Chag HaMatzot /Week of Unleavened
Bread and its deeper meaning
Also gets spoken of as the Pesach week
A Basic Overview and prophetic implication
Chag HaMatzot or the Feast of
Unleavened Bread is the second annual festival event on YHVH’s Spiritual calendar
occurring on the fifteenth day of the month of the Aviv until the 21st day
of Aviv. The 14th of Aviv is the day that the
Pesach preparations are done as also the day on which the Pesach (the lamb
that was offered) was slaughtered “between the evenings” (3pm in our time). The
Pesach Seder (the Memorial/Remembrance order of service with the elements to
help us to remember) then takes place at the end of the 14th of
Aviv going over into the 15th of Aviv which is also the start
of the First day of Unleavened Bread. Because both events are
back-to-back the Jews often refer to Passover and Unleavened Bread simply as “Pesach/Passover Week” or
some similar term that places the main emphasis on the Passover event. Even in
Scriptures are there instances where Pesach for instance is called a Festival
of seven days (Ezek 45: 21) and other places the First day of
Unleavened bread is called the Pesach
like in Luk 22:1 “And the Festival of Unleavened Bread drew
near, which is called Passover (Pesach in Hebrew and Pascha in Greek” etc.
but it must be noted that though connected very closely, these two festivals
are both very important. Pesach/Passover pictured the slaying
of the first-born and the salvation that came to the Yisraelites through the
blood of the lamb, their deliverance from the bondage of Mitsrayim/ Egypt. When we are having our
Pesach Seders (the Memorial order of ‘service’) there is also the spiritual
implication of Yahshua as Lamb of Elohim. When the Temple was still standing,
the Hebrews had to go up to Yerushalayim for Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. For
all the Festivals there were offerings made at the Temple and for Pesach on the
afternoon of the 14th of Aviv, ‘between the evenings’ the pesach
(offering lamb) was slaughtered and offered. Each head of a family had to bring
their lamb to be slaughtered as an offering, then take it to their place for
the lamb to be roasted and then eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread
that evening when the 15th of Aviv starts, as part of the Pesach Memorial Seder
(see the notes on Pesach). It was these lambs that were slaughtered as a pesach
while the Temple still stood, that had to be eaten fully by the next morning
and what remained had to be burnt the next morning. Since the Temple is not
standing, the pesachs cannot be offered and that is why we will just prepare
the meat and side dishes for the main meal, and a Seder Plate. The Seder Plate
has on it a roasted shank bone which is symbolic of the pesach lambs that were
slaughtered and roasted as also the bitter herbs and Matzot (unleavened bread)
that are part of telling the story of the deliverance out of Mitsrayim/Egypt.
Other elements were also added to make the telling of the story more
interesting as an object lesson. To sum it up: now that the Temple in
Yerushalayim is not standing, we still have Pesach Memorial services in the
form of a Pesach Seder and a special meal to celebrate for which we prepare
during the day time of the 14th of Aviv and then when the 15th
of Aviv starts, we get together for the Pesach Seder (the Pesach Memorial order
of service). This evening that the Seders take place is the evening of the
start of the 15th of Aviv which is the First day of the Week of
Unleavened Bread. From this sunset of the 15th of Aviv until the
next sunset when the 16th of Aviv is going to start, is the Festival
Shabbat of the First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot in
Hebrew). Because of the fact that there is not a Temple now, some don’t eat
lamb at all with their Seders but rather chicken and just have the roasted lamb
shank bone on the Seder Plate as a remembrance of the pesach (the lambs that
were offered around the Ninth hour (3pm our time) with bitter herbs and
unleavened bread and the other symbolic elements, whereas others do eat lamb’s
meat in some form with their Seders and also have the roasted shank bone on the
Seder Plate to remember the lambs that were slaughtered and offered at the
Temple. Some families slaughter a lamb for their family and roast it as an
object lesson to eat with their Pesach Seder in which case the roasted shank
bone should still be on the Seder Plate to symbolise the pesach (the lamb
slaughtered by the Temple which again also symbolizes Yahshua Mashiach who
became the Pesach of Elohim; the Lamb who was offered for our deliverance from
bondages.
The Week of
Unleavened Bread’s purpose on one level is to commemorate the rushed
exodus of the Yisraelites from Mitsrayim/Egypt, fleeing to freedom
with its spiritual implications of the leaven that has to be put out of our
“houses” incorporated into this truth. The first and seventh days
of this week-long event are “days of rest” (‘Festival Sabbaths/Shabbats’ – no
servile work – only the making of food allowed: Exo 12:16 ‘And on the first day
is a set-apart gathering, and on the seventh day you have a set-apart
gathering. No work at all is done on them, only that which is eaten by every
being, that alone is prepared by you’) and we see YHVH also commanded his
people to hold a “set-apart” convocation/meeting on these days (the first and
the seventh).
What, you may ask, is
the purpose of putting leavening out of one’s home and eating unleavened
bread products such as the
matza in the Motzot boxes that
one can purchase from a supermarket or that you bake yourself for
one week? Once again, YHVH was/is teaching his people an object lesson, for
this was the next step in his plan of redemption, which will make perfect sense
once explained. Yisrael had just left Mitsrayim/Egypt and we know
that Mitsrayim/Egypt represents the world and the bondages of Satan. It may be
easy to “get out of Egypt,” but now begins the arduous process of “getting
Egypt out” of the life of the new Believer. The old sin habits die hard and lie
waiting to be exposed and cast out from the recesses of one’s mind, will and
emotions—one’s spiritual houses. This is not an easy process, not unlike
ridding our physical homes of leavening products, such as bread crumbs, which find
their way into the nooks and crannies of our homes. In Scripture, leavening
usually represents sin, pride, hypocrisy and false doctrine.
The ‘Feast of
Unleavened Bread’ (‘Chag haMatzot’) lasts seven days. Seven in YHVH’s spiritual
economy represents completion or perfection. YHVH has given man 7000 years on
this earth to get rid of sin completely and totally
in preparation for admission into his eternal kingdom as revealed in
Revelation 21 and 22. For 6000 years YHVH has left man to his own sinful
devices. The seventh thousand-year time period, called the Messianic Age or
Millennium, will be different than the previous 6000 years, for Yahshua will be
physically ruling over the earth with a rod of iron as King of kings and Master
of masters, haSatan will be bound in the pit for this time period and all flesh
on earth will be taught the Torah-truth of YHVH Elohim without the evil
influences of the devil and the world as we know it today. During the Messianic
Age the earth will be at peace and rest, men will learn to love YHVH with all
their heart, mind and strength and their neighbour as themselves. This time of
peaceful rest is the seventh thousand-year time period of man’s tenure on this
earth, which corresponds to the seventh day of the week—the Sabbath (Shabbat is
the Hebrew word). It will be a Shabbat on this earth for 1000 years. The Days
of Unleavened Bread picture this, for the first day is a Day of rest
representing the first Day of rest/Shabbat when YHVH rested after creating a
perfect, paradisiacal and sin-free world. The last day or seventh day of the
Unleavened Bread festival is also a Shabbat, a day of rest which corresponds
prophetically to the Messianic Age/the Millennium—when a far more sin-free
(leaven-free) paradise on the earth will be in the process of being finally
restored.
On an individual
level, when one makes the exodus from one’s spiritual Mitrayim/Egypt
at the time of one’s acknowledging that one needs the Lamb of Elohim as
Mediator between man and YHVH, then one enters into the spiritual “rest” of
Yahshua (Heb. 4:1-11). One takes on the yoke of Yahshua, which is light and
easy (Matt. 11:28-30- it is believed that this yoke speaks of the Torah of
YHVH), and experiences the “joy of YHVH” (Neh. 8:10; Yoch/John 16:24; Rom.
5:11) and the peace or shalom of YHVH that surpasses all understanding (Phil.
4:7). This corresponds to the First day or the Festival Shabbat of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (first of seven days). Then comes the next five days (the next
five days until the end of the sixth day) of walking through the wilderness of
life eating the bread of affliction (Debarim/Deut. 16:3). Despite our
salvation from Mitsrayim/Egypt and the receipt of joy and peace
each must struggle to enter the Seventh day with the ultimate peace/shalom or
rest of the Promised Land (this last or Seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread is a festival Shabbat again – No work at all is done on them, only that
which is eaten by every being, that alone is prepared by you (Shemot/Ex 12:16))
Shaul/Paul talks about working out one’s own salvation (Phil. 2:12) and the
struggles to defeat the carnal man (Rom. 7), to walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit and to enter into the Spirit of life in Yahshua Messiah (Rom.
8:1-2). Yahshua talked about the persecution and tribulation that Believers
would have to endure to enter the ultimate rest of his kingdom (Matt. 5:10-12).
Paul said that all who live righteously will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12),
and that the metal of our lives must be tested and purified by the fire of
trial (1 Cor. 3:12-13). Yakov/James says that we are to count it
all joy when we are tried or proven (Yakov/James. 1:12). Will the fires of
persecution separate us from the love of Yahshua, Paul asks the Romans (Rom.
8:35)? Will we forget our first love as the Ephesians did (Rev. 2:4) and lose
faith and long for the delicacies of Mitsrayim/Egypt as the Yisraelites did
falling into doubt and unbelief and perishing in the wilderness (Heb. 3:8-19)?
Or will we persevere and overcome the world as the Author and Finisher of our
faith, Yahshua, did (John 16:33) to enter into the Promised Land, bring down
the walls of Yericho/Jericho, and to possess rewards of the Kingdom of Elohim
(Matt. 5:10, 12; 1 Yoch/John 5:4; Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7)? We are to
resist sin (leavening) in our lives even to the point of paying the ultimate
price, if necessary, as did Yahshua (Heb. 12:1-4) as well as many of the
prophets (Heb. 11).
This is the walk of
the wilderness, but we press on in faith for the hope that is set before us
(Heb. 6:18), the hope of eternal rest in the Promised Land of the Kingdom of
Elohim. This is what the last festival Shabbat or seventh day of the Days of
Unleavened Bread represents. Seven is the number of perfection or completion.
For six days we work—work out our salvation (Phil. 2:12). Yes, we are saved at
the time of our conversion and have passed from death and condemnation to
everlasting life (John 5:24), but salvation and being set-apart from the world,
flesh and the devil for service to YHVH (the old word that we used was
“sanctification”) are also a lifelong process which will culminate in
the transforming of our mortal bodies into esteemed, immortal
and spiritual bodies at the resurrection. At this point in time we will have
arrived at the completion or perfection of our hope the number seven epitomizes
in Scripture.
The same implication
as above can be derived from the history in Yehoshua/Joshua 5
and 6. In Yehoshua/Joshua 5:10 we see that at the threshold to the
Promised Land, the Yisraelites kept Pesach/Passover again after they kept it
only once (in the second year) since the first time when they left
Mitsrayim/Egypt during the 40 years in the Wilderness. After this Pesach in
Yehoshua 5, they were commanded to march around Yericho/Jericho for
seven days. On the final day the walls of Yericho collapsed. Is it possible
that they marched during the seven days of Unleavened Bread and the final day
of the feast is when Yericho was destroyed? If this is the case, does this
prophetically picture when YHVH’s people on the verge of inheriting the
Millennial kingdom will see the collapse of Babylon the Great, the one enemy of
Yisrael and obstacle from its possessing its spiritual/Millennial domain and
inheritance?
The initial instruction in Shemot/Ex 12
For the whole Pesach week (Pesach
memorial and the 7days of Unleavened bread) we are commanded to eat unleavened
bread and to not consume any product with leaven in it and also to remove the
leaven from our homes
Exo 12:16 ‘And on
the first day is a set-apart gathering, and on the seventh
day you have a set-apart gathering. No work at all is done on them,
only that which is eaten by every being, that alone is prepared by you.
Exo 12:17 ‘And you
shall guard the Festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I brought your
divisions out of the land of Mitsrayim. And you shall guard this day throughout your generations, an everlasting law.
Exo 12:18 ‘In the
first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the
evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the
twenty-first day of the month in the evening.
Exo 12:19 ‘For
seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses, for if anyone eats
what is leavened, that same being shall be cut off from the
congregation of Yisra’ĕl, whether sojourner or native of the land.
Exo 12:20 ‘Do not
eat that which is leavened – in all your dwellings you are to
eat unleavened bread.’ "
during the course of
the seven days if we look at verse 15 and verse 20. Most probably because by
doing that we are aware, all the time of the fact that leaven in our lives must
“go” and to remind us of this truth all the time. We can of course it Matzos
(unleavened bread) as we can buy it nowadays (see example of one brand of
Matzos in picture on the left), or we can bake our own unleavened
bread. You can Google unleavened bread recipes. In verse 20 we
see that we should not eat which is leavened; so that means that we can eat
other things normally too, but just not ANYTHING with leaven in it.
Apart from the
initial Torah instructions in Shemot/Ex 12, YHVH also tells
His people that they must explain to their sons why they eat unleavened bread
for seven days:
Exo 13:6 “Seven
days you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a festival to יהוה.
Exo 13:7
“Unleavened bread is to be eaten the seven days, and whatever is leavened is
not to be seen with you, and leaven is not to be seen with you within all your
border.
Exo 13:8 “And
you shall inform your son in that day,
saying, ‘It is because of what יהוה did for me when I came up from
Mitsrayim.’
Exo 13:9 “And
it shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes,
that the Torah of יהוה is to be in your mouth, for with a strong hand יהוה has brought you out of Mitsrayim.
Shemot/Exodus 13:6-9 shows us that the Feast
of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzot) is a sign and memorial to the
Yisraelites, for on the first Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the
Yisraelites left Mitsrayim/Egypt by YHVH’s strong hand. Once again
on another more physical level what then does day seven, which is another
Festival Shabbat, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread signify? If the first day is
a memorial looking back to the momentous event when the Yisraelites
victoriously fled the bondage and slavery of Mitsrayim/Egypt, could
day seven represent when the same victorious Yisraelites would finally enter
the Promised Land after defeating those who would prevent them from doing so?
So, eating unleavened
bread is on the one hand a memorial, remembrance or reminder (Exod. 13:6-9) of
our coming out of our spiritual Mitsrayim/Egypt, for the
Yisraelites left Mitsrayim early in the morning (somewhere after the midnight
hours) as they were making their morning bread and because they left in haste
the bread was not able to rise (Shemot/Exod. 12:34). Therefore, they
were forced, by circumstances, to leave their leavening or sin behind in Egypt,
so to speak. On the other hand eating unleavened bread and food is also for
Believers a reminder that we have left our old sinful ways behind us in
'Mitsrayim' as we press onward to the Promised Land or Eternal Kingdom of YHVH
Elohim.
References to the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the Apostolic
Scriptures/Second Writings
See Matthew 26:17;
Mark 14:12; Luke 22:1; and Acts 12:3; 20:6. In 1 Corinthians 5:8 Paul urges
Believers to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread and how they should apply it.
Compiled by I Crowther for Beit El Messianic Congregation