Seven days without leaven

[8thdaypriest]

Exodus 12:15 "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 shall be cut off from Israel" (NRS).

Every small detail of the commands for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread had prophetic meaning.  The lamb, the blood painted on the door, the examination of the lamb from the 10th to the 14th, the bitter herbs, the timing for killing the lamb  - everything. 

I have thought many times about the prohibition against leaven for seven days.  What does it symbolize or prophesy, in the context of Passover?  I can honestly say that I do not understand this one.

At my home, we eat unleavened "bread" for 7 days, beginning on the 15th at sunset, until sunset of the 21st.   Every year I wonder again what it means. 

[JoeMo]

This one has confused me as well.  We studied this in a sermon several weeks ago; and neither the pastor nor anyone in the congregation had a rock-solid answer that could be explicitly backed up with scripture.

We could only come up with 2 potential  (potentially wrong?) answers:

1. They did it as a physical memorial of the haste with which they had to leave Egypt after the Passover.  The Passover meal was also supposed to be eaten with unleavened bread.  Could the Feast of Unleavened Bread just be a memorial of how little time they had to leave - so little time that they couldn't even make dough that could be allowed to rise before baking?
2. Arguably, every time leaven is mentioned in a spiritual sense  in scripture, it represents something sinful.  Every time we have tried to get rid of all leaven in our house, we always have found something with leaven in the week (e.g., an old loaf of bread or leftover cake) - kinda like discovering an unintentional sin.  Could the effort of trying to "eliminate" all the leaven in your house be equivalent to the effort of trying to eliminate all the sin in your life?  If you dig deep enough, you can always find more.

[dgrimm60]

JOEMO ---8thDAYPRIEST

I have  also heard the  leaven  represents  sin  -----  so   maybe  asking the  HOLY  SPIRIT  to  help  removing  the  sins of  our  life's 

is  what  the unleaven  bread  symbolizes 

dgrimm70

 

[8thdaypriest]

17 hours ago, JoeMo said:

This one has confused me as well.  We studied this in a sermon several weeks ago; and neither the pastor nor anyone in the congregation had a rock-solid answer that could be explicitly backed up with scripture.

We could only come up with 2 potential  (potentially wrong?) answers:

1. They did it as a physical memorial of the haste with which they had to leave Egypt after the Passover.  The Passover meal was also supposed to be eaten with unleavened bread.  Could the Feast of Unleavened Bread just be a memorial of how little time they had to leave - so little time that they couldn't even make dough that could be allowed to rise before baking?
2. Arguably, every time leaven is mentioned in a spiritual sense  in scripture, it represents something sinful.  Every time we have tried to get rid of all leaven in our house, we always have found something with leaven in the week (e.g., an old loaf of bread or leftover cake) - kinda like discovering an unintentional sin.  Could the effort of trying to "eliminate" all the leaven in your house be equivalent to the effort of trying to eliminate all the sin in your life?  If you dig deep enough, you can always find more.

Yes!!  Canned soup often has yeast as an ingredient.  So do many frozen dinners.  We have a storage room outside of "the house" - off the garage.  We move everything out there with "yeast" as an ingredient.  Reminds me of putting "sin" in a back room somewhere, where we know we can "find it" again.  hahaha. 

[8thdaypriest]

In the wilderness, the people of Israel did not keep the Passover.  They did not circumcise their boys either, which is why Joshua (Jesus) had to circumcise them AFTER they crossed over Jordan. 

The crossed over Jordan on the 10th of Nissan, which was the day that the Passover lamb was "chosen".  Once they were encamped, the text says that Joshua circumcised the people.  Then they ate the Passover.  The unleavened bread would have been made from manna, because they had no time to harvest or grind grain harvested "in the land".  They were healing from the circumcision. 

At the Feast of Firstfruits, the high priest presented grain harvested "in the land".  THEN the people ate of the fruit of the land. 

If this is prophecy, then we would "cross over" the sky on the 10th of Nissan.  Jesus (Joshua) will circumcise the people.  Our bodies of flesh will be "changed in a moment" to spiritual bodies.  (No down time to heal.)  THEN we will "partake of the Passover" (Jesus) for 7 days.  Paul says, "Christ our Passover was slain for us". 

Now - I believe that Jesus will return in glory - for judgment - on the Day of Atonement.  So how can I ALSO believe that Jesus will translate His redeemed on Nissan 10. 

The 10th of Nissan (10th day - first month) lies directly opposite the calendar (on a circle) from Day of Atonement (10th day - 7th month).  If the earth were to "reel to and fro" as Isaiah describes, it could literally be Spring and Fall on the SAME DAY.  Only 23 degrees of tilt separate Spring and Fall.  Spring and Fall would "overlap" at least for that DAY. 

Yes Joe, I'm the one who pointed this out to CW. 

Once the people of God are safe with Christ (off this earth) THEN - the 7 last plagues will be poured out "in one day". 

On the night of the Passover meal (start of the 15th), the death angel passed over Egypt, killing all the "first born" not protected behind blood stained doors.  I believe the "saints" will be off this earth, and with Christ celebrating the Feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD (15th to 21st)  while the 7 last vial plagues are destroying the kingdom of the "firstborn" (Satan). 

Interesting that Ishmael and Esau (father's of Muslims) were both "firstborn" of their fathers.  Their descendants are children of the "firstborn". 

 

[CherylG]

Here are a few texts to ponder over;

Matthew 16:6    Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.  

Matthew 6:12    Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 

* In these verses the leaven represents doctrine, so Jesus is saying beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Why? because they had wrong/false ideas about certain doctrines

Luke 12:1    In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  

* In this verse Luke calls leaven hypocrisy. In other words; Beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

1 Corinthians 5 gives us some more detail also.

1 Corinthians 5:1    It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you.

* There was sin amongst this group of believers/church

1 Corinthians 5:6    Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  
                      5:7    Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:  
                      5:8    Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.  

* Leaven in dough raises and expands throughout the dough.  Sin was in this church as was likened unto leaven. The leaven of sin if not kept in check, could have moved through the believers.

*For that person to keep the feast (Passover/unleavened bread) who had sinned would have to 1/ Repent and could keep the feast with the believers or ....

*2/  Follows the council in the scriptures:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1 Corinthians 5:11    But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.  
                            5:12    For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?  
                            5:13    But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.  

* 2/ The believers were not to keep company with the sinning persons and were not to eat with that person, in other words they were not to partake of the feast of passover/unleavened bread if they would not repent. They were to put out/away from their company that sinning person.

* As verse 12 says the believers judge persons that are within their church. 

**So leaven can mean, wrong/false doctrine, hypocrisy, all sin.  

  1 John 2:1,2    "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world."  

[8thdaypriest]

Do not eat any leaven for 7 days. 

Will there be a 7 day period, during which we MUST not sin?  Is that 7 days from the "close of probation" to the translation?  Could it be that the "saints" will need to refuse to worship Antichrist, or to accept his "doctrines" for a final period of 7 days? 

[8thdaypriest]

Our pondering - regarding the 7 days without leaven, made me think about the Children of Israel.  For hundreds and hundreds of years, they performed the ceremony - offering animal sacrifices, not knowing the true significance.  They did it because Yahweh had commanded it.