Unleavened Bread
Unleavened bread is the most basic of foods consisting only of flour and water. It does not contain anything else- including oil and honey as is used in some Christian traditions.
Leaven is yeast or any fermenting agent that causes food made of grains to 'rise'. Some Jewish traditions even include flour and water that has been exposed to the air for more than 18 minutes, as the air contains yeast particles that can contaminate the mixture.
Exo 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
Prior to the feast of unleavened bread the Jewish people have a tradition of searching out the leaven. It amounts to a extensive spring clean, removing every last crumb, throughout the house.
In the kitchen all utensils, pots and dishes are cleansed with boiling water, or a separate set is used for the occasion. The bench tops are also steamed by wetting the bench and using a hot iron or stone to create steam on the surface.
Any leaven in your possession is sold, to a non Jew although I am not sure where this is written in the Law perhaps stems from Exodus 13:7. Selling leaven to a non-Jew would mean that person was cut off!
The two nights before passover you light a candle recite the blessing [Blessed are you L-rd our G-d , King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to remove the leaven] and search every last corner of the house using the candle to light the dark corners. You sweep each corner with a feather onto a wooden spoon and place the crumbs into a paper bag. Now the tradition is to place 10 pieces of wrapped bread around the house, as the house has already been cleaned at this time. The bag is tied securely and kept to the next day for burning. You then recite the nullification. [All leaven and anything leavened that is in my possession, which I have never seen or removed, and about which I am unaware, shall be considered nullified and ownerless as the dust of the earth.]
Before 10am the next day the leaven is burned. Yes there are other things to observe read through the list at...
Leaven
Cleaning out the leaven
The malice and the pride
The knowledge, imaginations and reasonings
The hypocrisy, the traditions and the doctrines
Searching them out with earnest endeavor
Using our lamps to search the dark corners
Washing and cleaning
Scouring every last crack
Leaving nothing unmoved -nothing unturned
Then at the last burning every last crumb
Watching the flames- making sure nothing escapes
Finally cleansed, holy and pure
Unleavened bread
Just crushed grain and water
Grain that is broken, fallen on the rock of Christ
Mixed with the pure water, Christ the living word
Baked on the stone who took the fire for us.
Fully restored, no additives, just pure
Bread for the hungry, substance of life
16 June 2008
References:
Mat 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees. ...
Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning
bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread,
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Luk 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable
multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to
say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed;
neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in
darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear
in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
.1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye
are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Every time a group breaks away from a church and forms a new church they take certain elements from what they have come out of which, in time that leavens the new church until it is almost identical to that which they came out of.
1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in
a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might
learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of
you be puffed up for one against another.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up,
[The Church of Ephesus left their first love, their love became inflated -love
had conditions attached]
1Co 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that
we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, [property of leaven]but charity
edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing
yet as he ought to know.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth [inflates]
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish.
Let
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
© Stephen Share 2008
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