Sharing the Bible Online

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Rabbi Harold Kushner explains that the dishes used for the Seder meal and the week of Passover were never used for grain products during the year. According to Ben Edidin, it was not sufficient to simply wash the silverware and pots. They had to go through a process called Kashering  accomplished by washing and polishing them then dipping them into boiling water for a few minutes.

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All yeast had to be removed from their homes. This was not a simple matter of removing a lump or two of yeast generally retained for baking. It also involved the removal of all food containing yeast including bread, baked goods and even the tiniest crumbs that may have fallen behind shelves, onto the floor, etc.

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It became customary, after the cleaning was accomplished, to have father and the children carry out a ceremony called bedikat hametz (clearing out the leaven) . They would say a special prayer and taking a feather duster, a candle and wooden spoon, they would search diligently for any leaven missed during the cleaning process. Often some crumbs of bread would be left deliberately in a conspicuous location so they could be found during this search. The next morning at a ceremony called biur hametz the feather duster and spoon with their contents were burned in a fire outside.

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Doesn’t this seem to be a message for fathers, as priests of their homes, to not only diligently seek out and eliminate sin in their homes, but to teach their children to do so?

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Throughout scripture leaven (yeast) is used to represent sin. Paul makes this abundantly clear in his letter to the Corinthians;

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Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Co. 5:8 NIV (italics mine).

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Although they clearly did not understand the full meaning of the celebration many Jews were very serious about their observance of Passover. Ben M. Edidin writes of the Jewish Passover observers;

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"So anxious were the people that Pesach (Passover) be observed strictly, that all hametz (leaven) belongings were sold to a non-Jew for the duration of the week, and a bill of sale was written out. This was usually done by the rabbi of the community who would "sell" all the HAMETZ property of his followers with the understanding that the bill of sale was to be returned immediately after the holiday."

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In the Lord's command for the exodus from Egypt the lamb was to be slain and the blood applied to the doorposts so death would pass over them. The Hebrews (Jews) were to celebrate this event with a paschal lamb. They were to choose a lamb on the tenth of the month (ten is symbolic of law and testing) and care for it until the fourteenth of the month (fourteen is symbolic of the passing of trial or testing). These four days of special care gave the family, especially the children, a chance to establish an attachment to the lamb.

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The lamb was to be slaughtered without breaking any of its bones (Nu. 9:12). It was then to be roasted over a flame. It could not be eaten raw, boiled, or cooked in any other manner. Today, since the Jews have no Tabernacle or Temple in which to make their sacrifice, some use a lamb shank.

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Part of the Seder meal consists of three loaves of matzo (unleavened bread), bitter herbs or horseradish and four cups of wine. A place is set and a cup of wine is poured for Elijah the prophet. The three-matzo loaves are stacked one on top of the other. The middle loaf is removed by the father and broken in half. One of the broken pieces, the afikomen, is wrapped in a napkin and hidden between two pillows.

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Later one of the children will succeed in finding it and stealing it away. A search will be conducted and the children questioned. Each child denies taking it and blames the others. Finally the one who took it will return it for a reward.

Custom also calls for the spilling of some of the wine and opening the door for Elijah to enter . The youngest child will ask four questions; "Why is this night different from all other nights? Why do we eat matzo? Why do we eat the bitter herbs and dip our food in salt water?" Why do we recline on pillows?"

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To most Jews the paschal lamb and matzo are symbols of their freedom from slavery in Egypt. The horseradish or bitter herbs and salt water represent the bitterness of slavery and the tears shed by the Hebrew slaves. The cup set for Elijah and the opening of the door is because legend says that Elijah visits every Jewish home on Seder night and that he will announce the coming of Messiah.

Four cups of wine are consumed during the Seder but no one is certain why. The breaking, hiding, stealing and recovery of the afikomen is considered to be a simple entertainment for the children. The Four Questions is a means of teaching the children and reminding the adults of the meaning of the Passover.

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There is much that is missed in these explanations. To Christians the paschal lamb represents Jesus, God’s perfect lamb, sacrificed for our sin. The lamb was cared for four days, there were four cups of wine drunk during Seder and the "Four Questions" were asked. Four is the number signifying world wide or universal. Four is the number of Gospels that carry the message of Jesus gift, of freedom from the bondage of sin, and His promise of eternal life to the whole world.

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Jesus death and resurrection brought redemption and the promise of eternal life to everyone who will accept His gift by faith, regardless of nationality. The bones of the paschal lamb must not be broken because the bones of Jesus, God's Lamb, were not to be broken (John 19:30). The spilled wine represents Jesus spilled blood. The open door and the cup of wine are for Elijah but he has come and gone.

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Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him eveything they wished, in the same way the Son of Man11 is going tto suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:11-13 NIV (italics mine).

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The three loaves of unleavened, since unleavened bread represents sinless being, would represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The taking and breaking of the middle loaf, wrapping half of it in a napkin and placing it between two pillows would logically represent Jesus suffering death, separating body and spirit, and the wrapping of His body in burial cloths and placing it in the tomb.

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This broken middle piece of bread that is wrapped and hidden is called the afikomen which according to Wikipedia means; "that which comes after" or "desert" and nothing is to be eaten after it. Isn't this descriptive of Jesus who will come for His own after the trials of this life are completed? Won't he be like a much anticipated desert to will be savored for eternity?

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Later a child finds and steals the afikomen away and the search is begun, all are questioned, and accusations abound. Doesn’t this sound remarkably like what happened when Jesus tomb was found empty? The child who actually took the afikomen finally confesses to having it and is rewarded. Jesus entered our world briefly then died upon the cross so we might live. Aren’t we who have found Christ and have Him in our lives to confess this truth to all who will accept it and aren’t we rewarded handsomely?

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The Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread

(now combined with Passover)

On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’" Leviticus 23:6-8 NIV (italics mine).

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The Significance of The Feast of Unleavened Bread

For the Israelites, this period symbolized the hasty departure from Egypt. They sometimes referred to this bread made without yeast as the "bread of haste".

The absence of yeast (leaven)  indicated the absence of sin. It is uncertain whether many of them ever really understood the connection to sin, despite their traditions and customs that symbolized it. As was explained in regards to the Passover celebration, the ritual traditions regarding the preparation were largely symbolic of rooting out and getting rid of sin. The preparations for Pesach (Passover) were also the preparations for this celebration which immediately followed.

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This celebration also placed emphasis upon the separateness God required for the Israelites from the other nations. They were not to marry the women of other nations, embrace their customs, adopt their religions or worship their gods.

The manners, dress, customs, religious ceremonies, and stubborn belief in their special selection by God, have alienated the Jew’s as individuals, a people and a nation, from much of the rest of the world for centuries.

Most people neither understand nor accept the idea that they were specially chosen by God. For many people, including many who claim to be christian, the Jewish claim of special election by God is, at best, arrogance and, at worst, blasphemy. 

Just as Joseph’s brothers sought to rid themselves of his annoying presence and therefore sold him into slavery, many have enslaved, and even tried to rid the world of, the Jewish people.

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The Lord, in His command, clearly distinguished this as a holy celebration in its own right. The two feasts were, nevertheless, very closely related. Today, The Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread is generally celebrated as a part of Passover. Thus the unleavened bread, Jesus, has become our salvation (Passover). Harold Kushner says that the Passover;

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"-- holiday, with its special prayers and foods , continues for eight days (seven days in Israel and in the Reform tradition.)"

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God commanded two items for this feast; bread made without yeast and a daily offering made by fire. The sacrifices made by fire were always to be without blemish or defect. They were to hold a sacred assembly on the first day of the celebration and again on the seventh day. The bread was made without yeast, because the presence of yeast is symbolic of the presence of sin.

This bread symbolized the Bread of Life, Jesus, who we know was sinless. Yet he died on the cross for our sins. It also symbolizes the purity and holiness of true believers. The offerings by fire are not specified because these were to be fellowship offerings. The one making the offering could choose what to give, so long as it was something deemed appropriate (Leviticus 3:1-16; 22:17-31).

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This feast followed immediately after the Lord’s Passover celebration, beginning the very next day, so that they essentially were almost as one. When Passover ended this feast began. This feast has its roots in the Passover. That is, Passover is the impetus for this feast.

Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage. This feast recalls and memorializes the time of fellowship, refreshing and basking in God’s goodness following deliverance. It was to be a time of peace, joy and thanksgiving.

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Symbolically this represented the time of intimate fellowship, joy and thanksgiving of the Hebrews as they left Egypt after centuries of bondage as slaves. To us it symbolizes the incredible feelings of joy, freedom and love new believers experience after their deliverance from the bondage that sin and Satan have placed upon those of the world. It is important to God that we be reminded of and continue in our "first love".

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"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. " Rev 2:4,5 NIV (italics mine). 

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The Lord’s Feast of First Fruits

(sheaf of the first grain/ Hag Hakatzir/ Festival of the Grain Harvest)

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil -- an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma -- and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generation to come, wherever you live. Leviticus 23:9-14 NIV (italics mine).

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The Significance of the Feast of First Fruits

The Israelites were to bring a sheaf of the first grain from their fields to the priest to have him wave it before the Lord. The waving was essential, as we see, to make the sheaf acceptable on behalf of the one bringing it. To most of the ancient Jews it was probably just a feast giving thanks to God for their crops. Its a lot like that for many Christians today. Many see only what is clearly obvious and never look deeper.

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In reality it brought a message of death and resurrection. Before the seed that was planted could produce fruit it had to die and be transformed. It could then come out of the ground as new life. This was a promise from God of resurrection for His anointed -- His firstfruit. This feast brought the message of Jesus resurrection and the hope it brings, though it is doubtful any of those who celebrated it had any clear understanding of this message

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They were to offer a burnt offering of a one-year old lamb without blemish. This clearly was symbolic of Jesus. Though some of the feasts and ceremonies called for more than one lamb to be sacrificed this one stipulates just one. Jesus was resurrected first as the first fruits of the many He would resurrect. The sheaf represented Jesus Christ.

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For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then, when he comes,those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all h(italics mine).is enemies under his feet. 1 Corinthians 15:22-25 NIV (italics mine).

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The ancient Jews celebrated a successful harvest of their grain. The priest would take the sheaf of grain, lift it above his head, and wave it before the Lord as if to signal an offering of the fruits of victory. And indeed that is what it represented. The waving of the sheaf referred to the resurrection of Jesus from the grave and the time when He will return and resurrect those who belong to Him.

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His resurrection was the first fruit of the great harvest to come when the Lord will harvest the earth separating the wheat (His elect) from the chaff (those who have rejected Him). What greater victory could there be than the victory of Jesus Christ over death, hell and the grave. This was a victory for Jesus Christ and for all who choose to follow Him.

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The Lord’s Feast of Pentecost

(Feast of Weeks, Shavout or Shavuoth)

"‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two tenths of and ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull andtwo rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings -- an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. Leviticus 23:15-21 NIV (italics mine).

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The Significance of the Feast of Pentecost

This was the last of the first grouping of feasts. It was, nevertheless, a very significant and important feast. For the Israelites this was a celebration of the completion of their grain harvest since it came seven weeks after the harvest of the first of their grain. 

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It was to be celebrated the day after seven full weeks had passed following the Feast of Firstfruits. Seven is the number of completion. This was the fiftieth day following seven weeks (seven - sevens) indicating the completion of something very significant -- a long awaited event.

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This feast later took on another meaning to the Jews. In his book, "To Life", Rabbi Harold Kushner writes:

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After the biblical period, the sages noticed that the revelation at Sinai took place seven weeks after the Exodus, so the themes of Revelation and harvest were combined into a single holiday, with the same blend of agricultural gratitude and moral-historical awareness we have noted in the other pilgrimage occasions. Shavuot became the anniversary of the Revelation of the Torah. In many synagogues, it is marked today by Confirmation services, in which adolescents, after three years of study following Bar Mitsvah, pledge themselves to live by the Torah, thus not only reading about but reenacting the Covenant at Sinai. There is also a growing custom of recognizing the presence of converts to Judaism, individual men and women who have experienced in their own lives what the rest of us can only read about, the experience of personally accepting the Torah even as the Jews at Sinai did. Appropriately, one of the featured scriptural readings on Shavuot is the Book of Ruth, whose heroine is a convert to Judaism, a Moabite woman drawn to join the people of Israel because of the kindness they show her. 

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It is intriguing that modern day Jews, who do not believe Jesus was the promised Messiah, spend the evening of Shavuot (Pentecost);

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"staying up all night, or at least until midnight, reading the through the entire Torah --."

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This bears striking similarity to the account in the book of Acts chapter two of the followers of Jesus as they waited in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

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Considering that the Holy Spirit was given to the followers of Jesus on the day of Pentecost (Shavuot) it is very interesting that new converts to Judaism are often recognized during Shavuot services. Moreover, it was only after Cornelius (a Gentile) and his family received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues that Peter and other believing Jews accepted them as new converts.

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While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. Acts 10:44-48 NIV (italics mine).

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Yet another fact of interest concerning the Jewish observance of Shavuot is that according to Rabbi Kushner:

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"In the Talmud, Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach, and even Purim each have their own tractate, spelling out the laws of observing the holiday. Shavuot has none." 

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Did God not promise that in the last days He would write His law in the hearts of men? Isn’t the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the fulfillment of that promise? And if the law of God is written in the hearts of the believer there would then be no need for it to be written down on a tablet.

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So again it appears that the practices and traditions of the Jews, though they do not comprehend Jesus nor the current ministry of the Holy Spirit, unwittingly reflect symbolically the spiritual truth and message of God. God continues, even today, to use the Jews and the nation of Israel to send His message to the world.

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The Jews were to bring two loaves. Two  is the number of witness and division. These loaves were to be baked with yeast. Since yeast, in scripture, is always symbolic of sin these loaves could not have been symbolic of Jesus who was without sin. The loaves were to be waved before the Lord symbolizing resurrection.

These loaves were, therefor, symbolic of Jesus friends, His followers, His witnesses, who are to live in, and witness to, the world but be separate (division) from it. (see: Appendix 2). As we noted earlier we are promised we will be resurrected when He returns. The Holy Spirit, given to the believers on the day of Pentecost, is witness to that fact.

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Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, and eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose andhas given us the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NIV (italics mine).

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We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Romans 8:22-24 NIV (italics mine).

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The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:16-17 NIV (italics mine).