Days for the feast, plus 1 Day for the Pesach; for a total of 8 days. This is not a Weekly Count of FOUB #1, FOUB#2, FOUB#3, and so on for 7 days. Done that way the feast would have to begin in the day - which would cancel both the Shabbat on the 15th Day and Leviticus 23:10-11.
If you begin it in the evening but do a Weekly Count, then you overlap the Shabbat on the 22nd Day and cancel-out Exodus 12:18.
Counting the Days by the Monthly Count is unquestionably the correct way to calculate the timing of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in conjunction with the Wave Sheaf Offering.
Below is the new calendar for the Month Abib, 2021. The corresponding Gregorian date is February 28th, 2021. The days of the Monthly Count are in WHITE.
Note:
The Dark Moon is scheduled to appear on the 14th & 15th Days of the Monthly Count; the same as it did during the Exodus from Egypt, thousands of years ago. It was 'dark and gloomy' on those nights, because this lunar phase sets with ( or shortly after), the setting sun. It has 0% illumination and the night sky is darkened because the moon is not present in it. And so, Yahuah graciously provided a Pillar Of Fire for His people, in order to light the way, as He led them out of Egypt. The heavenly circumstances are exactly the same on March 13 &14, 2021, Gregorian; which is the 14th & 15th Days of the biblical events in Exodus 12: 1-42. Neither Yahuah nor the Moon, changes.
.
Depending on your bible, the words Chamets or Seor/S'or may be used for leavening.
This is Strong's Concordance definition:
Chamets (H2557): Leavened bread. Made from one of five grains native to Yisra'el, e.g. wheat, barley,
spelt/emmer, rye, and oats. It involved grinding the grain into flour, fermenting it with a leavening agent e.g.
yeast or vinegar, along with water, and allowing the dough to 'rise.' After risen, the dough was kneaded, rolled
or patted into shapes, and baked in an oven. All of this obviously took some time; leading to matstsah later
being called 'The bread of Haste.'
Seor/S'or (H7603): Anything that causes bread to become leavened. e.g. yeast, vinegar, baking powder or baking soda.
As previously mentioned, leaven represents transgression of the Law, and unrighteousness. Just as a leavening agent will cause dough to swell and rise; sin can also cause one to become 'puffed-up' and prideful. As a result of original sin we have all become separated from Yahuah; unable to be in true fellowship with him; essentially locked out of the kingdom. For this reason we are instructed to seek out, and purge sin whenever possible, whether it be within ourselves, or in others.
'Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are matstsah. For even HaMashiach our Pesach is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the matstsah of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ~
Sha'ul was verifying that we too are called to be unleavened, even as HaMashiach the Pesach Lamb, was/is unleavened.
Yahushua entered the world as a physical being. He experienced our bodily lives first-hand; being tempted by
HaShatan as we are: yet he was Set-Apart; without guile, or sin. As such only he is qualified to be our sacrificial lamb.
Only he can be our High Priest; interceding on our behalf before Yahuah, Tseva'ot.
'For we have not a High priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was on all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'
To be sure, only Yahushua, HaMashiach is worthy to open the Book Of Life, and judge each person righteously:
'And I saw a strong malak proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the cepher, and to loose the
seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the cepher, neither
to look thereon.' ~Revelation 5:2-4 ~
'And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the cepher, and to open the seals thereof: for you were
slain, and have redeemed us to Yahuah by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And have made us unto our Yah kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth.' ~ Revelation 5:9-10 ~
'And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many malakiym round about the throne and the living creatures and the
elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and Honour, and
Glory, and Power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.'
~ Revelation 5:11-12 ~
In The Pesach And The Tav, we see that Yahushua came into the world to offer himself as a Sin Offering. Bringing the
Sin Offering as a sacrifice before Yahuah was a duty fulfilled only by the High Priest of Yisra'el. This is covered in
The Five Offerings, and specifically ~ Leviticus 6:24-30 ~
Yahushua obediently offered himself for our transgressions:
'For what the Torah could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Yahuah sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.'
As a result, we are expected to imitate his walk and become perfect in the Torah by the Ruach HaQodesh; as Yahuah
stated to our father Avraham in Genesis 17:1:
'...I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be perfect.'
To be 'unleavened' for eight days (which includes the Pesach), during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is the physical aspect of the Law. It should remind us that HaMashiach, who was sin-free, took upon himself the grains of our leaven; and offered up a free-will grain offering, for the remission of our sins. By doing so, he has made provision for us to become members of his spiritual kingdom. He has called all of those who do the will of the Father, and keep His commandments, his brothers.
~ Mark 3:35 ~
He has also called us his friends, stating:
'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if את eth you do
whatsoever I command you.' ~ John 15:13 ~
Yahushua, HaMashiach is the unblemished, unleavened Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. He invites us as
brothers and sisters, to become friends with him in the worship and glorification of Yahuah, our Father.
Truly, he is 'a friend that sticks closer than a brother.'
Shalom, and Yah Bless!
~NeorahYah Germaine Yisra'el~
Go to: The First Fruits Offering and The Wave Sheaf
1. Remove all leaven/chamets from out of the houses. No leaven to be eaten for eight days. ~Exodus 12:15~
2. Begin the feast on the 15th Day of the Monthly Count of Abib. ~ Leviticus 23:6 ~
3. In the 1st Day of the feast is a Shabbat. ~Exodus 12:16 ~
4. The 7th day of the feast is ended at sundown, followed by the Shabbat. ~Exodus 12:16 ~
5. No work is to be on the 1st Day Shabbat, or the 7th day Shabbat except what you may cook. This was the
only thing to be done. ~ Exodus 12:16 ~ You could cook and work on days 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the feast (pay attention to the punctuation).
6. Remove all leaven from your houses; and eat no leaven for 7 days (a re-iteration). ~ Exodus 12:15-18 ~
7. Duration of Rules: In the 1st Month, on the 14th Day, until the one and 20th Day. ~ Exodus 12:18 ~
8. No leaven/chamets with burnt or grain offerings. ~ Exodus 34:25, Leviticus 2:11, 6:17, and 23:18 ~
*Side Note 1:
For confirmation; #'s 2, 3, 4, and 7 are scriptural witnesses of Yahuah's simultaneous Weekly and Monthly Counts.
It is easy to go astray when 'Counting The Days' of this feast. What we need to remember is:
1. According to Yahuah, Day follows Night, not the other way around.
'And the evening and the morning were the first day.' ~Genesis 1:5~
2. The numbering of the days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are according to a MONTHLY count, not a Weekly Count. Pay attention to
~Exodus 12:18~
3. We must take into account, the Wave Sheaf Offering.
The Pesach occurs in the evening of Abib 14. Although the Set-Apart time of the day is sunrise to sunset; the Shabbat begins when the day begins;
at evening. That brings us to the Wave Sheaf Offering. According to Torah, there was a specific time when the Wave Sheaf was to be brought:
'...When you are come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of
your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahuah, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Shabbat the
priest shall wave it.' ~Leviticus 23:10-11~
The Shabbat began simultaneously with the Pesach and ended the following evening of Abib 15. The Wave Sheaf - which also included the FirstFruits offering - was brought before Yahuah when the Shabbat ended. This was a commandment by Yahuah for a specific reason. They could not eat of the old grain Yahuah provided for them when they came into the Promised Land, until they had performed the Wave Sheaf. Once that was done, the Yisraelites were free to take advantage of the Promised Land grain to bake bread for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began that evening ~Leviticus 23:14~
That brings us to the Monthly Count. When you begin your count in the evening of Abib 15, and count forward 7 days; the feast ends on the 21st Day of the Monthly Count, followed immediately by the beginning of the Shabbat that evening, as Yahuah commanded.
A Monthly Count of 7 Days for the feast, plus 1 Day for the Pesach; for a total of 8 days. This is not a Weekly Count of FOUB #1, FOUB#2, FOUB#3, and so on for 7 days. Done that way the feast would have to begin in the day - which would cancel both the Shabbat on the 15th Day and Leviticus 23:10-11.
If you begin it in the evening but do a Weekly Count, then you overlap the Shabbat on the 22nd Day and cancel-out Exodus 12:18.
Counting the Days by the Monthly Count is unquestionably the correct way to calculate the timing of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in conjunction with the Wave Sheaf Offering.
Below is the new calendar for the Month Abib, 2021. The corresponding Gregorian date is February 28th, 2021. The days of the Monthly Count are in WHITE.
Note:
The Dark Moon is scheduled to appear on the 14th & 15th Days of the Monthly Count; the same as it did during the Exodus from Egypt, thousands of years ago. It was 'dark and gloomy' on those nights, because this lunar phase sets with ( or shortly after), the setting sun. It has 0% illumination and the night sky is darkened because the moon is not present in it. And so, Yahuah graciously provided a Pillar Of Fire for His people, in order to light the way, as He led them out of Egypt. The heavenly circumstances are exactly the same on March 13 &14, 2021, Gregorian; which is the 14th & 15th Days of the biblical events in Exodus 12: 1-42. Neither Yahuah nor the Moon, changes.
.
Depending on your bible, the words Chamets or Seor/S'or may be used for leavening.
This is Strong's Concordance definition:
Chamets (H2557): Leavened bread. Made from one of five grains native to Yisra'el, e.g. wheat, barley,
spelt/emmer, rye, and oats. It involved grinding the grain into flour, fermenting it with a leavening agent e.g.
yeast or vinegar, along with water, and allowing the dough to 'rise.' After risen, the dough was kneaded, rolled
or patted into shapes, and baked in an oven. All of this obviously took some time; leading to matstsah later
being called 'The bread of Haste.'
Seor/S'or (H7603): Anything that causes bread to become leavened. e.g. yeast, vinegar, baking powder or baking soda.
As previously mentioned, leaven represents transgression of the Law, and unrighteousness. Just as a leavening agent will cause dough to swell and rise; sin can also cause one to become 'puffed-up' and prideful. As a result of original sin we have all become separated from Yahuah; unable to be in true fellowship with him; essentially locked out of the kingdom. For this reason we are instructed to seek out, and purge sin whenever possible, whether it be within ourselves, or in others.
'Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are matstsah. For even HaMashiach our Pesach is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the matstsah of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ~
Sha'ul was verifying that we too are called to be unleavened, even as HaMashiach the Pesach Lamb, was/is unleavened.
Yahushua entered the world as a physical being. He experienced our bodily lives first-hand; being tempted by
HaShatan as we are: yet he was Set-Apart; without guile, or sin. As such only he is qualified to be our sacrificial lamb.
Only he can be our High Priest; interceding on our behalf before Yahuah, Tseva'ot.
'For we have not a High priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was on all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'
To be sure, only Yahushua, HaMashiach is worthy to open the Book Of Life, and judge each person righteously:
'And I saw a strong malak proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the cepher, and to loose the
seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the cepher, neither
to look thereon.' ~Revelation 5:2-4 ~
'And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the cepher, and to open the seals thereof: for you were
slain, and have redeemed us to Yahuah by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And have made us unto our Yah kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth.' ~ Revelation 5:9-10 ~
'And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many malakiym round about the throne and the living creatures and the
elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and Honour, and
Glory, and Power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.'
~ Revelation 5:11-12 ~
In The Pesach And The Tav, we see that Yahushua came into the world to offer himself as a Sin Offering. Bringing the
Sin Offering as a sacrifice before Yahuah was a duty fulfilled only by the High Priest of Yisra'el. This is covered in
The Five Offerings, and specifically ~ Leviticus 6:24-30 ~
Yahushua obediently offered himself for our transgressions:
'For what the Torah could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Yahuah sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.'
As a result, we are expected to imitate his walk and become perfect in the Torah by the Ruach HaQodesh; as Yahuah
stated to our father Avraham in Genesis 17:1:
'...I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be perfect.'
To be 'unleavened' for eight days (which includes the Pesach), during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is the physical aspect of the Law. It should remind us that HaMashiach, who was sin-free, took upon himself the grains of our leaven; and offered up a free-will grain offering, for the remission of our sins. By doing so, he has made provision for us to become members of his spiritual kingdom. He has called all of those who do the will of the Father, and keep His commandments, his brothers.
~ Mark 3:35 ~
He has also called us his friends, stating:
'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if את eth you do
whatsoever I command you.' ~ John 15:13 ~
Yahushua, HaMashiach is the unblemished, unleavened Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. He invites us as
brothers and sisters, to become friends with him in the worship and glorification of Yahuah, our Father.
Truly, he is 'a friend that sticks closer than a brother.'
Shalom, and Yah Bless!
~NeorahYah Germaine Yisra'el~
Go to: The First Fruits Offering and The Wave Sheaf
