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The Feast of Unleavened Bread -- Fifteenth of Nisan
This feast was to be celebrated the day after Passover.
Then Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. (Exodus
13:3)
This feast marked the beginning of seven days of eating unleavened bread. In Jesus' time, it appears that the Jews
had combined the Passover and this first day of unleavened bread.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus'
disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" (Mark 14:12)
Separation from yeast is symbolic of purification from sin. It symbolizes the purification of Christ's disciples. This,
of course is the result of His death: believers are delivered from the penalty and power of sin.
The Feast of Firstfruits -- Seventeenth of Nisan
Leviticus 23:9-14
This feast was prescribed in Leviticus 23:9-14, while Israel was still wandering in the wilderness, but it was not to
be celebrated until they entered the land. When they did finally enter the Promised Land, Joshua 5 records the
sequence of events.
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites
celebrated the Passover.
The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and
roasted grain.
The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the
Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan. (Joshua 5:10-12)
On the fourteenth day of the month they celebrated the Passover. On the next day, the fifteenth, they ate "some of
the produce of the land." The word for "produce" is properly translated "old corn" in the King James version
because the Hebrew word used was `abuwr, which literally means "passed" or "kept over." The word was used only
of stored grain.
On the next day, the sixteenth day of the month, Manna was given for the last time. The next day, the 17th, would
have been their first day of food from the new land. The word "produce" in this verse is different from the word used
earlier. It is the Hebrew tebuw'ah, meaning "income," or "fruit."
All of this speaks of their new life in the Promised Land.
The resurrection of Jesus was on the third day. It was, therefore, symbolized by this feast. The concept of the "first
fruits" is most appropriate since, as Paul explains,
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came
through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be
made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1
Corinthians 15:20-23)
As Matthew Henry writes, "It is very observable that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the
first-fruits were offered, to show that he was the substance of this shadow."
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done… 23