Feast of Unleavened Bread Explained
Exodus 12:14-17
vs.14–And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall deep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
vs.15–Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
vs.16–And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
vs.17–And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in yur generation by an ordinance for ever.
Summary
The feast of Unleavened Bread starts the day after Passover and lasts seven days. Passover takes place on the 14th of Nissan according to the Jewish calendar, which is a Thursday according to modern calendars. Friday is the 15th of Nissan, the first day of Unleavened Bread. The next day is Saturday, the Sabbath. Sunday is the Feast of First Fruits. Fifty days later is Pentecost.
At the beginning of the feast a convocation or meeting is held to start the feast and then one is held at the end to conclude the feast. The feast is a representation of how the Israelites needed to leave Israel in such a hurry that they did not have time to take any leaven with them for their bread. So for seven days during this feast Jews do not eat bread with leaven. Leaven is yeast to make the bread rise.
A common tradition among Jews is to sprinkle leaven crumbs (yeast) around the house that they will then sweep up in a pile and burn outside. The burning of the leaven crumbs is a wonderful representation of what Christ does to sin. By His power and the help of the Holy Spirit we can eradicate sin from our lives. The burning of the leaven symbolized this for the Jews.
See what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (NKJV)
7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.[8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The feast represents not only purging sin from our lives and our homes but also complete separation from our old selves and our sinful nature. Israel remembered their complete separation from Egypt during this time. The Israelites needed to be continually reminded about what they left behind in Egypt. They needed to be reminded about their false religion, bondage, food, and of course slavery to their masters. Egypt seemed to offer a great deal of promise but the promise land offered much more, FREEDOM! This week long feast was designed to continually remind them of this fact.
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