Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - BITTER HERBS

 BITTER HERBS

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.

…He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.

…He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.”

Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said,

“Rabbi, is it I?…”

(Matt 26:20-25)

Not being of the Jewish faith, we really don’t understand the significance of the “dish.” The Last Supper, as we know it, was really The Passover Seder, a meal traditionally eaten before Passover. The Sabbath, referred to in the Bible at this time of year, was the Passover Sabbath and not the weekly Saturday Sabbath; and the meal eaten at this time consisted of specific items including matzah, an unleavened bread, and charoset, a mixture containing bitter herbs among other things. There was also eggs and greens to represent spring and new birth and a shank bone representing the Peschal Sacrifice - the lamb sacrificed at the first Passover. 

Matzah bread, as mentioned above, was a type of unleavened bread. Leaven, or yeast, came from Egypt and was considered representative of sin and of the bondage suffered by the Hebrews in Egypt. Therefore to leave Egypt, they were to leave their bondage and sin behind as well. So God told them:

…every man shall take for himself a lamb…

…without blemish…

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night;

roasted in fire, with unleavened bread

and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

(Exo 12:3,5,8)

So, the Seder meal has items representing the sacrificial lamb - the sin and bondage of their time in Egypt. Their freedom, from sin and bondage, is represented in the matzah bread. Thus, when Jesus took the bread and dipped it into the dish, it was as if the Passover lamb was taking in His sinless hand, the bread [of life] and dipping it into the sin of the world [bitter herbs] and so as well into our cup of judgement, bitterness, and suffering.

It’s the little details of the Bible that we often miss when we don’t know the full story behind the message.

This Easter, just something else to think about.

Adapted from The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn, p.g. 238