The Two-Hundred-Ninety-Second (Unleavened Bread)

Last week, we went over how the last supper of our Messiah with His disciples before His crucifixion was not a Passover meal and how that week He performed all the Torah requirements for Him to be the Passover Lamb.  While we didn’t really focus on it, this fact is also why He is called the Lamb in many verses of scripture.  There’s no other explanation for this connection between Him and a lamb, because even in His ministry, He did not call Himself a lamb.  He talked about His people being sheep and following His voice, but that would make Him the Shepherd, not a lamb.

The thing about that connection between Yeshua and Passover, or Pesach, is that it fits into a larger picture of the sacrificial system and how He is connected to all of it.  One of the things the Holy Spirit helped me realize this week is that we can’t fully understand the context of various things in scripture, or the mindset of those who wrote it and the main body of people who read it in the first couple centuries AD, without learning about all the aspects of the sacrificial system.  One of the things I’ve talked about quite frequently is the fact that Yeshua had to be the sacrifice that cleansed our sins because He is the only one that’s sinless, and for anyone else to be crucified would be a fulfillment of the consequence of sin for that person, which means he couldn’t be a sacrifice for all mankind’s sins.  

However, while sinlessness is a key requirement for the validity our Messiah’s sacrifice, my view has not really taken into account all the various aspects of Torah, including the specifics of the sacrificial system.  I’ve been listening to a man named Rico Cortes talking about how Yeshua’s sacrifice is even connected to the requirements and laws pertaining to refuge cities in the Torah, and while I am studying this concept myself and I think he’s onto something there, I don’t think that’s where it ends.  As a result, I’m getting into the study of the sacrificial system and how it worked in order to better understand what the apostles wrote about regarding Yeshua’s connection to it, especially when it comes to Paul’s writings.

That is certainly a bit of an undertaking and will have to be a later study that we get into, so this week as many Christians celebrate Easter we’re going to continue looking at Yeshua’s connection to the Feasts of YHWH by moving on to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  One quick note before that though, is that I learned this week that Pesach, which is the Hebrew word usually translated to Passover, doesn’t actually mean “to pass over,” and so I thought I’d share that with you.  It actually means protection, which makes even more sense when we understand that the Pesach lamb was sacrificed, and the blood put over the door and on the doorposts, as protection from the messenger of death that was coming to kill the firstborn sons.  Yes, the messenger “passed over” the homes with the blood, but that passing over was the action of the protection that the blood was providing, not the description tied to the lamb that was slaughtered.

As we went over last week, the Pesach meal was eaten at the very beginning of the 15th of Aviv, which is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This is also a Shabbat day where no regular work was to be done and it is one of the feasts that required an Israelite male to present himself to YHWH at the temple (Leviticus 23:8).  As a result, Jerusalem and the nearby surrounding cities would have a massive influx of people in the days leading up to Pesach so they could perform this aspect of Torah.

The presentation of the individual to YHWH was due to the requirement for them to present a food offering to Him each day during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  They would bring whatever their food offering was to the priests for it to be burned upon the altar that was near the entrance of the temple.  This altar was outside the structure that contained the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.    

Now, while many translations will call the Feast of Unleavened Bread daily offerings food offerings, that’s not exactly what the Hebrew says.  The word that’s translated to “food offering” is ishshah (H801), and it simply means an offering made by fire.  There were multiple types of sacrifices, or offerings, that were given according to Torah, most of which were burned, either in part or whole, on the brass altar.  

The reason some translations call it a food offering is that elsewhere in scripture we see YHWH describe these offerings made by fire as His food (Numbers 28:2).  In this verse, we can see the word lechem (H3899) added to ishshah to connect bread, or more generally food, to the offering burned by fire.  I find this aspect interesting because when YHWH calls it His food, He’s making a connection to His people.  Sitting down and eating together is an intimate thing, perhaps more back then than now with smartphones these days, and the offering burned by fire being YHWH’s food is again reinforcing His desire to have an intimate relationship with His people.  

The other thing I find interesting is that this requirement of offering burned by fire every day for multiple days only exists for two of YHWH’s Feasts.  It’s required for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as we saw, and for the Feast of Booths, or Sukkot.  I don’t think it’s coincidence that this requirement for daily meals with YHWH exists for the two feasts that are about Yeshua’s presence with His people.    

As far as we know, the spring feasts, which are Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot, or Pentecost, are the only feasts that have been carried out in Yeshua’s crucifixion and the days after.  From this fulfillment, as recorded in scripture, as far as the Feast of Unleavened Bread goes, we see that Yeshua appeared to and also ate with His disciples (Luke 24:30, 42-43, John 21:12-15).  I believe the Feast of Unleavened Bread was designed by YHWH to mirror the fact that Yeshua would return after His crucifixion and dine with His disciples once again, and as a result, I believe the Feast of Sukkot also was designed by Him to mirror Yeshua being physically present with us on earth once again.

For Unleavened Bread specifically, the aspect of the bread being unleavened represents multiple meanings.  First, it is a commemoration of the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt when they were told to make bread without leaven to eat with the Pesach lamb, because based on the events that were to unfold they would not have enough time to let the bread rise, bake it, and eat it, prior to having to leave Egypt (Exodus 12:8-11).  Second, the bread was to also represent Yeshua.

When we look at leaven in the sacrificial system of Torah, in the vast majority of cases it is forbidden to be included in offerings to YHWH (Leviticus 2:11).  That verse seems very absolute, however in the following verse we see that firstfruits offering was allowed to contain leaven (Leviticus 2:12).  Later in Leviticus, we see that this allowance was made only for the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot (Leviticus 23:17), and for a shalem, or peace, offering (Leviticus 7:11-14).  In neither of these cases was the leavened bread burned on the altar, rather they were a wave offering before YHWH and then belonged to the priest (Leviticus 2:11, 7:14).  

We see in Yeshua’s teaching that leaven was considered corrupt teachings or doctrines (Matthew 16:6-12, Mark 8:15) and from Paul, more generally, it represents sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-9).  I believe that’s exactly what it represents in the sacrificial system.  All the offerings made to YHWH, especially the ones burned on the altar, were to cover sin and continue to allow YHWH to dwell among His people, so the idea that an offering that contained the thing that represented sin could cover sin just doesn’t make sense.

As far as the specific offering cases that allowed leaven to be included, I think the allowance was for two different reasons.  For the peace offering, and the fact that it was specified that it belonged to the priest, you have to remember that YHWH’s Law incorporated taking care of those who were assigned to minister to Him for the people.  The priests were allowed to eat certain sacrifices, and I believe the leavened bread peace offering is a case where YHWH enabled priests to be able to have some regular, leavened bread provided to them to eat.

As far as Shavuot, I don’t think it’s coincidence that this feast allowed leaven and it also was carried out through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into man (Acts 2:2-4), who by nature is sinful.  The leavened bread of Shavuot provided as an offering would represent the people who offered themselves up to YHWH as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), washed and sanctified for sure (1 Corinthians 6:11) but still struggling with a sinful flesh (Romans 7:18).  Just as Yeshua is bread without leaven, man is bread with leaven.

The unleavened bread, and the requirement to purge all leaven from the home, for the feast started with a circumstance from the exodus of Israel from Egypt, but carried on also as a representation of Yeshua as well as His redemption of man from sin, which required the death of the individual who committed it.  Yeshua is the bread of life that came down from heaven (John 6:32-35, 48-51).  Through His body being broken (Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24), and His blood being presented in the heavenly temple (Hebrews 9:11-14), He provided a ransom for sinners (Hebrews 9:15).  

The thing is, this process, as alluded to by the writer of Hebrews and defined in Torah, is not the Pesach or Unleavened Bread processes.  As discussed earlier, there were two areas contained in the fully enclosed structure of the temple, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  YHWH dwelled with the people by being present on the “mercy seat,” which was the top of the ark of the covenant and was in the Most Holy Place (Exodus 25:22, Numbers 7:89).

The priests only entered the Most Holy Place while they were anointed as High Priest, and even then they entered only on one day of the year: Yom Kippur.  When they did, they sprinkled blood on the “mercy seat” (Leviticus 16:14-15) as atonement for them and their household’s sin and then again for all of Israel’s sin.  As you can see, the writer of Hebrews is describing the actions of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, which means Yeshua is not only the Pesach Lamb and the Unleavened Bread, but also the High Priest and slaughtered goat of the Day of Atonement.

Yeshua is not just represented by one thing in Torah, He is multiple things.  The Priest and the Sacrifice, the Bread and the Blood, they all pointed to Him and He fulfilled all the requirements for them.  None of those things are described in Torah as ransom though, which is what the writer of Hebrews described Yeshua’s death as.  That’s a study for another day, though!

As the majority of Christians around this time of year are observing days like Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, take some time to look into the YHWH’s Feasts, given directly by Him.  See the connections between what He commanded and what Yeshua has fulfilled perfectly, and ask yourself why any of those commandments would be inappropriate or insufficient for believers today to commemorate what Yeshua has done for us.  He originally gave them to His people, and I believe more and more each day that He’s calling His people today to return to them.

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)