“You are to roast it and eat it in the place Adonai your God will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents. For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for Adonai your God; do not do any kind of work.”-Deuteronomy 16:7-8
Up untl now, I’ve been going over the some of the key differences between the original Passover that was observed in Egypt and those that would be celebrated afterwards.
However, there were also some key things that did NOT change.
For example…
…the lamb was to be thoroughly roasted over a fire meaning no part of it was to be left raw…
…and not one of its bones were to be broken.
In addition, unleavened bread was to be eaten together with the lamb during the entire combined period of feast days.
This is a point which leads us into a discussion of the feast that follows immediately after Passover:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread or MATZA.
Notice in verses 7 and 8 that there is no break between the verses when the Scripture moves from talking about Passover to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The verses just say the people are to continue to eat unleavened bread.
Notice also in verse 7 that the people are instructed to go back to their tents.
In other words, the gathering to eat unleavened bread did NOT take place at the Tabernacle.
It was to take place in small groups back in whatever village each family originally came from.
Okay, in order to get our bearings, let’s just quickly review what Deuteronomy Chapter 16 is really all about.
The primary theme of this chapter is mainly dealing with the three God-ordained Pilgrimage festivals or a HAG in Hebrew.
Let me quiz you on this right now.
Do you recall which of the Biblical Feasts out of the seven are Pilgrimage Feasts or HAG?
If you said…
“PESACH (Passover), MATZAH (Unleavened Bread) and BIKKURIM (Firstfruits)”…
…you are WRONG.
Out of the above three, ONLY MATZAH itself is a HAG or a Pilgrimage festival.
Here’s the thing.
A lot of folks get confused and think that because the springtime festival of Unleavened Bread is bundled together with the two feasts of Passover and Firstfruits, all three of which take place in rapid-fire succession one after another on AVIV 14, 15 and 16, they mistakenly assume that all of these springtime feasts are Pilgrimage feasts.
And the fact that the Hebrew families were present at the Tabernacle (or later the Temple) for all three of these feasts further cemented this misunderstanding.
However, the truth is…
…out of the three Springtime feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits…
…ONLY “Unleavened Bread” was a HAG or Pilgrimage Feast.
Got it?
Do you recall what the other two pilgrimage feasts are?
They are…
…The Feast of Weeks otherwise known as SHAVUOT in Hebrew or the Greek “Pentecost” as the gentiles call it.
And the Feast of Tabernacles otherwise known as SUKKOT in Hebrew.
MATZA is a springtime feast, SHAVUOT is a summer feast, and SUKKOT is a fall feast.
So what’s my point in sharing all this information?
There are three important points.
The first one is do not confuse the three springtime feasts of PESACH (Passover), MATZA (Unleavened Bread) and BIKKURIM (Firstfruits) with…
…the three Pilgrimage Feasts of MATZA (Unleavened Bread), SHAVUOT (Feast of Weeks) and SUKKOT (Feast of Tabernacles).
The second point is to understand that the primary theme of Deuteronomy 16 is dealing with the three pilgrimage feasts.
The third point is recognizing that properly understanding these details is of supreme importance when it comes to understanding the timing of Messiah’s death, resurrection AND triumphant return!
I’m done.
Leave a Reply