Chag HaMatzot: How to Celebrate!
Chag HaMatzot: How to Celebrate explains what we are to do during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and why.
Written Version: Chag HaMatzot (Below)
In this series, we have been talking all about the feasts of the first month. We talked in previous chapters about the Passover meal that we keep when we are under Yeshua’s renewed Melchizedekian Order. As the Pesach ends, that is when Chag HaMatzot (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) begins. And that is actually when the Pesach meal is eaten, on the evening of the very first day of Chag HaMatzot.
We have been receiving a lot of questions about how we should eat that meal and people are making requests for a Pesach seder for Nazarene Israel. We are also getting specific requests for a Passover Haggadah script, meaning, step-by-step instructions for how we partake in that meal. We are going to cover all that information and a whole lot more in this chapter.
Let us rejoin the storyline in Exodus 11, verse one.
Shemote (Exodus) 11:1
1 And Yahweh said to Moshe,
“I am bringing yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he is going to let you go from here. When he lets you go, he shall drive you out from here altogether.”
Yahweh says to Moshe that it is going to be a very hasty event. Chapter twelve explains the reason it was a hasty event.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:29-34
29 And it came to pass at midnight that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send [the Israelites] out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
The flight was so hasty that they did not even have time to leaven the bread or to allow it to rise.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:37, 39
37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children…
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
When they arrived at Succoth (Sukkot), which is the same word as tabernacles, that is when they were able to cook. What is interesting is that we know the feasts are prophetic shadow pictures of things to come. But we see that there is mirror imaging in these prophetic shadow pictures. We see this when, in the first month, we first have a half-day event in the afternoon (Pesach) and then that is followed immediately by a seven-day feast (Chag Matzot). But then in the seventh month, we have the seven-day feast of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) followed immediately by a half-day event in the morning called Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Day Assembly).
| 1st Month | 7th Month |
| First is a ½ day event in the afternoon called the Pesach (Passover). |
7-day feast called Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). |
| Then is a 7-day feast called Chag HaMatzot (Unleavened Bread). |
Then is a ½ day event in the morning called Shemini Atzeret (The Assembly of the 8th). |
We are going to talk a lot more about this when we talk about the Ancient Hebrew Wedding model. But what we see is that the Pesach is very important to Yahweh, and it also should be very important to us.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:14
14 “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.”
We are supposed to keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. And we are going to see why in just a few verses. That means that no matter whether we live inside the land of Israel or out in the dispersion, we are commanded to keep the Pesach. And not just the Pesach. Because Yahweh is not only referring here to the Pesach, but also to Chag HaMatzot, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He talks about them as basically one big eight-day-long feast.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:15
15 “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” [Leaven represents sin.]
Traditionally, our Orthodox brethren begin to scour their houses and do what they call a deep Pesach cleaning starting about two or even three weeks ahead of the Pesach. They are very thorough. They have been known to remove windows from frames. I have heard of them removing grout from tile, all these kinds of things, just to make sure they get rid of leaven. But technically, we are allowed to remove leaven on the first day of Chag HaMatzot if we have not gotten rid of it prior to that. It is very important to get rid of the leaven. Because whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. Leaven represents sin. It also represents false doctrine which is, effectively, sinful. We will talk a lot more about that later.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:16
16 “On the first day there shall be a set-apart rehearsal [mikra kodesh], and on the seventh day there shall be a set-apart rehearsal for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.”
On the night of the Pesach, we are supposed to eat the Pesach, typically in our homes. But on the next day, during the first day of Unleavened Bread, we are supposed to gather together in our assemblies to pray and to prepare to leave the dispersion, to go back to the land of Israel as an ordered nation. There is a lot of Messianic, Ephraimite, and Two-House people who are avoiding, some in ignorance, the need to behave as an ordered nation. But that is so important, we are going to need this one day in the not very distant future. We will talk about that a lot more shortly. But first, we want to talk about the definition of mikra according to the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance.
H4744 מִקְרָא miqrâ’ (mik-raw’); From H7121; something called out, that is, a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal: – assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
Yahweh is calling us out to come join Him in a public meeting and it also serves as a rehearsal. What are we rehearsing again? We are praying and rehearsing leaving Egypt (the dispersion) as an ordered nation. Meaning, as the armies of the living Elohim. It is ignored right now by most of the movement, but that is so important. We are not going to be in Yahweh’s favor without that component because He calls us an ordered nation.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:17-18
17 “So you shall observe Chag HaMatzot, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.”
He is calling us out of Egypt as an ordered army, not just some gaggle of individuals. There is a structure to what we are supposed to be doing and that is what He wants us to do. And it is so important to Him that He tells us to memorialize this by observing this day throughout our generations as an everlasting ordinance. Because this is when we began to become an ordered nation. We were tribes before, but when we were called out of the land of Egypt and left Egypt to go to the land of Israel, which is when we began to be an ordered nation. So, we celebrate this. On the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, we are to eat unleavened bread. And we are to eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:19-20
19 “For seven days no leaven [representing sin; false doctrine] shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger [returning gentile Ephraimite] or a native of the land [Israeli-born Jewish believer in Yeshua].
20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings [moshavoteichem] you shall eat unleavened bread.”
Whoever eats what is leavened during this time shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. Meaning, if we are sinning or practicing false doctrine (which is sinful), we shall be cut off from the nation of Israel. No matter whether we are returning gentile Ephraimite, a stranger, or whether we are a native of the land. We can be either a returning gentile Ephraimite or we can be an Israeli-born Jewish believer in Yeshua. Does not matter. If we are practicing false doctrine, it is all for naught. We are going to be cut off.
He says that we shall eat nothing leavened. We should not partake of sin or a false doctrine anywhere in all of our dwellings (moshavoteichem). We will look at this word next. But we are to eat unleavened bread, meaning the pure, true doctrine.
H4186 מֹשָׁב מוֹשָׁב môshâb (mo-shawb’); From H3427; a seat; figuratively a site; abstractly a session; by extension an abode (the place or the time); by implication population: – assembly, dwell in, dwelling (-place), wherein (that) dwelt (in), inhabited place, seat, sitting, situation, sojourning.
There are a variety of pronunciations listed. But “shav” is “seat”. So, figuratively, moshav is a site where you sit or where your seat is.
Well, if we take the people who sit (the population) and they are dwelling in and inhabiting a certain place, we have what is called a moshav, or a community.
H3427 יָשַׁב yâshab (yaw-shab’);A primitive root; properly to sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication to dwell, to remain; causatively to settle, to marry: – (make to) abide (-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell (-ing), ease self, endure, establish, X fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit (-ant), make to keep [house], lurking, X marry (-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set (-tle), (down-) sit (-down, still, -ting down…
This is the place where our people are settling in. That is a moshav. We see a second witness to this in Exodus chapter thirteen, verse seven.
Shemote (Exodus) 13:7
7 “Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters [gevulecha, borders, boundaries].”
Another word here is “gevulecha”, meaning boundaries or borders. Yahweh is really saying that no leaven shall even be seen among us. No false doctrine and no sin is to even be seen among us in all of our borders (boundaries) or else we are to be cut off. To know this, we come to one of our favorite books, Strong’s Hebrew Concordance.
H1366 גְּבֻל גְּבוּל gebûl (gheb-ool’); From H1379; properly a cord (as twisted), that is, (by implication) a boundary; by extension the territory inclosed: – border, bound, coast, X great, landmark, limit, quarter, space.
By implication, we are talking about the chord we use to mark our boundaries. And by extension, this is the territory within our boundaries, meaning, of the land of Israel. What Yahweh is saying is that no leaven (no sin, no false doctrine) is even to be seen among us in all of our borders, all of our boundaries, anything that pertains to our communities, anything that pertains to the places that we inhabit and where we dwell. There should be no leaven, no sin, and no false doctrine for, as a minimum, seven days. And, of course, hopefully for much longer than that.
H1379 גָּבַל gâbal (gaw-bal’); A primitive root; properly to twist as a rope; only (as a denominative from H1366) to bound (as by a line): – be border, set (bounds about).
We are not even supposed to see sin or false doctrine anywhere our people dwell. That is what Yahweh is really going for, that is what He wants to see.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:24-25
24 “And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and to your sons forever.”
25 “It will come to pass, when you come to the land which Yahweh will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.”
We are supposed to keep Chag HaMatzot and become purer year by year so that one day when we come back to the land of Israel, there will not be sin or false doctrine. Because we have been practicing being leaven-free year by year up until that time.
Now, the Pesach meal is eaten on the first day of unleavened bread, in the evening starting the first day of unleavened bread.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:48-49
48 “And when a stranger [Ephraimite] dwells with you and wants to keep the Pesach to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49 One Torah shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
Now, this is important. Yahweh says that there is not going to be a difference between native-born Jews and returning gentiles (Ephraimites). There is one standard that applies to all. The reason we mention it here is that this applies to the Pesach meal itself eaten on the night starting the first day of unleavened bread. However, we are not certain, but we do not believe it applies to the rest of the feast of unleavened bread.
One thing that happens is when there are Christians that hear how the Last Supper was held after the form of a Passover Seder and so they get curious. And they want to see what a Passover seder is like because they believe they want to see what the Last Supper was like. Somebody gives them this rote, traditional seder that has nothing to do with what Yeshua did on the Last Supper, but they have heard that, so they want to come to partake of the Pesach with us.
The problem is that they cannot. Because the Pesach is supposed to be what might be called a “closed feast”. In order to attend the Pesach, all of the males in the household need to be physically circumcised. If you have questions on that, we talk about this all throughout our works. For a good place to start, I would recommend the study “Making Sense of Circumcision”, in Nazarene Israel Scripture Studies, Volume Three. In that study, we show why all males will need to be circumcised. So, Pesach is closed. We do not need a bunch of tourists at the Pesach. And if you want to hold a training seder or something like that, that is a fine thing you can do for evangelization purposes. But the Pesach itself is a very serious time of reflection and prayer, praying from the heart to Yahweh. It should not be held in the manner of a rote, modern Passover seder. The Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) is an open feast and anyone from the nation can come. But the Pesach meal itself is a serious time of prayer and being with Yahweh.
Now, the Last Supper does not change the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As we saw in our study on “The Last Supper”, the Last Supper was not the Pesach. Rather, the Last Supper was the night before the Pesach. Because of that, the Last Supper does not have anything to say about the Pesach. It does not change the Pesach; it does not change the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If you would like more information on that, please see the earlier chapter on “The Last Supper”.
We know that the disciples continued to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Pesach.
Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 5:7-8
7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened (ἄζυμος). For indeed Mashiach, our Pesach, was sacrificed for us.
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread (ἄζυμος) of sincerity and truth.
Shaul is talking about a spiritual change that needs to take place in us. And here he is using the Greek word for unleavened bread, adzumos (ἄζυμος).
But we should really talk about leaven and about what leaven is in Scripture. We know what leaven is. Today, we can go to the supermarket, and we can buy it in packets, we can buy it in jars, this kind of a thing. But what is leaven in Scripture and what does it mean in Scripture? How do we get rid of this leaven? And what is leaven symbolic of, what does leaven represent?
Well, we are going to see that leaven is symbolic of sin, as well as false doctrine, and that we need to get rid of these things. That is the main point behind the prophetic shadow picture.
H7603 שְׂאֹר śe’ôr (seh-ore’); From H7604; barm or yeast cake (as swelling by fermentation): – leaven.
H7604 שָׁאַר shâ’ar (shaw-ar’); A primitive root; properly to swell up, that is, be (causatively make) redundant: – leave, (be) left, let, remain, remnant, reserve, the rest.
Basically, leaven has bacteria, and the bacteria eats the sugars, either of the crushed grapes or of the grains. And the bacteria give off gas which is what leavens (raises) the bread. That is how leaven works.
Wikipedia tells us a little bit more about what barm is.
Barm is the foam or scum formed on the top of a fermenting liquid, such as beer, wine, [1] or feedstock for spirits or industrial ethanol distillation. It is used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liquor. Barm, as a leaven, has also been made from ground millet combined with must out of wine-tubs [2] and is sometimes used in English baking as a synonym for a natural leaven (sourdough)….
(From Wikipedia.)
We see that barm is the foam or scum formed on the top of a fermenting liquid, such as beer or wine. (Yuck!) Barm has a leavening agent, it is a leavening action, and it is sometimes used in English baking as a synonym for natural baking. Basically, we are talking about sourdough starter. Now, sourdough starter is a very healthy way to eat your bread. The fermentation process helps break things down in a way that the body can digest it much easily. But still, avoid it during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
[3] Various [leavening] cultures derived from barm, usually Saccharomyces cerevisiae, became ancestral to most forms of brewer’s yeast [beer and wine] and baker’s yeast [bread and baking] currently on the market.
(From Wikipedia.)
In simple, plain language, barm (the floating scum you have on the top of beer or wine) is the ancestor both of brewer’s yeast, which is what they use to make beer or wine, and also of baker’s yeast, which is what they use to bake bread. And since the barm is the ancestor, you can substitute one for the other. And in fact, just do an internet search for beer bread. You can search for making beer and wine with baker’s yeast, making bread, or baking with brewer’s yeast. You will see there are many recipes. It changes the flavor significantly, but both brewer’s yeast and baker’s yeast can absolutely be used to leaven bread.
Now, for anyone who is making wine or beer, whether commercially, for homebrew, or whatever you are doing, there are some things to be aware of. First, the land of Israel is in the northern hemisphere. In the land of Israel, barley is typically harvested at the start of the harvest year. (There are some places in the northern hemisphere where barley is harvested at the end of the year, but that is a separate subject.) Wine grapes are also typically harvested at the end of the harvest year. I do not know the technical details about making beer and wine. I am a Nazarite; I do not drink alcohol. But one way or another, you want to be sure to finish with the barming process before Chag HaMatzot. Especially if you live in the southern hemisphere, where the harvest states are going to be inverted, you are going to need to pay attention to what the dates of Chag HaMatzot are in the land of Israel and be sure to conclude any kind of a barming process before the feast week.
Most of us are not making homebrew or making beer or wine for a living. Most of us just want to know how we deleaven our homes, what the Scriptural requirements are. “Just tell me what I need to do”, right?
So, the Scriptural requirement is to get rid of anything that can be used to leaven bread. That is going to include yeast, baking soda, baking powder, and also sourdough starter. Sourdough starter is great. I used to eat that as a child. It effectively ferments the grain, and the fermentation process makes it easier to digest. It also gives a certain flavor that a lot of people enjoy. However, not during Chag HaMatzot. Also, we talked about barm and getting rid of any scum from making beer or wine. We will talk about that again.
But for those who just want to know how to deleaven their homes, we know that there are certain foods that typically contain leaven. Some of them are easy to spot, such as breads, muffins, and pizza crust. Most cereals are leavened because it makes things light, fluffy, and easy to crunch. You might think flatbread is not really raised; it is flat. But most of your flatbreads do also contain leaven. Most of your crackers contain leaven. Tortilla shells, taco shells, pita breads, flatbreads, those all typically contain leaven.
Some dog and cat foods also contain active yeast. That is important if you have a kosher dog or cat. If you want your dog or cat to be kosher, time to throw that food out.
You also have many foods that you might not suspect of having leaven. Some ice creams contain leaven, batter on fish sticks contains leaven, there are also some canned soups that have leaven. Either they will add the leaven to the canned soup to make it taste good, or especially if you have noodles. Quite often the noodles can be leavened.
The main thing is that leaven can hide in places you really do not expect. So, check the ingredients, and check both your freezer and your pantry. Check all of your food. If you have not done that before the Pesach, a very good day to do that is on the first day of unleavened bread.
What it all comes down to is that if any leavening agent can be used to make bread rise, we need to get rid of it, get out of our houses, and make sure we do not eat it for seven days. However, if it cannot be used to make bread rise, we might not need to remove it from our properties. Now, I do not know all the details on this. But if you have bottled beer or bottled wine, it may have yeast or some yeast residue in it. However, it cannot be used to make bread rise because it does not have that same barm. Remember, it is the barm and anything that can be used to make bread rise that we are trying to get rid of. Forgive me if I do not know the technical details on that. I do not drink.
Well, about the rabbis. I hope I will say this respectfully, I do not mean to laugh. But the rabbis give several technical recommendations for Pesach that we advise you to completely ignore. The German/European Ashkenazi tradition, in particular, prohibits any food that contains chametz. How do they define chametz? The rabbis define chametz as any leavened bread (which is fine) or as anything else that is made with wheat, barley, oats, spelt, or rye. In other words, you cannot have pearled barley, you cannot have boiled rye. They do not permit that because it might “get leavened” somehow.
The Ashkenazic tradition also prohibits what they call kitnivot. And that is anything that looks like those grains. This includes rice, corn, soy, millet, peas, almost all legumes, almost all beans, or anything deriving from those products. Because someone might mistake that as being from those prohibited chametz grains. Rabbis like to make their own rules. They also prohibit anything deriving from those products, such as corn syrup, tofu, soy, oil, sesame seeds, sesame seed oil, fennel, peanuts (technically a legume), and those types of things. We recommend ignoring that. And I say that with respect, but we are to speak the truth in love.
There are some other recommendations the rabbis make. We simply cannot support them on these things. Different rabbis have different rules. But some of the rabbinical rules advise throwing out any household products that contain baking soda. There are certain laundry detergents and certain toothpastes that contain baking soda. For example, Arm and Hammer makes a fine detergent. They also make a good toothpaste. The rabbis say to throw those out. They are adding what they call fence laws to the Torah. They are trying to add additional rules to the Torah so that you do not accidentally break Yahweh’s Torah. You may think, “Well, okay. Good reason, right?” But it is not okay. Because Yahweh strictly prohibits us from adding or taking away from His word in multiple places.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:2
2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim which I command you.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:32
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
Not to be cheeky, but why do you not just throw out all the food? And just fast or eat only unleavened bread for seven days? Do you know what I mean? The problem is it is no longer Yahweh’s Torah if we add or take away. Now it becomes our Torah. And Yahweh does not like that.
Why do we need to throw out the toothpaste? Are we going to be using it to leaven our bread? Are we going to use the laundry detergent to leaven our bread? Enough said.
Now, there are some health supplements that you should be aware of. Some anti-cholesterol supplements such as Red Yeast Rice and also Brewer’s Yeast that have a good health benefits. Some people also like to add yeast to their popcorn. While I have never seen anyone take a brewer’s yeast tablet or a veggie capsule, crush it, and use it to leaven their bread, the problem is that they are able to leaven food. And Yahweh not only says to not eat these things, but He also says for us not to have them anywhere within our borders during the Chag HaMatzot. We cannot do much about the border thing while in the dispersion. However, if you have these products and you do not want to just throw them out, one thing you can do is give them to your neighbors. And when we believe enough in what we are doing that we give these products away, this gives a witness and testimony of our faith. So that we ourselves do not have to partake of them during this time.
Another thing we recommend to completely ignore is the “Rabbinic Kosher for Passover” designation. It would take hours and hours to explain, and we do not have the time. I am not interested. But the rabbis have all kinds of very intricate rules for what matzo can be kosher for Passover but not kosher for the Passover meal, or that are kosher for the Passover meal and for all of Passover, or for matzah that is not kosher for Passover at all. Just forget all that.
Respectively, we recommend focusing instead on eating organic or natural, as much as you can, all year-round. In the 1970s, glysophate was discovered to have herbicidal purposes and was brought to use in agriculture. About ten years ago, people began to become aware that a lot of farmers are using glysophate on their crops. Glysophate (basically, Roundup) is a derivative of Agent Orange and a very serious known carcinogen. The leaves of the plant (as well as the roots) absorb it. And because it enters the crop, it cannot be fully washed away. And because a barley or a wheat field does not all come ripe evenly, due to different conditions and different parts of the field, the farmers have learned to spray the whole field with this Roundup. This kills the plant so that all of the grain ripens uniformly. It melts plants and other carbon-based life forms. The problem is that Agent Orange (Glysophate; Roundup) gets on the grain and cannot be completely washed out. Our recommendation would be to ignore the rabbinical rules because those things completely transgress Yahweh’s commandments and focus on organic. If you cannot get organic, at least try to get natural. That would be our recommendation.
Now, here is a photo of an Israeli supermarket with leaven products concealed for Pesach. This is the rabbinic interpretation of when Yahweh says, “Let no leaven be seen within your borders“. They are going to just cover it up, they put up plastic, a tarp, or whatever they put up. You can go into the stores, and you will see ice creams, breads, crackers, cookies, also canned goods, anything that has leaven they are going to cover it up. The problem is that this does not fulfill the requirement to remove it from our borders. This leaven is still within our settlements, so we are not fulfilling the requirement here.
A word to the wise is sufficient. I am trying to be respectful. Another rabbinical ruling is about their Pesach cleaning which is very difficult and very different. We do not understand the point. We do not have anything against a good deep cleaning. Cleanliness is a very good thing. But because our Orthodox brothers do not have the same Spirit that we are blessed with and have a different spirit, our Orthodox brothers try to remove every molecule of leaven from their homes, but then they leave them in the grocery store and just cover them up. Again, it does not make sense. Why do you not just cover your home up? Just throw a bunch of tarps around your home and then you do not have to clean it.
When they fled Egypt, they did so in haste. They were in so much of a hurry that there was not any time to do a deep scouring on their homes. There was no time to do a deep Passover cleaning. So, what are we doing here? We are trying to scour our homes so we can hand them over to Paro (Pharaoh)? What is the point? Again, we do not have anything against a deep cleaning. If you want to do a deep cleaning that is a very good thing. But just do not add rules to Yahweh’s Torah, do not make up your own rules and put Yahweh’s name on them. Yahweh does not like that. Again, we advise you to beware of the leaven or the rabbinical rulings.
Something else that is rabbinical that we get a lot of requests for is to issue our own Passover seder service. Specifically, we get a request for what is called the Pesach (Passover) Haggadah, which is basically a booklet that you can follow that tells you exactly, page by page, how to conduct the Pesach. We believe we get these requests because a lot of people look at the Messianic, Jews, and rabbis. And they see these Passover seder booklets and the Pesach Haggadah service, and they are aware that the Last Supper was held in a similar fashion to a modern Pesach seder. And so they figure that since they are using a Haggadah booklet today, they should as well. The problem is that the Pesach Haggadah is literally a rote script and Yeshua was never in favor of rote prayers or scripts. He was always in favor of praying from the heart.
In our studies on the ancient synagogue service (see Beit Knesset Leader’s Guide) and our study on “The Last Supper”, we see that the Last Supper was very much unscripted. We see Yeshua making long prayers at the Last Supper. Yeshua was always in favor of praying from the heart and never rote prayers. That is what we should also do. Yeshua never had anything good to say about rote prayers or those who prayed in that fashion.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:7
7 “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
For Yeshua to use the word heathen, He is talking about those who were trying to introduce rote prayers. Because when you pray and hold a service by rote, where is the function of the heart? It flies out the window, it walks out the door. Yeshua was always in favor of praying by heart. Something very important to Yeshua should be very important to us also.
Another reason we do not want to issue a Pesach Haggadah (Passover booklet) is that Yahweh gives us His own Pesach Haggadah, right there in the text. Yahweh tells us what to do, how to do it, when to do it, the whole thing. Let us take a look.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:8, 11
8 “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night [1ULB]; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”
11 “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is Yahweh’s Passover.”
We do not want to add or take away anything from Yahweh’s words. Because Yahweh tells us very clearly not to add and not to take anything away from His word. Elsewise, it is no longer His word, but rather our own word. And that is to be effectively setting ourselves up in the demigod role. Not a good thing to do, Yahweh does not like that.
Now, we saw earlier that the feasts, the new moon days, and the Sabbaths are all prophetic shadow pictures of things that are still to come. The question is, what are we rehearsing? Speaking to those of us who are Jewish believers in Yeshua, living in the land of Israel, Yeshua tells us what to do in Matthew chapter twenty-four.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:15-16
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘Abomination of Desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the set-apart place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…”
This means that if we are living in the land of Israel, then we will need to flee the land of Israel when the Abomination of Desolation is set up. As we spoke of in other places, that takes place during the second half of the tribulation. So, if you live in the land of Israel, you should rehearse fleeing. That means eating the Pesach meal in haste.
Conversely, for those of us on the Ephraimite side of the house or for those Jews who are presently sojourning in the dispersion, there will come an event called the Second Exodus.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 52:12
12 “For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For Yahweh will go before you, And the Elohim of Israel will be your rear guard.”
We know that we are not going to flee in that time, so is it really necessary to eat in haste, or can we spend more time praying? Again, the all-important question is, what are we rehearsing? What are we getting ready to do? If you are living inside the land of Israel, you should be eating in haste because you are rehearsing fleeing the land of Israel when the Abomination that Makes Desolate is set up. Then you will be dwelling with the rest of us outside the land of Israel, in the dispersion. And at that point in time, we will need to rehearse going home to the land of Israel, but not in haste. Because Yahweh says, “You shall not go out in haste or go by flight”.
So, as we spoke about in the study on the chapter on “The Melchizedekian Pesach”, when we are outside the land of Israel, yes, we are rehearsing leaving. But no, we are not rehearsing fleeing. We are not going to eat the Pesach in haste. We are going to spend more time praying from the heart, just like Yeshua spent more time praying from the heart during the Last Supper. That would be our recommendation.
The next question that arises is about what the symbolism is behind the bitter herbs.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:14
14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
The general consensus is that the bitter herbs are there to remind us of the bitterness of our slavery in Egypt. Scripture does not tell us which bitter herbs. That is probably by design because Scripture is for everyone all over the world in every nation. Every tribe, tongue, family, and clan are now heir to salvation in Messiah Yeshua should they choose to accept it. There are a lot of different herbs all over the world. We do not know what the list is, but they should be bitter herbs for the Pesach.
If you do an internet search, there are some traditional herbs suggested that we feel are more appropriate for children. Celery seed, parsley, and romaine lettuce are really much too mild for adults. Those do not call to mind the bitterness of slavery and the hard bondage in all manner of work in the field, mortar, and brick. There are some western herbs that are more bitter. For example, horseradish, coriander, thyme, dandelion root, marigold greens, and cumin. Black cumin is very good for the health. The saying is that it is the cure for everything but death. I do not know about that, but it is extremely good for the health. There is also hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis). We know that they had hyssop at the time of the first Pesach. Avoid the oil because the oil gets too concentrated. But hyssop itself is a very good bitter herb.
There are some other things we can recommend if you happen to have a health-food store around you. mugwort, horehound, and endive are all bitter. Burdock root is very bitter and also good for the kidneys and liver. The same thing can be said of yellow dock root and dandelion roots. Very good for the kidneys and liver. Also, rue and wormwood are very bitter and good for the stomach. Bitters are typically good for the stomach. And for those of you who want the bitterest herb, the bitterest herb I know of is horse chestnut. That is an extremely bitter herb. I do not believe it is appropriate for children. If you are an adult and you want to do something extremely bitter, you could try horse chestnut. But that might be for those of us who want to really appreciate just how bitter slavery was in Egypt for 430 years. One disclaimer. Check with your natural medical doctor if you have any medical concerns. Herbs are very powerful. They should be safe for most people, but if you have medical concerns, please check with your medical doctor.
Let us talk about the symbolism of leaven. what is it that we are really doing here? Are we just following a bunch of rules, just because we have to? Or what are we actually trying to do? Well, one of the things we learned from reading Yeshua’s words is that leaven is symbolic of false doctrine and false doctrine is sinful. We want to avoid false doctrine however we can. And this is a bigger problem than people might think in the Messianic, Ephraimite, and Two-House movements.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 16:6
6 Then Yeshua said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees [Orthodox rabbis] and the Sadducees [Karaites].”
Here, Yeshua is talking about the Orthodox rabbis and the Karaites. He is clearly telling us to avoid their false doctrine. It is not good for you; you are going to get misled somehow or other. You are going to stumble and fall. But some things do not change much. His disciples did not understand, they did not get it.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 16:11-12
11 “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven [false doctrine] of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees [Orthodox rabbis] and Sadducees [Karaites].
This is a bigger problem than people give it credit for. We have been talking about this for a long time and we are going to talk about it for a while more. Because there are a lot of people who are not truly understanding the dangers of following the rabbinic and the Karaite doctrines. These are stumbling blocks. They are alternate positions that do not lead to Yeshua’s kingdom. So, it is very important that we avoid them.
We have a lot of what might be called “interfaith” ministries here in the end times. We have interfaith new moon and barley inspection teams; we have Christian evangelicals setting up all kinds of interfaith activities with brother Judah. And brother Judah is very happy to let us play along into that trap. Just as the Roman Catholic church has their ecumenical movement, the purpose of which is to get all the churches to come back in under the Catholic Pope (with many agreements already having been signed), there is also what you might call the New World Order, which is hosting its interfaith efforts with Messianic, Ephraimites, evangelical Christians, and all these other groups. And the purpose of these interfaith groups is to first form a relationship with you. And they will typically tell you that you need to form a relationship with some real, genuine Jews. But they are really trying to form a close relationship with you in order to turn you away from first, the correct doctrine, and then away from Yeshua. They are going to try and be friends with you to get you to value your friendship more than you value service to your Master and King, and especially His doctrine. Once you step away from the doctrine of Yeshua, it is just one more step of stepping away from Yeshua. Because you have already taken one step off the cliff at that point.
Marqaus (Mark) 8:15
15 Then [Yeshua] charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Yeshua also warns us against the leaven of Herod. You may ask, “What is that?” “I have never heard of that…” or, “I remember reading about that, but I did not understand, what is that?”
If we have ears to hear and are willing to accept it, the leaven of Herod would basically be politically based efforts to bring about redemption for the nation. If you are following a political leader and looking for salvation, redemption, or upbuilding of the nation (meaning, you are following a human leader as opposed to following Yahweh), placing your trust in man and in princes, that is basically what the leaven of Herod is.
We come to Wikipedia, and we see that Herod the Great was a Roman, client king. (In other words, a vassal, and a puppet.) His time is referred to as the Herodian Kingdom. Herod the Great is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. If you have ever taken a look at the before and after diagrams of the second temple which was constructed in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, it was originally this tiny second temple. Then it was expanded into the big, sprawling complex that Herod the Great had put up, as a vassal, puppet king of the Romans. He also expanded the Temple Mount towards the north, enclosed the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, constructed a port at Caesarea Maritima, and built a fortress at both Masada and Herodium.
…Herod the Great, was a Roman client king of Judea,[3][4][5] referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of the Temple Mount towards its north, [6] the enclosure around the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima, the fortress at Masada, and Herodium.
(From Wikipedia.)
He was very popular among the Jewish people because of all these things he did for the Jewish nation, all that wonderful work. Despite the fact that he tried to kill Yeshua and succeeded in killing a very large number of small children. “But wow! Look at all the things he did for our nation! We are going to overlook the negatives, like trying to kill Yeshua and succeeding in killing the children.”
Can we perhaps look to a political leader in modern times? One who brings about a political solution to what might be considered a religious problem? And people look to this prince as opposed to trusting in Yahweh?
Well, also from Wikipedia, for one example among many, we have the Abraham Accords. The Abraham Accords was a joint statement between the state of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and also the United States. It was reached on August 13th, 2020. Subsequently, the term was also expanded to refer to other agreements, such as the ones between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and between Israel and Bahrain. So, there was a normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel and there was also a normalization agreement between Bahrain and Israel. A political solution to what might be termed as a religious problem. And a much-celebrated political leader who is held highly and adored by the people. The people think great things of him. But notice some very strange, interesting things in the following picture.
Here you have former President Trump, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud laying hands on an illuminated globe. Very interesting. That is one example among many. Do people understand that they are seeking a New World Order and that the New World Order is effectively an interfaith faith? And it calls for certain adjustments, allowances, tolerance, and compromise issues in the faith. What that means is, instead of following Yeshua’s doctrine, we are now compromising on Yeshua’s doctrine. And is that not the definition of Babylon? People need to beware of interfaith ministries. You have to be smarter than Satan if you do not want to get tripped up by him. They have plenty of interfaith ministries going on in the New World Order.
Yeshua never says to form interfaith faiths. Yeshua never ever, not once does He say to work together with these other groups. In fact, that is contrary to His approach. Yeshua says to focus on His doctrine and His doctrine alone. He says to beware the leaven of the Scribes and the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. If you get the time, I can recommend a very interesting study called, “The Case of the Missing ‘The’“. You can find it in Nazarene Scripture Studies, Volume Three for free on our website.
Luqa (Luke) 18:8
8 “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find [the] faith on the earth?”
In Luqa chapter eighteen, verse eight, most versions read “will he really find faith on the earth?” Meaning, “Will the Son of Man find devout believers?” But that is not what it says in the source text.
In the source text, it says, “But when the Son of Man comes, will He really find the faith on the earth?” Meaning, will He really find the sect of the Nazarenes that He himself set up? Will He really find people following the doctrine of the sect of the Nazarenes that Yeshua Himself established? Will He really find people walking the way that He walked? He never used interfaith faiths. He told us to beware of the leaven of the Scribes and the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
Well, now that we know that leaven is symbolic of sin (which includes false doctrine), let us take a look again at what we are really trying to do here.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:19
19 “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened [false doctrine], that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger [Ephraimite] or a native of the land [Israeli-born Jew].”
Shemote chapter twelve, verse nineteen tells us that, for seven days, no leaven (meaning no sin, no false doctrine) shall be found in our houses or anywhere in our borders. Because whoever eats what is leavened (or whoever partakes of false doctrine) will be cut off from the congregation of Israel. (Probably during the tribulation period). And this is going to happen whether he is a stranger (think Ephraimite, returning gentile) or a native of the land (Israeli-born, Jewish believer in Yeshua). Is not Yahweh really saying here that if we partake of false doctrine, we are going to be cut off, perhaps during the tribulation period? And if that is so, then should we not take special care to avoid false doctrine for those seven days? And in fact, why stop at just seven days?
Well, for those who find that question interesting, I would like to recommend two more resources to you, both of which are on the Nazarene Israel website. Go to the studies tab (on the right side of the page) and then find the Nazarene Israel Passover Study and go to the final two sections. The first of these is on “Ancient Circumcision”. Now, this is for information only. But we believe we understand how it was that Avraham could become physically circumcised using a different procedure than the one they used today. Today the procedure they use for newborn males is extremely invasive and cuts away a lot of flesh. Without modern treatment, there is an extreme risk of infection and also an extreme risk of bleeding. These things could be very dangerous for a man who is well along in his years. We show in this study that we believe there is another way that has far less risk of bleeding and far less risk of infection, particularly in a desert environment. We post this for those of you who may live in a place where males are not circumcised on the eighth day so that you know what to do if circumcision is not common where you are. However, we advise this for information only. And if you choose to have that procedure done, please have it done by a qualified medical professional.
The other section, the last chapter in the Nazarene Israel Passover Study, is for your dining pleasure. We have a plethora of unleavened bread recipes, so, if you do not have access to organic (or at least natural) matzah but you have access to natural grains, you can make your own unleavened breads. You can make a lot of very delicious unleavened breads and the recipes are all right there.
On that note, I would like to invite you all to join us for Yahweh’s 7-day Chag HaMatzot challenge! You have heard of a 50-day challenge. You have heard of a 40-day challenge. This is Yahweh’s 7-day challenge. And in this seven-day period, He challenges each and every one of us to not partake of any sin, to not eat any food that is leavened, and also to avoid false doctrine for seven days (hopefully longer). Because false doctrine is what will get you cut off from the nation of Israel, probably during the tribulation period. But in order to avoid the false doctrine, first, we need to know what Yeshua’s true doctrine is. We need to know what the original walk was that Yeshua walked. So that we can imitate Him.
Yahweh’s 7-Day Chag HaMatzot Challenge!
• Do not partake of any sin.
• Do not eat any food that is leavened.
• Avoid false doctrine.
And in that, the Nazarene Israel website stands ready to help you. So, happy reading! And please join us for Yahweh’s 7-day Chag HaMatzot challenge. We hope that Chag HaMatzot: How to Celebrate has blessed you.