Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part One
The legitimacy of the spring holy day season as Christian doctrine cannot be overlooked or discarded. Certainly, the observances of Christ’s memorial and the related days of the festival of unleavened bread are credibly within the practices and personal teachings of the apostles and Jesus. The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread have their beginnings in an historical event that took place in the land of Egypt more than 3000 years ago, and these festivals historically mark a terrible tragedy for the ancient Egyptians. However, these same festivals marked a time of liberation for the people of Israel, which began with the Passover observance in Egypt when a young lamb was chosen from the flocks on the 10th day of the first month according to the Hebrew calendar. This first month was called the month of the Abib (barley/Spring), and it was affirmed by God to be the “beginning of months” for the people of Israel. It was also to be the “first month of the year,” and the designated month when the Israelites were to observe the Passover and begin their exodus from Egypt. Now, the Passover lamb was kept until—as far as or up to—the evening beginning the 14th of Abib (hereafter, Nissan, sometimes “Nisan,” from post-captivity period), and it was slain by the families—between the two evenings—and later the remains of the Passover had to be burned in the morning as they began their departure from Egypt. And this raises a question. When did the Israelites kill the Passover lamb? Customarily a day that is reckoned by the Hebrew calendar begins at evening (dusk/sunset), and continues until the beginning of the next day at evening (dusk/sunset). Therefore the day, as a unit of time, is said to be fully come when dusk has given way to what is sometimes called nightfall, and this period of time between sunset and nightfall is understood in the expression “between the two evenings [‘beyn ha’arbayim’],” which is used to describe the period of time when the lamb was slain for the Passover (Ex. 12:6). Therefore the Passover memorial began at the onset of evening or at sunset on the 14th of Nissan, and this is the period of time when the lambs were slain, and their blood was placed above and on the sides of the doorways. Following this event came the Passover meal, which preceded the death of the firstborn at the “half of the night,” which caused the Egyptians to press the Israelites into leaving the land of Egypt, bringing us to the beginning of the Exodus. Now, according to some Christian traditions the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt began in the evening on the day following the Passover, and according to the Hebrew calendar this would have been on the 15th day of the month Nissan (Abib). And in some traditions this evening is celebrated as the “night to be much observed,” in remembrance of the night the Israelites came out of Egypt (Ex. 12:42). However, the Israelites did not begin to come out of Egypt on the 15th of Nissan. How do we know this? In what appears to be the final meeting between Pharaoh and Moses, Pharaoh threatens to kill Moses if he should ever see him again. Then Moses related to Pharaoh that “all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from pharaoh in a great anger” (Ex. 11:8). And what Moses said in anger to Pharaoh reflected what God had told Moses earlier that after the last plague Pharaoh will, “let you go hence… he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether” (Ex. 11:1). [Author’s emphasis throughout.] And it happened just as God had said. After the death of the firstborn, Moses and Aaron were hastily summoned before Pharaoh on the night of the Passover observance—the 14th of Nissan. And Pharaoh said to them, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said” (Ex. 12:31; 13:17). Consequently, the “passing over” and the death of the firstborn initiated the decree, and the decree of Pharaoh marked the beginning of the Exodus. And so in Deuteronomy 16:6 we read that: “thou dost sacrifice the passover in the evening [Heb. ‘erev’], at the going down of the sun, at the season [appointed or fixed time] that thou camest forth out of Egypt.” Notably, then, as part of that initial Passover observance, the instruction was to eat the Passover sacrifice with unleavened bread, which they dutifully kept from becoming leavened until the morning and throughout the day into the beginning evening of the “night to be much observed” (Ex. 12:34, 39). And the symbolism of this unleavened bread appropriately reflected the meaning of the events that took place on the 14th of Nissan as the people gathered toward Ramesses to begin their concerted journeys out of Egypt. Now after the people of Israel departed from the area of Ramesses “by their armies”—family and tribal groupings—beginning on the 15th calendar date of Nissan, they journeyed toward Succoth, which is thought to have been in the eastern delta region of Egypt. And of this day it says that “it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies” (Ex. 12:51). (The exact location of Ramesses and Succoth is considered uncertain.) However, it would take the Israelites a few more days and journeys until they reached the Red Sea and crossed to the other side at the edge of the Sinai wilderness. In the meantime, they were led by a cloud during the day, and a pillar of fire by night, and they traveled along both day and night until they reached the Red Sea (Ex. 13:21; Num. 33:1-2).