Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNLEAVENED BREAD, FEAST OF

The first of three festivals mentioned in the earliest festival prescriptions in Exod. 23:14-17; 34:18-24. It has generally been argued that the Pilgrimage of Unleavened Bread (ḥag hammaṣṣôṯ) was initially an agricultural observance of the Canaanites associated with the barley harvest and adapted by the Israelites. In the early biblical texts, however, the pilgrimage is associated specifically with the Exodus from Egypt. The Israelites are to avoid eating leaven for seven days. The seven-day festival takes place in the first month, Abib (Apr.-May) in the older calendars, and is observed from the 15th day through the 21st day (cf. Exod. 12:18; Lev. 23:6). Lev. 23:9-16 envisions the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the occasion for the presentation of the first sheaf of the harvest and dates the Feast of Weeks 50 days after this presentation. Unleavened Bread eventually became associated with Passover in such a way that the two originally distinct observances were viewed as one ritual observance with two movements (Exod. 12–13; Deut. 16:1-8; Lev. 23:4-8).

See Passover, Feast of.

Frank H. Gorman, Jr.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNLEAVENED BREAD, FEAST OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)