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The sequence of events in relation to the Passover		 Enquiries

Please read the following before going to  THE CHART  [105 kb. Screen setting to be minimum 800 x 600 pixels]

The chart illustrates how the author envisages the sequence of events both of the Jewish Passover and of the Lord's crucifixion and how they relate to each other.

It addresses the question of whether He observed the regular Passover and also the objection that there were not three nights between the crucifixion and the resurrection (ref. Matthew 12:40 ).

THE TIMING OF THE PASSOVER [Compare with an article and chart on the chronology of the Hebrew Passover]

Hebrew days begin at the evening and end after the morning (Genesis  1:5,8,13,19,23,31). The time when one day ended and the next day started is not precise.

The evening sacrifice had to be slain "at even". The Hebrew word for "at even" is plural. In the Masoretic text it is marked as dual in number and is understood to mean "between two evenings" (Numbers 28:4 AV margin). So the evening sacrifice had to be done between the two evenings. What were the two evenings?

The tabernacle had one opening, the large entrance facing east. So that after midday it would become progressively dark within the tabernacle. One purpose of the 7 branched lamp stand was to provide light in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:37 Numbers 8:2). So the priests would light the lamps early in the afternoon (Exodus 30:8). This would be the first evening. The evening sacrifice could then proceed. The setting of the sun would then be the second evening. 

The Passover sacrifice also had to be slain "in the evening". Here the same Hebrew is used, again dual in number, meaning "between two evenings" (Exodus 12:6 AV margin). In the first century AD there were about 250,000 Passover lambs to be sacrificed (one for each Jewish household - Exodus12:3-4), See NOTE

Each lamb had to be immersed by a priest in one of  the 10 or so mobile tanks in the inner court of  the temple (2 Chronicles 4:6). So on the eve of the Passover, the evening sacrifice and the slaying of all the Passover lambs had to be completed between the lighting of the temple lamps and the setting of the sun

The officiating priests would be under pressure having first to perform the evening sacrifice then afterwards to inspect, pass as fit, and immerse, all the passover lambs, leaving enough time for the head of each household to slay and roast his lamb. All of which had to be completed between the two evenings. Then, at the setting of the sun they could start the Pascal meal. This was done in the evening of the 14th of the first month - Abib - the night of the "EXODUS" (Exodus 12:8,17,29-31,39,43,47,51). In which case the Passover lambs were slain after the noon of the 13th of Abib.

Alfred Edersheim DD PhD wrote:-
"But at the time of our Lord the evening sacrifice certainly commenced much earlier. Josephus puts it down as at the ninth hour. According to the Rabbis the lamb was slain at the eighth hour and a-half, or about 2.30 P.M., and the pieces laid on the altar an hour later — about 3.30 P.M. Hence, when “Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,” (Acts 3:1) it must have been for the evening sacrifice, or rather half an hour later, and, as the words indicate, for the “prayer” that accompanied the offering of incense. The evening service was somewhat shorter than that of the morning, and would last, at any rate, about an hour and a-half, say till about four o’clock, thus well meeting the original requirement in Numbers 28:4. After that no other offering might be brought except on the eve of the Passover, when the ordinary evening sacrifice took place two hours earlier, or at 12.30 P.M."
(CHAPTER 7, "AT NIGHT IN THE TEMPLE" - THE TEMPLE ITS MINISTRY AND SERVICES AS THEY WERE AT THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST)

 NOTE :- In Whiston's translation of War of the Jews VI: ix:3 , by Josephus, it says:-

"So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour to the eleventh*, but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice, (for it is not lawful for them to feast singly by themselves,) and many of us are twenty in company, found the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty thousand five hundred; which upon an allowance of not more ten that feast together, amounts to two millions seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons that were pure and holy .... who come hither to worship."  [* i.e. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. - Emphasis by us]

THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS ?

The Jews would sometimes count a part as a whole. So a part of a day might be counted as a whole day and part of a night and a part of a night might be counted as a whole night. However, as skeptics are quick to point out, it is not possible to fit even parts of 3 nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

The tradition of observing "Good Friday" as the day on which the Lord was crucified was unknown in the early church.

Ignoring human tradition, does the Bible require us to believe that the Lord was crucified on a Friday?

The synoptic gospels do state that the Jews wanted the bodies removed from the crosses because after sunset it would be a Sabbath. They would want that to be done before any Sabbath, whether for the regular weekly Sabbath or for one of the several Hebrew festival "convocations" which would occur on different days of the week each year. On these days no servile work was allowed. These sabbaths were known as High Days, alternatively translated Great Days (John 7:37). There was always a High Day on the 15th of Abib.

John explains that the Sabbath following the Lord's crucifixion was a "High Day". There would be no need for his explanation if that year the 15th of Abib was on a Saturday, that is on a regular weekly Sabbath. However it would make sense for John to stress that it was a High Day sabbath if it fell on a Friday. In which case the Lord would have been crucified on a Thursday.

If the Lord was crucified on a Thursday afternoon then there are 3 days counting part of Thursday and the whole of Friday and of Saturday. Also there are three nights counting Thursday Night, Friday night and part of Saturday night.

DISTINCT ISSUES

The chart is compiled on the premises that the Lord Jesus did partake of the regular Passover meal and that He was crucified on a Thursday. However these are distinct issues, the one not determining the other. It is possible to use the chart to consider these issues independently of each other.

See an article alleging that every reference in the scriptures to the time elapsing between the Lord's death and His resurrection is satisfied if we allow that He was crucified on a Thursday.

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