In this message I will touch on (3) things: The Last supper as foreshadowing the Two Houses united, Jewish Law and idiomatic expressions.
Mat 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahshua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
Mat 26:18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.
Mat 26:19 And the disciples did as Yahshua had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
Mat 26:20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
Keep in mind that they ate when the even was come. That would be the evening preceding the Day of Passover.
Now drop down to verse 27
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the Renewed, refreshed covenant (the word here is
2537. kainos, kahee-nos’; new (espec. in freshness; being derived from neos. Meaning to regenerate as regards respect to age.
That is why it is more accurate to speak of this as the renewed or refreshed covenant which does not imply a doing away with another earlier covenant, this is incorrect), which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Now Re-read Verse 17\ Mat 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahshua, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
If you’re paying attention you might rightly surmise that many people have a problem with this passage here in Matthew. It appears to be a scriptural inconsistency. We know that Passover precedes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but the verse as we read it states that on the first day of The Feast of Unleavened bread the disciples asked Yahshua where they should eat the Passover meal. One of the problems is that the majority of people suppose that Passover was celebrated one day earlier than the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but it is not so. If it were we would have the Feast of Unleavened Bread preceding Passover here. I want dwell on that but it should be noted, and proof given from the Torah to resolve any doubt. In Numbers we read:
Num 9:5 And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
So Passover was on the 14th of the first month.
Previously, we read in Exo. 12:17: And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Passover falls on the 14th of Abib or as it is called now, Nisan.
So we see that the Feast of Unleavened was also on the 14th of the first month.
Contrary to what most people think that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread occur on subsequent days we see they do not. The events occur in sequence: that is Passover precedes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but within the same 24 hours.
Now that I’ve given you the backdrop to tonight’s message now let me go on with the meat.
Each Friday night at the Erev service we light the Sabbath candles. Part of the liturgy is reciting the teaching of the Two Leaven Loaves representing Jew and Non-Jew becoming One in Yahshua under the Kippur or covering of His blood. As I have demonstrated to you, Yahshua broke bread made a sop from the two loaves that represents Judah/Israel and Ephraim/Israel joined together, sanctified by His blood, and this was done at what has come to be called the Last Supper, but is actually Passover. The Scriptures tell us that this was the Passover meal and we all know that leaven was not allowed on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but is that so for Passover. How is it that I teach the loaves were leaven.
First let me read from the KJV of Luke 23:54
Luke 23:54
And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
hemera:G2250 . .day… paraskeue:G3904 . .preparation… sabbaton:G4521…sabbath… epiphosko:G2020 drew… epiphosko:G2020 on
In the English folio Bible it states that ” The Sabbath began to dawn,” which is a better translation. The Greek word translated “drew” means “dawn.” And I will digress here for it is important for understanding and illustrative of how necessary it is to know your Jewish roots. As to the translation it would have been better if it had been rendered as “for the night before the Sabbath was coming on.”
2020. epiphosko, ep-ee-foce’-ko; a form of G2017; to begin to grow light:–begin to dawn, X draw on.
We must remember that the Biblical day starts at sunset and ends 24 hours later at sunset.
Therefore, from our perspective and without addressing a High Sabbath, but as plainly taken, this passage would have been in our time, a Friday before sundown, but by Jewish calculation it would have been that part of the preceding day to Sabbath, or a Thursday for us, for the Sabbath Friday at sundown to Saturday at Sundown occurs after sundown on a Roman Friday.
Now, if you didn’t catch it, attend with me now, and address the word “dawn” as it is rendered more correctly in the English Folio Bible, where it reads “The Sabbath began to dawn.” How can an evening be called a “dawning?” This is an example, as I have many times stated that requires the reader to be adept at knowing Hebrew, the Jewish culture at the time, Jewish idiomatic expressions, and Biblical or Jewish time calculations..
In Hebrew the evening of the Sabbath was called amongst Jews at the time: rut (Ore) or Light. The evening being like our Erev service Friday night. From our perspective this does not compute and seems wrong, but to Jewish sensibilities it was perfectly correct. Why? Ramban provides us a clue. Rambam (Maimonides) commented on the following passage regarding Pesach. The passage reads “By the light of the fourteenth day they make a search for leaven by the light of candles.” For clarity, it states that on the evening or in the night that immediately precedes the daytime of the fourteenth they search for leaven. Again, the passage says by the “light” of the fourteenth meaning after sunset and they are searching for leaven by candlelight and he comments that this law by prescription of the Scribes was enacted because “it is most convenient searching in the night; namely, the beginning of that night that ushers in the fourteenth day because at that time also all persons are at home.” So we see from this example that “light” so referred to means nighttime. But we should investigate further and from the Scriptures. Turn with me to, Psalms 148:3. It reads: “Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.”
The Gemarists writers of the Gemara one of the books that make up the Talmud states that this verse is proof that the evening is not improperly called “Light” as the stars herein referred to appear in the evening and are called stars of light or stars of night. The rule here is that the night is called “light” by contraries as many other things in Scripture are called by contraries. How unsuitably it might sound in the ears of an English, Greek or Latin speaker when they hear the evening or the beginning of night defined or called “light,” but to the Jew of that time it was the usual expression, and they could readily understand the evangelists when he would tell them the “night of the Sabbath dawned on,” and this is the object of the lesson. Not whether it makes sense to us, but it did make sense to them. It was most probably expressed as “the light of the Sabbath began to shine:” and was redacted or later translated to appeal to the non-Hebrew speaking ear. In this case the Greek. Furthermore, they called the space of time between the setting of the sun and the first appearance of a star or light as “Between the suns.” There is also a space of time between the appearance of the first star and the second and The Talmud states that: In the evening of the Sabbath, if he sees one star and do any work, he is acquitted; but if he sees two stars, let him bring his trespass offering.” So the Light of the Sabbath is officially ushered in at the sighting of two stars.
Now, back to the reason I have brought this message and that is to clear up any misunderstanding regarding the use of leaven bread and its corresponding teaching in connection with the Last Supper, which many suppose that the bread Yahshua and His disciples ate was unleavened while in truth it was likely leavened. Yahshua as yet had not become our kinsman redeemer evidenced by His subsequent faithfulness on the execution stake as the slain Paschal Lamb of YHVH Elohim.
In my teaching of the Two Houses it represents, first, that we are the leaven bread, Jew or non-Jew because leaven represents sin and we are sinners. Yahshua was our Passover Lamb and in his agony He also represented the Feast of Unleavened Bread, accorded a subsequent place after Passover in the order of the festivals, in as much as He was sinless as represented by unleavened bread. My third and final reason and proof for representing the “Last Supper” as being celebrated with leavened bread is because as Rambam cited, and as I have held from you, until now, for greater effect, and that is as he states in his commentary regarding the foregoing cited passages, that the eating of leavened bread is not forbidden before noon on the fourteenth day by Jewish law. So you can see there is neither inconsistency nor contrariness to Scripture by representing Yahshua and His disciples as eating leaven bread at the Last Supper. In fact, it makes good sense and is compelling according to the Scriptures and Jewish Law.
Shalom and Brachas
Rabbi Davis (R. Milchamah b. David)