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In our last newsletter we presented the second part of our micro-tale about Mary Magdalene, the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection. Jesus was killed at the time of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so in this newsletter we look at the how the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ fitted around these two feasts. Next week, God willing, we will conclude our micro-tale with part 3.
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The Timing of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection
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On which day of the week did the Passover occur?
You may think that is a silly question, because we are all used to the idea of annual events that occur on a given date, and therefore take place on a different day of the week each year. And this is exactly how it would have worked with the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread which followed it.
Why does this matter? Because the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are intimately tied to the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So let’s look at the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread the way they were first experienced when God led the nation of Israel out of Egypt.
God announced to Moses that Pharaoh would not only let the Israelites go, he would drive them out of Egypt[1] and that Egypt would be plundered by them.[2] God also announced details of what he would do at midnight on their last night in Egypt and what the people must do.
Each house or group of houses must select an unblemished lamb or kid on the tenth day of the month and keep in their house until the fourteenth day of the
month,[3] when they would kill the lamb and paint its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.[4] That blood would save their firstborn from the last plague of Egypt when, at midnight, God killed every firstborn in Egypt except those in houses where there was blood at the doorway.[5]
They were also to roast the lamb[6] and eat it with bitter herbs[7] and unleavened bread,[8] leaving none of its meat until morning.[9]
Not only so, but they were to eat the meal in a hurry, dressed and ready to leave.[10] That would have been a simple instruction for adult families to follow, but young children also needed to be ready to leave, likewise old, sick or handicapped people. Everyone must be ready to leave that night.
Seven related issues are worth noting:
- God said that
Israel was to treat the month current at the time (Abib / Aviv, later called Nisan) as the first month in the Hebrew calendar.[11]
- A Hebrew month lasted for a full cycle of the moon and began with the new moon. Since completing the phases of the moon takes about 29.5 days, their months alternated between 29 and 30 days and the Passover, mid-month, would always occur at full moon – ideal for travelling in the dark!
- Hebrew timekeeping placed the start of a day at sunset (about 6pm) rather than midnight as we do.[12] Based on details given in the Law, it seems that the lamb was to be killed just before the fourteenth day of the month ended at sunset and the fifteenth day began.[13]
- As a result, the Passover feast was actually eaten on the fifteenth day of the month, also known as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day on
which they left Egypt.[14]
- They were to eat no leaven at any time throughout those seven days[15] and were to remove all leaven from their homes on the first day.[16]
- The first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to be special Sabbaths during which the people could do no ordinary work except to prepare meals.[17]
- The last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – the second
special Sabbath – was also to include a feast to God.[18]
Except for the last point, these details all had some importance in the timing and events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Presented below is a diagram of the timing of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as described in Exodus 11-13, with some observations from the New Testament as well.
[Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size]
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As indicated at the start, these closely related feasts happened on the same dates each year, and thus on different days. And how did these feast days interact with the ordinary days of the Jewish week?
In the Law of Moses, any requirements for special days simply added to God’s laws for the more common
days. This is shown clearly when God specifies daily sacrifices and then says that the sacrifices for the Sabbath were to be offered in addition to the existing daily sacrifices. When a new month began, the nation was to offer more special sacrifices, and these also were to be offered in addition to the more common offerings. Thus, if a new month started on a Sabbath, the priests would offer the ordinary daily sacrifices, plus the Sabbath sacrifices, plus the sacrifices for the
new month.
This mostly matters for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread because of the number of Sabbaths involved. Remember that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a special Sabbath, and so was the last day. Being seven days apart, that meant the two special Sabbaths were on different days of the week.
Example
If the 14th of Abib fell on a Monday,
for example, the Passover lamb would be killed on that Monday, the first day of Unleavened Bread would be a special Sabbath Tuesday, and the seventh day of Unleavened Bread would be a special Sabbath Monday. The ordinary Sabbaths would still be held as usual.
In this example, then, there would be a Sabbath on Saturday, a special Sabbath on the following Tuesday, another Sabbath on the next Saturday, and the closing special Sabbath on the
Monday, two days later. Four Sabbaths in ten days!
Timing of Jesus’ crucifixion/resurrectionThere are three important pieces of information in the gospels that help us decide what day of the week Jesus was crucified. - Jesus was to be dead for 3 days and 3 nights before rising again.[19] Given that Jesus died at about 3pm and rose at about 6am, there must be some rounding involved.
Three full 24-hour days (3 days and 3 nights) add up to 72 hours. With rounding up or down, the total time from Jesus’ death to his resurrection could be almost 24 hours less or 24 hours more due to rounding or truncating. That gives a feasible range of 48 to 96 hours.
- The women among Jesus’ followers wanted to wrap his body with spices, but were not willing to do so on the Sabbath.[20]
- Jesus rose from the
dead on Sunday, the first day of the week.[21] This fixes our endpoint.
Now let’s look at the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection as it works with three different options. If the Day of Preparation was a Wednesday…Firstly, let’s consider the possibility that the Day of Preparation on
which he was killed was a Wednesday. This option is shown in the diagram below. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size] Pros:- If the Wednesday is not included as one of the three days Jesus was to remain dead, then he was dead for three days as prophesied. Since he died only two or three hours before the end of the day, discounting that as the first day would be reasonable.
- In this scenario, the Day of Preparation is followed by a special Sabbath as
stated in John 19:31.
Cons:- In this scenario, Jesus would have been dead for 4 nights instead of the 3 nights prophesied. There is no way to count only three nights.
- Some women wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, but would not do so on the Sabbath. If there was a special Sabbath on the Thursday and an ordinary one on the Saturday, why would they not have gone to the tomb on Friday to anoint
his body, since it was not a Sabbath?
AssessmentIn this case, the cons are major and the pros relatively minor. Overall, it doesn’t work. If the Day of Preparation was a Thursday…Secondly, let’s consider the possibility that the Day of Preparation on which Jesus died was a Thursday. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it
full-size] Pros:- In this scenario, the Day of Preparation is followed by a special Sabbath as stated in John 19:31.
- In this scenario, Jesus would have been dead for 3 complete nights, with his resurrection happening at about dawn at the end of the third night.
- In this scenario, Jesus would have been dead for about
2-3 hours of Thursday and two complete days, which can reasonably be counted as 3 days.
Cons:- Some women wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, but would not do so on ‘the Sabbath’.[22] There is no suggestion that there was more than one Sabbath.
AssessmentIn this case, the pros greatly outweigh the minor con. This scenario is reasonable. If the Day of Preparation was a Friday…Lastly, let’s look at the possibility that the Day of Preparation on which he died was a Friday. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size] Pros:- Some women wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, but would not do so on ‘the Sabbath’.[23] There is no suggestion that there was more than one Sabbath.
Cons:- In this scenario, Jesus would have been dead for a part of one day (2-3 hours of Friday) and one complete day (Saturday). There is no way to
expand this count to 3 days.
- In this scenario, Jesus would have been dead for two complete nights, with his resurrection happening at about dawn at the end of the second night. There is no way to expand this count to 3 nights.
AssessmentIn this case, the cons are major and the single pro relatively insignificant. Overall, despite its popularity, this scenario doesn’t
work. ConclusionBased on the information we have about the original Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we can match it with the information we have about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and conclude that it is most likely that he was crucified on a Thursday morning, died on Thursday afternoon, and remained dead through a special Sabbath on Friday and an ordinary Sabbath on Saturday before rising from the dead at about dawn on
Sunday morning. This scenario is the only one that satisfies the historical and prophetic requirements and fits the known details from the gospels. See also. Notes[1] Exodus 11:1, 8
[2] Exodus 3:22
[3] Exodus 12:3-6
[4] Exodus 12:6-7
[5] Exodus 12:12-13
[6] Exodus 12:8-9
[7] Exodus 12:8
[8] Exodus 12:8, 18
[9] Exodus 12:10
[10] Exodus
12:11
[11] Exodus 12:2
[12] See Genesis 1 for the details of the days of creation, which are consistently described with “there was evening and there was morning, the Xth day”.
[13] See also Exodus 12:6, 18
[14] Exodus 12:17
[15] Exodus 12:15, 18; 13:3, 6-7
[16] Exodus 12:15
[17] Exodus 12:16
[18] Exodus 13:6
[19] Matthew 12:40 (see Jonah 1:17); 27:63; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34
[20] Luke 23:56; 24:1
[21] Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-6, 9; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1,
11-19
[22] Luke 23:56
[23] Luke 23:56 |
May the Lord bless you and keep you safe this week. Mark
Morgan Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
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