The Spring Festivals
Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)
Seven Days Without Leaven
Description
Beginning the day after Passover, this week-long observance required removal of all leaven from Israelite homes. Leaven symbolized sin and corruption; its absence represented purity and separation from evil. The festival commemorated Israel's hasty departure from Egypt without time for bread to rise.Throughout Scripture, leaven represents doctrine and influence (Matthew 16:6-12). The requirement to purge all leaven prefigures the believer's need for sanctification and separation from sin. Christ's burial during this feast period connects the unleavened bread to His sinless body.
Key Verses
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 your generations by an ordinance for ever.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.