Hag HaMatzah

[Guest shiloh357]

Now we turn to the next Festival in God's prophetic Festival cycle: Hag HaMatzah, the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

This Festival is seven days long and begins at sundown on the fourteenth. On a lunar calendar, the day is counted from evening to evening. So, at sundown, the fourteenth automatically becomes the 15th. So, as you could imagine, "early the first day of the week" means something completely different to someone who operates from a lunar calendar than what it would mean to someone who is operating from a solar, Gregorian calendar.

Leviticus 23:6-8

'Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. [7] 'On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. [8] 'But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.' "

The Festival runs from the 15th day to the 21st day of Aviv (Nisan). The first and seventh days are Sabbath days. They are two of the "High Sabbaths" that are on the Jewish calendar. These are to be understood as Sabbaths that can occur on any day of the week.

So, the Passover is killed on the fourteenth, and then eaten with the unleavened bread that evening at the beginninng of the fifteenth.

Exodus 12:15-20

'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. [16] 'And on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. [17] 'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. [18] 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening,(the beginning of the 15th) you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. [19] 'Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. [20] 'You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.' "

Over the centuries the Jewish people have come to celebrate Passover and Hag HaMatzah as a single Festival. They shut down their stores and do no work for the entire week.

Now as to the Festival itself, I would like to take a moment and mention that the unleavened bread (Matzah) has a very prominent role in the celebration of Passover. On the Passover Table, there is large ornate silk, three-pocket bag called a Matzah Tash (pronouned "TAHsh). In the bag are three unbroken pieces of matzah. The tradition is to take the middle matzah and break it and then take one of the broken pieces and "hide" it. The other piece is placed back inside the matzah tash. The hidden piece is placed inside another small bag called the "Afikomen" bag. It will not reappear until the end of the seder.

The three pieces of matzah in Messianic Jewish thought, represent the Father Son, and Holy Spirit. We break the middle piece which represents Messiah, the Son of God who was broken for us. The "hiding" of the broken Matzah represents his burial. When it reappears and is eaten at the end of the seder with a cup of wine, that represents his resurrection, and our partaking of him. It is believed that it was this point in the seder that Yeshua instituted communion. Rabbi John Fischer of the Messianic Cogregation "Orr Chadash" in Palm Harbor Florida, states that there is evidence to suggest that the Messianic community instituted the tradition of "Afikomen" and the breaking of the middle matzah into the seder. It may be possible that standard Judaism has been unknowingly testifying of the Messiah for the last two thousand years!! BTW, the word "Afikomen" means "He came."

Judaism has tried to interpret the three matzahs as representing Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. Some have tried to say that they represent the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. The problem is that none of that makes any since in light of the breaking of the middle matzah.

So the festival of Matzah begins with the eating of matzah at the seder on the fifteenth of the month. They will eat no leavened products of any kind for the rest of the seven days. They will have no leavened products in their house, or on their premisies for the next seven days.

For one whole month prior to the Passover, the Jewish people will cleanse their house. They will begin the process of eliminating leaven from their homes. This is a very tedious process. The wall are washed the books are opened and checked for crumbs that might be there is someone was eating while reading, the carpet is vacuumed and shampooed the cabinets and the whole kitchen is gone over many times with a fine toothed comb. This by the way is where "Spring Cleaning" comes from.

Leaven represents sin and this Festival is about the purging of sin from our lives.

I will deal more with Unleavened Bread tomorrow...

[seekandyouwillfind]

interesting

[Guest shiloh357]

How many of you have ever seen a piece of Matzah?

When you look at a piece of matzah, it is pierced in several places and has stripes on both sides.

In Deut. 16:3, it is referred to as the bread of affliction. Yeshua the bread of Life was afflicted severely for our salvation.

It is also interesting to note that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem or "Beit Lechem" which means "House of Bread."

As I said earlier the Festival of Unleavened Bread became almost synonymous with Passover (Luke 22:1)

Why was the Festival to be kept for seven days? Seven is the number of completeness. We must keep the Festival as believers fully unto the Lord and set ourselves completely apart to Him.

The Festival of unleavened Bread teaches us that we must separate ourselves from all that is leavened (sinful). We are to feed upon Yeshua who is our true Bread of Life.

1 Cor. 5:6-8

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [8] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Spirtually the the Festival is to kept in sincerity and truth. This means that we are to serve God with a pure heart. We are to separate ourselves from everything that has a corrupting influence in the life of the believer.

We are to flee the world's ways and philosophies that are contrary to the Word of God. We are to avoid anything that even has the potential to take us away from the Lord.

That is the crux of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

None of my expositions on the Festivals are by any means exhaustive. There is much more to be said, but it would make these posts unbearably long. Therefore I am just hitting high points and just getting to the point without getting bogged down in unnecessary technicalites. I can delve deeper, but I will wait for questions before I do that.

Tomorrow, I will start a thread about First Fruits...

[yukon]

shiloh357, I have had seen Matzah. It's awesome learning about Jewish customs.

Yukon

[Snowdoove]

How many of you have ever seen a piece of Matzah?

When you look at a piece of matzah, it is pierced in several places and has stripes on both sides.

In Deut. 16:3, it is referred to as the bread of affliction. Yeshua the bread of Life was afflicted severely for our salvation.

It is also interesting to note that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem or "Beit Lechem" which means "House of Bread."

As I said earlier the Festival of Unleavened Bread became almost synonymous with Passover (Luke 22:1)

Why was the Festival to be kept for seven days? Seven is the number of completeness. We must keep the Festival as believers fully unto the Lord and set ourselves completely apart to Him.

The Festival of unleavened Bread teaches us that we must separate ourselves from all that is leavened (sinful). We are to feed upon Yeshua who is our true Bread of Life.

Spirtually the the Festival is to kept in sincerity and truth. This means that we are to serve God with a pure heart. We are to separate ourselves from everything that has a corrupting influence in the life of the believer.

We are to flee the world's ways and philosophies that are contrary to the Word of God. We are to avoid anything that even has the potential to take us away from the Lord.

That is the crux of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

None of my expositions on the Festivals are by any means exhaustive. There is much more to be said, but it would make these posts unbearably long. Therefore I am just hitting high points and just getting to the point without getting bogged down in unnecessary technicalites. I can delve deeper, but I will wait for questions before I do that.

Tomorrow, I will start a thread about First Fruits...

shiloh357~

When I was in Israel in '92, our group went to a Matazh bakery.

There are certain things that have to be done at certain Times.

This bread isn't made in a modern bakery. Plus we only saw men making it.

It is placed in an open door oven, off of a wood paddle.

It can only bake for a certain time. If it is baked longer, it is destroyed.

Well this is what I remember of it.

Shalom!

Patricia

[Guest shiloh357]

shiloh357~

When I was in Israel in '92, our group went to a Matazh bakery.

There are certain things that have to be done at certain Times.

This bread isn't made in a modern bakery. Plus we only saw men making it.

It is placed in an open door oven, off of a wood paddle.

It can only bake for a certain time. If it is baked longer, it is destroyed.

Well this is what I remember of it.

Shalom!

Patricia

Yes there are rules for matzah. Not all matzah is kosher for Passover. Matzah that is kosher for Passover is sold only during Passover. The rest of the year, you can find different varieties commercially.

Also the matzah that is made under the strictest supervision and adheres to the most stringent rules is called "Sh'murah Matzah." Some will not eat any other kind except "Sh'murah Matzah." Don't ask me what Sh'mura means. I am still trying to find out myself.

[Kitten]

Very interesting!

[M45510G1C]

From Wikipedia:

Matza (also Matzoh, Matzah, Matzo, Hebrew מַצָּה maṣṣā), an unleavened bread, is the "official" food of Passover. When the Jews were leaving Egypt, after a week of mandatory abstinence from leavening, there was no time for the bread to rise, and the resulting food was matzoh. For Passover, the ingredients for matzoh are flour and water.

Five grains are forbidden for use during Passover in any processed form but dry-roasting and as matzoh: wheat, barley, spelt, rye, and either oats (according to Rashi) or two-rowed barley (according to Rambam's interpretation of Mishnah Kilayim 1:1; Yerushalmi Challah 1:1). (Wheat and spelt are both in the genus Triticum and anything else in the genus is likewise forbidden. Oat-grain is practically gluten-free and belongs to a different tribe than wheat, spelt, rye and barley.) Millet and teff are borderline; it takes a few days for them to rise. Dough made from the five grains is considered to start rising if it is inactive for 18 minutes from the time it gets wet; if longer elapses before it is put in the oven, it is no longer matzoh. Shmura ("watched") matzoh (Hebr. מַצָּה שְׁמוּרָה maṣṣā

[Gerioke]

Why hasn't WSB commented on this one?

[sandy]

Shiloh,

If I understand it corectly shmurah matzah means 'guarded matzah' as in it is guarded from touching anything that it should not. I wonder if the word shmurah comes from the same root word for shomer (watchman) ?