The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-C, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 5." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1976. All Rights Reserved.
Question
What is the significance of the unleavened bread at Passover?
Answer
Well, I can answer that quickly. In Exodus 12:15, when God said, “Get out of Egypt because I’m going to take you out; you can leave now,” He said, “I want you to have a feast and I want the bread to be unleavened.” Now, I’m not a baker, but I know a little bit about unleavened bread—that’s about all. Wouldn’t want to try to make any, but I can describe it a little bit. Bread is made out of dough and, of course, when you make a batch of dough, if you were to take out a piece of the dough—you don’t bake the dough, you just keep one little piece—it sours. The next time you make bread, you put that sourdough in it; that acts as a leaven on the bread. It causes it to rise. And we eat leavened bread. Leavened bread is bread and unleavened bread is crackers—that’s about as close a parallel as you’re going to get. It’s flat.
Now, in those days, Israel normally—at least according to Hosea, I think it’s chapter 7, verse 4—they normally ate leavened bread. They ate bread that was rising. There was nothing wrong with that. But, unleavened bread was enjoined upon them because they were in a hurry. God was saying, “Make the bread of haste because you’ve got to get out of here. Don’t take the time to let your bread rise! Bake it, cook it, eat it—you’re going to leave” and that was what was done at Passover. So, in the memorial to the Passover in Egypt when they made their bread in haste and got out of there—in memorial to that, God said, “Whenever you celebrate the Passover, celebrate it with unleavened bread as a memory that you left Egypt in a hurry and you didn’t have time for your bread to rise.”
You say, “Well, is that why they have the feast of unleavened bread?” Yes. From the month Abib, from the 14th of Abib to the 21st, 7 days of unleavened bread celebrating that.
Somebody always says, “Well, doesn’t leaven mean sin? Isn’t it a type of sin?” Not really. If you want to know really what leaven is, it is a symbol of power. It is a symbol of permeating power. Leaven can be used good, as it is in Matthew 13 and Luke 13 to speak of the influence of the kingdom of God “leavening” the world. There it is used good. Leaven can be bad as it is in Matthew 16, I Corinthians 5, Galatians 5 where it speaks of evil permeating. It’s simply a permeating power.
But unleavened bread used in the Passover was used in order for them to remember they had to leave in haste.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
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