EXODUS 12
14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.” – Exodus 12:14-20
EXODUS 12 THE INSTITUTION OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
Before the last plague of the firstborn, God instituted a feast
This memorial will be to eat unleavened bread for seven days
The removal of leaven in their household was required by the Lord
It symbolizes removing sin and corruption in their daily lives
The Lord wants his people to be pure and uncorrupted
If anyone eats leavened bread, they’ll be cut off from the flock.
The institution of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread is another manifestation of God’s protection and love for his people. Just before he will bring the last plague to Egypt, he wants those who belong to him to be cleansed and uncorrupted by sin.
According to David Guzik’s commentary, leaven was also a picture of sin and corruption, because of the way a little leaven influences a whole lump of dough, and also how it puffs up-just like pride and sin does too.
REFLECTION
- How can a small sin affect a person’s life? What is God’s solution for this?
