Precepts & Principles of the Torah – The Passover Service
03/16/13 (01/11) Video Broadcast
What is the most biblical way of partaking of Yahushua’s body & blood as instructed in the evangels?
This archive is from the EliYah.com Live Video Broadcast
Video Transcript
This is a direct transcript of a teaching that was presented via video. Due to the fact that we often speak differently than we write, the written text may not flow and/or sound strange in some places. There may also be grammatical errors and unintended mistakes. It is encouraged that you to watch the video to complement this written transcript.
And we are just about to embark on another installment of our “Precepts and Principles in the Torah” series. We have been covering Yahweh’s calendar and the Passover observance here the last several weeks and trying to grab what we can– as far as what we need to learn in terms of what this is all about.
We covered on our first segment Yahweh’s calendar and when it begins and when we could determine a new month. We also went into the precepts and understanding of applying Passover. And then last week we covered Passover in the New Covenant. And now, this week, we are going to cover “The Passover Service” as part of our study series.
There are a lot of interesting ways of applying and bringing Yahushua into the Passover Service written in the Torah, and that certainly seem to be Yahweh’s expectation that it would be done that way.
So, for that reason, we are going to see and discover the awesome ways in which partaking of the blood and body of the Messiah as our Passover Lamb does indeed fit quite well with the Passover Service that Yahweh instituted for Yisrael in ancient times there in the Torah.
Now, for those of you who are needing to know when the Passover dates are this year, if you are like me, I go according to when I see the new moon here in the United States. I am calling it a month. I am not going to pretend like the crescent moon does not exist. I am not going to look up in the sky and say, “There it is,” and then wait a day.
That is when I think a month is. Now, those who are going by what was seen in Jerusalem, they are going to keep it a day later than these dates because, apparently, it was not seen on this night of the 12th, here (3rd month – “March”), like I saw it. But I saw it. And actually, my daughter, Leanna, was the first one to notice the new moon in the sky.
We prayed for the clouds to part because it was sort of cloudy, and Yahweh answered our prayer. We got a good picture there of the new moon. So, we praise Yahweh for that!
Anyway, this being the first day of the new year on the 13th, we fast forward to the 14th day.
And we have the first day (the 13th), second day (the 14th), third day (the 15th), fourth (the 16th), fifth (the 17th), sixth (the 18th), seventh (the 19th), eighth (the 20th), ninth (the 21st), tenth (the 22nd), eleventh (the 23rd), twelfth (the 24th), thirteenth (the 25th), and fourteenth (the 26th).
So, this is the day of Passover, on what is called the 26th of March. That night is when my family and I will be partaking of the Passover Lamb that was killed for us on the ninth hour of the 26th there. The ninth hour of the day. And so, as nightfall begins– it has to be at night– we will begin partaking of the Lamb.
We have some brothers here locally, some families who are going to join us. And this 27th right here is the First Day of the Feast. And then the 2nd (the 4th month – “April”) is the last day of the Feast. And those are our Holy Days. So, we keep those as Sabbaths, except we may cook on those days as we will see.
So, this is the text that we came to as we were going through “Precepts and Principles of the Torah.” It says:
Exodus 23:17 – Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Master YAHWEH.
18 – You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning.
And we see the leavened bread representing sin. We would not do that. We keep unleavened bread. Yahushua was our unleavened sacrifice, and His body did not remain on the tree until morning. And so, the principles are still being applied here when we are talking about observing Yahweh’s Law.
So, we want to go over some of the main principles we have covered so far: We are Yisrael (according to the Scriptures – Eph. 2, Romans 11, Gal. 3). We were in bondage to Pharaoh/satan (symbolically there). Yahweh demonstrated His superiority over the idols of this world. That is Egypt.
We were offered grace and deliverance just as Israel was offered grace and deliverance from bondage. They set aside a lamb on Aviv 10. That is when our Lamb (Messiah) was also. And their lamb was offered on Passover Day, and our Lamb (Yahushua Messiah) was also offered on Passover Day.
And we went over some additional principles. Messiah is “our Passover” Lamb (according to 1 Cor. 5:7) and partaking of Him IS partaking of Passover. So, when do you do it? Obviously, around the time of Passover.
We must “examine” ourselves before partaking of Him. A very important element there (1 Corinthians, chapter 11). Eat a regular meal before partaking of the Messiah (according to 1 Cor. 11:34). It says eat your meals at home. When you come together, though, let’s partake of the Master’s supper and the Master’s body and blood.
The bread must be unleavened bread. The bread represents the Word, the fruit of the vine represents the Messiah’s blood and His sacrifice for us. So, that is a real brief overview of what we have covered here already in the last few weeks.
So, where do we go from here? We are going to take a look at Exodus 12, as we are going through this entire chapter and extracting all the principles that we can find out of it and see how all of this really relates to us in a powerful way as we go through this chapter. It says:
Exodus 12:2 – This month [shall be] your beginning of months; it [shall be] the first month of the year to you.
As we shared earlier, a few weeks ago, on “Yahweh’s Calendar.”
Exodus 12:3 – Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: `On the tenth [day] of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of [his] father, a lamb for a household.
And, of course, Yahushua the Messiah was selected on the tenth day of that month.
Exodus 12:4 – `And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take [it] according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 – `Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take [it] from the sheep or from the goats.
And Yahushua definitely is the Lamb without blemish.
Exodus 12:6 – `Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
Now, the New King James Version here has “twilight,” but we understand that is “between the evenings” there (“ben ha arbayim” in the Hebrew). And I would understand that as being at the ninth hour of the day, the exact hour Yahushua became our Passover Lamb.
And, in fact, the whole reason He told them to kill the lamb at that time was because He knew He would be sending Yahushua to die for our sins at that exact time.
Exodus 12:7 – `And they shall take [some] of the blood and put [it] on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
So, we want the blood on the doorpost of our heart. And that is the door in which Messiah does enter.
Exodus 12:8 – `Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it.
Here is the first principle of this study.
What about us? Should we partake of Messiah with bitter herbs? I think so. And a lot of people do not notice that, but some people use parsley when they do it.
But looking here… “Principles for Passover Service”: We examine ourselves before partaking of Him. We eat a regular meal before partaking of Messiah. The bread must be unleavened. The bread represents the Word. The fruit of the vine represents Messiah’s sacrifice.
And finally, partaking of this with bitter herbs, or as we are going to find here, is actually the herb “myrrh.” If you look up the Hebrew word for “bitter,” the Hebrew word for “bitter” is rooted in the same Hebrew word as the word for “myrrh.”
And so, when we partake of the bitter herb, some people use parsley or horseradish, but what I can gather is it should be myrrh. In fact, the word “bitter” (“meror”) is in the word “myrrh” (“more” in Hebrew). They are basically from the same root family.
And so, in an effort to really get as close to Scripture as we possibly can, go down to the health food store and get yourself some myrrh, or order some on the internet, and let that be your bitter herb. And you will find, yeah, it is bitter. It has somewhat of a nice taste to it, but it is pretty bitter. It depends on what you get, too.
A lot of it, you have to get these little flakes of it that people use for incense. But it’s myrrh. It would be nice to have some fresh growing myrrh in the house, but I don’t have that.
But we keep this every year. And depending on what kind you get, it can be… you have never tasted bitter until you have tasted the myrrh. Other people, though, they seem to like it. But that is one of the things that we want to do– partake of Messiah with the bitter herbs.
You know, the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor (Exodus 1:13), and made their lives bitter with hard bondage. And so, when we partake of that bitter herb, we are remembering the bitterness and the ugliness of our former life when we were in Egypt and in the world.
And also, this little feeling inside, “Okay, I am partaking of Messiah.” But there is something inside of us saying, “Look what Messiah did for me.” A feeling inside of regret for the things that we have done where we embittered ourselves and we embittered the Messiah through the offering He offered for us.
It is one of those things where we can completely relate to it. We also had to serve the enemy with rigor. All right. It says:
Exodus 12:9 – `Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire — its head with its legs and its entrails.
And so, we understand the Messiah went through the fiery trial, right? He was brought through the fire and He came out completely pure. There were no impurities in Him at all.
Exodus 12:10 – `You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.
We know the Messiah did not remain until morning. He was taken down from the tree before sundown.
Exodus 12:11 – `And thus you shall eat it: [with] a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It [is] YAHWEH’S Passover.
The lamb itself is the Passover. And so, when we are partaking of Him, it says here “eat it in haste” (quickly), as Yahweh’s Passover. Let none remain.
And so, we want to eat the Lamb. When we are partaking of the Passover, which He is our Passover, it says, “You shall eat it in haste.” Eat it quickly!
So, when I am partaking of the unleavened bread, representing the body, and the fruit of the vine, representing the blood, I do it quickly (you know, I am trying to follow the principle here) or eat it in haste.
And so, we do it quickly. We quickly want to receive the Messiah Yahushua. We quickly want to turn our hearts to Him and have Him a part of us. We quickly want Him to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so, we quickly want to leave Egypt. And so, we eat it in haste.
And it says we are to eat that with a belt on our waist, sandals on our feet, and staff in our hand. Well, what is that? Well, we go out in the woods here. We actually get a staff. We have it in our hand. I even went to the store a few years ago and bought myself some sandals. I didn’t have any sandals.
And I get a belt, which I normally don’t wear a belt. I wear a belt around my waist. And I am ready! I am ready to leave the world, ready to leave Egypt, and go to the promised land!
And so, we eat that in haste, with a belt on our waist, sandals on our feet, and staff in our hand ready to go. How about you? And it is part of the object lesson that we are displaying, that we are participating in, and some think, “Well, that is just going too far. You don’t have to do all that.”
Well, He said to do it. Just like He said that our baptism going down into the water is an object lesson of what is happening inside.
In the same way, this belt on our waist, the sandals on our feet, the staff in our hand, is what is happening inside– a reasoning and a resolve within our hearts to depart from Egypt and have nothing to do with it, and to have the Word of Yahweh before us and all the world and all its “yuck” behind us.
Just as we go down into the baptismal waters, the old man is dead, the new man rises up, and we are ready. We are ready to go! We are now a new man. And these are all object lessons for us and for our children to show them we do not want anything to do with the old life.
We do not want to be adulterers and adulteresses and be friendship with the world. That is enmity with Yahweh. We are walking away from this junk that the world has to offer, and now we are following the cloud– the cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night.
As we enter that Red Sea, the baptismal waters, we begin that journey– where on this journey Yahweh is instructing us in the Torah, writing the Torah in our hearts. And it is a man named Yahushua who will take us across the Jordan. Yahushua says:
Luke 12:35 – Let your waist be girded and [your] lamps burning;
Get your belt around it and your lamps burning.
Luke 12:36 – and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
So, He is saying, “Be ready! Waist girded. Lamps burning.” Almost a Passover-like illustration here when the Messiah returns. Are we ready? Will we be among the ones who are destroyed?
I have wondered about this. When Messiah returns, it appears that there will be some who are on the earth whom we are going to be reigning over. But how is He going to decide who will be killed, and how will He decide who will not be killed? It says some will be taken, others will be left.
Obviously, us, who (the corruptible puts on incorruptible)… we are believers in Messiah. He will not take us. I am not going to teach this as doctrine, but just something to think about, that possibly when Messiah returns, it is the firstborn He is going to destroy and the remainder will be allowed to live. So, anyway, just a thought.
But let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. Be ready. And maybe He will return at Passover. I don’t know. But we need to be ready.
In another place, girding up the loins, 1 Peter 1:13– it says:
1Peter 1:13 – Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest [your] hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Yahushua Messiah;
14 – as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, [as] in your ignorance;
15 – but as He who called you [is] holy, you also be holy in all [your] conduct,
1Peter 1:16 – because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
So, in a spiritual sense, especially at Passover, as you gird up the belt around your waist, make sure you do that with your mind, also.
Ephesians 6:14 – Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
We need to have truth.
Ephesians 6:15 – and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
So, that is our sandals. We have good news with us as we travel toward the promised land. We have this “our feet shod with the preparation of the good news of peace” as it says in Isaiah 52:7:
Isaiah 52:7 – How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good [things], Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, Your Elohim reigns!
HalleluYah! And so, we can relate to these things.
What about the staff in our hand? Well, Scripture says here:
Matthew 10:38 – And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
We shared a couple of weeks ago about it is not really a cross. It is a stake. It is an upright pole.
So, just as ancient Israel were taking their staff and they are making their trek toward the promised land, Yahushua says we need to take our staff, our stake, and we need to follow Him wherever He leads us. Wherever the cloud takes us or the Spirit leads us, we need to go. And if we do not do that, we are not worthy of Him.
Another place– Matthew 16:24:
Matthew 16:24 – Then Yahushua said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
“Let him deny himself, and take up his cross/stake (his “stauros” in the Greek), and follow me.”
Matthew 16:25 – For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 – For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Again, very salvational. We need to follow the Lamb wherever He leads us.
And when He sent out the twelve:
Mark 6:7 – And He called the twelve to [Himself], and began to send them out two [by] two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.
8 – He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bag, no bread, no copper in [their] money belts —
9 – but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.
We are being sent out, also, as presenters and messengers for the good news. We have good news to share. And so, as we are on this journey through the wilderness, through this land that is not our own, we manifest the hope that is in us– the Messiah, Yahushua Ha Mashiach. And so, we are on that journey just as they were on that journey.
Exodus 12:14 – `So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to YAHWEH throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
So, this is our journey. This is our promised land journey. And this night is a memorial. This is a memorial supper. And Yahushua said:
Luke 22:19 – And He took bread, gave thanks and broke [it], and gave [it] to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
So, this is a memorial, also, this thing that Yahushua has instructed us to do. This is all part of a memorial. And so, as far as the things are concerned with Passover, we have to keep that in mind. This is a memorial of what Messiah did for us and our exodus from Egypt.
So, adding to our “Principles for Passover Service,” I want you to know, it says to give thanks for the Bread (Messiah). When we look at what Messiah was doing, He said He took bread, He gave thanks, and He broke it. So, before you partake of the Messiah at Passover, make sure you give thanks for the body of Messiah.
So, that is part of our “Principles for our Passover Service,” that you give thanks for the Bread, which Yahushua is the Bread. So, this is a memorial.
Another principle we can pull from that verse is: Don’t slice the bread ahead of time. Break it after the prayer, and then distribute it. So, you break it after the prayer, because you are going to say, “This is Messiah’s body, which was broken for us.” And so, at that time, you break the bread.
And if you look back in the verse, that is exactly what Yahushua did. He said He gave thanks for it, and then He broke it. So, we are trying to follow His pattern. He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This is all part of it– giving thanks, breaking the bread and remembering His body, which was given for us. Other gospels say it was broken for us.
And so, those are the principles that we can apply to our Passover Service.
Exodus 12:14 – `So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to YAHWEH throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
15 – `Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
So, on the first day, we make sure we have all the leavening out of our houses. We are going to get to that in a minute.
Exodus 12:16 – `On the first day [there shall be] a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but [that] which everyone must eat — that only may be prepared by you.
And so, this is a Holy Day. It is one of the seven Holy Days in Scripture. And the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the first Holy Day of the year. That is a festival. And the seventh day is also a Holy Day.
And He says to have a “miqra qodesh.” A “holy convocation” should be done. That means a holy gathering for the purposes of reading. The word “convocation” has to do with “the reading,” the reading of Scripture, the “calling out” of Scripture.
It says “no manner of work shall be done on them.” This is not a normal Sabbath, but it is called a Sabbath in which no “servile work” shall be done, as we will see later.
But it says, “but that which everyone must eat– that only may be prepared by you,” which we are getting the indication here that we are permitted to prepare food on the First Day of Unleavened Bread and the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. No manner of work shall be done on THEM. So, BOTH days are days which we may prepare food.
Exodus 12:17 – `So you shall observe [the Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
It is something that is always, always to be observed this day. So, we do not do any work on those days except for work related to the meal preparations. That would be the only exception.
So, adding to our “Principles for Passover Service,” make sure that we cease from work on the first and seventh days of the Feast. Meaning, don’t do any work except for the preparation of food. That is where the exception is given.
So, continuing on here in our journey through Exodus 12, it says in verse 18:
Exodus 12:18 – `In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
So, what is this? Why is He saying at evening on the fourteenth day you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day at evening?
Well, first of all, let us add this to our principles here: Eat no leavened bread during the seven days of the Feast. So, your bread should be without yeast at a minimum. And there are some yeast substitutes, which we will get into. But it says eat no leavened bread during these seven days of the festival.
Now it says, specifically, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.” Now, that can be a little confusing, but let us take a look here at this calendar we were sharing earlier.
This is the first day of the first month (the 13th)… second… third… fourth… fifth… sixth… seventh… eighth… ninth… tenth (that is when the tenth of Aviv is)… eleventh… twelfth… thirteenth… and then here we have the fourteenth day of Aviv (the 26th).
Now, when the fourteenth day is here, it is already the fourteenth day. It says “at evening” you shall eat unleavened bread. So, here we are at the fourteenth day of the month (the 26th), and so when evening time takes place, at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread only.
And so, He is specifying for them when a day begins. And I will explain that to you even further here in a minute. Because the time in which we are actually supposed to partake of unleavened bread starts on the night of the 26th, and it continues on through the week… we are getting to the next month here.
This is actually the days of the month if we were to transition from the Passover of the Roman calendar to the Passover of Yahweh’ calendar. Here we have the first day of Yahweh’s calendar matching up with the 13th day (of the Roman calendar).
And so, we are going to start here, the night of the 14th (of Aviv), at evening, which is actually the beginning of the 15th. We continue on. We eat no unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening. Then we can start eating leavened bread again.
And so, that makes perfect sense in light of some other scriptures. In Leviticus 23, verse 5, it says:
Leviticus 23:5 – `On the fourteenth [day] of the first month at twilight [is] YAHWEH’S Passover.
Between the evenings.
Leviticus 23:6 – `And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
So, starting on this fifteenth day, seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Leviticus 23:7 – `On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
8 – `But you shall offer an offering made by fire to YAHWEH for seven days. The seventh day [shall be] a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work [on it].’
And so, our diagram here lines up pretty well. When it is the 14th day of the month and you are sitting in your house, you look out, and you see the sun go down. It is evening now. That begins our seven days of unleavened bread. The First Day of Unleavened Bread being this 15th of Aviv right here. So, there you have it.
There are some who combine the fourteenth and the fifteenth day, but I don’t see how you can get that, because He is making a distinction. On the fourteenth day of the first month is Yahweh’s Passover and on the fifteenth day is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So, there is a distinction made between the fourteenth and the fifteenth.
So, here we are. This is Yahweh’s Passover. On the fifteenth day is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the fourteenth day is the day of Passover. And seven days later we have the final day, the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, which is what we see here (the twenty-first day).
Exodus 12:18 – `In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
19 – `For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether [he is] a stranger or a native of the land.
20 – `You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’
So, do not even have it in your house at all. So, adding to our “Principles for Passover Service,” no leavening is to be found in our dwelling places. And it is not just the house. It is our property. Other verses will clarify. So, we need to get rid of anything that might contain leavening.
Now, in ancient Israel it was a lot simpler than what we have today. You know, they did not have all this boxed food from Wal-Mart with the ingredient labels and ingredient lists, with everything being pre-made for you. They made their own food from scratch. That is just how it was.
But what exactly is leavening? In Exodus 12:15, it says: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven (and that is the Hebrew word #7603) from your houses. For whoever eats leavened (then a different word is used, #2557) bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”
So, you must remove the leaven from our dwelling places. Well, the first word, #7603, if you looked that up in a Lexicon: 07603 se’or {seh-ore’} It just means “leaven.” It doesn’t give us much of a more detailed description, but notice it says it is from #7604. Origin: from 07604; TWOT – 2229a; n m Usage: AV – leaven 5; 5.
And so, we look into the root of “se’or.” It is from “sha’ar.”
Hebrew Lexicon: 07604 sha’ar {shaw-ar’} Meaning: 1) to remain, be left over, be left behind 1a) (Qal) to remain 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be left over, be left alive, survive 1b1a) remainder, remnant (participle) 1b2) to be left behind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to leave over, spare 1c2) to leave or keep over 1c3) to have left 1c4) to leave (as a gift).
Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 2307, 2308; v Usage: AV – leave 75, remain 46, remnant 4, let 3, rest 2, misc. 3; 133.
And so, it has to do with this remnant. It is what is left over– the leftovers. Some are thinking, “Hmm, can I get rid of my leftovers by Passover?” Well, let us look at it more deeply here.
The second word, #2557, is what is translated “leavened,” and it is from “chametz.”
Hebrew Lexicon: 02557 chametz {khaw-mates’} Meaning: 1) the thing leavened, leaven. Origin: from 02556; TWOT – 679a; n m Usage: AV – leaven 5, leavened bread 4, leaven 2; 11.
There is no more detailed description here. It is from #2556, and we look at the root word here.
Hebrew Lexicon: 02556 chamets {khaw-mates’} Meaning: 1) to be leavened, be sour 1a) (Qal) to be leavened 1b) (Hiphil) to taste something leavened 1c) (Hithpael) to be embittered, grieved 2) to be cruel, oppress, be ruthless 3) to be red. Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 679, 680, 681; v Usage: AV – leavened 5, cruel 1, dyed 1, grieved 1; 8.
We see it is translated “leavened” five times, “cruel” one time, “dyed” once and “grieved” another time. So, we look into the other scriptures here, and it says:
Psalms 71:4 – Deliver me, O my Elohim, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
The word translated “cruel” is “chamets.”
And then, Psalm 73:21:
Psalms 73:21 – Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.
The word translated “grieved” is “chamets” again. And so, what is going on here? What is this? How do we line all these up with meaning “leavening”? Well, the Hebrew words have to do with the way in which bread was leavened in ancient times. I mean, they didn’t go down to their Wal-Mart and buy a package of yeast for a few dollars.
The leavening is always in the air. The yeast is always in the air. And if you give it some nice bread to go munch on, it is going to eat that bread, and the by-product of that is what creates the leavening of the bread. And the more sugars you have in the bread, the more it is likely to rise because it feeds off the sugars.
So, they didn’t just throw a package of yeast in. What they had to do is they had to take the remnant. So, let’s say you had a dough ball this big around, and you would take a little portion of that, of the remnant. You take the remnant, and then you save it. And you just kind of let it sit out for a really long time.
And eventually that little dough ball will become full of leavening. And the taste will have a sour taste to it. And so, the literal meaning is a sourdough ball, which, of course, is used.
They take that dough ball and rather than waiting for that bread to rise through a longer process, they take that dough ball and they put the dough ball next to any future balls of flour. And because there is so much yeast already in that sourdough ball, it would immediately go into the other dough ball. And so, that would rise a lot faster.
So, basically, in ancient Israel, the only thing they had to do was make sure there weren’t any breadcrumbs all over the floor and take the sourdough ball and toss it or burn it or whatever. Real easy for them. And actually, I know of at least one family who actually leaven their bread that way. They go take that dough ball.
It takes a little longer, but the resulting bread does have more of a sour taste to it than the bread you might buy at the store. But today we have more sophisticated ways of collecting yeast and more ways to cause bread to rise than with just yeast alone.
In fact, a person could keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread and continue to bake breads that rise, just like it does with yeast, and really not have any bread that you would even know was leavened.
The alternative methods would typically be baking soda or baking powder. Those are the most common, but there are also other agents that would be used in place of yeast, which are pretty common. Now, some might say, “Well, only if we have the sourdough ball do we need to toss it. If we don’t have a sourdough ball, then we are okay.”
If you want to go by the rigid, mechanical, looking-for-a-loophole-in-the-Law kind of method of looking at Yahweh’s Law, then, okay, that is what you do. But our goal is to find the principles and precepts. The principles are what we are after the most out of the precepts of Yahweh’s Law.
And so, I want to get rid of not just yeast and bread that contains yeast or any items that may have already gotten leavened bread that is in the house, but I want to follow the principles, and I don’t want to try to find some loophole in the Law.
In fact, the Jews, some of them, will sell their house to a Gentile for a dollar. That way they do not have to get rid of the leavening in it. They don’t own it anymore. Then they buy it back after the week is over. And they think that they are okay. But they haven’t done anything to try to get rid of leavening. And they think they are okay by that.
That is not following the principles in Yahweh’s Law. That is treating it as some rigid legal code. I just don’t agree with that way of doing it.
So, what we want to do is try to find what some alternative leavening agents are that might be found in the food that we buy. And as the world becomes more and more away from Yahweh, the more complicated our lives are, the more challenging it could become to get rid of the leavening.
And the same is true, the more complicated we are and the more further this world is away from Yahweh, the more challenging it can become to get rid of the sin that is in our lives. And so, there is an application here for this.
So, what are the leavening agents? Well, if you just want to go with the big ones, you can say yeast, baking soda and unleavened bread. But if you are like me, you want to try to be more diligent and get rid of all possible leavening agents.
Rather than me reading them on the broadcast, I would just point you to this particular web page where I have a list of leavening agents: http://www.eliyah.com/leaven.html. And in this list there is quite a bit. Most of what is on that list you will never find in anything. A lot of it is used at restaurants, by bakers, and so on.
But there is still a possibility that you might. And so, for that reason, you want to do your best to try to get rid of anything (with leavening). I know it can be tedious, but remember this is an exercise. This is an exercise of getting rid of the sin that is in our lives. And so, we want to get rid of the sin, right? We want to get rid of all sin.
And so, this is an exercise of the diligence with which we want to rid ourselves of sin. Now, please don’t think that by doing this I am trying to be what is called legalistic or whatever. That is not my intent. My intent is to practice, to the best of my understanding, what Yahweh wants me to practice.
I actually have a broken graphic on that page, which if you reload the page, if you happen to be there now, I have fixed that broken graphic. There is going to be a “Kosher for Passover” symbol on a lot of the products that are going to help you weed through all the ingredients, and such.
But you will find that there are going to be some ingredients that it may be in there. So, you want to get rid of those things because we want to, with this kind of diligence, rid our lives of the sin that is there.
Also, how do we make unleavened bread? A lot of people are wondering about that. Well, here is the “Unleavened Bread” recipe: 1 cup whole wheat flour (extra for dusting). 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. 1/2 cup water. Combine the ingredients, then put dough onto floured surface. Knead for five minutes, then roll out until about 1/8 inch thick.
On either parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet, bake in a preheated 250 degree F oven for 20 minutes.
And that is also linked from the website. If you go to www.eliyah.com/passover.html, you will see on the Passover study, on the main page, a link to this recipe. And so, that is how you can make Unleavened Bread.
I don’t make it fancy. I don’t add things to it. Some people might want to add salt, because every offering was supposed to be offered with salt. That is up to you whether you want to include salt. But this is a representation of the Messiah’s body. So, there we go.
And you can find this recipe, along with a full example of a Passover Service, on this particular web address: http://www.eliyah.com/passoverservice.html.
And if you are getting a little confused as to trying to remember all the things we are supposed to do, this particular web page will take you step-by-step through a Passover Service that, from my understanding, is as close to what is biblical– and maybe not so fond of what is traditional.
I am not against tradition. I am not saying all tradition is bad. In fact, I know, maybe the afikoman… if you have heard of that, it is part of the Jewish service. It is something that they hide, the bread and so on. It is supposed to be representing the Messiah, but I don’t know.
This is such a solemn occasion, this is such a serious matter, I want to be careful that I am doing everything exactly according to what is written in Scripture, bringing the Messiah into the Passover observance as our Passover Lamb and not adding much at all… in particular, traditions.
And at the Jewish Passover, actually, they use an egg there on the dinner plate. Well, what is an egg doing on the dinner plate? Why it is there is beyond me.
The only thing I can think of is maybe some Christians imposed something on them in their history and they found a way to justify it, you know, with the Easter eggs, and so on, and the pagan things that they were involved in.
And so, I do not necessarily trust all the Jewish traditions any more than I would trust Christian traditions, such as Christmas and Easter, and so on. Our goal, or at least my goal is (and I’m not saying I am there, I’m not saying I have arrived, and I’m not saying I am perfect), but I want to get as close to the Biblical observance as I can.
Continuing here:
Exodus 12:21 – Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover [lamb].
Once again, the lamb itself is called the Passover. And, of course, Messiah is called our Passover ( in 1 Corinthians 5:7).
Exodus 12:22 – And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip [it] in the blood that [is] in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that [is] in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
23 – For YAHWEH will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YAHWEH will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike [you].
He did not want them ending up getting killed. They had to be within the threshold.
Exodus 12:24 – And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
25 – It will come to pass when you come to the land which YAHWEH will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.
And it is for that reason I get the staff in hand, sandals on my feet– the whole nine yards.
Exodus 12:26 – And it shall be, when your children say to you, `What do you mean by this service?’
27 – that you shall say, `It [is] the Passover sacrifice of YAHWEH, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
So, what do we do? As part of our Passover Service, we do want to have our children ask us what this means. And we explain, it is the Passover sacrifice of Yahweh, who passes over us and saves us by the blood of the Lamb, just as He struck the Egyptians but saved Israel.
And so, we make that as part of the Passover Service on that web page I gave you earlier, that the children have the opportunity to ask the adults what that means.
And a lot of these things are all about calling our children back. I know that a lot of us would tell you our experiences with our children are that even if they depart from the faith later in life, they typically look back at the festivals of Yahweh as something they really enjoyed and that they probably miss.
And so, these are object lessons. And we saw earlier during our Scripture reading that the festivals, a lot of times, accompanied the turning of the people back to Yahweh again. They would keep these festivals, and with GREAT JOY they would keep these festivals.
And that is what they are there for– for the generations to come, to remember the awesome works of Yahweh, and the Messiah and what He has done for us. That is what it is all about. He wants Israel to remember, remember, remember.
Exodus 12:28 – Then the children of Israel went away and did [so]; just as YAHWEH had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
“Aharon” (a-har-one’) it says in the Hebrew. It is “Aaron.”
Exodus 12:29 – And it came to pass at midnight that YAHWEH struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who [was] in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
30 – So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.
Exodus 12:31 – Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve YAHWEH as you have said.
So, there they were.
Exodus 12:32 – Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33 – And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, We [shall] all [be] dead.
Exodus 12:34 – So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
They actually used their garments to carry things. In this case the kneading bowl. Even some of the Bedouins and different Arabs will have these garments, also. Like… remember, I think it was Ruth, who carried some grain in her clothes.
Exodus 12:35 – Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing.
36 – And YAHWEH had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them [what they requested]. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
And so, the Egyptians were plundered because Yahweh had fought this battle. And likewise, it says the enemies of Yahweh were plundered when Yahushua died for our sins. It says:
Colossians 2:15 – Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Now, the word translated “disarmed” there literally means “to strip away what belongs to somebody else.” And so, in the same way, Messiah stripped away the kingdom of this world– Satan was the ruler of this world, now Yahushua is the ruler.
He disarmed the principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, and He triumphed over them through His work when He died on the tree. Likewise, they plundered the Egyptians; Yahushua plunders the Egyptians, the worldly powers.
Exodus 12:37 – Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.
38 – A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds — a great deal of livestock.
A mixed multitude went up with them also. I find that interesting because it wasn’t just Israel that made the Exodus. There were also Gentiles that went with them.
Exodus 12:39 – And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
There was not even enough time for them to leaven bread. They had to go. They had the staff in their hand, sandals on their feet. They were out the door. No time to waste.
And that is the whole purpose of the unleavened bread, to show that they did not have time to leaven bread. They had to go. They were driven out. And so, they were not quite ready, but they had to go anyway.
But a mixed multitude had to go up with them, also. And likewise, the New Covenant:
Jeremiah 31:31 – Behold, the days are coming, says YAHWEH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —
Who is the New Covenant with? A lot of people say, “Well, we are a New Testament church. We have nothing to do with that Old Testament stuff. That is with Israel. This is with us. We are Gentiles.” But we see here, as I share often, the New Covenant is with the same people.
Jeremiah 31:32 – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them , says YAHWEH.
But in spite of the covenant being made with Israel and with Judah, there is still a mixed multitude who also joins into this covenant, who also will have the Law of Yahweh written in their minds, and written on their hearts, and will have their sins forgiven, and so on.
Jeremiah 31:33 – But this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YAHWEH: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.
And so, even though both covenants were with Israel and Judah, others are free from other nations to join in– from every tribe, every nation and every tongue– and be a part of this grand exodus from Egypt. And we all can relate to this exodus from the world. We have left it. It is gone. The world is behind us.
And so, join in with Israel. Join in through the New Covenant and start this journey toward the land of promise.
Exodus 12:40 – Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt [was] four hundred and thirty years.
41 – And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years — on that very same day — it came to pass that all the armies of YAHWEH went out from the land of Egypt.
42 – It [is] a night of solemn observance to YAHWEH for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This [is] that night of YAHWEH, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
So, to the day. I presume that Jacob and his family came to Egypt around that time, not having had any successful harvest of barley or anything. It was all a big mess. So, there we go. There was not enough barley in Israel, so they went.
Exodus 12:43 – And YAHWEH said to Moses and Aaron, This [is] the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.
44 – But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.
45 – A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.
Exodus 12:46 – In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
We know Yahushua did not have His bones broken.
Exodus 12:47 – All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
Exodus 12:48 – And when a stranger dwells with you [and wants] to keep the Passover to YAHWEH, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49 – One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.
Exodus 12:50 – Thus all the children of Israel did; as YAHWEH commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51 – And it came to pass, on that very same day, that YAHWEH brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
So, there we go. Now, what about us? Do we need to be circumcised? We see this here (Exodus 12:48), if we are not circumcised, “let all his males be circumcised” before partaking of the Messiah our Passover.
Well, we do know that we are circumcised in one sense.
Colossians 2:11 – In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Messiah,
And so, we were, spiritually, circumcised.
Colossians 2:12 – buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with [Him] through faith in the working of Elohim, who raised Him from the dead.
So, we have this circumcision of the Messiah through baptism, the putting off the body the sins of the flesh. Now, do we need to be physically circumcised in order to partake of the body of Messiah? Well, we know the Corinthians all gathered to partake of the Messiah.
And we see here (1 Corinthians 7:18) that there were some Corinthians that were not circumcised. He even said:
1Corinthians 7:18 – Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
19 – Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of Elohim [is what matters].
That is what matters. So, the point is, we have to have the circumcision of the Messiah. And the Corinthian assembly, regrettably, did not have this. They did not know the commandments. They were not keeping the commandments properly. And it is no good to get circumcised if you are not bothering to keep the commandments of Elohim.
And we see this in Romans 2:25. It says:
Romans 2:25 – For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
And looking at the mess the Corinthian assembly was in, they were not keeping Yahweh’s Law.
Romans 2:26 – Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
And so, he is saying that a man being circumcised in the heart is the most important thing. And the physical circumcision, you know, if you needed to partake of a physical lamb on the Passover, you would need a physical circumcision.
But we see here that they were partaking of the Messiah, who was our spiritual Lamb. And his focus was not on how circumcised they were in the flesh, but how circumcised they were in the heart, because he says:
1Corinthians 11:27 – Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks [this] cup of the Master in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Master.
28 – But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 – For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Master’s body.
So, we need the circumcision of the Messiah. We need to have the circumcision of the heart before we partake of the Lamb– Yahushua the Messiah.
And so, what I can gather, the best of what I can get from looking at all of the scriptures, do we need to be physically circumcised to partake of the physical lamb? If that was going on in Jerusalem, which it is not… Yes, we do, if it is a physical lamb.
But if it is the Messiah, who is, spiritually speaking, a Lamb– one that you do not have to be physically clean in order to partake of, or physically circumcised– from what I can gather, we do need to have the circumcision of the Messiah.
I think baptism may fit the mold. I am not saying you have to be baptized a certain way, in the right name, but just baptized– a baptism that was fully sincere from the heart. That might be a requirement you could look into and pray about. Let the Spirit of Elohim speak to you on that. But if we are circumcised in the heart, we would get baptized.
Now, there are some people that cannot get baptized for one reason or another, and I understand that. But this is one reason I encourage you, if you haven’t been baptized, come to our festivals, because that is one of the major things that we do. We end up baptizing quite a few people.
But it says, “Let a man examine himself.” So, we need to have the circumcision of the Messiah, which is of the heart, which is being buried with Him in baptism.
And I think that may be, at least, of the heart. It is our heart’s desire to get baptized, at the very minimum, that we need to have before partaking of Him, because we do not want to partake of Him in an unworthy manner.
So, continuing on here… We do need to be physically clean to partake of a physical lamb. We see here, Numbers 9, verse 10– it says:
Numbers 9:10 – Speak to the children of Israel, saying: `If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or [is] far away on a journey, he may still keep YAHWEH’S Passover.
11 – `On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Again, this is “between the evenings.” It says “twilight” right here.
Numbers 9:12 – `They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.
So, you are allowed to keep the Passover during the second month if there is some reason why you are not able to during the first month. I know a few people who have had to do that. But in this case, we are talking about someone who is unclean because of a corpse.
We go on to read:
Numbers 9:13 – `But the man who [is] clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of YAHWEH at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.
14 – `And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep YAHWEH’S Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’
So, we see here, one needs to be clean in order to observe Passover. Now, there are some people today who are teaching that we need to go out and kill a literal Passover lamb and sacrifice it, take the blood and put it on our doorposts, and partake of the physical lamb on the day of Passover. But I am not persuaded that that is necessary.
And it may be unbiblical, because most of us… I mean, when you are unclean by a corpse, everything you touch is unclean, and whoever touches that thing that is unclean becomes unclean. So, the world we live in is full of uncleanness. And we are probably all defiled by reason of a corpse. So, what do we do?
We could not partake of a physical Passover lamb. The way to get cleansed is through the ashes of a red heifer. That is one of the things that they were missing over there in Israel, was this red heifer, which I understand has been born now. They couldn’t find a red heifer, but they found a red heifer a few years ago.
I do not know what the latest update is on that, but that is one of the things required for the temple to be purified. Well, okay, some would say in response to that, “Well, look at Hezekiah.” It says:
2Chronicles 30:17 – For [there were] many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover [lambs] for everyone [who was] not clean, to sanctify [them] to YAHWEH.
Hezekiah had a Passover. Normally, the common people would slaughter it. In this case, the Levites had charge of the slaughter.
2Chronicles 30:18 – For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the good YAHWEH provide atonement for everyone
It doesn’t say they slaughtered it. It says they ate it.
2Chronicles 30:19 – [who] prepares his heart to seek Elohim, YAHWEH Elohim of his fathers, though [he is] not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary.
20 – And YAHWEH listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
Indicating that they must have been afflicted with some kind of disease or plague or something for not being clean while partaking of the Passover lamb, indicating that they needed to be healed.
So, it was a pretty big deal to partake of the physical lamb and not be clean. And Yahweh, in that case, let it slide because they were doing the best they could at the time, but I would not want to make a regular habit of that.
So, in my mind, taking a literal lamb is not even possible. And if we do partake of it while being unclean, and most of us are unclean, then we are partaking of the lamb not being sanctified.
And besides, I think Yahushua, when He gave us this ordinance of partaking of His body and His blood, He knew that in 70 AD the temple was, you know– that Yahweh was going to depart from that place.
And there is even historical evidence that He departed from the Temple in the Jewish writings. They can’t even figure out why certain things were happening the last 40 years after Messiah died– certain miracles, certain things, the scarlet thread turning colors and different things.
So, anyway, I just think that Yahushua, when He gave this ordinance, He was allowing a way for us to still keep Passover no matter where we were. And so, if we are away on a journey, or for whatever reason, and we are not near, it is still possible to keep Passover.
Now, the actual command is: The only place we are allowed to keep Passover is the place Yahweh chooses to put His name.
It says in Deuteronomy 16, verse 1:
Deuteronomy 16:1 – Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to YAHWEH your Elohim, for in the month of Abib YAHWEH your Elohim brought you out of Egypt by night.
2 – Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to YAHWEH your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where YAHWEH chooses to put His name.
It has to be in the place where Yahweh chooses to put His name. It doesn’t say “Jerusalem.” It just says “the place where Yahweh chooses to put His name”– which we understand, later on He did choose Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy 16:3 – You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, [that is], the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
They call this “the bread of affliction,” this unleavened bread.
Deuteronomy 16:4 – And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall [any] of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.
This is the one– not just your houses, but all your territory.
Deuteronomy 16:5 – You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which YAHWEH your Elohim gives you;
Not allowed to.
Deuteronomy 16:6 – but at the place where YAHWEH your Elohim chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
7 – And you shall roast and eat [it] in the place which YAHWEH your Elohim chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
So, after this Exodus 12, this Exodus observance that they were doing in Egypt, that is what they had to do from that point on. They had to go to the place where Yahweh chose to put His name.
And the way they would do it… Josiah was a king and they had just discovered the book of the Law, and through their examination of the book of the Law, this is how he observed Passover:
2Chronicles 35:10 – So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king’s command.
11 – And they slaughtered the Passover [offerings]; and the priests sprinkled [the blood] with their hands, while the Levites skinned [the animals].
They sprinkled the altar. On the altar they sprinkled the blood, while the Levites skinned the animals. And so, the priests– post Deuteronomy; post Exodus– it was the job of the priests to sprinkle the blood of the Passover.
That is how Josiah– they had just found the book of the Law, and when they look at it, that is what they did. It says later on they did it exactly according to the ordinances of the Passover. So, they were doing it correctly.
So, my question for those who believe that, “Okay, we can take the Passover lamb and we can take the blood and we can sprinkle it on the doorposts,” that was something done one time while the firstborn were the priests.
But later on, when Yahweh chose the sons of Aaron, at that time they were the ones that handled the blood. And they sprinkled the blood on the altar. And so, the only way to keep a Passover with a literal lamb is there has to be a temple existing, and the Levites would sprinkle the blood.
That is the way it was done after Exodus 12, from what I can gather looking at the scriptures. So, that is another problem you are going to have because where are you going to put the blood now? We read Josiah’s Passover, which, according to that scripture, was correct.
Now, can we keep the Passover, with Messiah being our Passover, outside Jerusalem? Can we keep it somewhere else? Well, according to Messiah (He is talking to the Samaritan woman):
John 4:19 – The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 – Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.
21 – Yahushua said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
John 4:22 – You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 – But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 – Elohim [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
So, the issue is no longer where. The issue is how. And the reason why I felt He could say this: because the place where He chooses to put His name has been expanded.
Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
His presence is not just in Jerusalem. His presence is in us, with us, among us– wherever two or three are gathered. And He has His Father’s name written on our foreheads.
Revelation 14:1 – Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred [and] forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And so, that is where His name abides. Wherever His people are gathered. It is for that reason I do not feel the need to go by a Jerusalem sighting of a new moon. It is wherever we are. That is where He chooses to put His name.
Now, when the Messiah returns, that is where all the festivals will be held. Of course, at that time, we will still be doing a local sighting. It will be in Jerusalem, because we will all be transported there, by the Spirit or whatever.
And when I look at what the early disciples were doing, were they all going to Jerusalem during the festivals? It doesn’t look like they were.
Acts 20:6 – But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
So, where were they during the festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread? They were in Philippi. They had to wait until the festival was over. And then they left, because they were keeping the festival there.
So, they must have seen what I am seeing, I would think– that they did not have to go to Jerusalem in order to celebrate Passover, but they could do it wherever they were, because wherever two or three are gathered, Yahushua is with us. And there is no mention of them traveling to Jerusalem even if they were too far away, maybe a month later.
Someone might say, “Well, maybe a month later he went ahead and traveled to Jerusalem.” Well, did you know that Philippi is a thousand miles as the crow flies? It is a thousand miles from Jerusalem. It would take you fifty days to walk there. I don’t know if you would get there any faster by boat or not, but there is no way he could have made it.
And if you look at the subsequent chapter, he wasn’t going to, you know. And so, there is no mention of that. I mean, imagine going from New York City to Saint Louis by foot. It is quite a long journey. They couldn’t make it in one month.
Anyway, another example here. We do see in Acts 18, verse 20, the Ephesians did ask him to stay a longer time with them.
Acts 18:20 – When they asked [him] to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent,
21 – but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, Elohim willing. And he sailed from Ephesus.
But why aren’t they going with him? They did not see the need to run to Jerusalem for the festivals either, apparently.
So, from what I can gather, the early disciples felt that the place where He put His name was wherever they were. And that makes perfect sense in light of what Yahushua said in John 4, and that is why when I look up in the sky and I see a crescent, I don’t wait for Jerusalem. I am not keeping the Feast there. If I was, then I would.
But I am here. This is where I am at. Okay, I beat that horse.
Continuing on here… So, we can still keep Yahweh’s Passover whether we are clean or unclean in the physical sense because we are not partaking of a physical lamb, which would require us to go to a physical temple that we might potentially defile.
But Yahushua expects us to observe this. And He said to do this in remembrance of Him. So, this is a memorial of the Messiah’s death on the tree.
Now, on the night that He was betrayed, it says:
John 13:1 – Now before the feast of the Passover, when Yahushua knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Now, I know it says “before the feast of Passover,” but the term “Passover” and “the First Day of Unleavened Bread” are used interchangeably, throughout the New Testament especially. This is on Passover Day, but it is before they actually partook of the emblems or partook of the actual Passover lamb.
John 13:2 – And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s [son], to betray Him,
3 – Yahushua, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from Elohim and was going to Elohim,
Again, I want to point out about Passover, before we go onto the next verse. It says:
John 18:28 – Then they led Yahushua from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
So, this is after Yahushua was betrayed.
John 18:29 – Pilate then went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this Man?
So, this is the time the priests had not yet eaten the Passover. Of course, they had charge of the temple service. They would decide when Passover lambs would be offered, and they had not yet offered the Passover lamb, which is one of those indications that we do not partake of it that night.
Anyway, going back to John 13:3.
John 13:3 – Yahushua, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from Elohim and was going to Elohim,
4 – rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
5 – After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel with which He was girded.
So, this night He was betrayed, He began to wash the disciples’ feet.
John 13:6 – Then He came to Simon Peter. And [Peter] said to Him, Master, are You washing my feet?
7 – Yahushua answered and said to him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.
8 – Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet! Yahushua answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.
John 13:9 – Simon Peter said to Him, Master, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head!
10 – Yahushua said to him, He who is bathed needs only to wash [his] feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.
So, Judas had not yet betrayed Him.
John 13:11 – For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, You are not all clean.
John 13:12 – So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, Do you know what I have done to you?
13 – You call me Teacher and Master, and you say well, for [so] I am.
14 – If I then, [your] Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:15 – For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
So, Yahushua gave us an example of what we should do to one another– washing one another’s feet. And so, the very night He chose to do this was the same night He told them to partake of the bread and the fruit of the vine in remembrance of Him. That is the same night He was betrayed. And He gave us this example.
John 13:16 – Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
17 – If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
When do we do this? The best that I can gather, looking at the scriptures, it would be the same night we observe Pesach, or Passover. We partake of the body and blood of Messiah, but we want to enter into that service with a heart of humility, a heart where we examine ourselves.
And so, in light of that, when we wash another person’s feet, prior to partaking of the body and the blood of the Messiah, it is a humbling act and it has a way of getting us into the right frame of mind, which Yahushua repeated over and over again– how we need to be servants. And an act of service toward man is an act of service toward Yahweh.
And so, in light of the fact that we don’t want to partake of the bread or the cup in an unworthy manner, I feel this is the appropriate time to do the foot washing. And so, that is what we do as part of our Passover Service.
Another thing we need to do as part of our Passover Service is partake of the cup. Here in Matthew 26:27, it says:
Matthew 26:27 – Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.
So, we need to give thanks before we partake of the cup. And that is part of our thing that we do after the foot washing service. But, once again, you want to bring all of this together.
I have a website page: www.eliyah.com/passoverservice.html. It is linked from the main page of the site, where you can download, you can print, a Passover Service that, to the best of my understanding, is exactly according to the Passover Service that they were doing, with the understanding that the Messiah Yahushua is our Passover Lamb.
And on that same page, I also have a video which you can watch. And you can follow along and actually do a Passover Service. And I will lead you through a Passover Service according to that particular page and study. And you just pause it whenever you are doing different things.
And so, if this is all new to you, or even if you just want some kind of thing to lead you along, that is available to you. You can download it as a Windows Media File. You just right click the file and choose “save link as,” and you can download that particular video.
Everyone should at least know how to do a Passover Service. I even have one for those on Dialup. I have a lower quality one you can still download and watch, and it is a reasonable file size.
“Principles for Passover Service”: We must “Examine” ourselves before partaking of Him. We must eat a regular meal before partaking of Messiah (1 Cor. 11:34). The bread must be unleavened bread. The bread represents the Word. The fruit of the vine represents the Messiah’s sacrifice.
We partake of it with bitter herbs, which I understand, biblically, to be myrrh, not horseradish and parsley. We eat it in haste (quickly), letting none remain until morning. So, we get rid of it. After we have eaten it, dispose of it, burn it, whatever.
Eat it with a belt on our waist, sandals on our feet, and staff in hand. We give thanks for the bread (Messiah). Of course, we also give thanks for the fruit of the vine. Don’t slice it ahead of time. Break it after the prayer, and distribute it. Cease from work on the 1st and 7th days of the Feast.
Eat no leavened bread during those seven days of the Feast, which we already explained. It says no leavening is to be in our dwelling places or in our territories (according to Deuteronomy chapter 16).
So, we give thanks for the cup, then drink from it. We wash another one’s feet in preparation for examining ourselves and our service to Yahweh and His people. We do this prior to partaking of the Messiah.
So, those are some of the major tenets, the major principles, for observing the Passover Service in a manner in which is congruent with both Old Covenant and New Covenant understanding. I don’t believe Yahweh’s Word is divided against itself. I believe it comes together as one sweet, unified Word of truth.
I don’t think we have to break away from the Old Testament and start some new religion. What Yahushua came to do was not start a new religion. He came to reform and restore the original one that Yahweh originally inspired.
But in the absence of a temple and the presence of the Messiah being our Passover Lamb, we can still observe the Passover sacrifice unto Yahweh, which was offered in the place where Yahweh chose to put His name. And we can rejoice in that!
And so, in the coming weeks, we need to make spiritual preparations. We need to examine ourselves and be ready and take it seriously. And you cannot sit on the fence, as we shared last week. You are either with Him, and if you are not with Him, you are against Him. You are not on the sidelines.
And so, brothers and sisters, I encourage you, take a look at the Passover Service page if you are wanting to look at how to bring this all together. And if you are just watching this video, and this is the first one, and you haven’t seen the other two videos, they will be on the website.
I actually made a mistake last week and accidently did not include last week’s study on the Archive page. I accidently put the “Yahweh’s Calendar” study in with last week’s broadcast video. So, I will be getting that fixed today. But I want to get these up here, these videos, hopefully by the end of today.
And so, if you missed a few, you can go back and take a look at those, and hopefully they will give you some instructions, some help, on how to do this. And it is exciting. It is an awesome thing. It is an awesome thing to behold– the awesome ways that Yahweh, in the same way He preserved and brought Israel out, He is bringing us out of the world.
And we are now being tested, and we are being tried, and we are being refined, and we are going through the fiery trial– which is to try us– as the Messiah was brought through the fire, as the Passover lamb was roasted in the fire.
And the ultimate example of that being a reality was when He was killed on the stake, which we understood was a pole. And. of course, the Passover offering was attached to a pole, and it was roasted that way. In the same way we go through our fiery trials as we take up our stake and follow Him.
We are impaled, we are crucified, with Messiah. It is no longer we who live; it is the Messiah who lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
So, with these things in mind, brothers and sisters, doesn’t Passover, that “Old Testament, ceremonial law,” as some would call it, have so much to teach us about our walk, so much to teach us about our Savior that we love? It is for that reason I encourage us: Let’s partake of Messiah our Passover.
And as you do so, my brothers and sister, may Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.