When we observe the commandments of God, we are like the flatbread: nothing added, nothing taken out. In this discussion on the Torah reading Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1-13:16), we learn are not to add to God’s commandments and we are not to treat any traditions we keep on the same level as God’s commandments. Matzot gives you life but it also give you some affliction and difficulty. God’s mitzvot are the same, they give us life but they also bring some difficulty to life.
Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread all about “getting sin of your life”? Is that the only message here? I’d submit to you that there’s much more. It is where the Father, the Creator, has placed you. He has placed you in the world, in the place where He wants you to be. It’s not just the “bread of affliction” but also the “bread of hope.”
We are to be “unleavened” — clear, transparent and easy to see, i.e., not “actors” a.k.a. hypocrites. And the community we worship in is also supposed to be clear, transparent and easy to understand in all matters of our lives.
Matzah is the culinary focus of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we eat it every day for seven days. That’s the physical reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, if we aren’t careful, we can miss the spiritual reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Just as matzah’s simple mixture of flour and water (with no salt, leavening or seasonings added) is a “back to basics” food, on a spiritual level, God is calling us to get back to the basics of sincerity and truth in our spiritual life, too. If we miss out on sincerity and truth, all we get out of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is constipation.
Passages discussed.: 1st Corinthians 11; Exodus 13; 1st Corinthians 5; Matt. 16:1-12; 2nd Tim. 2:18-21.
Today is the 15th day of the first month, also called Aviv in the Bible. We are continuing our “Journey To the 10” which is the retelling of the journey from Egypt to Sinai.
Today is the 15th day of the first month of God’s year (Exodus 12). We are continuing our “Journey To the 10” which is the retelling of the journey from Egypt to Sinai. This discussion explores the meaning of leaven that God wants believers to remove from their lives.
The exile of the Israelites in the land of Egypt comes to a climatic end with the 10th plague — the death of the firstborn — and the first Passover, or Pesakh in Hebrew.
It’s no coincidence God frees Petros (Peter) from jail during Passover/Unleavened Bread, which even at that time was understood to be a removing of “sourness” from one’s life. In Acts 12, the “leaven” of Herod and of the leaders was shown to be “spoiling” Israel.