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The Bible speaks of Heavenly shalom — translated often as “peace” — not just an absence of conflict, but an establishment of goodness and reconciliation. It’s about not just doing what is right, but also loving what is right.
Similarly, the seven-day Chag Matzot (Festival of Unleavened bread) is an annual memorial of and spiritual reflection on our redemption, reformation and restoration into the Kingdom of God.
Soon after humanity God specifically told Cain that sin was “crouching” at his heart’s door, waiting to pounce on him as he seethed over Heaven’s rejection of his half-hearted offering. God told Cain that he could master it, that he didn’t have to let it in. Unfortunately, Cain did not listen to God’s warning. (Gen. 4:3–8)
Adam had to be persuaded to sin; Cain could not be dissuaded from sinning, even by God himself.
G.J. Wenham, Genesis, New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition; ed. D.A Carson et al; (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 63.
Similarly, we can “master” the sin in our lives if we are careful about what we open our heart’s door. We have the choice to either open the door to our own malice or open the door to Yeshua (Jesus) (Rev. 3:20).
Israel’s first celebration of the Passover in the Promised Land happened on the west bank of the Yarden (Jordan River) near Yericho (Jerico). Unlike Cain, Rahab didn’t have a direct encounter with God, coming from one of the people Heaven was going to remove from the Promised Land. Yet she heard the testimony of what God did for the Israelites in Egypt and choose to open her doors to the Israelite spies, gave them shelter and placed her allegiance in their God, rejecting the gods she had been raised to worship. (Josh. 2:9–13)
As a recap of the object lesson of Israel’s Tabernacle: When we approach God, we must change as we go towards Him because He is holy, is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, while we are His creation. The practical parable of the Tabernacle includes concentric circles of increasing separateness — holiness. Just as the mountain had a boundary around it, so too the Tabernacle sections had boundaries around it.
God planted His home in the midst of His people — where He desired to be. He took them out of bondage in Egypt to the mountain, where they learned His commandments, including the “big 10” on the tablets. Moses saw the presence and he was given the pattern for the Tabernacle as the dwelling place of God, so that His presence could move from the mountain into the Tabernacle and go with the people wherever they traveled.
Circumcision and unleavened bread are about hitting the reset button on how we lived before and a newness of life. Circumcision “rolls back the reproach of Egypt” (Joshua 5–6). Egypt was the literal breadbasket and the original beer culture, so by eating unleavened bread rather than the leaven of Egypt, the ancient Israelites were living an object lesson of separating themselves culturally from Egypt, not just physically.
The generation who were not allowed to go into the Promised Land was the generation who were over 20 years old, of military age. The ones who died in the desert were those who believed the 10 spies who refused to believe that God would fight their battle for them. Because they refused to believe in God’s promises, they were not allowed to live in the land of promise.
What is a ‘festival’?
The Hebrew word often translated as “festival” — chag/khag — communicates not just a time of pilgrimage, but also a time of moving together in a cycle. The annual course of the festivals connect thematically to each other in sequence. So when we start the cycle again, in this cycle, we can see where we have come, where we have experienced growth. We examine ourselves to see if we are still dragging the old man with us or have we released the old man and allowed the new man to grow? We are called to go around and also to grow up.
Leave your place of bondage quickly
This instruction to fleeing quickly, not hesitating, sounds similar to Yeshua’s instruction in Matthew 24 for fleeing Yerushaliym when it is surrounded.
Another example is Lot’s wife. She hesitated to leave the cesspool of Sodom and paid a steep price for her reluctance to flee the wicked city.
The descendants of Israel and the people of the nations are invited to come to God — but only if they are willing to be transformed into the image of the Messiah. That’s a key lesson of the Tabernacle/Temple. Both the native-born and the “mixed multitude” who came out of Egypt and came to Sinai had a front-row seat and received the bounty of Heaven, just as when Yeshua fed the 5,000 (12 baskets of leftovers = Israel) and the 4,000 (seven baskets = 70 nations = the world). He can feed to overflowing both the “native born” and the gentiles, but both communities must be willing to be transformed by God, not to assume they are good enough on our own.
The Hebrew verb form of matzah means “to squeeze out,” “to drain dry.” That is the object lesson of bringing unleavened gifts to God that are “drained” of sourness and decay. We have to be willing to let go of our inflated view of ourselves.
Malice & wickedness vs. sincerity & truth
“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
Matthew 12:43–45 NASB
Yeshua’s parable of a man with an unclean spirit is a warning to us. When we are dealing with our own “house of bondage,” when we clean our hearts of what’s unclean, we then have to fill our heart up with something better. Otherwise, if we leave it empty, it will be filled up by something even worse than what was cleaned out. Like God’s created order, our hearts abhor a vacuum.
That’s key to the “teachable moment” of choosing the unleavened food over the tasty leavened (1Cor. 5:7–8). Here’s what the outgrowth of a life progressing toward “malice and wickedness” is:
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:28–32 NASB
The Pharisees’ Hebrew name, פְּרוּשִׁים P’rushim, means “separated ones.” What were they separating themselves from? They were very scrupulous about separating themselves from any gentile influence.
“And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matthew 16:5–12 NASB
Although it seems Yeshua was quite critical of them, not all Pharisees were sworn enemies of Yeshua. Many of them, including Gamaliel, Paul’s teacher, and Nicodemus were open-minded enough to look to see what fruit came from Messiah’s ministry.
Israel in the first four centuries B.C. had learned some hard lessons from the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Leading up to the exiles, they were far too willing to mix in the traditions of the nations and worshiped their false gods. The remnant who returned flipped to the opposite extreme and developed rules about fellowship with gentiles.
Summary: Tammy