Spiritual Meaning

In the Scriptures leaven represents sin.

We remove leaven from our homes to show that Yahweh removed all of our sin on the Passover when He conquered Satan.

Exodus 12:19-20
For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or an native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.

Leviticus 23:6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yahweh; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

Deuteronomy 16:3
You shall eat no leavened bread with it [the Passover]; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came from Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is not merely abstaining from leavening, but in actively partaking of unleavened bread.

The account in Deuteronomy adds another element as well. The generation that entered the Promised Land was told that they had to eat the bread of affliction (unleavened bread) all the years of their life during the Days of Unleavened Bread as a reminder of how they left Egypt in haste. And so would their children and grandchildren and onward, generations who had never even physically seen Egypt, but would have to choose generation after generation to leave Egypt in their hearts as the original generation of the Exodus never did. The Unleavened Bread was supposed to remind them that they had left Egypt and they were not going back, and that leaving Egypt requires eating “bread of affliction,” in that it is a trial and causes suffering to uproot ourselves from the heathen ways we are often accustomed to.

And that is part of the point we need to realize. Eating unleavened bread for seven days is symbolic of a greater practice in our lives as believers. It is one thing to leave the ways of the heathen, to stop practicing pagan practices and behaviors, but that is only halfway. We must then start to fill our lives with the behaviors of godly biblical culture rather than the ways of our syncretistic or heathen cultures around us. We are not to be either full of sin or empty, but rather full of godliness, practicing God’s ways, being an example of the culture of the Kingdom of Heaven to those people around us. To do that we have to replace the ways we formerly walked with different (and better ways). In the same way, symbolically, we cease to eat leavened bread for one week a year and then eat in its place unleavened bread, because the Days of Unleavened Bread are not simply about abstaining from evil, but about replacing evil with good. And that’s a hard thing to do.

Let us remember, of course, that it is not the mere eating of bread that makes us holy, but rather that we ought to take the symbols of Yahweh’s Holy Days seriously. Rather than seeing eating unleavened bread for seven days as an empty legalistic ritual, we ought to see it as a picture of the process by which we as Christians not only cease from our wicked ways at conversion (and continue to struggle throughout our lives) but then replace those wicked ways with godly behaviors and actions of showing love towards Yahweh and our fellow human beings. The unleavened bread is merely a symbol and a picture of this much larger truth, but the symbol helps us to remember that truth and apply it in our lives. We learn spiritual truths through physical obedience, so long as we don’t get so caught up in the ritual that we forget it has deeper meaning and significance. Hopefully we can all remember that in this and every future Days of Unleavened Bread.


Observance

The week of unleavened bread is a seven day feast. It starts and ends with weekly Sabbaths that are also annual Sabbaths. Passover is on the day before Sabbath. The next day, the 1st day of unleavened bread is a Holy day, without any work other than that needed to eat. The Bible isn't specific on when during the day the feast should take place, so it's your choice. Now that's a feast!

Not only is leavened bread to be avoided, but unleavened bread is specifically ordered. You must eat bread and drink wine to partake in the symbols of Yahushua's death. Whatever else is eaten, is your choice.