Where Did the Tradition of the
Three Matzhahs Come From?
INTRODUCTION
Today is called Shabbat Hagadol the Great Sabbath before Passover. It commemorates the Sabbath preceding the Exodus from Egypt 3,500 years ago. Traditionally it is the time the Rabbi in the synagogue reviews the laws and instructions of Passover with his congregation to ensure sure that all the commandments are understood and being followed in preparing oneself and their home for Passover. Traditionally this is the longest sermon of the year, so brace yourselves for a long one today. Don’t fret I won’t speak any longer than I normally do. As it is, my messages are usually longer than a typical synagogue message which is about 20-25 minutes.
Let me briefly share four basic instructions that are mentioned on Shabbat Hagadol:
- The commandment to remove leaven from your home – You should have a supply of matzah
- Law of the first Born
- Reading of the Song of Songs
- Special reading from Malachi 3 & 4
This morning I want to speak on one of the most important traditions that are observed during the Passover Seder, “The mystery of the Afikomen. What is the meaning of the tradition of the three matzoth? Some people here may not know what an afikomen is. The afikomen has three compartments. A piece of matzoth is placed inside of each one. At the beginning of the Seder, it is the middle one that is removed, broken in half, wrapped in a white napkin or linen cloth and hidden or buried during the Seder. It is the final food eaten at the end of the Seder. The Seder cannot continue or conclude until this afikomen is eaten.
Before I share about the mystery of this tradition let me first share some background about tradition. Every year as we observe the Passover Seder we are reminded of the meaning and significance of each of the Passover elements. All 12 element of the Seder has an important part in telling the story of Passover. But have you ever wondered where all of these traditions came from? We know where the tradition of the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, the shank bone, the salt water and the charoset came from but why do we drink from four cups of wine and what is their meaning? Where did the tradition of the parsley, the egg, the cup of Elijah and opening the door at the conclusion of the Seder for him come from?
Being part of a Messianic Community it is important to understand the origin and meaning of why we observe certain traditions. We shouldn’t just blindly accept them because they have always been observed this way.
I have always taught that we need to form our own convictions of why we believe otherwise we only will have only a borrowed faith that is not rooted in our own belief system.
There are many traditions today that are observed in the Christian community that have no basis in the scriptures. The scriptures say that we are to be a holy and set apart people.
That is why we eat unleavened Bread for seven days to be reminded of this truth. During this time of the year we are inundated with chocolate Easter eggs, Easter baskets, bunnies and hot cross buns. Why is this time of the year called Easter and why is it traditional in some circles to have a sun rise service on Easter morning? What do any of these traditions have to do with Yeshua’s death and resurrection? Yet they are for the most part blindly accepted and embraced in the believing community.
Let me read a quote from a source of how the tradition of Easter originated. I quote -“It would have been suicide for early Gentile believers to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. In order to win souls, gentile believers cleverly decided to spread their message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Believers observance of the Resurrection of the Messiah. It made sense, therefore, to alter the pagan festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly being won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter. The word Easter comes from the word Ishtar a spring goddess of fertility.
The word Easter is found in only one verse in all the New Covenant, Acts 12:4 and it is found only in the King James Bible. It is a wrong translation. All other translations removed the word Easter and used the correct word Passover. Why then does the believing community still continue to use the word Easter to describe the events of Yeshua’s death and Resurrection which happened during Passover? It is because of the power of tradition and because there were leaders in the body of Messiah who wanted to separate and disassociate our faith from everything that was Jewish.
Remember what Shaul said in Romans 11:16 if the root is holy so are the branches. The roots of these traditions that are commonly practiced today in the Christian community are unholy and have no basis in God’s word and should be avoided like the plague.
In our Yeshiva class we have been studying about the Messianic view of Yeshua’s death and resurrection and the challenge of trying to harmonize the four gospels to be in agreement regarding the time of the Messiahs death. If you read through the four gospel accounts regarding the events surrounding the time of Passover and Yeshua’s death you will discover that they do not seem to be in agreement with each other. What day was Yeshua crucified? Was it the traditional Good Friday that is commonly accepted today or was it earlier in the week? Do we believe that Yeshua was buried for three literal days and nights or just part of each day?
As we study the scriptures and understand more about the Jewish roots of our faith we will often discover a different conclusion then is commonly accepted today. This is what a Messianic and torah observant community is all about,
“We are to be diligent to present ourselves approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15
For those who have been attending our Yeshiva class it has been a real challenge in trying to understand why the gospel of John does not seem to be in agreement with the other three gospels. However, I have been doing some further study on this issue this past week and discovered a very good explanation to explain this apparent contradiction. It is very possible that these differences are related to the use of different calendars that were used during the time of Yeshua. It was an established fact in the first century, that there were different calendars used by the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. This could explain some of these differences. I will share about this in our next class. Even today there is a movement with Judaism and in some messianic circles to adopt a different calendar regarding when God’s appointed times are to be observed. It has even divided some messianic groups.
The bottom line is that it is important for us to understand that there are no contradictions in the word of God. There may be some translation errors but the essence of God’s word is trustworthy from Genesis to Revelation. If there is anything that I would choose to be dogmatic about, it is the word of God. This is a battle I would choose to die on a hill for. We cannot compromise the word of God. Cephas said, "We have been born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. The word of the Lord endures forever. “ The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword."
If we believe that all scripture is inspired by God, then we can have an unshakable confidence that God’s word is true and trustworthy and there are no contradictions. We must approach the scriptures from this premise and be adamant and unwavering. If we come across something in the word of God that appears to be a contradiction our attitude should be this. There are no contradictions in the word of God. There has to be an explanation, a reason that I don’t understand. I will pray and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, I will do further study of the word, understanding the background, the culture, the custom and practices of that day.
If you honestly approach the word of God in this way, I guarantee that you will never find a contradiction in the word of God. This has always been my view of how to properly interpret the scriptures. It is proper hermeneutics.
AFIKOMEN
Having said all of this now let’s look at the meaning of the word Afikomen. There has been much debate among the rabbis concerning the meaning of this word. The problem is compounded since the word afikomen does not exist in the Hebrew language. It is not there! Rabbinic consensus usually explains that the word afikomen means dessert, since it is the final food eaten after the Passover meal when the dessert is normally eaten.
Amazingly, afikomen is the only Greek word found in the entire Passover Seder. Greek was the common language used in Yeshua’s day. The word afikomen comes from the Greek verb ik-ne-omai which simply means I came or He came not dessert as it is commonly interpreted in the Jewish community.
There are a number of traditions that have developed around the afikomen. Every year Moroccan Jews will save a piece of the afikomen after Passover for use whenever they travel at sea throughout the year. They believe that if a piece of the afikomen is thrown into the stormy waves, it will calm the waters. It is easy to seewhere the origin of this tradition came from. Yeshua merely spoke the word and said peace, shalom be still and immediately the stormy Sea of Galilee was calm. Jews from Iran, Bukharah, and Afghanistan have the custom of preserving a piece of the afikomen as protection against the evil eye. Others believe that holding a piece of the afikomen during childbirth protects the mother.
The Haggadah states there are four sons (the wise, the wicked, the simple and the one who is too young to know how to ask a question) “The Wise Son—asks ‘ What is the meaning of the testimonies, judgments, and statutes which our God, has commanded us?’ You shall explain to him all the laws of Passover and to the very last detail about the afikomen.
It is traditional to get the children involved in the afikomen ceremony and make it into a game. One tradition is that the children come and try to “steal” the afikomen from the father and then he has to negotiate its return. A more common tradition is that someone in the family hides the afikomen and during the meal the children are sent off on a mission to find this hidden afikomen. Whoever is fortunate to find it, there is a surprise waiting to be given to them as they return it to the father of the home or the one leading the Seder. Another tradition is, it is the children who hide the afikomen and the parent(s) look for it. When they give up and can’t find it, the children demand a ransom price for revealing its location.
This piece of matzoth called the afikomen is the final food eaten at Passover and everyone is required to eat of it. This tradition reinforces the importance of the afikoman, as the Seder cannot continue until it is eaten for “dessert.” Several reasons are given for this ritual of breaking the matzo and hiding the afikoman. One is that it recalls their slavery in which the Israelites found themselves in Ancient Egypt. Not knowing where his next meal would come from, a slave would hide away part of his food to eat later. The hiding away of a piece of matzo echoes this attitude of servitude. The afikoman also recalls the poverty, the Jews suffered in Egypt. Like the poor, they would always have only a broken loaf of bread, never a whole one.
But in asking Jewish people or rabbis to explain what the three matzoth represent some will say: The three matzoth speaks of the priests, the Levites and the Israelites. Another tradition holds that they represent the three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet rabbinic tradition is at a loss to explain why the middle one is removed and broken , wrapped in a white linen clothed and hidden.
The question is why must the Levites be broken and not the others? Or why must Isaac be broken and not Abraham or Jacob? Rabbinic tradition is silent on this question. They have no real explanation. As Messianic Believers the breaking of the matzoth to become the afikomen can be clearly understood as speaking of the Messiah, the second person of the Godhead. The 3 matzoth’s speak of the plurality of the Godhead the Father, Son and Ruach. It is the middle one that is broken in half, wrapped in a white linen cloth and buried or hidden until the end of the Seder. What did Yeshua say on the night He was betrayed? Mt. 26:26 says that as they were eating, Yeshua took the unleavened bread, He said the barucha, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said take, eat; this is my body given for you do this in remembrance of me. He also took the cup of redemption and said this cup is the New Covenant in my blood drink it in remembrance of me.
Yeshua came to this earth to become the Passover Lamb. Yochanon said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World. As the Passover Lamb Yeshua’s body was pierced through for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, he died, His body was wrapped in a clean white linen cloth. He was hidden away, buried in a grave and brought back at the third cup of wine and resurrected on the third day.
At first glance one may claim that this explanation appears to be a far-fetched attempt to messianize the Jewish Passover, but the evidence is overwhelming.
It important to understand that this practice of the afikomen was not present in the time of Yeshua. It became an addition some time later in the Passover as a number of the other traditions did. It was understood that the last food taken at the Passover meal in that day was the lamb. Rabbinic tradition actually believes that the afikomen now represents the lamb and therefore everyone must eat of it and leave nothing left over, just like the Passover lamb in Egypt.
The question must be asked, how could the afikomen have made its way into the Jewish Passover if it speaks of Yeshua, when the majority of Jewish people today do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah?
The situation in the first century must be examined to shed light on this question. There were two events in the first century that affected the observance of Passover.
The first one was the Feast of Shavuot when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Acts 2:41 records there were 3000 Jewish people who came to faith in Messiah on the Day of Shavuot besides women and children. Shavuot was one of the annual feasts that the Jews were commanded to come to celebrate in Jerusalem. As many of these Jewish believers returned to their own homeland after this feast they would have brought this message of redemption to their friends and neighbors.
The Messianic Movement literally exploded with revival in the first century. It was estimated that there were at least one million Jewish believers in Messiah by the end of the first century. Acts. 21:20 says, “You see brethren, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed and are all zealous for the Torah.”A myriad is defined as a number too many to count, a large number in the thousands and hundreds of thousands. The Messianic Movement grew beyond the borders of Israel. There was no doubt that Yeshua was the talk of the synagogues in the first century and the claim that Yeshua was the Passover lamb that the prophets spoke of. The shear numbers of Messianic Believers in the first century no doubt had a great influence on all of Judaism. The fact that it grew so rapidly that it became the official religion of the entire Roman Empire by the 3rd. century demonstrated its tremendous influence in the first few centuries.
Another first century event that set the stage for a change in the Passover observance was the destruction of the temple in 70 Ad. This was a major blow to the Judaism of that day since the majority of the Levitical law was based upon the temple and its sacrifices. Without the temple, without sacrifices there could be no more Passover lamb. (Deut. 16:12). “Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord from the flock and the herd in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name.” This of course was referring to Jerusalem. Without the temple, and the ability to sacrifice a Passover lamb the future of the Passover observance was threatened. The Jewish people faced the dilemma of ceasing the observance of Passover or change it to be observed without a lamb.
By this time the Messianic Believers had already broken away from the sacrificial system, and were proclaiming that the risen Messiah was the Passover Lamb and the sacrifice for all time. They recognized that the death and resurrection of the Messiah and then the destruction of the temple was all part of God’s plan.
They were already celebrating Passover without the lamb choosing to incorporate the broken matzoth the afikomen, into the Passover ceremony at the very place where the cup and the bread was to be taken and where Yeshua said as you eat this bread and drink this cup do it in remembrance of me. Luke 24:30 records that when the risen Messiah appeared to His disciples near Emmaus they did not recognize who He was until He sat at the table with them and took the unleavened bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them that their eyes were opened. They recognized who Yeshua was when He broke the bread. It is not too difficult to understand how this tradition could have been borrowed by other Jews of that day to have something to replace a lambless Passover without realizing the full significance behind the ceremony.
How tragic that in millions of Jewish homes today the most obscure ceremony in the Passover, the afikomen is the one that gives its greatest meaning. The afikomen which means I came has been a yearly reminder that the Messiah, the true Passover Lamb has already come. As the voices of small children throughout the world recite the Manishtana every Passover and say why is this night different from all others nights, the testimony of the afikomen answers back to them, I came. This night is different from all other nights because I came. Yeshua said I came that you might have life and life abundantly. I came that you might know the truth so that the truth will set you free. I came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
It was on this holiday that the true Passover Lamb was crucified, buried and on the third day rose again to provide the greater redemption and deliverance from sin. It is only in the Messiah that Passover finds its greatest fulfillment. The lamb cannot be separated from this Feast, even today.
There is no doubt that Yeshua is the Passover Lamb, but there is one final question I would ask you today and it is the important one of all. Is He your Passover Lamb? Have you placed your trust in the Messiah and His sacrifice as your only hope for heaven? Even as our ancient ancestors were required to apply the blood to the lintels of their doors lest the angel of death would visit their home, so today must men and women individually make a decision concerning the Lamb of God. There is still no deliverance from death without the Lamb. There is no deliverance without applying the blood of the lamb to the lintels of your heart. Is He your Passover lamb? This is the question that is asked every year. Why not make this day different from all others by accepting Him as your Messiah and Passover lamb? He will deliver you and set you free from the bondage and slavery of this life.
Choose life that you may live.
written and / or assembled by Cal Goldberg, Messianic Leader, Beth Shechinah
© 2001, Beth Shechinah, except where copyright otherwise indicated.
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