Day 6 - 1 day before Passover
Passover - Between the Two Evenings
According to the Law, the Passover contained several distinct elements; the "four day inspection," the "Day of Preparation," a "Passover meal", and the seven day "Feast of Unleavened Bread." These four elements are so closely associated that it is often difficult to separate them with clarity. We often say "Passover" to describe all these events.
According to the Torah (Old Testament Law)
The Passover lambs were supposed to be taken inside on the 10th of Nisan (the 1st month). The lamb is inspected for blemishes 4 days. The Law says:
"Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. (Exodus 12:3) Take care of them (the lambs) until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. (Exodus 12:6).
The day on which the lambs were sacrificed at the temple is referred to in scripture as "Preparation day".
The Passover meal itself is as follows:
"The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work" Leviticus 23:5-7
The commandment is to celebrate Passover on the 14th "at twilight". Legally, there are two twilights or evenings in each Jewish day. Is the meal to be eaten at twilight at the beginning of the day or the end? According to the law, it is legal to celebrate the Passover meal at the beginning as well as at the end of the 14th day of the first Hebrew month known as Abib (or Nisan). In fact, even today, some Jews celebrate two meals (Seders) to be sure and fulfill the whole law.
But one may justifiably argue that there is no lamb for supper if you eat Passover at the first twilight.
Edersheim argues in "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah":
"Equally untenable is it that Christ held the Paschal Supper a day in advance of that observed by the rest of the Jewish world. This is a supposition not only inconsistent with the plain language of the Synoptists, but impossible, since the Paschal Lamb could not have been offered in the Temple, and, therefore, no Paschal Supper held, out of the regular time." Book V, p. 482
But God has provided the lamb, his only begotten son. Has Edersheim overlooked the Lamb of God?
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" John 1:29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19
The next evening the "other lambs" were roasted and eaten in haste. As the sun goes down on the second twilight the "official" Passover meal begins. The meal is eaten as the 14th of Nisan fades and the 15th begins. The 15th is officially the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This 1st feast day, according to our verse above, is a "sacred assembly" or as the Gospel of John says a "Special Sabbath."
Tuesday Evening: The Lord's "Passover" Supper
Was the Lord's Supper a Passover Seder? From a legal perspective the answer is "yes". As we have seen the Lamb of God offered his own flesh represented by the unleavened bread. Tuesday night was a legal opportunity for Passover. All the elements required are present. Also, the Gospel writers suggest that Jesus considered this meal nothing less than a legal Passover Seder.
"I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house." Matt 26:18
"Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guestroom, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'" Mark 14:14"
So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." Luke 22:13-16
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" Matt 26:17
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" Mark 14:12
The Disciples are late for Supper
If we are strict with these verses, they suggest that the disciples didn't get started with the Passover dinner preparations until late in the day on Tuesday, maybe even after dark. Considering the amount of activity on Tuesday, this is understandable. We find, however, in Mark 14:15 and Luke 22:12 that the preparations had already been mostly taken care of by others. Jesus had planned ahead, the disciples had not.
"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed." Luke 22:7
Matthew, Mark & Luke Makes a Generalization
These verses in and of themselves, if legally interpreted, are not precise according to OT scripture (Leviticus 23:5-7). As we learned at the beginning of the lesson, the lambs were sacrificed on Preparation Day, on the 14th and the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread began that evening at sundown as the new day of the 15th begins. This feast lasted for seven days or until the 21st.
Assumption: The Gospel writers recognize that Preparation Day was "understood" to be "an integral part of" the Feast of Unleavened bread. Josephus confirms this when he writes:
"Whence it is that, in memory of the want we were then in, we keep a feast for eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread." Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews; II, 15, 1
Though the feast was legally only a seven-day feast, Josephus speaks of an additional eighth day. This is most likely the 14th of Nisan or Preparation Day. Apparently, Jewish practice saw the sacrifices offered on Preparation day as part of the feast as a whole. Since the sequence of events is clear from other scripture, this assent to a common understanding is not enough to change our timetable. It does, however, give us insight into how the feast days were perceived in the eyes of the Jews of the 1st century. Armed with this insight, the Gospels remain an accurate witness and description becomes informative, not a mistake or an attempt to mislead.
One Last Clue
"As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast.." John 13:26-30
Remember that the first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are special Sabbaths. As soon as the sun sets at the end of the 14th, no work is to be done for 24 hours.. It is highly unlikely that the disciples would assume Jesus would tell Judas to buy or sell anything on the evening of the First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread / the 15th / 2nd evening available for the Passover Seder. If this is the evening before, this is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
"For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born." Exodus 12:19
On the Day of Preparation, all yeast and leavened bread was to be taken out of the house. This task was to be finished according to the law prior to the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Indeed Judas, the leavened one, is sent away before Feast officially begins.
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