Passover and the Feast of Unleavened in the Tanakh
In this study we seek out and define Passover & the Feast of Unleavened, showing the distinctness. There is also a calendar study which clearly defines the timing of Passover (when it should be observed). Click this link to go to calendar study
Exploring the Passover & Feast of Unleavened
Lets begin our study by defining what Passover is and how it was observed in the Tanakh.
The first Pesach
Exodus 12:3-11
3“Speak to all the congregation of Yisra’el, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month each one of them is to take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next to his house take it according to the number of the beings, according to each man’s need you make your count for the lamb. 5‘Let the lamb be a perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then all the assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it between the evenings. 7‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
8‘And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire – with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9‘Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its inward parts. 10‘And do not leave of it until morning, and what remains of it until morning you are to burn with fire. 11‘And this is how you eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of YHWH.
In the Exodus 12 account we are told that the Passover is the slaughtering of the lamb on the 14th day of the 1st month between the evenings, the striking of the blood on the doorposts, and the actual consumption of the lamb. Lets look at a few more Scripture sources to ensure this is all that Passover encompasses.
Exodus 12:21-27
21And Mosheh called for all the elders of Yisra’el and said to them, “Go out and take lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22“And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin, and you, none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23“And YHWH shall pass on to smite the Mitsrites, and shall see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and YHWH shall pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. 24“And you shall guard this word as a law for you and your sons, forever. 25“And it shall be, when you come to the land which YHWH gives you, as He promised, that you shall guard this service. 26“And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ 27then you shall say, ‘It is the Passover slaughtering of YHWH, who passed over the houses of the children of Yisra’el in Mitsrayim when He smote the Mitsrites and delivered our households.
Here again in Exodus we are told that the the actual slaughtering of the lamb, the striking of the blood on the doorposts, and the actual consumption of the lamb is the Passover sacrifice.
What about the actual passing over isn't it the Passover as well? lets find out!
Exodus 12:12-20
12‘And I shall pass through the land of Mitsrayim on that night, and shall smite all the first-born in the land of Mitsrayim, both man and beast. And on all the mighty ones of Mitsrayim I shall execute judgment. I am YHWH. 13‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I shall pass over you, and let the plague not come on you to destroy you when I smite the land of Mitsrayim. 14‘And this day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall observe it as a festival to YHWH throughout your generations – observe it as a festival, an everlasting law. 15‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Indeed on the first day you cause leaven to cease from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that being shall be cut off from Yisra’el. 16‘And on the first day is a set-apart gathering, and on the seventh day you have a set-apart gathering. No work at all is done on them, only that which is eaten by every being, that alone is prepared by you. 17‘And you shall guard the Festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I brought your divisions out of the land of Mitsrayim. And you shall guard this day throughout your generations, an everlasting law. 18‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19‘For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, that same being shall be cut off from the congregation of Yisra’el, whether sojourner or native of the land. 20‘Do not eat that which is leavened – in all your dwellings you are to eat unleavened bread.’ ”
Here we are shown that the Passover of the destroyer is to be remembered as an everlasting law. This observance is refered to as the Feast of Unleavened. A seven day Feast, a memorial of the power of the Eternal. Lets look further.
Leviticus 23:4-5
4‘These are the appointed times of YHWH, set-apart gatherings which you are to proclaim at their appointed times. 5‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to YHWH.
Here Leviticus 23 confirms that the Passover occurs between the evenings of the 14th day.
Numbers 9:1-5
And YHWH spoke to Mosheh in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Mitsrayim, saying, 2“Now, let the children of Yisra’el perform the Passover at its appointed time. 3“On the fourteenth day of this month, between the evenings, perform it at its appointed time. According to all its laws and right-rulings you perform it.” 4And Mosheh spoke to the children of Yisra’el to perform the Passover. 5So they performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that YHWH commanded Mosheh, so the children of Yisra’el did.
Once again we see the Scriptures telling us that the Passover is performed between the evenings. It appears that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened are two distinct observances. Lets confirm this.
2Chronicles 35:16-17
16And all the service of YHWH was prepared that day, to perform the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of YHWH, according to the command of Sovereign Yoshiyahu. 17And the children of Yisra’el who were present performed the Passover at that time, and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
And one more, for our two witnesses.
Ezra 6:19-22
19And the sons of the exile performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, 20for the priests and the Lewites had cleansed themselves – all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover for all the sons of the exile, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21And the children of Yisra’el who had returned from the exile ate together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the gentiles of the land in order to seek YHWH Elohim of Yisra’el. 22And they performed the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for YHWH caused them to rejoice, and turned the heart of the sovereign of Ashshur toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the House of Elohim, the Elohim of Yisra’el.
We now have a firm understanding of what Passover and the Feast of Unleavened are.
Passover is the sacrifice between the evenings on the 14th day, with the sacrifice and the shed blood of the lamb being the actual Passover!
The Feast of Unleavened is the seven day memorial of the deliverance of the Eternals people from bondage (spiritual and physical). Lets look quickly to see the significance of the Unleavened bread.
Deuteronomy 16:1-3
“Guard the month of Abib, and perform the Passover to YHWH your Elohim, for in the month of Abib your Elohim brought you out of Mitsrayim by night. 2“And you shall slaughter the Passover to YHWH your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where YHWH chooses to put His Name. 3“Eat no leavened bread with it. For seven days you eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction, because you came out of the land of Mitsrayim in haste – so that you remember the day in which you came out of the land of Mitsrayim, all the days of your life.
The Unleavened bread is a reminder to us of the awesome delivering power of the Almighty.
Passover/Feast of Unleavened Calendar study
You will need a calendar for this study. We have provided an online study calendar for you to model and or print, just click on the link below. Please adjust your printer set-up option to print the page in landscape format.
Take your printed or other calendar and be ready to play the sleuth. The wonderful thing about this study is that not only will we know when the Passover observance begins and ends, It will also help us in figuring out when YHWH's days begin and end (either from sunset or sunrise). I encourage those who participate in this study to try both calendars. (sunset to sunset & sunrise to sunrise).
Let’s begin with the basic Scripture references to give us firm footing on the study.
Exodus 12:18-20
18‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19‘For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, that same being shall be cut off from the congregation of Yisra’el, whether sojourner or native of the land. 20‘Do not eat that which is leavened – in all your dwellings you are to eat unleavened bread.’ ”
This seems pretty clear, we start counting on the evening of the 14th day and end counting on the evening of the 21st day. Go ahead and mark your calendar with these times and days (whatever way you feel most comfortable with). If you are using the printed calendar place your X's in the row directly beneath the dates fields. Remember that you need to count seven full days from even to even.
Now lets compare this timing in Exodus 12 to the timing in Levitcus 23 to see what we come up with.
Leviticus 23:6-8
6‘And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to YHWH – seven days you eat unleavened bread.7‘On the first day you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work. 8‘And you shall bring an offering made by fire to YHWH for seven days. On the seventh day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.
The Leviticus 23 account tells us to count the days of Unleavened from the 15th of the month and continue for seven days. Mark your calendar with this and see what you come up with! If you are using the printed calendar place your X's in the bottom row of the calendar(s).
The two accounts must agree on the timing of the Feast.
How did it come out? Did your timing agree? Did you come up with keeping the Feast for more than seven days? Was there a difference in the two accounts?
Remember the Feast of Unleavened is kept seven full days, and the timing in the Leviticus account occurs immediately after the Exodus account. If you have arrived at anything else you will need to adjust your X's to make sure you are starting at the proper points of reference.
If calculated correctly you will have the Feast of Unleavened beginning at the end of the 14th day at almost nightfall continuing until the end of the 21st day at nightfall.
This is the only way Exodus and Leviticus can agree. Using the two together allows us to take all of the guesswork out of calculating the timing of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened.
We also find when we calculate the days correctly that days start and end at the going down of the sun.
Now lets look at the timing of the Passover sacrifice. When did it occur?
Leviticus 23:5
5‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to YHWH.
From reading the Exodus and Leviticus Scripture verses we realize that between the evenings refers to the period of time between the two!!
The Passover was sacrificed Between the evenings which is between the evening of the 14th day and the beginning of the 15th day which begins at sunset!
Is there any doubt? It is my sincere desire that you should now see the truth of the matter.
To view the calendar as given to us by the Scriptures click on the link below.
Those who propose that the Passover sacrifice was performed on the evening of the 13th would be adding to YHWH's command of keeping the Feast for seven days. They propose keeping the Feast for eight days which goes against the Scripture verses shown above.
Shalom
Allen Spiker
