How can it be that the Last Supper was a Passover Seder when both the Greek and Hebrew texts of the NT (e.g. Matt. 26:26) say very clearly that regular bread (Greek, artos; Heb. Lechem) was used rather than unleavened bread (Greek, azuma; Heb., Matzah)?
The argument that the Last Supper could not have been a Passover Seder because of the words used is based on a false dichotomy between the words lechem and Matzah. The assumption that lechem cannot refer to unleavened bread is simply wrong. The Torah itself actually uses the word lechem to describe unleavened bread --- in Deuteronomy 16:3, for instance, where Matzah is called lechem oni (lit., “bread of affliction”). Sometimes it’s called “poor man’s bread.” It’s the same simple loaf (a mixture of water and flour) that slave laborers were given in ancient times---just enough nourishment to keep them alive. It could be baked with or without leaven. In the Seder, of course, it was always unleavened. By the way, the LXX (Septuagint) translation of the same verse (Deut. 16:3) confirms this. The Greek text says the artos (“bread”) in the Seder was azumos (“without leaven”).
Other areas of interest related to Passover include:
Written by Dr. Gary Hedrick for Messianic Perspectives, Jan-Feb, 2006. (A publication of the Christian Jew Foundation).
