The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 12:39,
"With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves."
The Lord had commanded the Israelites to not eat any bread baked with yeast during a new festival he commanded them to observe, the "Feast of Unleavened Bread", a seven day observance. The "Passover" meal was to be celebrated at this time with unleavened bread and the purpose of the whole observance was to be a reminder or memorial, "Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." Verse 17.
It is often asked why the Lord commanded the Israelites to not eat bread leavened with yeast during this week on their national calendar.
Articles abound with an explanation that yeast often represents sin in the Scriptures. Paul uses this theme as he discusses the sinful situation where a church member in Corinth was sleeping with his father's wife. "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
Jesus used yeast as a metaphor for bad doctrine, "'Be careful,' Jesus said to them. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" Matthew 16:6. It is interesting that he also used yeast to describe how the gospel would permeate and grow in all the world, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough." Matthew 13:33.
"With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves."
The Lord had commanded the Israelites to not eat any bread baked with yeast during a new festival he commanded them to observe, the "Feast of Unleavened Bread", a seven day observance. The "Passover" meal was to be celebrated at this time with unleavened bread and the purpose of the whole observance was to be a reminder or memorial, "Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." Verse 17.
It is often asked why the Lord commanded the Israelites to not eat bread leavened with yeast during this week on their national calendar.
Articles abound with an explanation that yeast often represents sin in the Scriptures. Paul uses this theme as he discusses the sinful situation where a church member in Corinth was sleeping with his father's wife. "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
Jesus used yeast as a metaphor for bad doctrine, "'Be careful,' Jesus said to them. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" Matthew 16:6. It is interesting that he also used yeast to describe how the gospel would permeate and grow in all the world, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough." Matthew 13:33.
Here in Exodus 12:39 we are told the unleavened bread was eaten because they did not have the time to allow their bread to rise. They had to leave quickly. In my mind, the picture here is that just as the Israelites had to leave immediately without time for food preparation, etc. in gaining their freedom from Egypt, so too, we should take no time in fleeing to the Savior to gain freedom from God's judgment for our sins. Don't dally!
Just at thought.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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