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HaMatzah - Feast of Unleavened Bread
pdf
chaggim template
*Updated:
April 11, 2006
“ADONAI said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘The
designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are
my designated times.” (Leviticus 23:1, 2)
חַג הַמַּצֹּות Chag HaMatzot – Feast of Unleavened Bread
“On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of
matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah.” (Leviticus 23:6)
The
festival known as HaMatzah follows immediately after Pesach. The
fourteenth of the Jewish month Nisan is Pesach; the fifteenth is
HaMatzah. As the Torah so clearly instructed the offspring of Avraham,
all bread eaten during this observance was to be matzah. So what is
matzah? Matzah is the name of the bread eaten by our ancestors as they
hastened to leave Egypt during the Passover deliverance. This bread is
known by its familiar flat shape, owing to the fact that no time was allowed to
let it rise like ordinary bread (read Sh’mot 12:34). Borrowing a few
notes from my Pesach commentary I explain:
The
Encyclopedia Judaica explains that biblical yeast was not altogether different
than the yeast of today. After all, yeast is a natural product, not something
that modern science has created. Yeast consists of any of a group of minute,
one-celled ascomycetous fungi, which produce alcoholic fermentation in
saccharine fluids. As such, they grow very quickly in a liquid containing
sugar. This speaks of HaShem's design not the scientology of synthetics. An
informative article on leavening agents can be viewed at this link: http://homecooking.about.com/food/homecooking/library/weekly/aa072197.htm?iam=mt&terms=%2Bleaven. The passages in question speak to one of the 5
grains that could possibly “leaven” in the presence of water and time: wheat,
barley, oats, rye, and spelt."
The
mitzvah primarily has to do with the baked goods. But the mitzvah does say to
remove all leaven from your houses (Ex. 12:19-20). In Deut. 16:3, 4 there
are two Hebrew words used to describe “biblical leaven”: chametz #em'x=dough from one of the 5 grains that has been allowed
to “ferment” and create yeast, from which bread may be baked, and s’or r{a.f=the standalone ingredient usually defined as
“yeast.” I believe that a sincere approach includes removing anything
which will defile the conscience, which for biblical purists might only include
the “grain” products, but for the ultra sensitive might also include the
standalone product we now know as yeast."
Those
who know their way around the kitchen understand that it is the yeast in the
bread dough that causes it to rise; this was the missing ingredient in our
ancestor’s matzah; it is the very ingredient commanded to be left out during
this feast to this very day. Take time to read the additional passage in
Sh’mot 12:14-20 and find out the biblical application of this ingredient.
Why
leaven? Leaven is a word picture representing sin. From the day
that the people left Egypt they were on a divine intercept course with the Holy
One, which would eventually culminate in the glorious giving of his Teaching
(Torah) at Mount Sinai. The former events (Passover and Unleavened bread)
signified the putting off of the sin that separated them from fellowshipping
with their soon to be husband; the latter event (the giving of the Torah)
signified the new Spirit-led relationship which the people would learn to walk
in. It is timely therefore, that the second step in putting off of sin
should occur AFTER deliverance (Passover), but BEFORE the spiritual wedding
ceremony (Pentecost). Let’s apply these principles to our everyday lives.
While
it is true that when a person comes to accept Yeshua the Messiah, HaShem
accepts them as they are (i.e., with sin included), it is equally true that
once the deliverance from sin takes place (i.e., our salvation), we should
naturally begin the continuing process of “searching for and removing the
leaven of sin” from our lives. This leads to a genuine understanding of
the subsequent indwelling and filling of the Ruach HaKodesh (the marriage)
which should accompany our newborn freedom in Messiah. Why would the
expulsion of sin produce this spiritual effect? Because the Torah teaches
us in 1 Corinthians chapter 5,
“Get rid of the old hametz
[leaven], so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are
unleavened bread. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed.
So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of
wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.” (vv. 7-8)
Here
we learn that hametz (leaven) was interpreted by Sha’ul as a type of sin
also. The leaven of sin, like its culinary counterpart, has the capacity
to work its way into the complete dough of our lives, expanding and rising,
until the whole “loaf” is permeated with sin. This is why, with the guidance of
the Ruach within us, we need to remove all of the leaven from ourselves.
Will this result in a sinless life? No. Yet, our efforts will
surely be rewarded in the form of a renewed and strengthened walk with our
LORD. In other words, as long as we have these earthen vessels, our
desire should be to flee from sin, until we finally reach that blessed time
when our LORD Yeshua will return in Power and Glory to cleanse us
completely! Sin has a way of growing and growing until it results in a
damaged relationship with our Heavenly Abba. In his mercy and undeserved
grace, he lovingly guides and allows us to perform our own “spring cleaning”
before it is too late for us to turn back from the destructive road that sin
leads down. In other words, his gentle leading and divine foresight saves
us from ourselves. “Baruch HaShem!”
The
wonderful reality that is ours is that the above-mentioned passage directly
associates us with “unleavened bread.” This is our new identity in Yeshua
HaMashiach! This is our true identity! His sacrifice redeemed us
from the slavery of the sin of “spiritual Egypt,” and changed our very
constitution! We are actually a completely new batch of dough! Sha’ul
is therefore instructing us to start living as if this reality has been
internalized already—for indeed it should be by now! His further
instructions in this passage act as an explicit teaching for the Messianic
Community of the first century not to neglect the divine invitation to observe
the Passover, complete with HaMatzah. After all, is not the verse saying,
“So let us celebrate the Seder….”? These instructions can be applied to
the Body of believers today, without falling into the trappings of legalism and
the like. I hope that each believer reading this article will at some
time in his or her spiritual walk desire to attend a Passover Seder. I
encourage each one of you to expand your understanding of these biblical feast
days.
Finally,
with the feast of HaMatzah comes the understanding that only the Messiah Yeshua
is the sinless Lamb of God. In my opening statement to the commentary on
Pesach I stated that Yeshua literally fulfilled each of the first four feasts
of Leviticus chapter 23. How did he fulfill HaMatzah?
Aside
from celebrating this feast with his Torah-observant family year after year,
his body—the True Bread from heaven, was without leaven in any sense of the
word. His sinless life represents the heavenly matzah offered on HaShem’s
Passover plate. During our earthly Seders, we partake of the middle piece
of matzah, also known by its Greek name “afikomen.” It is this middle
piece that is hidden and redeemed during the ceremony. Messianics
understand this symbolism to represent Yeshua’s “unleavened body” being placed
in the grave (hidden) for three days and nights, only to be redeemed (rise
again) by his resurrection power from on high. We believers so aptly
capture this reality in our various “communion” services. Let us
celebrate the festival of HaMatzah with joy!
Personal
examination. Take time to conduct a spiritual inspection of your walk
with HaShem. Allow this Spirit-led introspection to reveal where the
leaven is hidden. You just may be surprised to find out where the leaven
in your life is hanging out! I know that I always am. In order to
make this time period more effective, we need to use the most effective tool
for this particular job!
The
Torah.
Our
sin nature makes us prone to disobedience. The Torah of HaShem serves to
remind us of how short we fall, when we try to measure up to God's
righteousness. While it is true that no one alive could have ever kept
all of the commandments of God, it is also true that HaShem never expected
anyone to be able to! The Torah doesn’t demand perfection, else, there
would be no need of the bulk of instructions outlined in the book of Leviticus,
concerning sacrifices for sin. Moreover, if we could ever achieve a state
of total "sinlessness,” we would have no need of a Savior.
What the Torah
expects from its followers is genuine trusting faithfulness to the giver of the
Torah, who is the Holy One of Isra'el! Today, that implies placing one's
complete trust in his Only, Unique Son Yeshua, the True Unleavened Bread!
“Chag HaMatzah Sah-meach!”
(Happy Festival of Unleavened bread)
For
further study, read: Ex. 19:10, 14; 28:39-41; Lev. 8:30; 11:44; 20:7; Josh.
24:14; 2 Chron. 30:15; 35:1, 6; John 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:2;
5:7-8; 6:11; 10:1-2; Eph. 5:26; 6:24; Phil. 1:10; Heb. 10:10, 14; 1 Pet. 2:2
Torah Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy [email protected]
View all episodes
By Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy
5
11 ratings
pdf
chaggim template
*Updated:
April 11, 2006
“ADONAI said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘The
designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are
my designated times.” (Leviticus 23:1, 2)
חַג הַמַּצֹּות Chag HaMatzot – Feast of Unleavened Bread
“On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of
matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah.” (Leviticus 23:6)
The
festival known as HaMatzah follows immediately after Pesach. The
fourteenth of the Jewish month Nisan is Pesach; the fifteenth is
HaMatzah. As the Torah so clearly instructed the offspring of Avraham,
all bread eaten during this observance was to be matzah. So what is
matzah? Matzah is the name of the bread eaten by our ancestors as they
hastened to leave Egypt during the Passover deliverance. This bread is
known by its familiar flat shape, owing to the fact that no time was allowed to
let it rise like ordinary bread (read Sh’mot 12:34). Borrowing a few
notes from my Pesach commentary I explain:
The
Encyclopedia Judaica explains that biblical yeast was not altogether different
than the yeast of today. After all, yeast is a natural product, not something
that modern science has created. Yeast consists of any of a group of minute,
one-celled ascomycetous fungi, which produce alcoholic fermentation in
saccharine fluids. As such, they grow very quickly in a liquid containing
sugar. This speaks of HaShem's design not the scientology of synthetics. An
informative article on leavening agents can be viewed at this link: http://homecooking.about.com/food/homecooking/library/weekly/aa072197.htm?iam=mt&terms=%2Bleaven. The passages in question speak to one of the 5
grains that could possibly “leaven” in the presence of water and time: wheat,
barley, oats, rye, and spelt."
The
mitzvah primarily has to do with the baked goods. But the mitzvah does say to
remove all leaven from your houses (Ex. 12:19-20). In Deut. 16:3, 4 there
are two Hebrew words used to describe “biblical leaven”: chametz #em'x=dough from one of the 5 grains that has been allowed
to “ferment” and create yeast, from which bread may be baked, and s’or r{a.f=the standalone ingredient usually defined as
“yeast.” I believe that a sincere approach includes removing anything
which will defile the conscience, which for biblical purists might only include
the “grain” products, but for the ultra sensitive might also include the
standalone product we now know as yeast."
Those
who know their way around the kitchen understand that it is the yeast in the
bread dough that causes it to rise; this was the missing ingredient in our
ancestor’s matzah; it is the very ingredient commanded to be left out during
this feast to this very day. Take time to read the additional passage in
Sh’mot 12:14-20 and find out the biblical application of this ingredient.
Why
leaven? Leaven is a word picture representing sin. From the day
that the people left Egypt they were on a divine intercept course with the Holy
One, which would eventually culminate in the glorious giving of his Teaching
(Torah) at Mount Sinai. The former events (Passover and Unleavened bread)
signified the putting off of the sin that separated them from fellowshipping
with their soon to be husband; the latter event (the giving of the Torah)
signified the new Spirit-led relationship which the people would learn to walk
in. It is timely therefore, that the second step in putting off of sin
should occur AFTER deliverance (Passover), but BEFORE the spiritual wedding
ceremony (Pentecost). Let’s apply these principles to our everyday lives.
While
it is true that when a person comes to accept Yeshua the Messiah, HaShem
accepts them as they are (i.e., with sin included), it is equally true that
once the deliverance from sin takes place (i.e., our salvation), we should
naturally begin the continuing process of “searching for and removing the
leaven of sin” from our lives. This leads to a genuine understanding of
the subsequent indwelling and filling of the Ruach HaKodesh (the marriage)
which should accompany our newborn freedom in Messiah. Why would the
expulsion of sin produce this spiritual effect? Because the Torah teaches
us in 1 Corinthians chapter 5,
“Get rid of the old hametz
[leaven], so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are
unleavened bread. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed.
So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of
wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.” (vv. 7-8)
Here
we learn that hametz (leaven) was interpreted by Sha’ul as a type of sin
also. The leaven of sin, like its culinary counterpart, has the capacity
to work its way into the complete dough of our lives, expanding and rising,
until the whole “loaf” is permeated with sin. This is why, with the guidance of
the Ruach within us, we need to remove all of the leaven from ourselves.
Will this result in a sinless life? No. Yet, our efforts will
surely be rewarded in the form of a renewed and strengthened walk with our
LORD. In other words, as long as we have these earthen vessels, our
desire should be to flee from sin, until we finally reach that blessed time
when our LORD Yeshua will return in Power and Glory to cleanse us
completely! Sin has a way of growing and growing until it results in a
damaged relationship with our Heavenly Abba. In his mercy and undeserved
grace, he lovingly guides and allows us to perform our own “spring cleaning”
before it is too late for us to turn back from the destructive road that sin
leads down. In other words, his gentle leading and divine foresight saves
us from ourselves. “Baruch HaShem!”
The
wonderful reality that is ours is that the above-mentioned passage directly
associates us with “unleavened bread.” This is our new identity in Yeshua
HaMashiach! This is our true identity! His sacrifice redeemed us
from the slavery of the sin of “spiritual Egypt,” and changed our very
constitution! We are actually a completely new batch of dough! Sha’ul
is therefore instructing us to start living as if this reality has been
internalized already—for indeed it should be by now! His further
instructions in this passage act as an explicit teaching for the Messianic
Community of the first century not to neglect the divine invitation to observe
the Passover, complete with HaMatzah. After all, is not the verse saying,
“So let us celebrate the Seder….”? These instructions can be applied to
the Body of believers today, without falling into the trappings of legalism and
the like. I hope that each believer reading this article will at some
time in his or her spiritual walk desire to attend a Passover Seder. I
encourage each one of you to expand your understanding of these biblical feast
days.
Finally,
with the feast of HaMatzah comes the understanding that only the Messiah Yeshua
is the sinless Lamb of God. In my opening statement to the commentary on
Pesach I stated that Yeshua literally fulfilled each of the first four feasts
of Leviticus chapter 23. How did he fulfill HaMatzah?
Aside
from celebrating this feast with his Torah-observant family year after year,
his body—the True Bread from heaven, was without leaven in any sense of the
word. His sinless life represents the heavenly matzah offered on HaShem’s
Passover plate. During our earthly Seders, we partake of the middle piece
of matzah, also known by its Greek name “afikomen.” It is this middle
piece that is hidden and redeemed during the ceremony. Messianics
understand this symbolism to represent Yeshua’s “unleavened body” being placed
in the grave (hidden) for three days and nights, only to be redeemed (rise
again) by his resurrection power from on high. We believers so aptly
capture this reality in our various “communion” services. Let us
celebrate the festival of HaMatzah with joy!
Personal
examination. Take time to conduct a spiritual inspection of your walk
with HaShem. Allow this Spirit-led introspection to reveal where the
leaven is hidden. You just may be surprised to find out where the leaven
in your life is hanging out! I know that I always am. In order to
make this time period more effective, we need to use the most effective tool
for this particular job!
The
Torah.
Our
sin nature makes us prone to disobedience. The Torah of HaShem serves to
remind us of how short we fall, when we try to measure up to God's
righteousness. While it is true that no one alive could have ever kept
all of the commandments of God, it is also true that HaShem never expected
anyone to be able to! The Torah doesn’t demand perfection, else, there
would be no need of the bulk of instructions outlined in the book of Leviticus,
concerning sacrifices for sin. Moreover, if we could ever achieve a state
of total "sinlessness,” we would have no need of a Savior.
What the Torah
expects from its followers is genuine trusting faithfulness to the giver of the
Torah, who is the Holy One of Isra'el! Today, that implies placing one's
complete trust in his Only, Unique Son Yeshua, the True Unleavened Bread!
“Chag HaMatzah Sah-meach!”
(Happy Festival of Unleavened bread)
For
further study, read: Ex. 19:10, 14; 28:39-41; Lev. 8:30; 11:44; 20:7; Josh.
24:14; 2 Chron. 30:15; 35:1, 6; John 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:2;
5:7-8; 6:11; 10:1-2; Eph. 5:26; 6:24; Phil. 1:10; Heb. 10:10, 14; 1 Pet. 2:2
Torah Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy [email protected]