Most Christian believers know what is meant by ‘taking communion’, or ‘the Lord’s supper’ or ‘the breaking of bread and drinking of wine’.
However what is not always taught is that it is rooted in, and has its’ origins in, the Passover meal of the Israelites Pesach Seder.
Also called Pesah, Pesakh – פֶּסַח and pronounced Pay-sak.
Seder סֵדֶר
pronounced SEE-dur-(seyder);
Seder is a Hebrew root word meaning order/arrangement..the same root from which the word siddur comes, meaning: prayer book.
Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan
(late March or early April in the Gregorian calendar).
Passover is celebrated for seven days in Israel.
In the same way Israelites have celebrated Passover as a celebration of freedom observed by Jews everywhere.
The name derives from the story of the angel of death passing over the homes of Hebrews; when the 10th plague, the death of the first-born children, came upon the Egyptians.
However many are not aware of how it is connected and integral to the Lords supper/ communion. This is because many have not yet accepted Yeshua as Messiah. They are not aware of the implications of, and the messianic secrets revealed in the Seder and in the order sequence of the Meal itself.
It is not a sumptuous 5+ course-style banquet, but contains symbols of remembrance of the miracles that the Lord performed for the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt.
The telling of the Passover story.
The Maggid – מטיף – Hebrew: maggīdh – literally, narrator, messenger, is the highlight of the Seder.
The Seder, which follows a carefully prescribed series of steps, includes a dinner of highly symbolic foods that are prepared on a Seder plate.
There are different versions and some have 14 steps and some 15.
The Sages designed the Passover Seder as 15 steps to make a participant enormously successful and the key to unlocking the code is that Passover is the time when each Jew embarks on a personal journey from slavery to freedom.
The Haggadah, which is pronounced ha-gah-da, is a small book that is used at the Passover table each year.
The Haggadah – הַגָּדָה – means: The telling.
And it’s a fulfillment of the mitzvah – מִצְוָה, to each Israelite.
mitzvah – מִצְוָה
The first use is in Genesis 26:5 where God says that Abraham has “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments (מִצְוֹתַי mitzvotai), my statutes, and my laws”.
The charge to tell your son, of the Hebrews liberation from slavery in Egypt; as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah.
“And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” Ex. 13:8).
Ha Laḥma Anya
מָא הָאלַחְ עַנְיָא
‘This is the bread of affliction‘…
(literally: Behold the poor bread)
are the opening words of a declaration in Aramaic, designating the matzah as the bread of affliction and inviting the needy to join the meal.
Ha lachma anya, d’akhla avatana b’ar’a d’mitzrayim.
This is the bread of affliction, which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.
It ends with:
This year we are here, next year may we be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves, next year may we be free men.
The Haggadah – הַגָּדָה – telling;
The purpose of the Haggadah
Ve-higgadta le-vinkha –
And thou shalt tell thy son,
Ex. 13:8,
The outlines of the steps of the Passover Seder.
1 Kaddesh (Sanctifcation):The word is derived from the Hebrew root Qof-Dalet-Shin, meaning holy.
Kiddush: (Blessing over wine) Blessed are You, O Lord our God, (Ruler/King or) Sovereign of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.
This is a blessing over wine in honor of the holiday.
The first cup, the Kiddush, of wine is drunk, and a second cup is poured.
The 4 cups of wine, known in Hebrew as arba kosot.
2 Urechatz (Washing), A washing of the hands without a blessing, in preparation for eating the Karpas.
3 Karpas (Vegetable): A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery. Parsley is a good vegetable to use for this purpose, because when you shake off the salt water, it looks like tears.
4 Yachatz (Breaking): One of the three matzahs on the table is broken.
Part is returned to the pile, the other part is set aside for the Afikomen.
Matzot that have been placed in a white bag called a matzah tosh are taken out and shown to everyone.
The leader then says.
This Is the lechem oni – the bread of affliction – which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt.
All who are hungry – let them come and eat. All who are needy – let them come and celebrate Passover with us.
Very significant of Jesus/Yeshuas’ declaration “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35) To eat these promises is to eat this living bread and live forever (John 6:51).
5 Maggid (The Story): A retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Passover. This begins with the youngest person asking The Four Questions, a set of questions about the proceedings designed to encourage participation in the seder. The Four Questions are also known as Mah Nishtanah. (Why is it different?), which are the first words of theThe Four Questions –
Mah Nishtanah מה נשתנה .
Mah nishtanah halaylah hazeh mikol halaylot.
(Pronounced: Mah Nishtanah Ha-lailah ha-zeh mee-kol ha-leilot.)
Mah Nishtanah, are the first two words in a phrase meaning Why is tonight different from all other nights? usually asked by the youngest guest. Then the seder leader replies by asking what differences they notice. There are variations on the questions, however the youngest person then replies that there are four ways in which they notice a difference about Passover:
On all other nights we eat bread or matzah, while on this night we eat only matzah?
She-bechol halaylot anu ochlim chametz o matzah, halaylah hazeh kulo matzah?
On all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables and herbs, but on this night we have to eat bitter herbs?
She-bechol halaylot anu ochlim she’ar yerakot, halaylah hazeh maror?
On all other nights we don’t dip our vegetables in salt water, but on this night we dip them twice?
She-bechol halaylot ain anu matbilin afilu pa’am echat, halaylah hazeh shtei pe’amim?
On all other nights we eat while sitting upright, but on this night we eat reclining?
She-bechol halaylot anu ochlim bain yoshvin u-vain mesubin, halaylah hazeh kulanu mesubin – מסובין?
The fourth “question” refers to the ancient custom of eating while reclining on one elbow. It symbolizes the concept of freedom and refers to the idea that Jews would be able to have a celebratory meal while relaxing together and enjoying each others’ company.
This question became part of The Four Questions after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. Originally the fourth question, mentioned in the Talmud (Mishnah Pesachim 10:4) was: “On all other nights we eat meat which has been roasted, stewed, or boiled, but on this night we eat only roasted meat.”
This original question referred to the practice of sacrificing the Paschal lamb at the Temple, a practice that ceased after the Temple’s destruction. Once the sacrificial system was abandoned the rabbis replaced the fourth question with one about reclining during the Passover seder.
6 Rachtzah (Washing): A second washing of the hands, this time with a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzah.
7 Motzi Matzah (Blessings over Grain Products and Matzah): The ha-motzi blessing, a generic blessing for bread or grain products used as a meal, is recited over the matzah. A blessing specific to matzah is recited, and a bit of matzah is eaten.
8 Maror (Bitter Herbs): A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. The maror is eaten with charoses, a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine, which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews in building during their slavery
9 Korech (Sandwich): some maror on a piece of matzah is eaten with some charose. The sandwich used to include a piece of the paschal offering (Lamb). As there are no more animal sacrifice, so there is no paschal offering included.
10 Shulchan Orech (Dinner): is a simple meal, gefilte fish and matzah ball soup are traditionally eaten.
11 Tzafun (Dessert):The piece of matzah set aside earlier is eaten as “dessert,” the last food of the meal. Different families have different traditions relating to the afikomen. Some have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back. Others have the parents hide it. The idea is to keep the children awake and attentive throughout the pre-meal proceedings, waiting for this part.
12 Barech (Grace): The third cup of wine is poured, (the Ge’ullah – Redemption) and grace after meals is recited. This is similar to the grace that would be said on any Sabbath. At the end, a blessing is said over the third cup and it is drunk. The fourth cup is poured, including a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to herald the Messiah, and is supposed to come on Passover to do this. The door is opened for a while at this point (supposedly for Elijah, but historically because Jews were accused of nonsense like putting the blood of Christian babies in matzah, and we wanted to show our Christian neighbors that we weren’t doing anything unseemly).
13 Hallel (Song):Several psalms are recited. Yehallelukha Adonai Eloheinu al Kol Ma’asekha (“All Thy works shall praise Thee”) is a benediction of praise, or Nishmat Kol Ḥai (“The breath of all that lives”), is the Nishmat hymn – Birkat ha-Shir.
A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.
14 Nirtzah (Closing): A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, Pesach may celebrated in Jerusalem meaning that the Messiah will come within the next year.
For believers in Messiah it is the fulfillment of the Passover lamb by His own sacrifice.
So all the elements have a particular and specific meaning to them and are significant for both the original and spiritually fulfilled Passover thousands of years apart.
The Mysterious hidden Afikomen אפיקומן ; pronounced: ah-fi-co-men.
During the 4th part of the seder meal (called Yachatz – divide), a plate of unleavened bread is lifted up.
On it are three pieces of matzah stacked On top of each other.
The Seder leader takes the middle piece, calls out “Yachatz,” and breaks it in half.
Splitting the matzah is a memorial to the splitting of the sea.
These various understandings of Yachatz underscore that both slavery and salvation are within the broken matzah, thereby highlighting the central theme that salvation can instantly emerge from the most abject situations of suffering.
“lehecm oni”, (“Poor Man’s Bread”), the Gemarah in Maseches Pesachim (115b) derives that the matzah of seder night must be broken: “ma darko shel ani beprusa…just as a poor person eats a broken piece of a loaf, so too matzah must be eaten as a broken piece”.
Afikomen אפיקומן means:
That which comes after!
At the Passover seder table, three matzahs are placed in a stack, inside a special bag called a matzah tosh.
Before it is broken the following is said.
This is the bread of brokenness……
These 3 are said to represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The middle one representing Isaac, is broken to recall how he was offered himself in sacrifice in obedience to the will of his father! The binding of Isaac is a clear picture of how Jesus/Yeshua yielded Himself to be sacrificed by God, His Father.
Consider how the Akedah provides a prophetic picture of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God – SEH haELOHIM, who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29.
Both Isaac and Jesus were born miraculously,
both were only begotten son’s,
both were to be sacrificed by their fathers of Mount Moriah;
both were to be resurrected on the third day. (Genesis 22:5; Hebrews 11:17 – 19).
Both willingly took up the means of his execution, both demonstrate that one life can be sacrificed for another –the ram for Isaac and Jesus for all mankind.
Another tradition is that the three matzot represent the people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, respectively. This raises some questions; why would the priests be depicted as broken in this case? Isn’t Jesus/Yeshua the high priest of our confession? (Hebrews 3:1) Didn’t He provide eternal redemption by means of shedding His Blood in the Holy of Holies made without hands? (Hebrews 9:11–12; 10:11–12, 21–23).
Why would the symbolism of the broken priests included in the Passover Seder? Didn’t the prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 foretell that the Messiah would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and by His stripes we are healed?
Could it be a reference to a broken corrupt system that Messiah came to heal in more ways than one?
In the Hebrew mindset the middle of something is it’s heart. LEV. When the middle matzah is broken it’s a reminder to all believers of how the Fathers’ heart must have been broken to see the pain that Jesus/Yeshua endured by taking our sins upon Him at the cross. We looked previously at the matzah and the stripes and the holes in it and their significance.
Remembering that like the unleavened bread, He was pure without any trace of leaven in it, as His body was without any sin. This is the LEV, the HEART of the Passover message It is the LEV – HEART of the gospel.
The larger piece of this matzah is called the afikomen. The smaller half is returned to its place between the other two matzahs, and the larger half is placed in a bag,
or wrapped in a cloth,
and then it is set aside to be eaten as a dessert after the meal. It is in commemoration of the paschal sacrifice. Set aside so it does not get mixed up with the other pieces on the table.
In ancient biblical times, the Passover sacrifice used to be the last thing consumed during the Passover seder during the First and Second Temple eras. The afikomen is a substitute for the Passover sacrifice according to the Mishnah in Pesahim 119a.
The practice of hiding the afikomen was instituted during the Middle Ages by Jewish families to make the seder more entertaining and exciting for children, who can become antsy when sitting through a long ritual meal.
The Afikomen has been part of the Passover since the second Temple times that would’ve been part of the Passover service during the time of Yeshua. The Greek word used in the New Testament is aphikomenos it is a participle that means he is coming that has definite messianic nuances.
Was it symbolic of a divine Trinity?
This is certainly possible as an image of hashilush hakodesh – the three fold/ triune nature of God; having the focus on the broken middle piece of the matzah, which is a picture of suffering Messiah Yeshua Ha Mashiach.
When we consider that this piece is taken and wrapped up and carefully hidden from view only to be discovered at the end of the Passover seder by little children.
This surely is the image of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus/Yeshua from the dead. It is only after partaking of the lamb of God who was slain for our transgressions and sins; do we understand and take hold of the reward given to those to seek for Him.
If so, then that which pointed to the second part of the trinity, is broken and it is even given a name – called by Afikomen.
It was saving the best until last and to be looked forward to, as something special and to be rejoiced over when found and consumed! (Very symbolic!)
The broken matzah wrapped in a cloth or napkin, was also as a remembrance of the way the Israelites left Egypt with their soon-to-be matzahs, as described in the Torah:
‘The people picked up their dough when it was not yet leavened, their leftovers bound in their garments on their shoulders.’
Depending on the family, either the leader usually the head of the household in the group hides the afikomen during the meal or the children at the table “steal” the afikomen and hide it. Not every family ascribes to the ‘stealing’ part so as not to encourage stealing as being acceptable behavior.
If the seder leader hid the afikomen the children at the table must search for it and bring it back. They receive a reward (usually candy, money or a small gift) when they bring it back to the table. Likewise, if the children “stole” the afikomen, the seder leader ransoms it back from them with a reward so that the seder can continue.
This ransom or reward is indicative of Mark 10:45.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Yeshua/Jesus is recorded in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 referring to Himself as “a ransom for many,”
When it is found they remove the cloth wrapped around it revealing the broken Afikomen. Once the afikomen is returned to the seder table, each guest receives a small portion at least the size of an olive.
This is done after the meal and normal deserts have been eaten so that the last taste of the meal is matzah.
After the broken afikomen is eaten, the Birkas haMazon (grace after meals) is recited and the seder is concluded.
It is only at this point that the Passover is complete!
Although the afikoman represents the Israelites liberation from Egyptian exile.
That redemption, however, was not a complete one, as they are still awaiting the final redemption with the coming of Moshiach.
Setting aside or hiding the larger half of the matzah reminds us that the best, the real redemption, is yet to come, still hidden in the future.
The symbolism is clear as they all would have understood the references to the broken matzah was the action taken by Jesus/Yeshua as He sat with His disciples, taking the middle piece he broke it and said;
This is My Body broken for you.
Then it was wrapped in cloth just as His broken body would be wrapped in a burial cloth not many hours later.
The broken matzah was hidden away just as His body was placed in the tomb hidden from view. Messiah has been hidden from His people for over 2,000 years and many have not found Him yet…
As before stated, the Passover Seder cannot be complete without finding Afikomen and and returned to the table so each guest can eat a piece of it. So Israel as a nation cannot find its completion without the Messiah. This signifies that the Jewish people will search for their missing Messiah, their Afikomen and they will fulfill their destiny as He is revealed to them.
Afikomen is actually a Greek word which as mentioned earlier means that which comes after.
Hebrew: אֲפִיקוֹמָן, based on Greek epikomon [ἐπὶ κῶμον] or epikomion [ἐπικώμιον], meaning “that which comes after” or “dessert”) is a half-piece of matzo which is broken in two during the early stages of the Passover Seder and set aside to be eaten as a dessert after the meal. a word that comes from the Greek word for “dessert.”
It is so called not because it is sweet, but because it is the last item of food eaten at the Passover seder meal.
Zechariah 12:10 Luke 22:19; Romans 11: 25-26.
Messiah is not among His people at this point BUT.. He will be, because…
He is the Afikomen,
the One who comes after,
and He WILL come again.
Similarly as with Passover, so it is with all to whom He comes.
Only in His coming can we find our completion.
When He is found – He is the missing piece/peace/shalom; and He is the one broken for us. The Afikomen of our lives.
The conclusion,
the completion,
for we are complete in Him.
The matzah is the bread of communion, some call it the Eucharist from the Greek word Eucharista. It is in the scripture, however, it has nothing to do with the bread.
Psalm 136, Luke 22:14–23, 1Timothy 6:6–8. It is what He spoke over the bread.
Eucharista means to give thanks or say a blessing and it is what has been the traditional Hebrew Blessing for millennia. The confusion maybe because Jesus/Yeshua said it over the bread and it is not the bread itself; then tradition, doctrine and dogma take over and we miss the truth of the root meaning.
The Israelites have said this Hebrew Blessing/ Eucharista for a long time and it is called the MOTZI.
HaMotzi Pronounced: ha-MOE-tzee
The traditional HaMotzi blessing is recited before eating bread (or bread stuffs) and is one of the most frequently said of the Hebrew blessings, used for Shabbat, holidays, and other occasions:
That bread was unleavened bread. Unleavened bread is any of a wide variety of breads which are prepared without raising or leavening agents; (ingredients that cause flour to rise); such as yeast, baking soda, baking powder and beaten egg whites.
Known as Matzah within the Jewish community–it represents a symbolic element with great importance. Unleavened breads are generally flat breads; however, not all flat breads are unleavened.
This is probably what Jesus/Yeshua would have said over the unleavened bread.
Hamotzi (Blessing over bread)
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, (Ruler/King or) Sovereign of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Phonetic Hebrew transliteration: Baruch atah Adonai eloheinu melech ha-alom ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.
This is an indication that the emphasis is not the bread itself that is the most important it is the blessing of thanks that is.
Luke 12:15, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
God is the author and preserver of man’s life; goods are not. But of the place and position and fullness of the giver in the life of the receiving believer. What is important is how much thanks we give for what we have. Spiritual poverty is worse than physical poverty.
In Messiah we are rich and prosperous spiritually because the bread, the Afikomen that He spoke the Eucharista over was the symbol of His suffering and death and He knew it and still gave thanks for it, knowing what He was about to go through.
The Power secrets of the Eucharista is in it’s meaning for Thanksgiving and those who give thanks in all things, bring the power of God into a curse and turn it into a blessing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Timothy 6:6 -8
The hidden Afikoman of eucharista is Messiah the blessing of the one….
who returned from the tomb, and will soon return to us again, the Afikomen will return to complete our Passover seder….the blessing of that which comes after.
Shalom Aleikhem Mishpachah שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם מִשְׁפָחָה
