The Leavening Prohibition

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is so named because one of the important elements of this seven day Feast is that no one in Israel is to eat any bread that has leavening in it.  Neither is there to be any leavening agent in all the borders of Israel.  These Scriptures bear that out:

For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Yisrael. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat-- that is all you may do. "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Mitzrayim. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Yisrael, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread." (Shemot 12:15-20).

Then Mosheh said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Mitzrayim, out of the land of slavery, because Yahuwah brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast" (Shemot 13:3).

Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders (Shemot 13:7).

Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Mitzrayim in haste-- so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Mitzrayim.  Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days (Devarim 16:3-4)

With the dough they had brought from Mitzrayim, they baked cakes of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Mitzrayim and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. (Exodus 12:39)

Now, several things need to be said here.  First, it is important that we continue in these rules and ordinances for this Feast.  If we are eating leavened bread then we aren't guarding the Feast.  It is not difficult to understand what leavening is prohibited here.  It is the leavening that is put into dough to make bread rise before it is baked.

Now some traditions still thrive among the Jews and in Messianic communities relating to ridding our dwellings of the leavening agents and leavened bread.  And many Messianics follow suit.  Those who would sell these products to a non-believer with the intent of buying it back after the conclusion of the Feast seem to have forgotten the plain instruction and the evident intention of this law where it says that yeast shall not be seen in your borders.  Any attempt to justify relocating the bread away from the home or selling it with the intention of reclaiming it seems to me to be a defiance against the Almighty.  Let's not play these games thinking we got over on Yahuwah.  He sees all and especially a wicked heart which wants to circumvent His commandment by tricky maneuvers.  The Pharisees got called out and embarrassed by Yahusha when they tried to do these kinds of things.

Next is the question about leavening products found in other foods and drinks.  Especially concerned are some regarding the use of fermented wines during the Festival week.  They are, after all, fermented with a type of leavening.  Are these wines, vinegars and other foods prohibited during the week of Unleavened Bread?  Some would zealously say so as they scour their homes and places of dwelling for every last speck and crumb of bread and every last fermented product.  The commandment does say, "nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders (Shemot 13:7).

It is my studied opinion that it is enough to rid our dwelling places of puffy breads and all leavening agents used to cause bread to rise.  Beyond that, each may have their own opinion about how far to go in getting wines out of their homes.  I think that when we take a bird's eye view of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we will realize that its the bread and the leaven used for bread that is in view here.

The Feast Week is called "Chag HaMatzot" or the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" for a good reason.  We are told that the Israelites hurried out of Egypt and didn't even have time to leaven their bread before they left:

With the dough they had brought from Mitzrayim, they baked cakes of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Mitzrayim and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. (Exodus 12:38)

Thus, the commemoration of this magnificent deliverance requires the participants to eat unleavened bread for the seven days because their ancestors ate unleavened bread when they came out of Egypt.

Again, in Deuteronomy 16, this point is made:

Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Mitzrayim in haste-- so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Mitzrayim. (Devarim 16:3)

It's very clear by the accounts given that the reason for the prohibition of leavened bread is that the nation came out of Egypt but had no time to prepare bread with leavening.  They hurried out of the city.

Nothing is said about leavened wines, drinks, or any other food products in the entire account of the first Pesach.  It's all about the bread!  It's all about remembering what happened there and then.  Therefore, the commandment regarding the leaven applies to the bread, with nothing else in view.  So, we eat unleavened bread for the seven days of the Feast.

When is Pesach to be Observed?

The Scripture instructions are precise regarding the time of Pesach.  Christians base their reckoning of the "Easter" season based upon the first full moon following the spring Equinox.  Thus, the relationship between the position of the sun and moon are the factors.  But the Scripture instructions do not use sun and moon for the calculation.  This is where Christianity is mistaken in their computation of the time of their holidays. These different methods of reckoning account for the frequent difference between "Easter" and Pesach, and between the Rabbinic Pesach and the true, biblical Pesach.

The Scriptures instruct us to reckon the first month of the year to be the (sighted) new moon when the barley in the fields is aviv - that is, having a mature kernel in the bud.  When the new moon appears and the barley is aviv, then it is the month of the Aviv and it becomes the first month of the new year.  When these conditions exist, Yahuwah explains that

this month for you is to be the beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year.  Tell all the congregation of Yisrael, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to the house of their fathers--a lamb for a house.  If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his neighbor who lives nearby are to take a lamb according to the number of people--you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.

Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then all the congregation of the assembly of Yisrael will kill it between the evenings (Shemot 12:2-6).

Thus, on the fourteenth day of the first month (the month of the aviv), all Yisrael is to slaughter the lamb and roast it that evening and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.  There can be no deviation from this appointed time for slaughtering the Pesach lamb.  This point is repeated for emphasis in other places.

"In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep it in accordance with all its rules (Hebrew, chukim) and all its customs (mishpatim)" (Bemidbar 9:3).

This ritual is of such an importance for the life of the one in covenant relationship with Yahuwah that to shun its observance is to reject relationship with the Almighty, and even more importantly, it prompts Yahuwah to reject the non-observant one from the community of Israel. 

For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Yisrael. (Exodus 12:15)

For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Yisrael, whether he is an alien or native-born. (Exodus 12:19)

Therefore, Yahuwah provided a second chance for its observance.  In the event of unforeseen, unintentional circumstances which would prevent the covenantee from participation in this event, a "makeup" time is allowed:

Tell the Israelites, 'If any of you or of your posterity become defiled by reason of a dead body, or be on a journey far away, then he may observe the Pesach to Yahuwah.  They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Pesach (Bemidhbar 9:10-12).

Elohim is thus insuring that all who are sincere in their worship of him can participate in the required Pesach memorial, even if they have been prevented from doing so for reasons beyond their control.

The Confusion Over the Time of the Pesach Meal

There has been confusion and debate regarding the time of the day for the eating of the Pesach.  Some believe that the Pesach lamb was to be eaten during the evening which was the beginning of the 14th of the first month.  Others think that the "evening of the 14th of the first month" refers to the evening following the 14th which is actually the onset of the 15th!  To resolve this conflict, let's examine closely the pertinent Scriptures.

There are several relevant details regarding the Pesach account that help us to pinpoint the precise time that the meal was to be eaten.  First, an understanding of the expression "between the evenings" is essential.  Next, the teaching about 7 days of unleavened bread lends us a clue.  And third, the time of the exodus from Egypt indicates precisely when the meal was eaten.  We will see that each of these three details requires the eating of the Pesach to occur on the evening which follows the 14th (the beginning of the 15th).

Mosheh describes in detail the time of the eating of the Pesach lamb:

The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Yisrael must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast (Shemot 12:5-8).

The lambs were to be kept until the 14th day of the month, and then, "between the evenings" they were to be slaughtered and subsequently roasted over the fire.  What does the phrase "between the evenings" indicate?  What time of day does this occur?

The actual meaning of "evening" or erev in Hebrew supplies us with the needed insight.  Usually translated evening, the Hebrew erev actual means "descent of the sun."  The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament lists the following for our word:

Going down, or descent seem to be the predominant meaning of this word.

There are several popular theories about the meaning of decent.  The first supposes that it indicates the time between sunset and complete darkness.  This is most improbable because all Israel wouldn't have time to slaughter all their animals in so short a space of time.  Another theory supposes that the sunset to start the 14th and the sunset ending the 14th as those evenings being referred to.  This view makes good sense of the text and makes practical sense as well.

Yet a third theory, and one equally possible with the second one above is that which acknowledges two descents of the sun in any given day.  First, when it reaches its summit at midday, then it begins to descend.  This is the first erev.  Then, at sunset, when it descends below the horizon is the second erev.  Thus, the expression, "between the settings (evenings)" may more naturally refer to the time of day between midday and sunset.  This approximately five to six hours of daylight presumably provides enough time for the priests to slaughter all the hundreds of thousands of lambs at the place where Yahuwah's presence dwells.  And, of course, this daylight time has to take place during the daylight hours of the 14th, because the commandment explicitly says so.

As one who fulfilled the prophetic picture of the Pesach lamb, Yahusha was nailed to the tree in the early afternoon on Aviv 14, and died before sunset that same day.  The Fourth Gospel tells us that he was sentenced to death just after the noon hour:

It was the day of Preparation of Pesach Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Yehudim.  But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.  Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Yahusha. (Lazarus [John] 19:14-16)

His death occurred  "between the two settings" which was just before the sun setting.  The time of his death seems to affirm the third view above which left a short space of time for him to be quickly removed from the tree and wrapped and buried in the tomb before the second descent of the sun (at sunset). 

The second detail of the textual testimony which will lead us to an understanding of the correct time of the Pesach has to do with the duration of time when Israel was to eat unleavened bread.

For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to Yahuwah.  Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.  On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what Yahuwah did for me when I came out of Egypt.'  This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of Yahuwah is to be on your lips. For Yahuwah brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.  You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year. (Shemot 13:6-10)

The evening of the 14th day of the first month, which is the evening following the daylight hours of the 14th, is, in Hebrew time reckoning, the beginning of the 15th day of the month.  Thus, though the lamb was slaughtered and prepared on the 14th of the month, it's roasting continued into the night, which was the beginning of the 15th, and wasn't actually eaten until nighttime.  Then, along with unleavened bread (and thus the onset of the Feast of Unleavened Bread) the sons of Israel were to eat the roasted lamb.

In another passage, we are informed that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to last for seven complete days.

On the fifteenth day of that month Yahuwah's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.  On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.  For seven days present an offering made to Yahuwah by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work'" (Vayiqra 23:5-8).

In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.  For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born (Shemot 12:18,19).

In both of these texts we are told that unleavened bread was to be eaten for 7 days.  In the Leviticus passage we are told that the Feast begins on the 15th, but in the Exodus passage we are told that unleavened bread is to be eaten on the evening of the 14th.  Therefore, the reference to the "evening of the 14th" must be referring to the evening which follows the day of the 14th and not the evening which begins the 14th.  Otherwise, the Israelites would have been eating unleavened bread for 8 days.  

Since the Pesach lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, and since the first day of unleavened bread is emphatically revealed as the 15th day of the month, it seems rather logical that the actual eating of the Pesach was on the "evening of the 14th," which is also the beginning of the 15th (and not the beginning part of the 14th).

The third detail of the text and the most convincing proof which indicates that the Pesach was eaten in the nighttime following the 14th is that of the time of the exodus from Egypt the following morning.  The Scriptures indicate that Pharaoh ordered Mosheh and the sons of Israel to leave his country immediately when he found his firstborn son dead in the middle of the night.

At midnight Yahuwah struck down all the firstborn in Mitzrayim, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.  Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Mitzrites got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Mitzrayim, for there was not a house without someone dead.  During the night Pharaoh summoned Mosheh and Aharon and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the sons of Yisrael! Go, worship Yahuwah as you have requested.  Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me."  The Mitzrites urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!"  So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing (Shemot 12:29-34).

And on that very day Yahuwah brought the sons of Yisrael out of Mitzrayim by their divisions (Shemot 12:51).

As the sun rose after the night of eating the Pesach, all of Israel was gathering to march out of Egypt. 

Shemot 12:17 affirms that the Pesach was eaten on Aviv 15, the first day (beginning at nightfall) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this same day I brought your multitudes out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance (~l'ÞA[ tQ:ïxu – “chukat olam”).

What day was this when Israel left Egypt?  It was the 15th day of the month and the first day of eating unleavened bread:

Then Mosheh said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Mitzrayim, out of the land of slavery, because Yahuwah brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.  Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. When Yahuwah brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites-- the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey-- you are to observe this ceremony in this month: For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to Yahuwah. 

The 15th day of the month of the Aviv begins the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this day, Yahuwah brought the families of Israel out of Mitzrayim.  And this was the same night portion of the first day of the Feast that all Israel ate the roasted Passover lambs.

So, it is clear that the same day Israel ate the Pesach that they left Egypt.  They ate the Pesach during the night hours and then when morning came they left Egypt.  And that day was the day of commemoration, the 15th of Aviv, the beginning of the observance of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread:

Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.  On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what Yahuwah did for me when I came out of Mitzrayim.'  This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of Yahuwah is to be on your lips. For Yahuwah brought you out of Mitzrayim with his mighty hand.  You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year (Shemot 13:3-10).

Who May Partake of the Pesach?

This question of who may partake of the Pesach is a profoundly important one.  In the Christian churches there is an ongoing debate over whether "the Lord's supper" should be open to the public or should be "for members only."  Some denominations insist on a "closed" observance while others invite the public and visitors to experience it with them.  The reason for the confusion is that there is no clear instruction in the New Testament regarding the proper observance of the partaking of the bread and the wine.

However, there are some very detailed and specific instructions about who may partake of the Pesach, which must be followed faithfully and without deviation.  Moreover, one's participation in the annual feast is indicative of his membership in the community of those who belong to Yahuwah.  Thus, no one outside of the house of Israel may partake of it.  A summary of these laws is stated thus:

And Yahuwah said to Mosheh and Aharon, "This is the right-ruling of the Pesach. No foreigner may share in eating it.  But everyone's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it.  A temporary resident and a hired worker must not eat it.  It must be eaten in one house; you must not carry it around outside from one house to another. And you must not break a bone of it.

 The congregation of Yisrael must observe it.  And when a foreigner lives with you, and wants to observe the Pesach to Yahuwah, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may come near and observe it, and he will be as one who is born in the land--for no uncircumcised person may eat of it.  The same instruction will apply to the person who is native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you" (Shemot 12:43-49).

The first law regarding participation in the Pesach is that no foreigner may partake of it.  The Hebrew word translated foreigner is rk'nE (pronounced nechar) and can roughly be rendered "foreigner, hostile, stranger."  Anyone who is an enemy of Israel or is unknown and unassociated with Israel may not partake of the Pesach. 

Furthermore, verse 45 clarifies for us that neither the temporary resident nor the hired worker may participate in the festival, either.  Who is the temporary resident and who is the hired worker?  The Hebrew bv'AT (pronounced to-shav) is resident alien, sojourner, sitter.  He is a resident of Israel from some other place, but not owning land in Israel.  The rykif' (pronounced sa-qeer) is an hireling, a hired labourer.  He is not a part of an Israeli household, but works for a landowner. Those who are not committed to Covenant with Yahuwah are excluded from the protection and deliverance which Yahuwah provides to his people, as remembered by the annual celebration of the Pesach.

But those who may partake are the native born (Hebrew xr'z>a, edz-rach, "one arising from the soil") and the sojourner (Hebrew rGE gair, one not hostile, but friendly and open to Israeli culture).  The sojourner may participate in the Pesach after he is circumcised.  The native born is already a citizen in Israel and has the birthright of participation in all the activities in Israel.

The second law regarding participation in the Pesach is that all Israel must partake of it.  If one chooses not to observe it, he forfeits his membership in the community and his covenant based relationship with Yahuwah.  This law is delivered in Shemot 12:3:

Tell all the congregation of Yisrael, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to the house of their fathers--a lamb for a house....

And in Shemot 12:47:

The congregation of Yisrael must observe it.

And also in Vayiqra:

Speak to the sons of Yisrael and tell them, 'These are Yahuwah's appointed times which you must proclaim as set-apart assemblies--my appointed times....  'These are Yahuwah's appointed times, set-apart assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Pesach offering to Yahuwah (Vayiqra 23:2, 4-5).

In the event that a son of the covenant misses the Pesach due to unforeseen circumstances outside of his control, the Torah provides an alternative time:

Tell the Israelites, 'If any of you or of your posterity become defiled by reason of a dead body, or be on a journey far away, then he may observe the Pesach to Yahuwah.  They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Pesach (Bemidhbar 9:10-12).

It seems, in his kindness, Yahuwah has given us every opportunity to be in compliance to the command to participate in this most significant feast and remain in good standing as a citizen of Israel.

The third law regarding participation in the Pesach is that males must be circumcised before participating in it.

But everyone's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it....  And when a foreigner lives with you, and wants to observe the Pesach to Yahuwah, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may come near and observe it, and he will be as one who is born in the land--for no uncircumcised person may eat of it (Shemot 12:44 and 48).

A servant who is bought for money is one who is a part of the household.  Even the Sabbath commandment provides rest for the manservant and maidservant:

...the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahuwah your Elohim; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or your resident foreigner who is in your gates (Shemot 20:10).

Since such a servant is a member of the household, the servant is required to keep the Shabbat, and is required to be circumcised and partake of the Pesach.

In the instruction about the "foreigner who lives with you," the Hebrew word rendered "foreigner" is rGE (pronounced "gār" as in "Gary").  This word refers to a sojourner or "newcomer."  This person is different from the rk'nE (((pronounced “nĕchăr”) who is a "hostile" and NOT permitted to perform the Pesach; and from the bv'AT (tōshăv), "temporary worker," and from the rykif', (pronounced "săchĭr") who is a temporarily hired worker, who also may NOT participate in the Pesach.  The gār may not necessarily be a servant, but he is a neighbor or a figure in the community - someone who lives near you or "under your roof."  And as such, this one also must be circumcised and rest on the Shabbat on order to partake of the Pesach.

Another important and fascinating aspect of this teaching of circumcision is that the Torah here instructs us on how a non-native can become a member of the commonwealth of Israel.  Any gār ("non citizen") who wants to be a part of the community of Israel and attach to Yahuwah through Covenant Relationship has to first of all, be circumcised, and then partake in the Pesach according to all its rules.  The Covenant calls upon all willing ones to repent of their transgressing and to begin walking in the commandments and instructions of Yahuwah.  So, the first of these is circumcision and the next is Pesach.  When a non-hostile foreigner wants to belong to Israel, he merely needs to repent and begin doing the mitzvot (commandments), beginning with circumcision.

And the fourth law regarding participation in the Pesach is that all must follow the same rules and customs when they observe it.

If a resident foreigner (gār) lives among you and wants to keep the Pesach to Yahuwah, he must do so according to the statute (chuk) of the Pesach, and according to its custom (mishpat). You must have the same statute (chuk) for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land (Bemidhbar 9:14).

One rule (chukah) must apply to you of the congregation and also to the resident foreigner (gar) who is living among you as a permanent rule (chukah) for your future generations; you and the resident foreigner (gar) will be alike before Yahuwah.  One Torah and one Mishpat must apply to you and to the resident foreigner who lives alongside you'" (Bemidhbar 15:15-16).

Amazingly enough, Yahuwah does not have different standards for different people.  There is no such thing as dispensationalism in Yahuwah's sight.  He treats everyone exactly the same.  The same standards and requirements apply to all people, both to the native born, and to the foreigner who joins himself to Yahuwah.

This teaching may be offensive to most Christians, who believe that "God changed the way he deals with people."  They believe that the Almighty "dealt with" Israel through a set of laws that he knew they couldn't keep; and that he now treats believers in Messiah with "grace and forgiveness."  That Christian teaching is most offensive and contradicts the clear revelation of Scripture regarding the unchangeable nature and attributes of Elohim.  Yahuwah could not possible show favoritism, which dispensationalist doctrine requires.

"Whosoever" wants to join himself to Yahuwah through Messiah Yahusha can do so by "believing in him" (i.e. by repenting of his wayward way [read "stop sinning"] and start walking in the commands of Scripture).  This process begins when a person places his trust in Yahuwah and acknowledges that its Messiah's death on the tree which provides atonement for sin.  This act of trust in Messiah corresponds to the faith of Israel to slaughter and eat the Pesach animal.  When one is serious about being in Covenant relationship to Yahuwah, he will accept the sign of the covenant by getting baptized (a ritual which marks the believer as a child of Elohim and demonstrates a change of heart, i.e. "circumcision of the heart") and then partake in the eternal law of the Pesach.,  Subsequently, the believer will proceed with learning Torah and following and obeying the commandments of the Covenant.

Where is the Pesach to be Observed?

It is also important to understand the instruction of the Torah regarding where the Pesach is to be observed.  The Egyptian Pesach was observed by each family in their own homes.

Tell the whole community of Yisrael that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.  If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.  The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Yisrael must slaughter them at twilight.  Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs (Shemot 12:3-7).

So on that first Pesach, each family ate the Pesach either in his own home, or in the home of his neighbor.

The second Pesach was eaten by each family while in the wilderness.  It is not clear from the account in Scripture if the Pesach was eaten in each tent or outside in a community setting.  But the instruction in Devarim regarding future Pesach celebrations requires the participants to eat the meal in the presence of Yahuwah, at the place where he would dwell among his people:

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Pesach of Yahuwah your Elohim, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Mitzrayim by night.  Sacrifice as the Pesach to Yahuwah your Elohim an animal from your flock or herd at the place Yahuwah will choose as a dwelling for his Name.  Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Mitzrayim in haste-- so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Mitzrayim.

Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.  You must not sacrifice the Pesach in any town Yahuwah your Elohim gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Pesach in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Mitzrayim.  Roast it and eat it at the place Yahuwah your Elohim will choose (Devarim 16:1-7).

At each Pesach to follow, the lambs were slaughtered by the priests in the presence of Yahuwah, either at the Tent of Meeting, or later, at the temple site in Jerusalem.  Then the animals were eaten right there as the congregation of Yisrael remained assembled in the presence of Yahuwah.

For a period of time, the Tent of Meeting wandered from place to place.  For about 380 years of time, the Tent and the Presence of Yahuwah was at Shiloh, and that's where the Pesach was celebrated.  All of Yisrael would gather to the mountains of Shiloh.  Later, the Tent was moved around some more and eventually landed in Jerusalem.  A short time later, the Temple was built by Shelomo.  Wherever the Tent of Meeting was or, later, the Temple stood, this is where the Feasts were celebrated and people would bring the tithes of their harvests to celebrate the Feasts in the presence of Yahuwah.

But the presence of Yahuwah left the temple site and the city of Yerushalayim.  He doesn't dwell in Jerusalem any more.  So it would make no sense to celebrate the Pesach in Jerusalem, because the Almighty isn't there, and his Instruction tells us to celebrate it in his presence.  So where is the Presence of Yahuwah so that we may celebrate before him?

Can We Properly Observe the Pesach Today in the Exile?

Most of the well known preachers and teachers of the Messianic, Hebraic Roots Movement have been teaching their congregations that we can't really "keep" the Pesach as in days of old.  And they offer many excuses why we can't.  Some even go so far as to "celebrate" the Pesach whenever its convenient to gather starving seekers to their conferences - typically on a weekend - thus blatantly ignoring the actual appointment time.

Some of the excuses that they use are very similar to the excuses we hear of in the Christian churces as to why we don't have to obey the commandments of our Father any more.  They say Jesus nailed the Law to his cross, that in doing so he has done away with the Law, and we don't have to obey God's Law anymore!  Of course, the Messianic teachers are quick to refute that line of reasoning by pointing out that Yeshua said plainly he had not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but had come to bring a proper understanding of the same.  And they are correct when they point this out.

Yet, these same Messianic teachers turn around and offer the same excuses for not properly observing the appointed time of Pesach.  Those excuses include the old standard reasoning that Jesus fulfilled the Pesach and thus we don't have to offer a lamb anymore.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  And they say that even if we wanted to sacrifice a Lamb according to the Law given for the Pesach, we can't do it because Yehovah no longer resides in Jerusalem and the temple service isn't happening in Jerusalem.  There you have it.  We can't do it!

Messianics are happy to point out that the Torah requires that we bring all sacrifices to the priests at the temple in Jerusalem, including the Pesach.  And the Torah also requires that we DO NOT offer any of these sacrifices or the Pesach anywhere else other than Jerusalem.  For them, this is an open and shut case.  Their conclusion is that we can only remember in some imperfect ways what happened in the great deliverance commemorated by Pesach.

However, I have a different insight and perspective.  I believe that we CAN "keep" the Pesach according to all its laws and right rulings, just as the Scriptures require of us.  I believe its important to do it the right way.  I believe we should be commemorating this colossal event in the manner which the Torah instructs us.  And here are my reasons why.

First, the annual Pesach sacrifices were always a shadow picture and a reminder of the once for all sacrifice of Yeshua our Pesach.  Thus, even after Yeshua's death on the tree, the Pesach is still a shadow picture and reminder of the redemption purchased by Yeshua.  The Pesach does not pretend to replace Yeshua's death, nor does it diminish his death.  The Pesach retells of Yeshua's redemptive death on our behalf.

Our Father in heaven has commanded us to "keep" the Pesach and the Feast forever.  This event is a perpetual statute for all generations.  There is no termination point for the Pesach or for the Feast.  Yeshua even pointed out that all these matters of the Torah will be in play for as long as heaven and earth are standing.

Next, Messianics insist that we can't do these things because there is no temple in Jerusalem.  And "the Torah is emphatic that you can't offer these things in any place but Jerusalem."  This line of reasoning also is short of true.  Nowhere does the Torah say that all these things can only happen in Jerusalem.  What does the Scripture say? 

You must not sacrifice the Pesach in any town Yahuwah your Elohim gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Pesach in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Mitzrayim.  Roast it and eat it at the place Yahuwah your Elohim will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. (Deuteronomy 16:5-7)

Jerusalem is never named in the Torah as the place where all sacrifices must be made.  The Torah actually says that sacrifices must be done ONLY in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name.

There have been several places Yahuwah chose to be a dwelling for his name.  Mt. Sinai was the first.  The tabernacle was Yahuwah's portable home through the wilderness journey.  When the sons of Israel settled in the Land, the tabernacle sat in Shiloh for nearly 380 years!

When the tabernacle was moved to Tsion (Jerusalem), David wanted to build a permanent structure for Yahuwah's Presence.  And Shelomo built the Temple.  Yet the temple was destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again in 68 CE.  What now?

And what about the time when Israel and Yehudah were in captivity?  Was there no Set-Apart place of Yahuwah for those in the exile?  The Prophet Yechezqel answers this for us.  The Almighty provided another way for truth seekers to worship Him according to His laws and right rulings while in captivity.

"Therefore say: 'This is what Adonai Yahuwah says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary (a set-apart place) for them in the countries where they have gone.' (Ezekiel 11:16)

Even in the exile, Yahuwah provided a way and a place for worshippers to seek and find Him and worship Him in the manner he requires.  Yahuwah was Himself a set-apart place for his exiled ones.

Yahusha made clear in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well that Yahuwah is not going to be worshipped in Jerusalem for a period of time:

"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Yehudim claim that the place where we must worship is in Yerushalayim." Yahusha declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Yehudim. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  Elohim is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (Yochanan 4:20-24).

We have been experiencing this very situation since the time of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 68 CE.  Jerusalem ceased at that time to be the place to worship the Living Elohim.

So, since Yahuwah in not in Jerusalem and is not to be worshipped in Jerusalem at this time, where is he so that we may worship him in spirit and in truth?  Yahusha again provides the answer:

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20).

Wherever the disciples of Yahusha gather in his name, that is where his presence resides.  To gather in his name means to meet with him at the appointed times, including Sabbath and the annual Feast Days.  Thus, those who want to worship him in spirit and in truth and celebrate in his presence the Pesach and all other appointed times, need merely to be gathered together, anywhere, for that purpose, and he is there in their presence.  The Pesach, then, in our times, may be celebrated anywhere the followers of Yahusha come together to worship Him.

The Torah does not forbid people coming together for the appointed gatherings to worship Him in the manner prescribed by the Torah.  Men have poorly interpreted the Scriptures and have come to that conclusion.  But in reality, the Torah only requires that we worship Him where He has placed his name.  Since he has placed His name in our midst when we gather together in His name, then it stands to reason that we can and should worship him according to all the laws and right rulings which he has given.

The Pesach Lamb

The first point to be made is that a single lamb is chosen for each household.  However, if the household is small, it may be shared with the nearest neighbor.  Since all of the animal was to be eaten and none to be left over, each family should estimate the amount of lamb that they will use, and join with another family if they estimate they will not be able to eat all the animal.  By my estimation, a family of five who each eats a large portion of lamb will be able to consume all the meat part of the animal.  However, for a light meat eating group, a single lamb can feed up to twenty people.

The Pesach was to be a male yearling without defect.  Many female animals are pregnant at this time of year, so in order to multiply sheep, the females are to be left to live and produce offspring.  It must be a yearling because the yearling is still tender and tasty.  Also, this "sacrifice" would not be costly to the worshipper if one would slaughter the oldest, most feeble animal in the pen.  This offering to Yahuwah must be valuable, not expendable.

The lamb must also be without defect.  Again, a defective animal is not a valuable animal.  Yahuwah requires the best.  It is offensive to him to offer an animal that has a broken limb, is blind, or is defective in any other way.  The prophet reveals the same:

Also, no bones were to be broken in the process of slaughtering or roasting the lamb:

Do not break any of its bones (Shemot 12:46).

This further explains the meaning of "perfect".

These are the cooking instructions for the Pesach animal:

They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened cakes and with bitter herbs.  Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails (Shemot 12:8-9).

The animal was not to be "processed."  The whole animal was to be taken - intact - and roasted over a flaming fire.  No boiling allowed.  And no eating it raw.

Though normally, we would not roast an animal without some preliminary processing, such as removing the head and filthy parts of the carcass, this is the clear instruction here.  It has been suggested that in order to avoid the contamination of the meat of the animal with the excrement inside, during the four days of "watching" the animal, one might feed it only what will cause it to eliminate everything in its digestive tract.  By doing this, there will be nothing to cause contamination of the edible portions, and the entrails can then be safely discarded and burned the next morning.  Another way of taking care of this would be to cut open the belly of the carcass and let the inward parts burn up in the flame while roasting.

This instruction of not boiling the lamb is related to another instruction of the Torah.  Three times it tells us not to cook a kid in its mothers milk.  It was a common practice of the pagans to cook a lamb this way.  The meat ends up, perhaps, a bit more tender when cooking it in milk, but it retains fat.  The sons of Israel were to have nothing to do with such pagan practices.  The reason for this prohibition may be clearer when we consider the following.

The Torah teaches Israel to always roast a lamb or young goat in the fire.  Never are they to boil it, let alone in its mother's milk.  First, the Pesach, which was a yearling from the sheep or the goats was to be roasted, never boiled:

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. (Exodus 12:9)

The lambs that are used as sin offerings, guilt offerings, peace offerings are all done in the fire.  This is the only acceptable way to offer a lamb.

Eating the Pesach

Another instruction deals with our disposition during the celebration of Pesach:

And this is how you are to eat it--dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in trepidation. It is the Pesach of Yahuwah (Shemot 12:11).

The celebrants were to be ready to travel that night because Pharaoh was about the release them to go and worship Yahuwah.  Thus, everyone was to be dressed and ready to travel.

Traditionally, the Pesach is celebrated with the participants reclining and relaxing, not standing ready to march.  The reason for this is that slaves would stand and serve while family and guests - freemen - would typically recline and relax and be served.  But tradition is not always based in truth.  And this particular tradition seems to work against the clear instruction for Pesach.  Besides, the standing ready at Pesach is actually rehearsing for that future Pesach when Yahuwah will set free his enslaved people again.  Why not rather dress as instructed for this remembrance and rehearsal?  One can still sit at a table or on the floor dressed to travel and still be obeying fully the instructions for Pesach.

Also, Many translations read, "eat it in haste" rather than "in trepidation."  The Hebrew word employed here is !AzëP'xiB. (pronounced "bĕchēpăzōn") which means "in trepidation, anxiety, apprehension, foreboding concern, hurried flight."  The idea here is not necessarily to eat it "quickly" but to eat it with a sense of foreboding and some "fear."  This would make sense when we consider that they death angel was coming to every house to kill all the firstborn.  Only those who obeyed the instructions given by Yahuwah were protected from wrath as many were dropping dead all around them.  So, the sons of Yisrael would naturally be full of apprehension as they heard the death screams all around them.

There may also be a foreshadowing element in this command to eat it in trepidation.  The Book of Revelation alludes to a future scenario wherein Yahuwah will bring his destructive plagues on the earth to punish those who refuse to obey his commandments.  And at that time he will perform another momentous deliverance of his people.  The similarities of the deliverance from Mitzrayim to the future judgment and deliverance of his people from the Beast suggests that this may occur at the appointed time of Pesach.  And thus, in that future Pesach, his people will be filled with trepidation as Yahuwah sets to deliver them again.

Eating the Lamb and Unleavened Bread with "the Bitter"

The instruction further states that the unleavened bread is to be eaten with "something bitter."  Most translates of this Hebrew statement identify the "bitter" thing as bitter herbs.  Here are a few such translations:

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Shemot (Exodus) 12:8, KJV

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. NIV

They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. NAS

Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the LORD. 'In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Bamidbar (Numbers) 9:10-11

The Hebrew word rrom'ÆrArm' (maror) is explained in the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT): 1. grapes ; 2. bitter herbs (for the passover meal, Harrison 29) Ex 128 Nu 911; 3. bitter drink....  Two of these top three interpretations of our Hebrew word maror define it as a bitter drink, NOT bitter herbs.

So while most translators prefer to interpret this word as "bitter herbs," the Hebrew word for "herb" is not in the text.  As it turns out, suggesting that maror means bitter herbs is a tradition that has been in place for a long, long time.  But it is only a tradition! In fact, "bitter herbs" is not the instruction given.

To gain valuable insights into the true interpretation, those who are disciples of Messiah should look to his example.  After all, we are convinced that the Son came to give us a true understanding of the Torah and to walk it out for us so we can see how we should live it.  So what did Yahusha (Yeshua or Jesus) do to commemorate his death at the time of the Passover?  The record says this:

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  Matthew 26:26-29, NAS

So, as they were eating the prepared lamb ("while they were eating"), Yahusha broke the unleavened bread and gave it to his disciples, then he took the cup of wine ("drink from it"),  This MUST correspond to the instructions given about Pesach (Passover), because being the true Messiah, he HAD to obey the instructions given.

The Hebrew word definition of maror suggests as the first meaning, grapes or a bitter wine!  This is what Yahusha distributed among his disciples, saying that this "fruit of the vine" represented his blood being shed for the forgiveness of sins.  So, based upon the actual meaning of maror as bitter drink, bitter wine, we are compelled to understand this instruction in Exodus, not as bitter herbs, but as bitter wine.

This examination should surely change the habit of those who have ears to hear to begin drinking the bitter grape wine at Pesach, rather than the traditional bitter herbs!

Pulling an All-Nighter - the Command to be Vigilant

Another fascinating commandment for the Pesach is to keep vigil all night.

Because Yahuwah kept vigil that night to bring them out of Mitzrayim, on this night all the sons of Yisrael are to keep vigil to honor Yahuwah for the generations to come (Shemot 12:42).