A few weeks ago I was handed a document, consisting of seven pages, on the subject of unleavened bread. Its thesis was that unleavened bread cannot contain any oil or salt but must consist of flour and water only. This article will examine the claims and the “proof” offered in those pages. The one who compiled the information may have possessed sincere motives, but the data and the rationale do not establish the case. This article is not intended to be the “final word” on the subject; additional information could prove helpful.
Let us begin with the oft–repeated claim this document makes, which is that the Jews in the Old Testament used only flour and water in making the Passover bread, that these are the only elements specified, and that therefore to add anything else would be sinful. If this assertion could be proven, the argument would be valid, based upon the authority of the Scriptures (Col. 3:17). Certainly, we want to do only what we are authorized to do. However, there is not a single verse in the entire Bible that stipulates using flour and water, let alone water and flour only.
While it is true that God did specify certain ingredients of some offerings, even stating the exact amount of flour to be used, it is not the case that such specifications are always given. God gave the instructions for the Passover feast first to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 12. The bread is mentioned first in verses 15–20. Below is repeated the portion of the text pertinent to the preparation of the unleavened bread; the reader is encouraged to study the entire text of each passage that relates to the Passover.
‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel’ (15).
‘So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread….’ (17a).
‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty–first day of the month at evening. 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 a native in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread’ (18-20).
Notice that nothing is said about the ingredients of the bread when God instituted this feast. There is one and only one stipulation–no leaven. Exodus 12:8 actually introduces the phrase, unleavened bread, but no other limitations are presented. (Genesis 18:6 mentions that Sarah made “cakes,” but Genesis 19:3 is the first verse to mention either leavened or unleavened bread, which Lot made for his unexpected guests.)
Other passages list the same restriction that is recorded above–without adding any additional information (Ex. 13:6–7; Num. 9:10–11; Lev. 23:5–6; Deut. 16:3–4, 8). No amount of flour is specified to be used. Not even the kind of flour (wheat, barley, oats, or rye) is given. There is one overriding purpose in all of God’s instructions; He wanted no leaven to be used.
Unwarranted Assumptions
Now we want to notice several statements in the aforementioned treatise with an appropriate response.
[When making or using a recipe, everyone understands that it is both inclusive and exclusive. You never add ingredients not specified. If you do, you get something else, not the item about which the recipe speaks.]
This statement is absolutely true, but in this case it is irrelevant because the Scriptures do not anywhere specify the precise ingredients for unleavened bread.
Deut. 16:3. “Unleavened Bread” referred to as the “bread of affliction.” It was made from flour and water.
Neither flour nor water is mentioned (sometimes milk was used) in this verse; the writer has expressed an opinion–not a Biblical truth.
So Unleavened bread was flour and water [a conclusion drawn after studying Exodus 12:34, 39, GWS].
These verses are not discussing the Passover feast; they are explaining that because of the instructions about the Passover feast that Israel therefore had no leaven when they left Egypt. Dough and unleavened cakes are mentioned; water is not specified.
Unleavened bread being made with Flour and Water. Exod. 12:18.
Neither water nor flour are mentioned in this verse; Again, the writer sees what is not mentioned and then concludes that these are the only two ingredients.
Unless something more than flour and water is specified, then the unleavened bread could only be flour and water.
Again, this is predicated on the erroneous notion that water and flour are mentioned in the first place.
So, the Lord would have had only flour and water bread to use to represent his body. Can we add anything. If we can add anything, where do we stop adding. That’s the problem with the religious world. They began adding and cannot stop.
The religious world does have a problem with adding things that lack Biblical authority, but no one has demonstrated that anything has been added.
This would be a good time to ask the question, “How did the Israelites generally make regular bread?” The Scriptures, of course, do not provide this information; they furnish no daily bread recipes. Do we assume that their common bread was made without salt and oil. Perhaps it was, but at some point, these were added.
However they made regular bread, God knew His people’s practice (present and future). The ONLY stipulation the Lord gave was that no leaven could be used. If they did not use anything but flour and water in their regular bread, then it might be argued that He did not need to forbid any other elements. If they did use other ingredients, then it is remarkable that He did NOT say flour and water only. But clearly the emphasis of unleavened bread is not upon what is included but upon what is excluded.
If God had wanted to be certain that no other ingredients would ever be used in the Passover feast, He could have specified ONLY flour and water. Regarding certain other sacrifices, He was not bashful about the ingredients. Consider the following:
“This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord, beginning on the day when he is anointed: one–tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a daily grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it at night. It shall be made in a pan with oil. When it is well mixed, you shall bring it in. And the baked pieces of the grain offering you shall offer for a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Lev. 6:20–21).
Examples such as these could be multiplied, but the point is obvious–the Lord knows how to give detailed instructions. It is all the more significant, therefore, that the only thing He ever emphasized about the Passover feast is that the bread must be unleavened.
Jewish Encyclopedias
The document under consideration includes two pages each from The Jewish Encyclopedia and The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia. Part of a paragraph from the first of these is underlined:
Mazzah (plural Mazzot): Bread that is free from leaven or other foreign elements. It is kneaded with water and without yeast or any chemical effervescent substance, and is hastily prepared to prevent the dough from undergoing the process of spontaneous fermentation… (393).
This definition also emphasizes the absence of leaven or any substance similar to it. Unfortunately, the writers did not specify what they meant by “other foreign elements.” But even if they had said “no salt” and “no oil” could be used, they would not have gotten that information from the Scriptures–but rather from their own traditions. Jesus commented on many traditions that the Jews had which were not authorized by God (Matt. 15:1–9, for example). These traditions consisted primarily of someon’s opinion becoming law. The encyclopedias can tell us what the current Jewish practices are or what has been a long–standing tradition, but they cannot provide more information than the Bible does, as the second source (cited above) acknowledges:
The Bible gives no details as to how Matzoth are prepared, but the Talmud (Pes. 35a-38B) gives details as to the materials used, the proper thickness of the cakes, and similar directions (414) (emph. GWS).
Here is a clear admission that the information supplied is from tradition–not the Scriptures. Notice that even the proper thickness is delineated. Obviously, God did not issue these details, but some rabbi apparently legislated concerning the matter.
Invalid Assertion
It is stated that “salt is a leaven.” If it were, it would be wrong to use it in making unleavened bread. But who has determined that salt is leaven? Who is the authority for this statement? The Scriptures do not so declare, and in fact they prove otherwise.
The document under discussion neglected to mention Leviticus 2:13 (although 2:1-3, 4-8, and 11 were cited). This verse reads as follows:
Most current recipes for communion bread include a little oil and a little salt–but NO LEAVEN. No ingredients are ever used besides those found in regular bread. Such recipes do not add to the Word or corrupt the worship. Correct precedents are being kept.