MOTZI is reciting the blessing called “Hamotzi” over the Matzah. This is the blessing typically used to thank God for the food we are about to eat, and to recognize that he is the Source of all our sustenance. The “Hamotzi” prayer in English is:
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who brings forth bread from the earth.
This is the blessing over the bread for a meal.
Why do we always seem to be so obscessed over the bread anyway?
Good question.
In her writings in an article called “She Speaks Truth” Melanie Rainer reminds us of how many times in the bible God has used Bread as a silver thread that ties all of His people together. She says; “How many times throughout Scripture has God made Himself known through the breaking of bread? The Israelites, wandering through the desert with more manna than they could eat. Widowed Ruth’s overflowing baskets of wheat. Elisha’s miracle. A poor boy and his five loaves, multiplied to feed thousands.”
We know even after all of those places; there was the Passover that Jesus shared with the disciples before the crucifixion where He told them; “THIS IS MY BODY BROKEN FOR YOU.”
In understanding about bread we come to a deeper understanding of our God and our Messiah.
In the times of the Temple and even before that in the wilderness Tabernacle; the offerings of Bread were offerings of Thanksgiving.
This blessing is simply giving thanks to God for His provision of our daily food.
You also brought thanksgiving sacrifices/offerings whenever something very good had happened to you and you just wanted to show God your gratitude. Maybe it was answered prayer for healing. Or maybe it was a sudden financial change that helped you over a rough period of having no money. Perhaps it was being thankful for a new pregnancy or for the wonderful grandchildren that God had already granted to you. Whenever your heart was overflowing with thanks; it was a good time to bring the offering of the bread to the altar of God and express your thanks.
In the case of Passover; the thanksgiving is for deliverance. We have seen deliverance from Pharaoh’s harsh ruling, deliverance from drowning in the Sea, deliverance in crossing-over to the other side to safety, deliverance from bondage and slavery, deliverance from a life of no freedom at all. Most of all; deliverance from our own abundant sins and no more fear of the Angel of Death passing over the land.
When we read Leviticus 7:12 we can see the requirements for these offerings. A person was to bring a LOT of unleavened bread mixed with oils; to be more exact; 40 loaves in all!
Now that is a lot of unleavened bread!
If you were going to express your regular, ordinary, every-day thanks; sometimes it was okay to bring the bread that you had baked yourself, the weekly bread called Challah which you let rise with leaven, and allowed to get full and fluffy in the way that the world would relate to as delicious bread. This bread looks good, it seems finished or complete and it is appealing to the eye. The taste is also sweet and light at the same time. This is the bread to use for giving thanks on ordinary days; but not at Passover.
At Passover, the bread has to be unleavened.
Giving thanks for deliverance requires the bringing of unleavened bread. This bread is symbolic of humility and because when the people left Egypt and their dough was not allowed to rise; it is symbolic of incompleteness. They brought with them the bread of the poor. It even had imperfections and it often looked as if it was lacking all of the needed ingredients.
The humility and the incompleteness and the sense of something lacking is so symbolic of us without a Messiah. Our preparations for meeting with God are not quite complete. Something is missing and that “something” must be found.
The unleavened matzah is so symbolic of our pure and perfect Savior.
He had no sin; yet He came for us sinners who were so lacking and incomplete without Him. He died for us, blemishes and flaws and all. The matzah expresses the humility and dependency we all feel as we walk through life on earth.
When we read Leviticus 7:12 we can see the requirements for these offerings. A person was to bring a LOT of unleavened bread mixed with oils; to be more exact; 40 loaves in all! Now that is a lot of unleavened bread!
This large amount of bread had to be eaten the very night it was offered. That was a rule of the Thanksgiving offering. No man could eat that many loaves of bread; so they needed to invite others to help. Passover is an international holy day holiday; so this meant that EVERYONE who showed up would have bread and it would be shared in a feast of the whole nation.
Could there be a better picture of The Body of Christ?
So this is yet another reason that Christians have for calling the act of communion with God The Great Thanksgiving.