The Spring Moedim (From April 2009)
The Spring Festivals - What's In Them For Me?
The Spring Festivals are three in number. In chronological order we think of them as Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits. Today, All three Festivals are sort of 'intermingled' over a period of seven days. On the Hebrew calendar, the Festivals are preceded by a time of preparation during which the entire house is to be cleansed of all the leaven (yeast). This 'lead up' is called Birkat haChammah (Search for Leaven). Pesach (Passover) begins at Twilight on the 14th of Nissan which was the time when the Passover Lamb was to be killed and roasted and eaten by the members of the household. Exodus 12 tells us that there was to be no lamb left until the morning, so if the family and their guests couldn't eat it, the 'leftovers' were to be burned in a fire. It was not to be taken with them into the wilderness as they made their escape. The entire story of the events of the first Passover and the days which followed immediately afterward can be found in Exodus chapter 11, verse 1 through chapter 13 verse 22. By the morning of 15 Nissan, the people were to be ready to leave their homes and begin the Exodus journey. Thus, Passover is just one day long. Later, Elohim (God) would reveal to Moshe (Moses) further instructions dealing with how the festivals were to be kept "throughout the generations to come." (see Leviticus 23:4-8 and Deuteronomy 16:1-8 and below as well).
The second Festival covers the entire length of the seven days. We read in Exodus that the people had to leave in great haste. There was no time to prepare the bread and wait for it to rise, so they took the dough in its 'unleavened' state. In remembrance of this, (and because Elohim would later use it to teach believers about life and sin), the Biblical story tells us that for a period of seven days, there was to be nothing eaten which contained leaven. This seven-day Festival is known as Hag haMatzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread [or Matzah]).
As the Hebrew people entered into the second year of the Exodus, it came time to remember how Elohim had saved His people from their slavery in Egypt. Pesach, the first of the three Festivals was celebrated, as it has been every year since, with a special meal called a Seder. This meal contained both symbolic foods and real food items. The purpose of the symbolic meal was to remind the adults of Elohim's merciful action, but it is also used to teach the children about that first night in which God "passed over" the houses of the Israelites and brought death to the first born of all those whose homes were not marked with the blood of the Lamb. On Erev Pesach, (twilight of 14 Nissan) the family gathers around the table. Among the symbolic foods used to recall and to teach we find such things as green herbs, bitter herbs, charoseth (a mixture of apple, honey, wine, and other items), matzah, and wine. There are four cups (or chalices) of wine which are consumed during the meal, each one downed at strategic points in the telling of the story of the Passover. Each 'cup' is titled in such a way as to remind the participants of the promises (the "I Will" statements) made by God and recorded in Exodus 6:6-8. These statements are: "I will bring you out from under the Egyptians", "I will deliver you from their bondage", "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements:, "I will take you for My people", "I will be your God and you... shall know me", "I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham:, and "I will give it to you for a possession". The cups are called: "Sanctification", Judgement", "Redemption" and "Praise".
The reason for the title of the fourth cup is quite clear, so let as look a little closer at the first three cups. To "bring out" is to separate one group from another. It is this separation, and the making of the tribes of Israel His own, which is commemorated as "Sanctification". The word means "made separate and holy - for God's use". One interesting point here is that there were more than just the Israelite people brought out. There is Biblical evidence to support the idea that Elohim included some Egyptian people, as well as others who were not descended from Israel amongst those saved. These people would have taken part in the first seder and been under the protection of the blood of the Lamb on that first night.
This is of particular importance as we note that the second cup, that of "Judgement", indicates the justice of God as He declared judgement over the gods of Egypt, and over its people who had been responsible for the corrupt and oppressive domination of the Jewish nation for over 400 years. We need to remind ourselves that every one of the ten plagues brought by God, (and listed off at this point in the seder), was preceded by a warning from God, through Moshe and Aharon (Aaron) to Pharaoh. Pharaoh had the opportunity to repent and save the people from destruction, but his heart was hardened by hatred toward the Jewish people, and he CHOSE to ignore the warnings. Those who did hear and repented and accepted the hospitality and protection of the Jewish home were brought through safely.
The third cup is the cup of "Redemption". Elohim had stated "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm". Later in the story, we learn how Moshe stretched out his arms and his staff over the waters of the Red Sea, and Elohim divided the waters, providing a route of escape away from Egypt and its approaching armies, and into the Sinai region to the east. The cup of Redemption follows the main meal and we are told in Luke's Gospel account (ch 22:20) that some 1500 years after the Exodus, Yeshua, at the Passover Seder, would indicate the very unique quality of this cup by saying of it that it was the "cup of the renewed covenant" between God and man, and that it would be known as the cup of His blood which would be shed upon the cursed "Tree" very soon. Within hours, Yeshua would willingly allow Himself to be crucified, stretching out his arms in the redemptive act of death on behalf of humanity, thus fulfilling with even more potency ,the words of Elohim prophetically spoken to Moshe so long before.
Also part of the Seder meal is the unleavened bread or Matzah, mentioned earlier. The matzah is thin, and crispy, similar to a large soda cracker. During the teaching part of the Seder, the leader will break one of three pieces of matzah in half. The first half will be broken further and passed around for the people to eat. The second half, now referred to as the "Afikoman", (Greek for "that which comes later") is placed in a special cloth bag and secretly hidden away until after the main meal.
The matzah is a unique form of bread, which reminds Messianic believers of the person and sacrifice of the Messiah. First of all, it is 'unleavened'. Leavening, by Yeshua's time, had become synonymous with 'sin'. Yeshua, who by His obedience to Torah and the Father, was without sin, often told His followers to be wary of the leaven of the pharisees, implying that their teachings would lead people astray. The act of getting the leaven out of the house before the seder, is a parallel to our cleansing our souls of sin - as John the Immerser cried, "Repent, and make ready the pathway of the Lord". He was commanding the people to cleanse themselves of sin (leaven) in their lives. One is also reminded that during the week prior to Pesach, as the women of Israel would have been cleansing their homes of leaven, Yeshua cleansed the house of the Lord (the Temple in Yerushalayim) of leaven of a different type, those who were making the house a "den of thieves".
Secondly, matzah is pierced through with tiny holes to allow air and moisture to escape during the cooking process. Because the bread is grilled on a hot surface, stripes of darker brown from the caramelizing of the flour are formed. This striping and piercing remind believers today of Isaiah's prophetic words in chapter 53:4ff, "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities... and by His stripes we are healed". Yeshua was striped by the lashes of the Roman soldiers, and pierced by the Roman spear while on the "Tree" to be sure He was dead.
The final likeness, is seen in the search for, and subsequent breaking of, the Afikoman after the dinner. When the lucky child at the Seder finds the hidden bread, he or she brings it forth from its hiding place and brings it to the leader excitedly crying, "I have found the Afikoman!!" [How exciting it is when a new believer discovers the true Afikoman]. The leader then removes the matzah from the bag, breaks it and shares it with those at the table. Fifteen hundred years after the first Seder, Yeshua would take the Afikoman, bless it, break it and give it to the disciples around the table, saying "This bread of affliction is my body which is broken for you..." (cf: 1 Cor 15:20; Luke 22:19 etc)
The third Festival was not part of the original Pesach / Hag haMatzot duo. Nor was it celebrated during the forty years in the wilderness. We are told that Moshe was instructed by Elohim to have the people begin the celebration of Yom haBikkurim (Day of First Fruits) when they harvested the first crops after settling in the new land given them by Himself.(Leviticus 23:9-14) This first crop was, and remains traditionally, barley. Sheaves of barley grain were to be brought to the priest who would make a wave offering (a special form of sacrificial offering) to the Lord. The offering is made so that the harvest is consecrated to the Lord. Along with the sheaf of barley, there was also the requisite offerings of a male lamb, fine flour and olive oil and a drink offering of wine. A faithful interpretation of this passage, such as that in the NASB or D.H. Stern's Complete Jewish Bible, says this: "He [the cohen/priest] is to wave the sheaf before Adonai, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat." (Leviticus 23:11) It seems there is a significant, if somewhat enigmatic, purpose behind this offering. This is the only offering made on behalf of the people so that they (as a group) will be acceptable to the Lord. this comes further into play, when we see how the festival is fulfilled in Yeshua.
The day following the Shabbat, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread, noted as celebrated by Yeshua and His disciples, was the first day of the week (Sunday to us). This was the day on which Yeshua, who had been killed by crucifixion, and buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, was raised from the dead. Shaul (Paul) remarks on this fulfillment of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 15:20 when he states emphatically: "But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died..." Yeshua had been sacrificed so that all humanity could be acceptable to God the Father. The wave offerings of the Festival of First Fruits, made annually for almost 1500 years, were merely shadows of what was yet to come. Just as the ancient farmers of Israel trusted and hoped for a good harvest unto the Lord, so we await our full adoption as sons [through] the redemption of our bodies made possible by the sacrifice of Yeshua (cf Romans 8:23ff). This gives us hope for a bountiful harvest, not of agricultural crops, but of human souls who have come to accept Yeshua as Messiah.
What we experience in the Seder takes us first: back to the origin - the night of 14 Nissan - as the Israelites began their journey of redemption. Those words, symbols and actions of 1500 years of Seders pointed to the One who was yet to come, the Messiah, who would fulfill the words of Elohim and make available to all the redemption we each need from the bondage of our slavery to sin. Finally, because Elohim is not finished with us yet, it turns our faces to the time yet to come, when Messiah will return to gather His loved ones, completing the action of redemption from the Egypt of this broken world, and bring us all, through the waters of new birth, to the eternal Kingdom.
Can the reader see how much we miss out on by ignoring the Feast Days of the Lord? There is a reason that believers are commanded to keep the Feast days "as a perpetual Memorial throughout the Generations"! (Exodus 12:17; 13:10; Lev. 23:14 and more.) We, who follow the Lord Yeshua, need to be reminded that He kept the Feast Days during His earthly sojourn. Shaul also speaks of our duty to celebrate them when he declares unabashedly: "Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened, for our Pesach Lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let US celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) We are meant to be taught by the traditions and Festivals given us, so that we can have a greater understanding of how Elohim works - in history, and in us. May we be forgiven for not heeding His call to us, and be encouraged today to make changes in our practices.
If you would like to know more about any of the Jewish Festivals and learn how they have been integrated into Christian practices and liturgies, why not call and arrange for a speaker to come and share with your group or congregation? Just go to the Contact Us page and follow the instructions there.
"Chag Sameach!" (Happy Holiday)
The second Festival covers the entire length of the seven days. We read in Exodus that the people had to leave in great haste. There was no time to prepare the bread and wait for it to rise, so they took the dough in its 'unleavened' state. In remembrance of this, (and because Elohim would later use it to teach believers about life and sin), the Biblical story tells us that for a period of seven days, there was to be nothing eaten which contained leaven. This seven-day Festival is known as Hag haMatzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread [or Matzah]).
As the Hebrew people entered into the second year of the Exodus, it came time to remember how Elohim had saved His people from their slavery in Egypt. Pesach, the first of the three Festivals was celebrated, as it has been every year since, with a special meal called a Seder. This meal contained both symbolic foods and real food items. The purpose of the symbolic meal was to remind the adults of Elohim's merciful action, but it is also used to teach the children about that first night in which God "passed over" the houses of the Israelites and brought death to the first born of all those whose homes were not marked with the blood of the Lamb. On Erev Pesach, (twilight of 14 Nissan) the family gathers around the table. Among the symbolic foods used to recall and to teach we find such things as green herbs, bitter herbs, charoseth (a mixture of apple, honey, wine, and other items), matzah, and wine. There are four cups (or chalices) of wine which are consumed during the meal, each one downed at strategic points in the telling of the story of the Passover. Each 'cup' is titled in such a way as to remind the participants of the promises (the "I Will" statements) made by God and recorded in Exodus 6:6-8. These statements are: "I will bring you out from under the Egyptians", "I will deliver you from their bondage", "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements:, "I will take you for My people", "I will be your God and you... shall know me", "I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham:, and "I will give it to you for a possession". The cups are called: "Sanctification", Judgement", "Redemption" and "Praise".
The reason for the title of the fourth cup is quite clear, so let as look a little closer at the first three cups. To "bring out" is to separate one group from another. It is this separation, and the making of the tribes of Israel His own, which is commemorated as "Sanctification". The word means "made separate and holy - for God's use". One interesting point here is that there were more than just the Israelite people brought out. There is Biblical evidence to support the idea that Elohim included some Egyptian people, as well as others who were not descended from Israel amongst those saved. These people would have taken part in the first seder and been under the protection of the blood of the Lamb on that first night.
This is of particular importance as we note that the second cup, that of "Judgement", indicates the justice of God as He declared judgement over the gods of Egypt, and over its people who had been responsible for the corrupt and oppressive domination of the Jewish nation for over 400 years. We need to remind ourselves that every one of the ten plagues brought by God, (and listed off at this point in the seder), was preceded by a warning from God, through Moshe and Aharon (Aaron) to Pharaoh. Pharaoh had the opportunity to repent and save the people from destruction, but his heart was hardened by hatred toward the Jewish people, and he CHOSE to ignore the warnings. Those who did hear and repented and accepted the hospitality and protection of the Jewish home were brought through safely.
The third cup is the cup of "Redemption". Elohim had stated "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm". Later in the story, we learn how Moshe stretched out his arms and his staff over the waters of the Red Sea, and Elohim divided the waters, providing a route of escape away from Egypt and its approaching armies, and into the Sinai region to the east. The cup of Redemption follows the main meal and we are told in Luke's Gospel account (ch 22:20) that some 1500 years after the Exodus, Yeshua, at the Passover Seder, would indicate the very unique quality of this cup by saying of it that it was the "cup of the renewed covenant" between God and man, and that it would be known as the cup of His blood which would be shed upon the cursed "Tree" very soon. Within hours, Yeshua would willingly allow Himself to be crucified, stretching out his arms in the redemptive act of death on behalf of humanity, thus fulfilling with even more potency ,the words of Elohim prophetically spoken to Moshe so long before.
Also part of the Seder meal is the unleavened bread or Matzah, mentioned earlier. The matzah is thin, and crispy, similar to a large soda cracker. During the teaching part of the Seder, the leader will break one of three pieces of matzah in half. The first half will be broken further and passed around for the people to eat. The second half, now referred to as the "Afikoman", (Greek for "that which comes later") is placed in a special cloth bag and secretly hidden away until after the main meal.
The matzah is a unique form of bread, which reminds Messianic believers of the person and sacrifice of the Messiah. First of all, it is 'unleavened'. Leavening, by Yeshua's time, had become synonymous with 'sin'. Yeshua, who by His obedience to Torah and the Father, was without sin, often told His followers to be wary of the leaven of the pharisees, implying that their teachings would lead people astray. The act of getting the leaven out of the house before the seder, is a parallel to our cleansing our souls of sin - as John the Immerser cried, "Repent, and make ready the pathway of the Lord". He was commanding the people to cleanse themselves of sin (leaven) in their lives. One is also reminded that during the week prior to Pesach, as the women of Israel would have been cleansing their homes of leaven, Yeshua cleansed the house of the Lord (the Temple in Yerushalayim) of leaven of a different type, those who were making the house a "den of thieves".
Secondly, matzah is pierced through with tiny holes to allow air and moisture to escape during the cooking process. Because the bread is grilled on a hot surface, stripes of darker brown from the caramelizing of the flour are formed. This striping and piercing remind believers today of Isaiah's prophetic words in chapter 53:4ff, "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities... and by His stripes we are healed". Yeshua was striped by the lashes of the Roman soldiers, and pierced by the Roman spear while on the "Tree" to be sure He was dead.
The final likeness, is seen in the search for, and subsequent breaking of, the Afikoman after the dinner. When the lucky child at the Seder finds the hidden bread, he or she brings it forth from its hiding place and brings it to the leader excitedly crying, "I have found the Afikoman!!" [How exciting it is when a new believer discovers the true Afikoman]. The leader then removes the matzah from the bag, breaks it and shares it with those at the table. Fifteen hundred years after the first Seder, Yeshua would take the Afikoman, bless it, break it and give it to the disciples around the table, saying "This bread of affliction is my body which is broken for you..." (cf: 1 Cor 15:20; Luke 22:19 etc)
The third Festival was not part of the original Pesach / Hag haMatzot duo. Nor was it celebrated during the forty years in the wilderness. We are told that Moshe was instructed by Elohim to have the people begin the celebration of Yom haBikkurim (Day of First Fruits) when they harvested the first crops after settling in the new land given them by Himself.(Leviticus 23:9-14) This first crop was, and remains traditionally, barley. Sheaves of barley grain were to be brought to the priest who would make a wave offering (a special form of sacrificial offering) to the Lord. The offering is made so that the harvest is consecrated to the Lord. Along with the sheaf of barley, there was also the requisite offerings of a male lamb, fine flour and olive oil and a drink offering of wine. A faithful interpretation of this passage, such as that in the NASB or D.H. Stern's Complete Jewish Bible, says this: "He [the cohen/priest] is to wave the sheaf before Adonai, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat." (Leviticus 23:11) It seems there is a significant, if somewhat enigmatic, purpose behind this offering. This is the only offering made on behalf of the people so that they (as a group) will be acceptable to the Lord. this comes further into play, when we see how the festival is fulfilled in Yeshua.
The day following the Shabbat, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread, noted as celebrated by Yeshua and His disciples, was the first day of the week (Sunday to us). This was the day on which Yeshua, who had been killed by crucifixion, and buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, was raised from the dead. Shaul (Paul) remarks on this fulfillment of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 15:20 when he states emphatically: "But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died..." Yeshua had been sacrificed so that all humanity could be acceptable to God the Father. The wave offerings of the Festival of First Fruits, made annually for almost 1500 years, were merely shadows of what was yet to come. Just as the ancient farmers of Israel trusted and hoped for a good harvest unto the Lord, so we await our full adoption as sons [through] the redemption of our bodies made possible by the sacrifice of Yeshua (cf Romans 8:23ff). This gives us hope for a bountiful harvest, not of agricultural crops, but of human souls who have come to accept Yeshua as Messiah.
What we experience in the Seder takes us first: back to the origin - the night of 14 Nissan - as the Israelites began their journey of redemption. Those words, symbols and actions of 1500 years of Seders pointed to the One who was yet to come, the Messiah, who would fulfill the words of Elohim and make available to all the redemption we each need from the bondage of our slavery to sin. Finally, because Elohim is not finished with us yet, it turns our faces to the time yet to come, when Messiah will return to gather His loved ones, completing the action of redemption from the Egypt of this broken world, and bring us all, through the waters of new birth, to the eternal Kingdom.
Can the reader see how much we miss out on by ignoring the Feast Days of the Lord? There is a reason that believers are commanded to keep the Feast days "as a perpetual Memorial throughout the Generations"! (Exodus 12:17; 13:10; Lev. 23:14 and more.) We, who follow the Lord Yeshua, need to be reminded that He kept the Feast Days during His earthly sojourn. Shaul also speaks of our duty to celebrate them when he declares unabashedly: "Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened, for our Pesach Lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let US celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) We are meant to be taught by the traditions and Festivals given us, so that we can have a greater understanding of how Elohim works - in history, and in us. May we be forgiven for not heeding His call to us, and be encouraged today to make changes in our practices.
If you would like to know more about any of the Jewish Festivals and learn how they have been integrated into Christian practices and liturgies, why not call and arrange for a speaker to come and share with your group or congregation? Just go to the Contact Us page and follow the instructions there.
"Chag Sameach!" (Happy Holiday)