Leviticus 23:6-8 NKJV
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no [a]customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’
Which is the longest celebration you have ever been a part of? How long was it, a day or two, maybe three? The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a 7-day feast that happened right after the Passover feast. In their haste to leave Egypt, the children of Israel had no time to put leaven (yeast) to their bread. This bread was eaten with bitter herbs and the lamb that had been slaughtered and they ate it while fully dressed and ready to depart from their place of slavery.
During this 7 day feast, the children of Israel were to do no work except that of preparing their food. They had a solemn assembly on the first and last day of the feast. During the 7 days of the feast, anything that contained leaven was removed from their homes.
In the New Testament, leaven is likened to sin. When it is added to the bread, it becomes one with it and you cannot separate one from another. This is the same case with sin. Once it becomes part of one’s life, you cannot separate it from yourself.
Jesus is the bread of life. The unleavened bread is a symbol of bread that has not been contaminated with sin and that is a representation of Christ. He is the spotless lamb of God without blemish.
The eating of the unleavened bread for 7 days and having nothing with leaven in their homes during that week is a picture of sanctification and living a sin-free life.
The Passover feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread combined take 8 days which can be summed up to represent the sanctification of the believer.
Reflections
- What’s your favorite food and why
- Why do you think the Israelites were required to do no word in the 7 days they celebrated this feast?
- What is some of the leaven (sin) that is a struggle to let go of in your life currently?
