Chag ha’Matzot / Feast of Unleavened Bread
The LORD’s 7 day feast/holiday of Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread starts on the 14th day of the 1st month of ha’Aviv/Nisan and ends at sunset on the 21st day (Ex 12:15, 17, 18; Lev 23:6, 7). You might have counted out 8 days from the 14th to the 21st. And, that would be correct. On the first day of the 14th, leaven is removed from the house (Ex 12:15). From the Ancient Hebrew article “Yod,” we learn a wooden spoon can represent the Arm of GOD that is YESHUA. On the 14th day, a wooden spoon is used for Bedikat-Chametz (removing of leavened food from the house) and is use to pick up 10 pieces of leaven with a (dove) feather by candle light; then, the spoon, leaven, and feather are all wrapped in linen and carried out of the house to be burned at 12 noon on the 14th day on the day of Pesach/Passover [Mishnah Pesachim 1:1-5] [ref] (most today use a paper bag which replaced the burnable linen cloth). The house/tabernacle represents ourselves, the candle light represents the LORD YESHUA who is the Light of the world, the leaven/chametz represents our sin, the feather represents the SPIRIT (1 Cor 5:8), and the wooden spoon represents YESHUA in the flesh. So, on Pesach/Passover and the 1st day of Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread on the 14th day, leaven/sin is removed from the house/body by the feather/SPIRIT as the spoon/YESHUA takes upon itself/HIMSELF the leaven/sin and is wrapped in linen/a-burial-shroud and burned/destroyed/sacrificed outside the house/tabernacle-area during the 6th hour of daylight (which is 12 noon) when YESHUA was on the Cross and darkness came upon the Earth until YESHUA died 3 hours later (Mt 27:45; Mrk 15:33; Luk 23:44). The 15th of ha’Aviv/Nisan is the 1st day of counting the 7 days of Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread and is a Shabbat/Sabbath with the 21st day being a Shabbat/Sabbath and the 7th day of Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread (Lev 23:6, 7, 8; Ex 12:16, 17, 18, 19, 20).
Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread started before and ended after YESHUA’s death and resurrection (Mt 26:17; Luk 22:7, 8). We know the bread represents YESHUA as HE says “I am the bread” (Jhn 6:35, 41, 48, 51). YESHUA is also called the Word/Scripture that became flesh (Jhn 1:1, 14). So, bread can represent the Word/Scripture (Mt 4:4). Unleavened bread, called matztzah/matzah (H4682), is just flour and water without the yeast added. Flour that has been mixed with water and is already contaminated by natural yeast from the air will in 18 to 24 minutes start to ferment/decay (from the curse of sin) and produce carbon dioxide (CO2) (which makes the flour and water dough mixture rise with CO2 air pockets) and ethanol/alcohol (that burns away during the baking process and flavors the bread) [ref] [ref]. Dough that has yeast in it is called leaven and is added to the flour water dough mixture to introduce the type of yeast you would like to add to the dough to give the bread a certain flavor [ref]. There is an estimated 1,500 different kinds of yeast that when mixed with flour and water could form 1000s of different types of flavored breads [ref] [ref]. If you find a bread people like, it is worth money. And, yeast bread was used like money in Egypt [ref]. This means yeast bread is rich man’s bread, while unleavened bread is poor man’s bread. YESHUA came from Heaven to Earth and became poor for us (2 Cor 8:9). As YESHUA came down from Heaven in humility and obedience to the FATHER to die for our sins and the death required for them, so unleavened bread is brought down and not puffed up (Phil 2:8; Jhn 6:38).
As you can see from the picture above matzah is made with piercings in rows like stripes. As Isa 53:5 states about YESHUA, “And, HE from piercing/bored-throughing/slaying/profaning from our transgressions/sins/revolts/rebellions, from crushing/bruising/beating-to-pieces from our iniquities/guilt/sins/punishments/perversity/evils, from disciplining/chastening/correcting/rebuking (for) our peace/shalom (was) upon HIM; and, by/in HIS stripes/bruises/blows/scourging for us, we will be healed/made-whole.” The stripes are for the lashes HE received, and the hole are for the piercings made by nails upon the Cross (Mt 27:26). The holes are made in the matzah to keep it from rising, and the piercings in YESHUA were to put HIM to death. This is why the Hebrew word matztzah/matzah (H4682) can also mean “contention/strife” (H4683) and is called the bread of affliction/poverty/misery in Dt 16:3. From the root word of matztzah/matzah, we learn that matztzah/matzah is sweet and not embittered by yeast [ref: H4682]. The Hebrew word meaning to be leavened is chametz (H2556) and also means to be “sour/embittered/grieved/cruel/oppress/ruthless” (Dt 16:3). Man’s teaching is called leaven by YESHUA (Mt 16:12). We do not want to add man’s teaching to the Word/teachings-of-GOD. This is why leaven is symbolic for our evil and wickedness (1 Cor 5:8). Since a Believer married to the LORD has died to themselves in YESHUA’s death and arose into the purity of life in HIS resurrection (Rom 6:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11), a Believer is also represented in unleavened bread (1 Cor 5:8). For, Believers have turned/repented from sin/evil/wickedness toward the LORD having the yeast removed from their lives, they died to their spirits and were reborn in spirit by the SPIRIT through YESHUA’s death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead (Jhn 3:3, 5, 6; 2 Cor 5:17). The Believer’s dying to themselves spiritually is represented in the absence of CO2 air in the unleavened bread that represents themselves. This is because CO2 is the death in the air we breath out of our bodies.
YESHUA is called the Seed (Gal 3:16). The seed/grain being crushed and stoneground symbolizes the death to the Seed that brings Life through the Bread that is eaten. And, YESHUA states in John 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink HIS blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats MY flesh and drinks MY blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For MY flesh is food indeed, and MY blood is drink indeed. He who eats MY flesh and drinks MY blood lives in ME, and I in him. As the living FATHER sent ME, and I live because of the FATHER, so he who feeds on ME will also live because of ME. This is the Bread which came down out of Heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this Bread will live forever.” (from WEB translation). It was during Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread that Yisra’el/Israel was fleeing from Egypt and this fleeing in haste was one of the reasons given that the bread was unleavened (Ex 12:39) [ref].
This next topic is about salt. For the Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread, the unleavened-bread/matzah/matztzah can be made with many ingredients including salt, oil, egg, fruit juice, spices, and so on. But, the matzah for the Pesach/Passover is only made with flour and water according to a 700 year old Jewish source [Orach Chayim 455:5] [ref] [ref]. The reason given is only flour and water represents poor bread [ref]. Now, if every Jew used only flour and water for their matzah on Pesach/Passover, that would be the end of this discussion. But, Yemenite Jews also add salt to their flour and water Pesach/Passover matzah [ref]. It seems salt in Egypt was abundant and widely available to all classes, including the poor, but different types of salts may have been used by different classes of society [ref] [ref] [ref] [ref] [ref] [ref]. And then, we also have in the Scriptures that salt is for the Salt Covenant and is to be used on all grain offerings (that included matztzah/unleavened-bread) and on all sacrifices (Lev 2:4, 5, 11, 13). Now, the question is why would the salt be missing from the matzah? The clue may be in the word chametz (H2556) that is the leavening that is to be removed from the bread. There is an Arabic word that is spelled the same called chamitz (H2548) that means “salted/seasoned.” The captivity in Babylon/Babel/Bavel caused the Jews to change the script of their Hebrew letters to an Arabic script by 600 BC [ref]. The Yemenite Jew’s tradition states they came to Yemen during the time of Solomon/Shelomoh, which was before the captivity in Babylon/Babel/Bavel [ref]. This might explain why “They have been described as “the most Jewish of all Jews” and “the ones who have preserved the Hebrew language the best” [ref]. All of this is to say the matzah for Pesach/Passover should be made as fast as you can with stone ground whole grain flour and water, kneaded and made into a ball, rolled out in a flat circle (the square matzah came later [ref]), punctured with holes in rows with a 4 prong metal fork, small amount of salt rubbed into the holes, and then placed in the oven at 475-500 degrees for 2-4 minutes per side and flipped one time [ref]. The stone ground whole grain flour is used because the whole grain is ground dry while with regular flour the grain is placed in water to soak before grinding it, which would promote the growth of yeast [ref]. The circle has no beginning or ending point, just as the LORD has no beginning or ending. The 4 prong metal fork helps us to remember the iron spikes used to pierce YESHUA in the 4 locations of HIS hands and feet. The salt itself reminds us of the wrath of FATHER upon YESHUA for the sins HE took upon HIMSELF that brings about the Covenant of Salt (see Kaph to see how this is true) (Kaph is unfinished right now).
As the Chag-ha’Matzot/Feast-of-Unleavened-Bread was when the barley was first given as an wave offering during Yom-haBikkurim/Day-of-First-Fruits, poor man’s bread was more than likely barley bread as well [ref] [ref] [ref] [ref]. Barley has also always been considered a cheaper grain, especially when compared to wheat grain, that the poor would be able to afford when making their bread [ref].