Feast of the Lord
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Chag HaMatzot (חַג הַמַּצּוֹת)
When · Seven days beginning the night after Passover (Nisan 15–21), in spring.
For one week each spring, not a crumb of yeast was allowed in the house — a nationwide spring cleaning with a spiritual point: what you tolerate in small amounts will spread.
Origin
On the night of the Exodus, Israel left Egypt in such haste that their bread had no time to rise; they baked it flat and carried it on their backs. To remember that night, God commanded a seven-day feast immediately following Passover in which only unleavened bread (matzah) could be eaten and all yeast had to be removed from every home. Eating 'the bread of affliction' kept the memory of slavery and the suddenness of deliverance vivid for every generation.
Historical Background
Unleavened Bread was so closely joined to Passover that the two were often spoken of as one festival; together they opened Israel's sacred year. The search for and removal of leaven became an elaborate, joyful household ritual. In Scripture, yeast (leaven) — which quietly permeates a whole batch of dough — became a standing image for the spreading influence of sin or corruption, and the feast a picture of a life cleansed.
How It's Observed
Homes are thoroughly cleared of leaven beforehand, down to crumbs in cupboards; for the week, families eat flat matzah instead of risen bread. The first and last days are days of rest and sacred assembly. The plain, cracker-like bread is a tangible, daily reminder of a people who left everything behind in a hurry to follow God to freedom.
In Christ
Paul takes the feast straight into the gospel: 'Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump... For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). Jesus, the sinless one — bread without the 'leaven' of corruption — was buried during this very feast. His followers are called to live the festival out: deliberately clearing away the small compromises that quietly spread, because they belong to a holy God.
Why It Matters Today
Unleavened Bread teaches that redemption is meant to change how we live, not just our status. Like yeast, sin rarely announces itself; it works quietly and spreads. The feast calls believers to honest self-examination and ongoing cleansing — not to earn God's love, but because they have been set free to be his.
Scriptural Basis
Exodus 12:15
For seven days no leaven is to be found in the house.
Leviticus 23:6
The feast is appointed to begin on the fifteenth of the first month.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
'Cleanse out the old leaven... celebrate the festival... with sincerity and truth.'
Exodus 13:3
'Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt.'
Did You Know
- Matzah must be baked in under 18 minutes from the moment water touches the flour — the traditional limit before dough begins to rise on its own.
- Because leaven pictures sin spreading, Jesus warned his disciples to 'beware the leaven of the Pharisees' — meaning their hypocrisy.
- In some traditions a piece of matzah is broken, hidden, and later found during the Passover meal — a detail many Christians find rich with echoes of burial and resurrection.