Happy Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Chag Sameach!
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Happy Last Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Category Archives: Feasts
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Wavesheaf Offering and the Resurrection of Yeshua
Chag HaMatzot (The Feast of Unleavened Bread): An Overview
Chag HaMatzot or the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the second annual festival on YHVH’s biblical calendar, and occurs on the fifteenth day of the month of the Abib, which is the day immediately following Passover (or Pesach, Lev 23:5–8). Because both of these feasts (Exod 34:25; Lev 23:2, 6) occur back-to-back, the Jews often refer to Passover and Unleavened Bread simply as Passover Week or some similar term that places the main emphasis on the Passover. But it must be noted that, though related, these two festivals are separate in meaning and purpose. Passover pictures Israel coming out of Egypt. Upon separating from Egypt, YHVH (the LORD) then commanded the Israelites to put all leavened food products out of their houses and to eat unleavened bread (flat bread) for seven days, hence the origins of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Additionally, the first and seventh days of this week-long event are Sabbaths, and YHVH commanded his people to hold a set-apart convocation (or gathering) on these Sabbaths.
What, you may ask, is the purpose of putting leavening out of one’s home and eating unleavened bread products such as matzoh for one week? This seems like a curious request by YHVH of his people. Not surprisingly, the Creator of the universe has a reason for everything. The spiritual implications are enlightening and highly relevant to the disciples of Yeshua. In commanding his people to de-leaven their homes and lives, YHVH is teaching us an object lesson that applies to us as much today as to the Israelites of long ago.
Eating unleavened bread for seven days is a memorial, remembrance or reminder (Exod 13:6–9) of our coming out of our own spiritual Egypt. But how did unleavened bread enter into this picture? The Torah tells us that the Israelites left Egypt early in Continue reading
Video: Feast of Unleavened Bread — More Biblical Insights
As we spend a lifetime studying the Bible, the Word of Elohim, we never stop learning. In this video, Natan Lawrence shares some fresh insights to help you to more fully appreciate the Feast of Unleavened Bread and to apply its timeless principles into your spiritual walk of being victorious in overcoming sin.
When do we start the count of the omer?
I got this question emailed to me this morning:
My name is Lisa B— and I have a question for you as I have been “kerfuddled” if you will by the omer count this year. I understand from your website that you’re sighted moon? I really, really thought we would NOT start the Omer count for a week, due to ULB beginning Saturday eve to Sunday eve, but both you, and the Karaites (the other sighted group I know of) started ON ULB. Please, how is that possible? Can you explain?
Here is my answer:
From Lev 23:9–15, we learn that we’re to begin the count of the omer toward Shavuot (Pentecost) from the morrow/day after the Sabbath when the barley first fruits were presented to YHVH as a wave offering (called wave sheaf day). The question is whether we start the omer count from the Sabbath, or from the day after the Sabbath? Does the Sabbath or the day after the Sabbath (Sunday) have to fall within the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Normally, this isn’t an issue since both the Sabbath and the first day of the week fall within the week of Unleavened Bread. However, this year (2015), this is the case. If you choose to count from Sunday, then the Saturday, April 4 falls outside of Unleavened Bread, but Sunday, April 5 falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, since this is the first day of the feast. If you choose to count from the Sabbath that falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread (i.e., April 11), then this places wave sheaf day outside of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Those who begin the omer count toward Shavuot from April 5 will be celebrating Shavuot on Sunday, May 24, while those who begin the count from April 12 will be celebrating Shavuot on Sunday, May 31.
So this brings us back to our basic question of when to start the omer count. Does the Sabbath or the day after the Sabbath (Sunday or wave sheaf day) have to be within the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Some people will say say the Sabbath has to be, and some will say the day after the Sabbath has to be. When reading Lev 23:9–15, you really can’t tell which it is. It seems like it could go either way. It’s a tie.
Enter Josh 5:10–11, which is the tie breaker. Those who believe that you start the omer count from the day after the weekly Sabbath use this passage as their proof. Here is my commentary on this passage:
Joshua 5:11, And they ate. As the manna ceased, the Israelites ate the fresh barley grain that had already been growing in the land. In Leviticus 23:14, the Israelites were forbidden to eat of the new barley crop of the land of Israel until the day of the omer offering (or wave sheaf day). This year, the omer offering occurred on the next day after the Passover (Nisan/Abib 14), which was Nisan/Abib 15, or the first day of the Feast of Unleavnened Bread. Because the omer offering was to be brought on the morrow or day after the (weekly, see notes at Lev 23:16) Sabbath (Lev 23:11), this means that the Israelite’s first Passover in the land of Israel occurred on a weekly Sabbath, and wave sheaf day occurred on Sunday. This verse also shows us that the morrow after the Sabbath (i.e., wave sheaf day) occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread — not before or after it. This should be taken into consideration when determining which weekly Sabbath at the time of Feast of Unleavened Bread should be used to determine wave sheaf day and, hence, the beginning the omer count. This passage indicates the wave sheaf day, not the weekly Sabbath, has to fall within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
This passage is circumstantial evidence that the ancient Israelites calculated the omer count based on wave sheaf day, not the weekly Sabbath, having to fall within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is why our ministry begins the count of the omer toward Shavuot from the day after the weekly Sabbath, and not the Sabbath itself, that falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
As a footnote, by calculating the omer in this manner, this keeps wave sheaf day (the day Yeshua ascended to heaven and was accepted by the Father) within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which fulfills biblical types and shadows more accurately than if wave sheaf day fell outside of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For more info on this, please read my detailed article on the subject at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/firstfruits.pdf.
I hope this answers your question.
Feast of Unleavened Bread Insights
The Feast of Unleavened Bread Is a Commemorative Ritual
Passover going into the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the birthday of the nation of Israel. In ancient times, universal Israel came together in Jerusalem to celebrate this event. Today, redeemed Israelites come together to celebrate these divine appointment sacred convocations.
Abstaining from leavened bread for seven days is symbolic of Elohim’s people separating themselves from sin and turning towards a holy relationship with him.
Removing leavening from our homes is a symbolic activity just like taking communion, being baptized for the remission of sins, or building a sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles. As humans, we need symbolic commemorative occasions for several reasons. They give us a sense of history by helping us to understand the past, so that we can move forward into the future knowing who we are and where we’ve come from. They give us guidance so that we’ll learn from the lessons of history, both the good and bad ones. Our culture is full of symbolic rituals and commemorative acts and markers (Christmas, Easter, birthdays, anniversaries, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, statues, historical markers, monuments, museums, heritage sites, etc.). Likewise, Biblical commemorative rituals help us in several ways.
- They help us to both recall and commemorate past and future events.
- They help us to understand who we are by recalling where we’ve come from which in turn helps us to understand where we’re going.
- They can be something physical that helps us to wrap our minds around difficult-to-understand spiritual principle.
- They are something physical that help to point us toward a spiritual reality. They help to raise our hopes and our eyes above our mundane existence and strengthen our faith as we move toward the higher goal or reality to which the ritual or commemorative event points.
- They help us to teach and to pass on to each new generation not only about our past history, but our future hope.
Leavening Is a Picture of Sin
The observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a symbol of our commitment to turn towards righteousness and turn away from sin. How serious we are about removing physical leaven from our homes in compliance Continue reading
Photos: Our Passover Seder
Here are a couple of photos I took of our congregational Passover seder last night.
Aaron playing Pharaoh
Pharaoh Aaron being pelted with hail. How many of you knew that baseball was invented in ancient Egypt during the plague of hail?
Happy Passover!
