Did Yeshua’s (the Lord’s) Supper Replace the Passover?

“Still, the new custom did not come into exclusive vogue until the middle of the eleventh century. Particularly in Rome it was not universally accepted till after the general infiltration of various usages from the North" [Rome itself, conservative as always, did not change to unleavened bread until a few decades after the schism.]— Joseph Jungman, The Mass of the Roman Rite, volume II, pages 33-34—Catholic Answers”

So the origin of the Protestant usage of using unleavened bread at the Lord’s Supper, blending it with the Passover symbolism, is simply another example of their following the traditions of the Catholic Church, instead of relying on the Biblical example.

As an interesting sidenote, there was also confusion early on as to which day of the week Yeshua was crucified. And sadly, while this source accepts the Wednesday crucifixion, they make the same error as these early sources do—thinking that Yeshua was allowed to eat the Passover in 31 AD, rather than BE THE PASSOVER as the lambs were being slaughtered. They promote usage of the present day 4th century Jewish calendar while also claiming that the first century Jews did not know when to celebrate the Passover! (from a sister source). They don’t stop to think that if the Jews of His time did not know when Passover was, Yeshua would have had a serious problem even before the time He was 12 years old, since He never made any mistakes!

Luke 2:41-43,46-47 His relatives went up to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast as prescribed by the Torah. 43 After staying the full number of days they returned, but the Child Yeshua remained in Jerusalem, and Joseph and His mother were unaware of it... 46 After three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and questioning them. 47 Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His wisdom and His answers. 47 Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His wisdom and His answers.

“Why should this story be a direct allusion to be used by pastors to teach the resurrection? Note that in Luke 2:41, that the feast they went to was the Passover. So Yeshua disappearing for 3 days was a direct showing of what would later occur in His life. And it was done at the same feast, and He did appear to His disciples who were to be the teachers. He had disappeared for 3 days and 3 nights from His parents as a 12-year old, and was found AFTER 3 days. In the same way, when crucified, disappeared for 3 days and 3 nights through death, and was hidden from friends, family, apostles, and numerous disciples, and then revealed to them after 3 days.”

As a rabbit trail, the first breaking of bread mentioned in the Bible is quite ominous:

Leviticus 26:26 When I have broken your staff of life, your bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they’ll ration out your bread by weight, and you’ll eat it and still be hungry.

Aside from this, does “breaking bread” mean eating unleavened bread? Actually the phrase was and still means to just share a meal—the bread is optional:

Jeremiah 16:7 is the next instance of “breaking bread” in the Bible, the word “bread” is assumed and added. It has to do with a funeral.

Lamentations 4:4 The next “breaking bread” has to do with feeding hungry children.

Luke 24:30,35 These are after Yeshua was resurrected.

Acts 2:42 This time it was the continual shared meals among the disciples.

Acts 20:7,11 Same here and here.

1 Corinthians 10:16 Here is another instance of Yeshua’s Supper.

The point of this chapter and the next one is to differentiate “Yeshua’s Supper” from the Passover (an UNleavened event: Exodus 12:14-15), and to show that BOTH should be celebrated (observed)!

For reference sake, notice that in Luke 22:1 & 7 the terms Unleavened Bread and Passover are frequently used interchangeably. The actual Passover zebak (sacrifice) took place just prior to the “seven days” in “preparation” for them, but the custom was to refer to the entire eight day period as Passover. We’ll soon see how eight days are involved.

Leviticus 23:5-8 Yehovah’s Passover begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month [lunation] is Yehovah’s Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you must hold a special public assembly. You must not do any regular work. 8 For seven days you must present offerings to Yehovah made by fire. On the seventh day hold a 'special' public assembly. Don’t do any regular work.

There is a great debate over this simple passage. Long story short, the Passover lamb (whether a sheep or a goat, Exodus 12:5) was killed at the end of the 14th by sundown (Exodus 12:6), and then eaten after sundown (the 15th). This is where the terminology gets tricky. The 14th, when the lamb is killed is considered “The Day of Unleavened Bread”.

Luke 22:1 & 7 The Feast of Unleavened Bread that is called the Passover was approaching... 6 He promised them that he would find an opportunity to betray Him to them when the people weren’t there. 7 The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived when it was time to offer the Passover lamb.

Consider this passage from Exodus and then ask yourself if we can assume that Yeshua changed the Passover. Did He replace the Passover, or did he create a separate observance to explain the now contemporary significance of the Passover that He wouldn’t live to celebrate with His disciples? Note that there is no mention of lamb being eaten at His last meal on earth and for that matter it could have easily been well preserved grape juice being served as well!

Exodus 12:14 This day will serve as a memorial. You must celebrate [chagag] it as a Pilgrimage Feast [chag] to Yehovah, a perpetual regulation.

Yeshua became our Passover Lamb. Hours before His death on the cross, and minutes before His arrest, He carefully explained to the disciples the purpose of His death that was about to occur on the FOLLOWING EVENING—ON Passover! As usual, they didn’t grasp the seriousness of the events taking place before their very eyes. So He explained the certainty of His death at His last meal with His disciples, just prior to His death, telling them that the flesh of the Passover Lamb actually typified His slain body. Then just hours after His resurrection He explained the significance of His resurrection to them, because they hadn’t gotten that either. None of His followers awaited His resurrection at the garden tomb. Only His enemies “awaited” that event!

Note that the Passover lamb was eaten during the “Feast”, tho it was killed immediately prior to the Feast. The Passover lamb was killed on the 14th, tho it was not a part of the Feast Day since it only pertains to the event that evening.

Exodus 34:25 You must not offer the blood of My zebak with leavened bread, and none of the ‘meat’ of the Feast of the Passover can be kept until morning.

In ancient Israel a person would have been banished (at best) from the nation if they ate leavened bread during “Passover” (Feast of Unleavened Bread):

Exodus 12:15 You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day [Preparation day] you must remove the leaven from your houses, because anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be ‘banished’ from Israel.

In Ezekiel’s prophecy, Passover and Unleavened Bread go together.

Ezekiel 45:21 On the fourteenth day of the first month the celebration of the Passover occurs, a Feast lasting seven days when unleavened bread is eaten.

Because Yeshua’s Supper precedes the Passover, Yeshua broke a loaf of ordinary risen (leavened) bread!

Leavened Bread at Yeshua’s Supper!

When Yeshua said that He was “the Bread of Life” in John 6, He was also referring (4 times) to ordinary bread (Greek: artos, Aramaic: lakhma)!

John 6:51,53-54 I’m the bread of life who has come down from Heaven, if anyone eats this bread they’ll live forever. The bread that I will give is My body, that I will give for the life of the world.”... 53 Yeshua told them, “I tell you with absolute certainty that unless you eat the body of the Human Son and drink His blood, you have no life within you, 54 but anyone who eats My body and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise them from the dead on the Last Day.

There is a special term in Greek for unleavened bread. It is used 11 times in the Greek (“NT”) Texts. It’s called “azumos”, and it always specifies the bread commanded to be eaten during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Greek “artos” and the Aramaic “lakhma” consistently refer to ordinary bread in connection to Yeshua’s Supper. Had Yeshua meant to specify unleavened bread He would have said ‘adzumos’, but artos does not specify whether it was leavened or not. I don’t use artos as more than circumstantial evidence as to what Yeshua used at the “Last Supper” when considering Luke 24.

[2014: On a Google search I found a book online that lists “50 reasons the Last Supper was not the Passover”. Scroll up a little to page 428.]

In the Hebrew Mats-tsaw’, “unleavened bread” would have been sweet. However leavened bread is sour by comparison, because the yeast creates a fermented “sourdough bread”:

Further, in the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek lexicons (dictionaries) it emphasizes that unleavened bread is sweet. “Sweet” or “sweetness” is used three times in the definition!

[What is Leaven?]

When Yeshua described the bread that He used at His Last Supper, He used the term “artos”, a word that is used 71 times for generic bread in the Greek Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament), 25 additional times it’s ‘loaf’ or ‘loaves’ and once it’s ‘meal’. Yeshua is the RISEN (unspecified) Bread of Life (John 6:35)! Matthew, Mark and Luke all agree that the bread was artos. In every instance where they speak of the bread of Yeshua’s last supper they use the term for generic bread: artos. They never specify unleavened bread: adzumos. In this now more meaningful day Yeshua didn’t specify unleavened bread. So I recommend that you follow Yeshua’s example and use leavened bread, so as not to celebrate an “eighth day” of Unleavened Bread.

However as soon as the Feast begins we must be eating UNleavened bread:

“Matzo has a special way it is made now. It has stripes that look like bruises and is pierced thru. The Rabbi’s reason for this is to make the bread cook fast, from start to finish in 18 minutes actually. Eighteen minutes is supposedly the amount of time it takes to prepare and cook it in a manor that will keep all yeast out. What they don't seem to realize is that they have created the perfect symbolism that God initiated long ago.

“Jesus was beaten and bruised and pierced for our sins. He was and is the only sinless person on this planet and His body is represented by the matzo. Even in modern day Judaism they can't get away from God's plan of redemption: Link”

“Artos” is the equivalent of common “bread” in English. Whenever unleavened bread is specified, “azumos” is the word.

Possibly there was a symbolic purpose for the use of ordinary (leavened) bread during Yeshua’s Supper, since He was about to take on Himself all of the sins of the world. But how could it be proved that unleavened bread was an issue during this meal, any more than it is an issue in the other 96 places it is used. However, leaven when used symbolically can represent sin, as in the Parable of the leaven!

Because there are four places where the KJV uses “shewbread” (a.k.a. “showbread” or better yet “show bread”) where the Greek word is still “artos”, I decided to see if show bread is ever referred to as unleavened—Scripturally. Of the 18 chapters in the Hebrew Scriptures where “show bread” is used, only one of them also contains the word “unleavened”, and this reference distinguishes “show bread” from “unleavened wafers”—wafers being defined as “thin cakes”: 1 Chronicles 23:29.

Hebrew, like Greek, has a distinct word for ordinary bread and another for leavened bread. I found that, contrary to numerous commentaries, the Bible never says that show bread is leavened. The Scriptures call it “lechem”—ordinary bread. The word for “unleavened bread” is “matzah”. Matzah is never used to describe show bread! If Yehovah had wanted show bread to be made of the lesser used unleavened bread, He certainly would have mentioned it. It’s astonishing how so many assumptions are routinely passed around as facts with near unanimity. Tradition. Tradition!

This is not a lone use of leavened bread. On the Day of Pentecost, Yehovah said:

Leviticus 23:17-18 Bring from your homes two loaves of bread made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a wave offering. Bake them with leavening as the firstfruits for Yehovah. 18 Present with the bread seven perfectly sound one-year-old lambs, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offering to Yehovah, along with their grain offering, and their drink offerings. They will be zebakim [sacrifices], a soothing aroma to Yehovah.

Historically, the Jews used both leavened bread and unleavened for show bread during different time periods. During the time of Josephus, a contemporary of the first century assembly (church) they used unleavened bread, tho in the Testimony of Yeshua (NT) Matthew (12:4), Mark (2:26), Luke (6:4) and Hebrews (9:2) call the show bread ordinary artos.

Both the “show bread” and the two loaves of bread used on Pentecost were double sized loaves of bread. An ordinary meal offering was half the size (Numbers 15:4-5). The two loaves of leavened bread used on Pentecost are the same size as the show bread loaves —“two tenths of an ephah” (Leviticus 23:17). Show bread is a loaf, nothing like a “cracker”. The Hebrew word “challah” is the same word used for the bread my wife often bakes for use on the Sabbath, the traditional loaf of leavened challah bread.

The Hebrew word challah, translated as cake or loaf, is used in Leviticus 24:5 to describe the twelve loaves of show bread that were arranged “in two rows, six in each row, on the pure gold table before Yehovah.”

The Real Passover?

Many (Sabbatarian) “Churches of God” teach that the Jews didn’t know when the Passover was in the first century—that they were celebrating the wrong day—and that Yeshua kept the “real” Passover with His disciples! They believe that when He was crucified, a day later, it was a false Jewish Passover! Yet for Israel, during the Exodus Passover, the Passover was prepared toward the end of the 14th of Aviv and was eaten early on the 15th. Yeshua’s Supper was eaten the evening prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, nearly 24 hours prior to that. These Churches of God find it more palatable to “move” the Passover date than to acknowledge a more meaningful Preparation Day!

Yeshua didn’t have a problem with the date when He was twelve. Perhaps the COG’s think He was too young to have known better:

Luke 2:41-42 His relatives went up to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast as prescribed by the Torah.

During the Exodus Passover, the offering was prepared toward the end of the 14th of Aviv (Preparation Day) and was eaten on the 15th. Yeshua’s Supper was eaten the evening prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, nearly a full day prior to that. This misconception concerning the timing results in their using unleavened bread at Yeshua’s Supper, and that results in their insisting on being unleavened for part of eight days. Strangely, the Churches of God then eat leavened bread the next day until sundown!

Again noting the exact seven day duration of the Feast, also note that “the first day” is when you should get the leaven out. Upon first glance, it appears that a person should wait until the Feast has already begun: “the first day” before removing the leaven from their homes.

Exodus 12:15 You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day [Preparation day] you must remove the leaven from your houses, because anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be ‘banished’ from Israel.

On this “first day” work MUST be done. But now notice “the first day” mentioned again in the next verse!

Exodus 12:16 On the first day you must have a special assembly, and on the seventh day another special assembly. No work will be done on those days, other than making your meals. That’s all you can do.

The “first day” in verse 15 is actually a reference to the Preparation Day. It’s the day when all of the WORK necessary for the First day of the Feast was done, especially slaying and preparing the Passover lamb for eating after sundown. So Preparation Day is the first day of the “Passover Season”, but not the first day of the Feast! More on this later.

Leviticus 23:5-6 Yehovah’s Passover begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month [lunation] is Yehovah’s Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

Numbers 28:17 There is a Feast on the fifteenth day of this month. For seven days the bread you eat must be unleavened.

Twelve other Scriptures mention that Unleavened Bread lasts “seven days”! Had part of an eighth day been necessary, certainly we would have been instructed about it in one of the 13 accounts! Furthermore, the symbolism is different. In the Exodus Passover, unleavened bread and a lamb were used. While the lamb was slain late [not early] on the 14th of Aviv, it was eaten early on the 15th—the beginning of the First Feast Day of Unleavened Bread. The unleavened bread represented the hurried preparation that the bread was made in. Sadly, it parallels the hurried manner that Yeshua was killed in prior to the Feast Day by many of the Jews, so as not to “defile” the day.

In the sect that I was a member of for many years, they explained that the “actual Old Testament Passover” took place during the time that Yeshua was explaining the symbols of the bread and the wine during His Last Supper. For years Yeshua’s enemies looked for an excuse to kill Him. Certainly if He had been observing a different Passover than the Jews, they would have had their issue!

It’s interesting that two billion people assume that it is essential to use unleavened bread at Yeshua’s Supper!

Yeshua didn’t eat that final Passover with His disciples “by any means”!

What did Yeshua mean when He said to His disciples ? Should we assume that He was saying that He wanted to celebrate this Supper with them, and that He was calling that Supper “this Passover” and that after that “last Passover supper” He would not celebrate another one for a long time? No, that is not what He meant. Just prior to His arrest, Yeshua clearly stated that He would not eat a Passover with them “by any means” until the Everlasting Kingdom is established!

Luke 22:13-16 They went and found it just as He had told them, and they got everything ready for the Passover. 14 When it was time to eat, Yeshua came and reclined at the table, along with His twelve envoys. 15 He told them, “I had [1] really wanted to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 But I tell you, “From now on I WILL NOT BY ANY MEANS EAT IT [2] until it is fulfilled in Yehovah’s Kingdom.”

[1] In March, 2011 I was sent a link to an article by Roy A. Reinhold showing that the Aramaic definitely puts this in the past tense. Yeshua had already given up on celebrating the Passover, rather He was to be the Passover! (I was surprised at the similarities in our reasoning.) [2] See why He didn’t eat the Passover here!

The KJV says instead of,

The literal Greek wording is: “ say for to you that NEVER IN ANY WAY I eat of it, until when it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” —The Interlinear Scriptures

Couldn’t it be that Yeshua simply meant that He wished that He could remain alive to celebrate this particularly crucial Passover with His disciples as He had done all of His life? Did He want to BE the Passover or did He “earnestly desire” to eat it with His disciples? According to Mark, it is apparent that He had hoped for an alternative solution to atone for the sins of humanity. Had He actually eaten that Passover with them, it would have been because the alternative outcome that He had prayed for had occurred. Notice what He said even after the Supper:

Mark 14:35-36 He went on a little farther, and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour could pass from Him. 36 He said, “O Elohim, My Elohim! You can do anything. Cause this cup to pass from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours.”

Think about it, would Yeshua have symbolically eaten His own flesh?

The fact that the disciples were all gathered together in an upper room in advance of the Passover in no way implies that they were preparing for an “early Passover celebration”. In fact every logical indication is that the room was reserved for not only the Preparation Day, but also for the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread. That would also explain why they were all assembled together on the eighth day following that fateful supper, in the same room. They were celebrating the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, according to the statute (Leviticus 23:8)!

John 20:18-28 Then Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Sovereign, and told them what He had said to her. 19 On the evening of the First of the Sabbaths, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jews. Yeshua appeared standing among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After saying this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were elated when they saw the Sovereign.

21 Yeshua said to them again, “Peace be with you. I’m sending you in the same way that My Father sent Me.” 22 After He said these things, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the 'special' spirit. 23 If you disregard anyone’s sins, their sins will be disregarded, but if you retain anyone’s sins, yours will also be retained.” 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve who was called the Twin, wasn’t with them when Yeshua came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen our Sovereign”, but he replied, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my fingers into them, and touch His side with my hand, I won’t believe it.”

26 After eight days [2] the disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Yeshua came in, even tho the doors were locked, and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He told Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands, and reach out your hand put it into My side, don’t be an unbeliever, be a believer!” 28 Thomas replied, “My Sovereign and my Aloha!

[2] This gathering, counting eight days inclusively from Yeshua’s Supper on Preparation Day (Luke 22:12-13) would have been for the celebration of the Last Day of Unleavened Bread!

It should not be surprising that Yeshua made an appearance on the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread. He actually appeared a total of 7 times following His resurrection—all on significant days. Four of those appearances were on the Wave Sheaf Day:

Many Bible versions would have you believe that the disciples were staying in their own homes during the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

I checked the NKJV; ASV; BBE; DBY; KJV; the WBS and the GBY, and they all say that they went to their “own home”; “homes” or “houses”.

Of those I checked, only a couple of “literal” translations had an acceptable translation:

John 20:10 The disciples therefore went away again unto their own friends... YLT

Surprisingly, despite all of the copycatting, the Greek word translated as “homes” has absolutely nothing remotely to do with homes!

Again, it should read:

John 20:10 “...went away Then again to themselves the disciples”. —The Interlinear (Green)

They were actually celebrating the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) together, just as Yeshua had done as a child:

Luke 2:41-43 His relatives went up to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast as prescribed by the Torah. 43 After staying the full number of days they returned, but the Child Yeshua remained in Jerusalem, and Joseph and His mother were unaware of it,

As the Passover event drew near, early on the 14th, Peter and John were preparing for a typical Passover!

Luke 22:7-13 The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived when it was time to offer the Passover lamb. 8 Yeshua sent Cephas and John, and told them, “Go and prepare the Passover for eating.” 9 They asked Him, “Where should we prepare for it?” 10 He told them, “When you enter the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house he enters, 11 and you will say to the owner of the house, ‘The Sovereign asks: Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’ 12 Then he will show you a large furnished upper room. Make preparations there. 13 They went and found it just as He had told them, and they got everything ready for the Passover.

Notice that even while the Last Supper was taking place, the disciples understood that it was time to “prepare” for the Passover. They believed that Judas was still out buying “something necessary for the Feast” DURING the Supper, so the Feast Day certainly hadn’t started yet! And of course, no shopping would have ever been done on a Feast Day.

John 13:25-30 Then that disciple leaned on Yeshua’s chest and asked Him, “Sovereign, who is it?” 26 Yeshua answered, “It’s the one I give this bread to, once I’ve dipped it.” Then Yeshua dipped the bread, and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27 After taking the bread, Satan entered into him, and Yeshua told him, “What you’re about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one else at the table knew why He told him that. 29 Some of them thought that since Judas had the money box, that Yeshua was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast [1] or that he should give something to the poor. 30 Judas took the piece of bread and immediately left the house. It was night when he left.

[1] All of Israel was preparing for the Passover on that Preparation Day.

John recounted that the Supper was before the Passover:

John 13:1-2 Before the Feast of the Passover, Yeshua knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to His Father. He loved His own people who were in the world, and He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, Satan had already influenced Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Him.

Believing that Judas was simply preparing for the Passover would have been a logical supposition. The Passover Feast was going to take place the following evening.

After all, all of Israel was preparing for the Passover—it was “Preparation Day”!

In fact all four references in the Testimony of Yeshua (NT) to Preparation Day refer to the day before the First Feast Day of Unleavened Bread (never to a weekly Sabbath)! If it were not the “real” Preparation, certainly Mark or John would have said so!

Mark 15:42-43 It was the evening of the Preparation Day that precedes the annual Sabbath [4]. 43 Joseph of Arimathaea, a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin, who himself was also waiting for Yehovah’s Kingdom to come, boldly went to Pilate and requested Yeshua’s body.

[4] Preparation Day was Tuesday that year. Every example of “preparation Day” precedes the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Passover is actually an event, late on Preparation Day, immediately preceding the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

John 19:14 It was the Preparation Day for the Passover, and it was about the sixth hour [noon]. He told the Jews, “Look, your King.”

John 19:31 Because it was the Preparation Day, the Jews said, “These bodies must not remain all night on crosses”, (because Sabbath sundown [1] was approaching and that particular Sabbath was a 'special' Day.” So they asked Pilate if they could break the legs of those crucified and take them down.

[1] All of Israel was preparing for the Passover on that Preparation Day.

John 19:42 They put Yeshua in there since the Annual Sabbath [3] was about to begin, and because the tomb was nearby.

[3] The Greek says, “The Jewish Day of Preparation.”

To recap, it is evident that all during the Preparation Day and right up until the Supper had begun, the disciples still didn’t grasp that Yeshua would be dead by the next evening! Had He been perfectly blunt about telling them, perhaps they would not have been able to cope with His final instructions. So He simply chose to allow them to prepare to eat the Passover Feast as usual. After they had gotten rid of the leaven in the room and made the other preparations, He then began to break the news to them, but obviously not in a way that was sufficiently disturbing to keep them awake!

Preparing the Lamb

Preparing for the Passover involved roasting a lamb in the Temple.

2 Chronicles 35:4-6 Prepare yourselves by your ancestral household divisions according to the written instructions of King David of Israel, and the records of his son Solomon. 5 “Stand in the 'Cherished' Place according to the ancestral household divisions of your relatives, the Israelite people, accompanied by a division of Levites with each ancestral household. 6 Slaughter the Passover lambs and purify yourselves, and prepare them for your relatives, according to the Word of Yehovah thru Moses.”

In chapter 29, Part 2, I showed that “the Angel of the Lord” (The Messenger of Yehovah) in the Hebrew Scriptures is always the One who became Yeshua. With that in mind, it was Yeshua who called to Abraham from heaven and replaced his son Isaac with a ram!

Genesis 22:11-13 But the Messenger of Yehovah called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “I’m here.” 12 He said, “Don’t lay a hand on the boy, or do anything to him, because now I know that you fear Elohim [Father], seeing that you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Abraham 'looked up' and saw that behind him was a ram caught by his horns in a thicket! Abraham took the ram and offered him up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Once the Temple was destroyed, as Yeshua had predicted, and not one stone here was left on another (Matthew 24:2), the Jews ceased sacrificing.

For now we no longer prepare a lamb as a ze’bak [sacrifice]. Yet in the third Temple, the one the Antichrist will defile, and in Ezekiel’s Temple in the Kingdom of Elohim (God) Israel will resume sacrificing’:

Zechariah 14:15-21 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkies, and all the cattle in those camps. 16 Then everyone who is left behind [survivors] from all the nations that come against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship Commander Yehovah and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 When that time comes, if any of the clans of the region won’t come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Commander Yehovah, they’ll get no rain. 18 If the people of Egypt don’t show up, they’ll get no rain. This is the plague that Yehovah will strike the nations with that don’t come up and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. [6] 19 That will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of any other nation that won’t come up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

20 When That Day Comes it will say on the bells of the horses: 'Dedicated' to Yehovah. And the pots [for zebakim [sacrifices] in Yehovah’s 'Temple' will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be 'special' to Commander Yehovah, and everyone who offers a zebak will come and take one of them and cook in them. When That Day Comes there will no longer be a Canaanite in Commander Yehovah’s 'Temple'.

Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 48, nine fully prophetic chapters, describes the organizational structure of the coming Third Temple in the Kingdom of Elohim with no mention of a later cessation. Chapters 44-46, particularly pertain to the revived offerings. The context flows smoothly into chapter 47 with a detailed description of the “river of water of life” that John further described in Revelation 22:1-2. From there the prophecy ends with chapter 48 detailing the redistribution of the Middle East back into the hands of all of the tribes of Israel. But that is another story. For now I will simply point out some astonishing yet to be fulfilled prophecies concerning “My appointed Feasts” that most people wish could be interpreted as historic because it goes against their entire theology:

Ezekiel 44:1-24 Then he brought me back to the outer gateway of the 'Cherished' Place that faces east, and it was shut. 2 Yehovah told me, “This gate must remain closed, it will never be opened. No one will enter thru it because Yehovah, the Elohim of Israel, has entered thru it, so it must remain shut. 3 Only the Prince can be seated there. As Prince, He can eat food in Yehovah’s presence [and survive!]. [1] Only He can enter thru the entrance hall and leave by the same way.” 4 Then He brought me in thru the north gateway to the front of the 'Temple'. I looked around and saw the splendor of Yehovah filling the 'Temple' of Yehovah, and I fell facedown.

5 Yehovah told me, “Human son, carefully notice what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears, everything that I reveal to you about the unchanging rulings of the 'Temple' of Yehovah and all its laws. Particularly notice the entrance to the 'Temple' and all the exits from the 'Temple'. 6 Tell the rebellious House of Israel, ‘The Sovereign Yehovah [“Yeshua”] says: House of Israel, “I’ve had enough of your many highly detestable things! 7 You’ve brought in foreigners with uncircumcised hearts and uncircumcised flesh into My 'Cherished' Place, violating the honor of My very 'Temple' by your offering My bread, the fat and the blood. You’ve broken My covenant in addition to all your other highly detestable things. 8 You haven’t carried out your duty regarding My 'special' things, instead you’ve put foreigners in charge of My 'Cherished' Place. 9 The Sovereign Yehovah says: No foreigner with an uncircumcised heart or uncircumcised flesh will enter My 'Temple', including foreigners who live in Israel.

10 “The Levites who strayed far from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed from Me preferring their idols will bear the consequences of their sins. 11 Yet they’ll be ministers in My 'Cherished' Place and have oversight at the gates of the 'Temple' and serve in the 'Temple'. They’ll slay the burnt offering and zebakim [sacrifices] for the people, and they’ll stand before them and serve them. 12 Because they served the people standing in front of their idols, and caused the House of Israel to 'falter', I’ve sworn that they’ll bear the consequences of their wickedness,’ declares the Sovereign Yehovah. 13 They are not to approach Me serving as My priests or get near any of My 'special' things or My very 'special' things. They must bear the shame of the highly detestable things they’ve committed. 14 Yet I’ll entrust them to perform the other duties of the 'Temple', all its maintenance work, and everything else that needs to be done there.

15 “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who continued to perform the duties of My 'Cherished' Place when the Israelites strayed from Me will approach Me and serve Me, and stand in My presence and offer Me the fat and the blood,” declares the Sovereign Yehovah. 16 They alone can enter My 'Cherished' Place, approach My table to serve Me, and perform My requirements.

17 “When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they must be wearing linen clothing. They must not wear wool clothing while serving within the gates of the inner courtyard or inside the 'Temple'. 18 They must wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists, they must never wear anything that causes sweat. 19 When they return to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must take off the clothing that they served in, lay them in the 'special' chambers, and wear other clothing so they don’t transfer 'specialness' with their clothing.

“20 “They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow too long, but they must trim the hair on their heads. 21 The priests must never drink wine before entering the inner courtyard. 22 They must not marry widows or women who have been divorced, they can only marry virgins descended from the House of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 They must teach My people the difference between 'special' things and what is common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 “In a dispute the priests will serve as judges, and they’ll adjudicate according to My regulations. They must obey My Torah and My unchanging rulings regarding all My appointed Feasts, and keep My Sabbaths 'special'.

Most people believe that the above is historic. I believe it to be cause and effect within our own generation.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

If Yeshua actually ate a Passover meal, why no mention of eating lamb to represent His flesh? Why no bitter herbs? Not to have eaten lamb while the Temple stood would have been a grevious sin: “They must eat the flesh that night, roasted over a fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8).

The “Lord’s Supper” or Yeshua’s Supper is spiritual Preparation for the Passover! Again, it’s tragic that Christians “prepare” for the Passover, but don’t actually celebrate the Passover, while Judaism, celebrates the Passover, spiritually unprepared because they reject the Lamb!

Yet unlike the Passover, Yeshua’s Supper is temporary in nature!

1 Corinthians 11:26 Every time you eat this loaf of bread and drink from this cup, you commemorate the death of our Sovereign UNTIL He returns [6].

[6] While the “lord’s Supper” will not be commemorated after He returns, the Passover will be celebrated, as prophesied in Ezekiel 45:21, a millennial reign chapter, as will the Feast of Tabernacles, as prophesied in the very evident millennial chapter of Zechariah 14, verses 16-21 in particular. See Did Yeshua’s Supper” Replace the Passover?

So we should be celebrating Yeshua’s Supper, followed by commemorating the Passover the next evening that initiates the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread “UNTIL He returns”:

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Your bragging isn’t good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out your old leaven so that you can be a new batch of dough, as you are unleavened. The Messiah, our Passover, was offered in our place. 8 So let’s celebrate the Feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and bitterness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and dedication.

Yeshua couldn’t really be our Passover offering if He had been killed on the wrong day. If He had died at any other time He would not have been offered according to Yehovah’s plan—He would not have been offered as our Passover!

You are not to allow anyone to judge you concerning Father’s Feast Days. Today even “the body of Messiah” is not reliably competent, much of the time, to make sound judgments concerning the things of our Father. One thing is certain—the Feast Days have never been “shadows of” a near miss!

Colossians 2:16-17 So don’t allow anyone to pronounce judgments against you about eating and drinking, or about various aspects of the Feast days, New Moons and Sabbaths 17 that foreshadow things in the future, other than for the body of Messiah [6].

[6] Every version listed here tampers with the simple text that explains that only the true “body of Messiah” has any business counseling you in regard to these Torah issues! Check an interlinear for the uncorrupted truth. Never imagine that Christianity hasn’t affected Bible translators!

Yeshua is not our “Lord’s Supper” and He is not our Easter. If Passover had been phased out, Paul would have said so. Instead we see him verifying that Yeshua is still “our Passover”!

If your Bible mentions Easter then you are reading a King James version—specifically Acts 12:4. It is ludicrous to assume that King Herod stopped killing the 'chosen ones' (saints) long enough to celebrate Easter! The context in this disputed verse unmistakably shows that Herod was busy killing the 'special one'! Only the KJV uses the word Easter, that should have been translated as “Passover” (Greek: Pascha), as it is in all 28 other passages. The James boys were under great pressure from the King to change a few things. It would however make perfect sense for Herod not to have wanted to offend the large Jewish population—it was his job to keep them peaceful under Roman control. That is why he gave them Yeshua, the “innocent man” to crucify. If anything, had Yeshua’s followers been celebrating Easter (they were not) there would have been even greater persecution on that day. Having religious strife between the Jews and Yeshua’s followers was not in the interest of the Roman occupation. That’s why the Roman soldiers were told to deny the resurrection! It is surprising the number of ‘websters’ trying to defend the KJV use of Easter!

It is a special opportunity for those of us who believe, but have not seen the many miracles that our predecessors did in the wilderness or during the days that Yeshua visibly walked the earth.

John 20:29-31 Yeshua told him, “Because you’ve seen Me you believe. Blessed are those who haven’t seen Me, and believe.” 30 Yeshua did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples that aren’t recorded in this book, 31 but these have been recorded so that you’ll believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, Yehovah’s Son, and that by believing you’ll have eternal life in His name.

“not My will”

We know that Yeshua wanted for that “cup” to be removed from Him, yet His prayer was: “not My will but Yours”. With that in mind, He had earnestly desired to eat the Passover with His disciples rather than BE the Passover. Even during the early part of the Preparation Day for the Passover, Yeshua was still optimistic that He would somehow be spared at the last second. Even as Judas was plotting to betray Him He still had hope. That all changed “when it was evening”. Father had undoubtedly spoken to Him only shortly before the “Lord’s Supper”. It was only then that He was able to say “most certainly”, or definitely, that He would be put to death.

Here is the chronology, from Mark’s account, moving from His having some hope that He would “eat” the Passover, until the evening when He knew that He “was” the Passover:

Mark 14:10-18 Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the high priests in order to betray Yeshua to them. 11 When they heard this they were thrilled, and they promised to pay him off. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Him.

Preparation For Passover

12 On the First Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Jews present the Passover zebak [sacrifice], His disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 13 He sent two of His disciples and told them, “Go to the city, and you’ll meet a man carrying a water jug. Follow him. 14 When he goes into a house, tell the owner of the house that our Rabbi asks, ‘Where is My banquet room where I may [2] eat the Passover with My disciples?’ 15 Then he will show you a large room upstairs, furnished with seating and available. Make preparations for us there.”

16 His disciples left and went into the city, and found things just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 17 When it was evening, He arrived with the twelve. 18 As they were eating, Yeshua said, “I am certain that one of you eating with Me will betray Me.”

[2] The word “may” (Murdock) or “can” (Etheridge) implies uncertainty. In verse 14, Yeshua was being deliberately vague with His words concerning whether or not He would be there. Very shortly afterward there was no doubt—He was to be the Passover, not eat it.

In verse 14 it appears to me that Yeshua was deliberately being vague with His words concerning whether or not He would be there. Very shortly afterward there was no doubt—He was to be the Passover—not someone able to eat it!

What About Matthew 26:18?

The following verse is a seeming contradiction. But there are two deliberate alterations in most English translations. These alterations are easy to verify using a lexicon of the Byzantine/Majority text base, such as Green’s The Interlinear Scriptures. However, the Alexandrian text base, generally more unreliable, also does not have Yeshua eating the Passover. These mistranslations are not a case of the translators choosing English terms that are not quite the equivalent of the Greek. They are outright falsifications—one a deletion and the other an addition!

Matthew 26:18 Say to him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; [omission] I will keep the Passover ‘at thy house’ [addition] with my disciples. KJV

There is a curse for omissions and additions!

Revelation 22:18-19 I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: if anyone adds to them [4a], Yehovah will ADD to them the scourges [5] that are described in this book. 19 If anyone removes words from the book containing this prophecy [4b], Yehovah will TAKE AWAY their destiny from the Tree of Life and from the 'cherished' city described in this book.

[4a,b] The fact that this warning was made indicates that people could and would alter parts of the Bible. Fortunately it’s possible to backtrack and spot the alterations. [5] They’ll actually experience the Day of Yehovah! (the Day of the Lord)

The first KJV “error” is the omission of the critical words “near thee” (Strong’s numbers 4314 and 4571). Young rendered this faithfully in his translation. Hold that thought. Here it is:

Matthew 26:18...and he said, Go away to the city, unto such a one, and say to him, The Teacher saith, My time is nigh; [NEAR THEE I am to ‘keep’ [literally “institute”, 2d1:], the Passover, WITH MY disciples. Young’s Literal Translation.

The second KJV fabrication in Matthew 26:18 is the added words “at thy house”, it should simply read “with My disciples”!

Another house trick! This time another word was corrupted. Yeshua did NOT say He was going to celebrate the Passover at the man’s house! The word ‘se’ has nothing remotely to do with a “house”, but most Bibles leave it in, rather than break with tradition.

“Se” is translated as “thee” 178 times in the KJV, 16 times as “thou”, twice it was omitted, and once as the fraudulent “thy house”.

Incidentally, the Aramaic that the Greek was translated from correctly says “with My disciples”.

Yeshua really did keep the Passover NEAR His followers, because nearby He was being slain as the Pascal Lamb! Notice that this is the only place in the Greek (“NT”) Texts where it says “keep the Passover”. Elsewhere it says “eat the Passover” but keeping the Passover is the terminology associated with a lamb being killed! The phrase is used thirteen times that way in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The text has been made to say that Yeshua would “keep” the Passover Feast with His disciples, but He didnt! He WAS the Passover, therefore He could not “eat” it! The NKJV, the ASV, the BBE, the DBY, the WBS and the GBY all have these alterations in them. Kids in school who all have the same bizarre wrong answer on a test are considered cheaters! Green’s Literal, a favorite of mine, is correct.

The translations of Mark and Luke also say “shall” or “will”, where “may” should have been used.

Luke 22:11...Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples? KJV

The Greek omits the word “I” altogether, but assuming it should be there, then “shall” or “will” are also assumed. Since He still was not certain that an intervention would take place it should say, “where I may eat the Passover with My disciples”. That would allow for a degree of uncertainty.

The translators, believing that Yeshua kept a Passover (of some sort) “corrected” the Bible to reflect their own preconceived assumptions! A complete interlinear that gives a Strong’s number for every existing word is very helpful for we “Englishmen” to figure this out.

Also in the same context (verse 8) where it says: “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” The word “we” was added. “You” could just as easily have been implied. Yeshua could have specified exactly who was going to be at the Passover meal (should it take place) that He so strongly desired to attend, but He was not certain that He would be spared, so He was deliberately vague on the guest list!

Did ANY of the disciples actually participate in the Passover the following night, immediately after Yeshua was crucified? The event that centuries of practice runs had pictured had just taken place right before their eyes! The Jews had hurriedly killed Yeshua so that His dead body would not mar their festivities, but which of the disciples would have even been thinking about a Passover meal after such a tragic murder?

Incidentally, even the Jews did not celebrate a Passover Seder that year. It wasn’t invented yet!

Presumably they had all witnessed the crucifixion:

Luke 23:48-49 The entire crowd that had gathered to see this, beat their chests and left. 49 All of Yeshua’s acquaintances were standing at a distance, including the women who had accompanied Him from Galilee, and they witnessed these things.

I would like to elaborate more on the phrase “the First Day of Unleavened Bread”, this time from the Testimony of Yeshua instead of Exodus.

The disciples were confident that there would be a Passover as usual, so they asked:

Matthew 26:17 On the First Day of Unleavened Bread [Preparation Day] the disciples came to Yeshua and asked Him, “Where do You want us to make preparations for You to eat the Passover?”

Were they running late? Even the people I know who understand that killing the Passover precedes the Feast, continue to use “the First Day of Unleavened Bread” to describe the Feast Day of the 15th. However the context itself explains that the “First Day” is an alternate phrase for Preparation Day! It is the First Day of an eight day “season”—the last seven days of which are unleavened.

The parallel accounts also indicate the Preparation Day in the context by the use of the word “sacrifice”. Note that the disciples were making preparations for the Passover on the same day that the other Jews were. Again, the 1st day is the Preparation day, the day the Lamb is killed:

Mark 14:12 On the First Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Jews present the Passover zebak [sacrifice], His disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

The final reference to “the First Day of Unleavened Bread” also counts the Preparation day (for preparing the lamb, etc) as the First Day.

Luke 22:7 The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived when it was necessary to offer the Passover lamb.

If you think it’s strange that “the First Day of Unleavened Bread” is not the Feast Day, then this might be a similar surprise:

Here is what the KJV says:

Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day [added word] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. KJV

Now consider the more literal Greek from Young’s Literal Translation. J.N. Young was among the most objective translators:

Matthew 28:1 And on the eve of the sabbaths [Greek: sabbaton], at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths [mian sabbaton], came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre...YLT

“Sabbath” and “week” are the same Greek word—“sabbaton”. So which is it?

Here is how it is in the Gabriel Bible:

Matthew 28:1 After the Sabbaths! [1], as the first of the Sabbaths [Gr. Sabbaton] was dawning, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

[1] This would include the weekly Sabbath and the First (actual) Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Long story short, every time the Testimony says: “the First Day of the Week” it is really referring to the first day, counting from the Sabbath of the seven Sabbath long countdown toward Pentecost, as this link shows!

Those who take solace in “the first day of the week”, thinking that it is weekly Sunday worship should know that this wording clearly points to the true Sabbath and an approaching Feast Day!

Those who believe that Yeshua held a seder Haggadah don’t know that the haggadah only slowly evolved into the detailed event it is today during the middle ages:

“The metamorphosis of the Haggadah concluded in the late middle ages, aided by the invention of the Printing Press, which enabled the basic Ashkenazic version which had been endorsed by the Ari z’l to be accepted even in Sephardic communities. The text is based upon the Haggadah of Rav Amram Gaon, who headed the Babylonian Yeshiva of Sura between 856-876 CE. This text was endorsed by Rashi. Rav Amram’s Haggadah concluded with the after blessing on the fourth cup of wine. It did not include ‘Chasal Siddur Pesach’.”*

In Part 2 we will look at what might be said during the celebration of Yeshua’s Supper.

Also see: When Did Ancient Israel Keep the Passover?

Lonnie Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

 

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