Feast of Unleavened Bread

Biblical Text and Content

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is first commanded in Exodus 12:15–20. From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first, Israel was to eat bread made without leaven (unleavened bread) and to remove all leaven from their houses. Anyone who ate anything leavened during this period was to be cut off from Israel (Exodus 12:19). Leviticus 23:5–8 distinguishes the evening of the fourteenth day as the Passover and the seven days beginning on the fifteenth as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the first and seventh days the people gathered for a holy convocation and did no work. Numbers 28:16–25 prescribes the offerings to be presented during this period. Deuteronomy 16:1–8 calls the unleavened bread "the bread of affliction" and explains that it was meant to help Israel remember all the days of their lives how they had come out of Egypt in haste. Together with the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is counted among the three annual feasts at which all males were to appear before God (Exodus 23:14–17; Deuteronomy 16:16).

Background

The Korean term mugyo (無酵) means "without yeast (leaven)." The Hebrew name is Chag HaMatzot, "the Feast of Unleavened Bread." Exodus 12:39 relates that because the Israelites were thrust out of Egypt and the dough had no time to rise, they baked unleavened cakes. The feast thus commemorates the urgency of the Exodus. The Old Testament records several observances of the feast, including the first Passover at Gilgal (Joshua 5:10–11), the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Chronicles 30 and 35), and the dedication of the temple after the return from exile (Ezra 6:22).

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

By New Testament times, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were effectively referred to as a single festival. Luke 22:1 speaks of "the feast of unleavened bread ... which is called the Passover." The Gospels connect Jesus' Last Supper with this feast (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12). The book of Acts records that Peter was arrested during the days of unleavened bread (Acts 12:3) and that Paul sailed from Philippi after those days (Acts 20:6). In 1 Corinthians 5:6–8, Paul declares that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Exhorting his readers to "purge out therefore the old leaven," he draws on the feast to urge them to put away malice and to live in sincerity and truth.

Interpretation and Issues

• The symbolism of leaven: In the New Testament, leaven often denotes a corrupting influence, as in the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6) and the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15). In the Parable of the Leaven (Matthew 13:33), however, it depicts the spread of the kingdom of God. Some therefore point out that leaven cannot be assumed always to signify sin.
• The date of the Last Supper: The Synoptic Gospels present the supper as a Passover meal, whereas the Gospel of John places Jesus' trial and execution on "the preparation of the passover" (John 18:28; 19:14). Scholars differ on how to reconcile this difference.
• The bread of the Eucharist: The Western church has used unleavened bread, while the Eastern Orthodox Church has used leavened bread. This question is reported to have been one of the points of contention around the time of the East–West Schism. Protestants generally do not regard the type of bread as an essential matter.
• Whether the feast should be observed: Most Protestant denominations hold that the Old Testament feasts have been fulfilled in Christ and do not observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread separately. By contrast, the World Mission Society Church of God maintains that the New Testament church must also keep the Old Testament feasts, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
• Later traditions: Sermons sometimes explain that the stripes and holes in unleavened bread prefigure the wounds of Christ. This interpretation, however, is not found in the biblical text; it is a later devotional reading.

In the Korean Church

Korean churches do not observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a festival. Instead, in sermons during Holy Week and on Communion, the feast is frequently mentioned alongside Passover as a type illustrating the sacrifice of Christ and a life that puts away sin. Some churches hold educational events during Holy Week that reenact the Passover meal.