What Is The Feast of Unleavened Bread?
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a holy feast celebrated from the 15th through the 21st day of the first month of every year by the people of God. During these seven days, the children of Israel cease from eating anything with leaven, like baked goods with yeast or baking soda, and remove these food items from our homes. On the first and last days of the feast, we come together for holy convocation and celebration!
Background
The Feast of Unleavened Bread follows the Passover. Like the Passover, this feast is a memorial to Yahawah’s mighty deliverance of the children of Israel from their hard bondage in the land of Egypt. For seven days, the Israelites are commanded to offer a burnt sacrifice before The Most High, from the males of the firstlings of their flocks, but to redeem their firstborn sons. In other words, to sacrifice an unblemished, male lamb in its first year of life, and present their firstborn sons before Yahawah as the redeemed. This practice helps us to remember how Yahawah smote the firstborn males of every Egyptian family and of all flocks belonging to the Egyptians, but spared the firstborn of the nation of Israel of unblemished lambs spread on their doorposts.
“And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.“
— Exodus 12:17
Significance and Symbolism
The practices surrounding the Feast of Unleavened Bread represent more than just the history of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. By not eating leavened foods and purging these foods and all leaven from our homes for a week, we are reminded of the humility and self examination that it takes to follow Christ. Leaven represents anything that “puffs up”. Without leaven, bread lays flat. This can be compared to pride in the spiritual sense. A prideful person is “puffed up”, or full of themselves…they are full of leaven! But there is no room for a person like this in Christ’s ministry, or his kingdom.
Just as the Israelites made haste to leave Egypt the morning after the tenth plague took place, having no time to pack leaven for their journey, we as believers have to make haste to follow our Savior wherever he leads, without hesitation. This requires us to leave certain things behind, including our spiritual leaven – our pride. And in the same way that we remove the leaven from our homes, and leave it out for the entire week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when we remove the spiritual leaven from ourselves, we have to leave it out…in other words, don’t seek it again.
Observance
Every feast we keep unto The Most High should be fun, and bring us together! They are celebrations after all. But because these are holy feasts, there are some guidelines we must follow, so that Yahawah and Yahawashi (Christ) are always the main focus of these gatherings.
To keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread:
- Observe from the 15th through the 21st day of the first month
- Have holy convocation (gather together in worship) on the first and last days of the feast. Treat them as sabbath days, doing no servile work. Cooking is allowed on these days though.
- Remove leaven and leavened foods from your home. Do not eat them, or even be seen with them for the seven days of the feast.
- If you can, eat roasted lamb (not boiled or put in any kind of liquid), bitter herbs and unleavened bread for each of the seven days of the feast.
- Bring the firstborn sons of the children of Israel before The Most High, as His redeemed.
And with every feast, let us always remember to give praise and thanks for Yahawashi, our Savior and Passover lamb, who is the fulfillment of all the prophecies and promises seen in these commandments given by The Most High!
Scriptures
If you would like to read more on this holy feast for yourself, here are some suggested scriptures:
- Exodus 12:14-20
- Exodus 13:3-16
- Exodus 23:15
- Exodus 34:18
- Leviticus 23:4-8
- Numbers 28:16-25
- 1 Corinthians 5:6-8