Timing and Significance

The Passover is the first Holy-Day period of the Sacred Calendar, which is a lunar calendar of twelve months with a thirteenth month intercalated seven times in the cycle that repeats itself every 19 years. The Sacred Year begins in Nisan or Abib (about March), and ends with the month of Adar as the twelfth month, or Adar II as the thirteenth month.

The Passover is preceded by the period of the sanctification of the Temple, which begins on the First day of the First month and proceeds to the Seventh day of the First month, which is the sanctification for the ‘simple and erroneous’ (cf. the paper Sanctification of the Temple of God (No. 241)).

The Passover is a commemorative Feast that represents a series of features in the Plan of Redemption. The keeping of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread is a sign to us that we are God's people (Ex. 13:3-10). The Exodus forms the basis of the Feast, and while the story is based on the physical salvation of the nation of Israel, the symbolism represents the spiritual salvation of the entire planet. The planet is under the overlordship of the fallen elohim, who are led by the Covering Cherub, termed Satan. This is dealt with in the explanations of the cosmology in the papers The Elect as Elohim (No. 1) and The God We Worship (No. 2). The Messiah is pictured by the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, and the sequence of the Feast. Christ was the first of the world harvest. That is why the three Feast seasons are based on the harvest system in the northern hemisphere and particularly at Jerusalem, which has been chosen as the centre of the administrative structure, both millennial and post-millennial, of the government of God.

Christ was actually following the laws of the Passover over the period he was crucified. Because modern-day Christianity keeps the pagan Easter festival, it has no explanation for the meal known as the Last Supper, nor the actual timings of the beginning and ending of the Feast. The symbolism in the main is lost in modern Christianity.

Distinguishing the Passover from the Pagan Easter

Biblical Provisions for the Passover

The Passover legislation is found in Exodus 12:3-49; 23:15-18; 34:18; Leviticus 23:4-8; Numbers 9:2-5, 13-14; 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8, 16; Psalms 81:3,5 and Ezekiel 45:2ff.

The Feast of the Passover is actually based around a giant military withdrawal from the land of Egypt, which is used to illustrate the redemption of the world from sin. It is, however, useful to keep the plan of the withdrawal in mind to picture what is being portrayed in the early symbolism.

Exodus chapter 12 begins by explaining that the month of the Passover or Nisan was to be the beginning of months [of the year]. Preparation is to be made on the First day of the Sacred Year and also on the Seventh where the priesthood atone for inadvertent sin (see also Ezek. 45:18-20). The sacrifices now rest in Christ, but the atonement and preparation is to take place continually (the passages in Ezekiel are ongoing into the Millennium). Those who are not prepared to take the Passover, or who are travelling, are to take the Passover in the second month (Num. 9:6-12; 2Chr. 30:2-4).

Strangers living in Israel are also to celebrate the Passover (Ex. 12:48, 49; Num. 9:14), as their salvation – i.e. the salvation of the Gentiles or all of mankind – is in the congregation.

The Feast is to be celebrated at a place designated by God, through the priesthood (Deut. 16:5-7), and is to be celebrated with unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8, 15-20; 12:3,6; 23:15; Lev. 23:6; Num. 9:11; 28:17; Deut. 16:3, 4; Mk. 14:12; Lk. 22:7; Acts 12:3; 1Cor. 5:8). The penalty for neglecting to observe the Feast is to be cut off from the people or the congregation (Num. 9:13), except where unclean or on a journey as stated above. There is one statute for both stranger and sojourner (Num. 9:14).

The congregation is to prepare for the Passover in advance, as above, and is to select the Passover lamb on the 10^th day of the month and is to keep it and kill it on the 14^th day of the month (Ex. 12:3). The symbolism of the lamb indicates the sacrifice of the Messiah on the 14^th day of Nisan in the afternoon, from about 3 p.m. (which, in the year of the crucifixion, 30 CE, fell on Wednesday 5^th April. Some groups hold 31 CE, which we now know to be incorrect). See the paper Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159)).

The festival falls on a varying basis according to the lunar calendar. The crucifixion was not on a Friday and the resurrection was not on a Sunday (see also The Companion Bible, Appendix 42). The Passover is to be held by households according to numbers for the consumption of the lamb (Ex. 12:4).

The Significance of the Last Supper

Most Christian commentators are confused by the significance of the Last Supper, which Christ held the night before he was crucified. That is the Supper of the night of Tuesday 14 Nisan. Some have assumed, from Christ’s comments that he desired to eat this Passover with them, that the Jews had somehow got the date wrong and that the correct date was the night before. Indeed, many Christian groups that still keep the Passover and the Last Supper consider that the meal of 14 Nisan is the Passover meal. It is not.

Christ kept the Passover and the Law (Mat. 26:17-20; Lk. 22:15; Jn. 2:13, 23; 13:1ff.). He did not change one jot or tittle of the Law (Mat. 5:18).

The Passover was carried out as a withdrawal. For the force of possibly two million people to be successfully moved, a degree of military precision was required. The people concentrated at Rameses from the day prior to the night that the death angel was to pass over the nation of Israel and smite the Egyptians. This was to reflect the destruction of the world and the protection afforded the people by the sacrifice of the Lamb, whereby all people, Gentile or not, would be placed within the congregation of the Lord under the one world rulership. To commemorate the concentration of the force and the preparation for the sacrifice a meal, referred to as the chagigah or chagigoh, was held (see The Companion Bible). The chagigoh in the post-exilic Passover observance understood by modern Judaism is a supplementary sacrifice.

The two courses:

… usually consisted of a piece of roasted meat on the bone and a roasted egg (Hayyim Schauss, The Jewish Festivals History and Observance, Schocken Books, New York, vii, "Pesach = Unusual Observances" p. 56).

The understanding of the Chagigoh as provided for in Deuteronomy 16, and as kept in Jerusalem at the time of Christ, has been either lost or misinterpreted by latter-day Judaism. The egg has been introduced as a later post-exilic symbol of the Babylonian system. The Easter egg is a well-known derivative of this system also. The attacks by rabbinical Judaism on Christianity and the obfuscation of the commonality of the Judeo-Christian systems have led to ignorance and later to horrific persecution of the Jews and the non-Athanasian Christians, who observe the Law (see also Schauss, ibid., pp. 57ff. for some of the actions and ignorant libels of the Middle Ages).

Temporary Accommodation required for the Passover

Those keeping the Passover are required to keep it outside of their normal habitations, commencing with the preparation day of 14 Nisan.

Deuteronomy 16:5-7 Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: ⁶ But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. ⁷ And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. (KJV)

The Law of Deuteronomy 16 was the reason why Christ sent the disciples out to find the room described in Matthew 26:17-19.

Matthew 26:17-19 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" ¹⁸ He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'"¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. (RSV)

The day was not the first day of Unleavened Bread as some translate it, but it should read rather before Unleavened Bread (from the word prõte used also at Jn. 1:15,30, meaning he existed before me). The KJV retains some of the sense by referring to the day as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We know that this is impossible unless the term is generic.

Matthew 26:17-19 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? ¹⁸ And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. ¹⁹ And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. (KJV)

The terms Passover and Unleavened Bread are used both specifically and generically. Passover can include all the stages from the pre-Passover meal and the Passover to Unleavened Bread. Similarly, Unleavened Bread can refer to all those activities. It was not, in fact, the day before Unleavened Bread, but two days before. The Law required all people to leave their homes and take up temporary accommodation for 14 Nisan which, as with all days, commenced from dark of 13 Nisan. This was done so that the complete preparation day was held in that place, preparing for the actual night of the Passover, which was on the evening of 15 Nisan or the evening of the first Holy Day and referred to as the night to be much observed (Ex. 12:42). The lamb was killed on the preparation day of 14 Nisan at the going down of the sun, commencing from about 3 p.m., i.e. in representation of the Messiah (Deut. 16:6). Christ was indeed killed at this time and died at the time appointed for the commencement of the evening Passover sacrifices. If indeed he did not die at precisely the exact time for the killing of the first sacrificial lamb, as laid down in the Law, he could not fulfil the Law and hence could not be the Messiah.

Method of Preparation of the Passover Meal

The original ordinance found at Exodus 12:9 requires the lamb to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs. The ordinance in Deuteronomy for the keeping of the Feast in temporary accommodation appears to allow the lamb to be boiled, as it is translated boiled in some Bibles but the word is actually cook, which is a generic term embracing roasting and boiling. Given the Law of Exodus 12, it is unlikely that the generic term allowed a change of the requirements of Exodus 12. The mistranslation to boil is used to justify the type of meal that Christ ate on the evening of the Last Supper. Christ ate the meal with a sop (Jn. 13:26), and perhaps also with leavened bread (in order to be used as a sop, psõmion).

The meal was not that of the first Holy Day on which the Passover is eaten as laid down in Exodus 12, but rather is the evening before. The meal could have been any sodden meat. The Law requires the Passover meal, however, to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs. Therefore, the meal known as the Last Supper is perfectly explicable within the Law and there is no conflict or diminution of the original ordinances by Christ.

The seven days of Unleavened Bread commenced the following evening on the first Holy Day of the Feast, i.e. 15 Nisan, which in 30 BCE was a Wednesday night/Thursday.

Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for if any one eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (RSV)

Exodus 13:6-7 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. (RSV)

Exodus 23:15You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. (RSV)

Thus it is seen that it was in or during the Feast of Unleavened Bread that Israel came out of Egypt.

Sections and Timing of Unleavened Bread

Judah traditionally eats Unleavened Bread for eight days. The eighth day generally follows the Feast rather than precedes it. Unleavened Bread commenced on the night of the Exodus, termed the night of the Passover, and lasted from that Holy Day to the seventh day, which was a Holy Day. Thus, the seven days could not start on 14 Nisan rather than the 15^th or the last day would not fall on the last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. Thus, the Lord’s Supper was a different meal to the Passover proper, termed the night to be much remembered/observed (Ex. 12:42; 13:3).

Exodus 12:42-43 It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. ⁴³ And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it; (RSV)

This night of watching was the watch kept for the Death Angel, and then observed by all Israel as a memorial. This was the Passover Meal, which symbolised the safekeeping of the congregation of the Holy People from the Death Angel. The blood of the sacrifice was placed on the doorposts to symbolise the redemptive sacrifice of the Messiah. It is thus absurd to suggest that the Passover could be eaten outside in a restaurant, for example, as it would make no sense to be eating back in Egypt, and the symbolism would be lost. The period of the Lord’s Supper and the Passover, or the Night to be Much Observed, is to be observed outside of one’s normal habitation.

The people returned to their homes again on the first Holy Day of the 15^th, in the morning (Deut. 16:7), and spent the day at the Temple, in accordance with Leviticus 23.

There are Holy congregations on 15 Nisan and again on the last or seventh day of Unleavened Bread, the 21^st day of the month.

Paul explains that the Feast is to be kept with unleavened bread to symbolise the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The old leaven of malice and evil (1Cor. 5:8) was a type of sin and, hence, it was to be removed from the homes (indeed, in all your territory, Deut. 16:4) for the seven-day period of the Feast. The Jews kept a specific signal on the preparation day for the burning of the bread and sourdough called chomets. Schauss refers to the practice at page 52 (op. cit.). The practice held at Jerusalem on the preparation day is a substantive indication that the nation had ceased to obey the Law as found in Deuteronomy 16, and the people were not moving into temporary accommodation for the Feast. Christ was thus keeping an aspect of the Law that had been ignored, namely, the correct observance of the chagigoh.

The Feast is thus of two sections. The first preparation section involves two elements of preparation:

· the first section is over the days leading up to the period, including the New Year of 1 Nisan (or 1 Abib) and the days of the Seventh and the Tenth Nisan. The Jewish practice of observing New Year in Tishri is thus an unauthorised pagan custom derived from the Babylonian system. Rabi Kohn, in The Sabbatarians in Transylvania, states quite clearly that Rosh Hashanah, or the New Year of Tishri, was a post-Temple period tradition, which did not enter Judaism until the third century CE and was never observed in the Temple period or early Christian Church;

· the second preparation period is that thirty-six hours involving the removal from one's home to temporary accommodation in exactly the same manner as is involved in the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (see Tabernacles section). This is what Christ did for the Last Supper.

The third phase is that of the seven days of Unleavened Bread proper with Holy Days on 15 and 21 Nisan. Within the third phase is the offering termed the Wave-Sheaf Offering, which was symbolic of the acceptance of Christ as the first-fruits and an acceptable sacrifice to God. Without this ceremony we could not have been reconciled to God. It is required to be kept (see the paper The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b)).

The meal of the night of the Passover is clearly to be that of lamb and bitter herbs, which are represented in the traditional Seder Table of the Jews. However, the egg is a representation of the Babylonian captivity and is thus of secondary derivation.

The Exodus from Egypt is also a prototype of a further Exodus to be held on the return of the Messiah, when he will dispatch survivors to all the nations for the identification and return of the remnant of the congregation of Israel. They will return on horses and in chariots and upon litters and upon mules (Isa. 66:20). The Feast will thus take on another symbolism as well.

Error in understanding the Passover

There are a number of incorrect interpretations of the Passover, which will be examined subsequently. Discussion of the Passover centres around the following points:

· the date and timing of the slaughtering of the Passover lamb;

· the date and timing of the eating of the Passover lamb;

· the date and timing of the Exodus; and the nature of the Last Supper Jesus ate with his disciples.

The basis of the discussion arises from an apparent conflict between the accounts of the Last Supper of Jesus as given in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the account of the Last Supper given by John.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record the following:

Matthew 26:18-19 He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" ¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. (RSV)

Mark 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" (RSV)

Mark 14:16 And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. (RSV)

Luke 22:8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." (RSV)

Luke 22:15 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; (RSV)

These accounts appear to have Jesus anticipating and then eating the Passover meal before his death on the cross. This would also establish the symbols of the bread and wine on the evening of the Passover meal.

John, however, records in John 13:1:

John 13:1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (RSV)

John 13:27-29 records:

Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." ²⁸ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹ Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast"; or, that he should give something to the poor. (RSV)

The text here clearly shows that this was not the evening of 15 Nisan. No purchases could have been made that night. John 13:1 also shows that the foot-washing etc. took place before the Feast of the Passover and during supper (Jn. 13:2). The bread was broken during supper (Mat. 26:26), after the wine had been distributed. The wine, however, was not blessed and drunk until after supper (Lk. 22:20). Judas had not yet left to betray Christ when the bread and wine were being taken (Lk. 22:21).

Also, John 18:28 shows that it was before the Passover.

John 18:28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Ca'iaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. (RSV)

This establishes that it was before the Passover on the preparation day, as defilement at that time would have prevented them eating the Passover. This is confirmed by John 19:14.

John 19:14Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" (RSV)

Also, John 19:31 confirms this point.

John 19:31Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (RSV; emphasis added)

John clearly places Christ's Last Supper on the evening prior to the Passover meal. Christ died on the cross on the afternoon immediately prior to the Passover meal, on the preparation day of 14 Nisan before the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread, which is the Sabbath mentioned here and not the weekly Sabbath. The disagreement between John and the Synoptic Gospels is only apparent. They, too, acknowledge that Jesus died on the preparation day of the Passover.

Matthew 27:62Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate (RSV)

Mark 15:42And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, (RSV)

Luke 23:54 It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. (RSV)

Why did Christ refer to the meal as the Passover? It was either a generic reference to the Passover as a Feast, as is common among all of those who observe the Feast – both Jew and Christian – or it was a statement of desire that could not be fulfilled. The generic reference is explained in Luke 22:1: “Now the feast of Unleavened Bread drew near which is called the Passover”. At Luke 22:7, we see that the term includes the preparation day.

Luke 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. (RSV)

An aberration of American fundamentalism of the twentieth century, stemming from these comments of the Synoptic Gospels, has been the claim that Christ did in fact eat the Passover meal during the night of 14 Nisan. Allegedly, he was obeying the instructions of Exodus 12 which, it is incorrectly claimed, teaches that the Passover lamb should be sacrificed at the beginning of 14 Nisan, and that there is no validity in a Passover meal on 15 Nisan. This Passover of 15 Nisan is, allegedly, merely a tradition of the Jews. The position appears to stem from the taking of Christ’s comment regarding the Passover in isolation and applying it only to the night of 14 Nisan rather than the period of Christ’s trial and crucifixion and resurrection. The extraordinary claims in justification appear to stem from the attempts to defend the erroneous position in hindsight.

The claim is certainly not supported from any of the references we have quoted above. Indeed, there is no doubt that Christ was dead before the Passover according to the Old and New Testament references. Indeed, he should have been dead in order to fulfil prophecy. A Passover lamb killed a day late is not a Passover lamb. The Passover of the second month is a different matter. Moreover, there is no indication in any of the apostolic writings that there was any dispute as to the dates or correctness of the timings of the Passover or any other Holy Day kept by the Jews and Christians together in the first and subsequent centuries. The case for the Passover on the Lord’s Supper, i.e. the night of 14 Nisan, is based on a series of premises. These premises are examined at Appendix A and will be seen to be false.

The people who say they believe in a 14^th Passover usually mean the following:

· That they believe the original Passover lamb in Exodus 12 was slain by the children of Israel at the beginning of 14 Nisan and eaten during the night of the 14^th.

· That the Jews of Christ's day erred when they killed the Passover lamb in the afternoon of 14 Nisan, and ate it on the evening of the 15^th.

· That the meal Jesus ate before he died was a Passover meal, correctly observed at the beginning and during the night of 14 Nisan, and during this meal Jesus substituted the new symbols of the bread and wine for the lamb and bitter herbs.

· That the so-called controversy about 14 Nisan was whether or not Christians ought to partake of the bread and wine on the evening of 14 Nisan or on the evening of 15 Nisan.

The fact of the matter is that there has never been any significant debate on which night the Jews ate the Passover meal. Christianity has always understood the dates in question. It has always been understood that the lambs were slain towards the end of the 14^th and eaten during the night of the 15^th. The debate for Christians centred around whether or not the Lord's Supper, consisting of the foot-washing and bread and wine, ought to be observed on the evening of 14 Nisan (one day prior to the normal Passover meal) or as a Good Friday-Easter Sunday tradition. This controversy erupted in the second century. The leading protagonists were the Bishops of Rome and Polycarp and his successor, Polycrates.

Although the observance of Easter was at a very early period the practice of the Christian church, a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the Christians of Jewish and those of Gentile descent, which led to a long and bitter controversy. The point at issue was when the Paschal fast was reckoned as ending. With the Jewish Christians, whose leading thought was the death of Christ as the Paschal Lamb, the fast ended at the same time as that of the Jews, on the fourteenth day of the moon at evening, and the Easter festival immediately followed, without regard to the day of the week. The Gentile Christians, on the other hand, unfettered by Jewish traditions, identified the first day of the week with the Resurrection, and kept the preceding Friday as the commemoration of the crucifixion, irrespective of the day of the month" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, article ‘Easter’).

This came to be known as the Quartodeciman Controversy and, historically speaking, it has been the only major controversy surrounding the time when the Lord's Supper ought to be taken (cf. the papers The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235) and The Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277)).

Within some of the Churches of God in the 20^th century, there has been an argument, stemming from academic ignorance, about whether or not Jesus ate the Passover meal rather than a Passover meal. From that point, the debate arises concerning the timing of the Exodus sacrifice of the Passover lamb and eating the Passover meal and, hence, on which night the Lord's Supper ought to be observed. However, this is a different issue to the Quartodeciman Controversy and the two issues should not be confused.

The confusion is based on a simplistic approach to the texts in the Synoptic Gospels (above), such as Mark 14:12-26. The question of the disciples was that they wanted to know where Christ wanted to eat the Passover. They had no knowledge that he would be dead as the Passover Lamb.

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, 'Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?

It should be obvious to any Bible student that we are speaking generically. Firstly, the first day of Unleavened Bread is not the Passover according to Exodus 12:3-10. The Passover lamb is set aside on 10 Nisan and killed on 14 Nisan at evening. The Passover is then eaten that night, which commences 15 Nisan and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The fact that the term evening of 14 Nisan is at the end of the day is obvious from the terminology for the calculation of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at Exodus 12:18-20.

¹⁸ In the first month in the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, and so until the twenty first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For seven days no leaven shall be found in your house; for if anyone eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.

The calculation of the seven days commences from the evening of 14 Nisan, which is at the end of 14 Nisan and not its start, as Leviticus 23:5 says that 14 Nisan is the Lord’s Passover, and Leviticus 23:6 says the Feast of Unleavened Bread commences on the 15^th day of the month of Nisan. The seven days continue from the 15^th until the evening of 21 Nisan. Now 21 Nisan is the last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. Thus the last Holy Day is the 7^th day, finishing at evening. The evening of 14 Nisan referred to in Exodus 12 is the end of the 14^th and commences 15 Nisan, otherwise a contradiction is introduced into the two texts.

Arguments that Christ was crucified on the wrong day because the Jews had it wrong are spurious on two counts. Firstly, the Messianic sacrifice was the completion of Scripture, which cannot be broken (Jn. 10:35). Secondly, the completion and fulfilment of the Law was the objective of Messiah. He laid down the Laws in the Old Testament when he gave them to Moses as the Angel of the Covenant.

The Wave-Sheaf Offering

The sign of Jonah had to be completed exactly in all of its phases. The first phase was that Christ was in the grave for three days and three nights, no more and no less. Christ also had to be resurrected before the morning of the first day of the week following the weekly Sabbath because he was the wave or sheaf offering, which was the first-fruits of all the harvests (Ex. 29:24-27; see also Lev. 7:30, 34; 8:27, 29; 9:21; 10:14, 15; 14:12, 24; 23:11-20; Num. 5:25; 6:20; 18:11, 18).

... and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. Then you shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar in addition to the burnt offering, as a pleasing odour before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord. And you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the priests' portion, which is waved, and which is offered from the ram of ordination, since it is for Aaron and for his sons.

Traditionally this was offered at 9 a.m. This is the reason for what Christ said to Mary when she came to see him:

John 20:1, 15-17 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. … ¹⁵ .Jesus said to her, Woman why are you weeping? whom do you seek? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, 'Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away'. ¹⁶ Jesus said to her 'Mary.' She turned and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rab-bo'ni' (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'.

Thus the crucifixion had to occur when 14 Nisan fell on a Wednesday. A Friday crucifixion could not fulfil the Messianic prophecies. Christ was completing every finite detail of the Law and the prophecies. Thus the Law must be understood in its sequence and detail to make sense of what is happening in this Passover of 30 CE.

The Passover Meal

The Passover is to be prepared specifically in accord with Exodus 12:8-12.

They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In that manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lords Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord.

The term used in Deuteronomy 16:7 rendered cook in the Interlinear Bible, and boil in the Annotated RSV is a generic term bashal (SHD 1310), which is a prime root from the proposition to boil up, hence to be done in cooking; figuratively it means to ripen: hence to bake, boil, bring forth, is ripe, roast, seethe, sod (or be sodden). The meaning of its use must be taken in context; here the specific meaning is to roast. There is no basis whatever for asserting from the use of this word, that the event in Deuteronomy 16 is a different event to that required by Exodus 12. In Exodus 12:14 Christ lays this day down as a memorial forever for Israel, which by definition includes the elect.

¹⁴ This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance forever (SHD 5769 'olam or to the vanishing point or practical eternity).

Time and Place of the Passover

An axiom that must be understood was that Christ could not be present at his own Passover. He was the Passover Lamb and hence would be dead. But he had laid down a sequence that would cater for this very event, when he was Angel of Yahovah. He gave Moses the requirements to hold the very activity that he had instructed the disciples to do in Mark 14:12-26. The requirement was laid down in Deuteronomy 16:2,5,6.

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God; for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall eat the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place which the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there... (The Interlinear Bible continues the text as) You may not sacrifice the Passover offering inside any of your gates which Jehovah your God gives you. But at the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, you shall sacrifice the Passover offering at evening at the going of the sun, at the time when you came out of Egypt. And you shall cook and eat in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go into your tents. You shall eat unleavened bread six days, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Jehovah your God. You shall do no work.

The time noted here qualifies the text in Exodus. It is evident that the seven days include the last Holy Day of 21 Nisan. Thus the evening of 14 Nisan referred to above had to be at the end of the day, i.e., at the commencement of 15 Nisan, which is corroborated by the text in Leviticus. Thus the three texts explain and support each other, eliminating any possibility that the previous night, namely that of 14 Nisan, could be involved. The generic term, at evening, at the time when you came out of Egypt, cannot be taken to indicate the fact that the following day has been substituted for the actual Passover. The concept involved is that, by the Passover sacrifice, the Death Angel passed over Israel. By Bible definition, the Death Angel must be Christ, as the power of judgment is given to him by God. By Christ's sacrifice, Israel was redeemed and commenced to be brought out of Egypt. Thus, Passover is outside of the towns and prior to 15 Nisan. The point is put into perspective by examining the Exodus under Moses and the original Passover.

The Exodus as a Military Withdrawal

Moving Out

The Exodus from Egypt was a military withdrawal. Israel was throughout the land of Goshen and they were prepared to leave their homes at the orders of Moses. The Lord said that on this very day, namely 15 Nisan (Ex. 12:17), the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread, he brought the Hosts of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Thus the Lord redeemed Israel by night on 15 Nisan, and commenced their movement from the order of Moses during that next daytime.

To get a concept of a withdrawal, some figures must be appreciated. Israel numbered in the vicinity of 600,000 men on foot besides women and children. A mixed multitude went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds (Ex. 12:37-39). The numbers were at least 1,000,000 and more likely to have been over 1,500,000 and nearer 2,000,000. The normal column of military march is three abreast. A column of 100 men at intervals of a metre with group spacing of 10 metres would take some 50 metres. Distance between groups is necessary for smooth movement and to minimise delay and dust. There would be 50 metres between 100-men groups. Thus the force would be some 1,000 km long. Assuming that the group marched 10 abreast, then the length is reduced to some 600 km. As a man marches at three miles an hour or four and a half kilometres an hour (say 5 kph), it would take the column over 100 hours to get out of Rameses, assuming that Rameses was the control point for the departure – which seems to be the case from Exodus 12:37.

An example of the extent of the column is obtained if one considers that the column could have stood with one end in Rameses and the other in Succoth, and stood hand in hand and still been up to 50 people deep in ranks. They could have marched 50 abreast and still been leaving Rameses for a day while they were in Succoth. As stock can move only at less than 30 km a day, it was impossible for the column to have completed its journey within three days, assuming no time in the assembly area.

As the column had to be assembled from all over Goshen, the normal stages of a military withdrawal would have been employed. The advance guard would have left Rameses as soon as Moses returned with orders to leave. Moses was summoned by Pharaoh on the night of 15 Nisan, after the first-born had been killed (Ex. 12:31).

Thus Moses would have issued orders to the advance guard to depart that night. By morning, the first of the column had left Rameses. However, the entire nation would still be moving into assembly areas and control points over all Goshen. Moses was trained in these matters. He would have sent runners out to all Goshen and commenced the move. The timing and control were paramount. People and stock had to be kept in order and stock had to be controlled and watered. If it was not the result would have been chaos.

People would have been moving out of Rameses towards Succoth for some four days. The lead elements would have reached Succoth, only 65 km away, before the last ones left Rameses. Even if they marched 100 abreast the column would still have been over 150 km and perhaps 300 km long.

The normal distance of march is some 20 miles or 30 km a day. Hence it would have taken at least a day’s full marching to get there. Given the baggage, the aged, sick, and lame, the movement to Succoth would have been in groups. The same system would have been applied to the movement onwards from there.

The Exodus was a planned military withdrawal of monumental proportions. To make assertions regarding the time of movement from Rameses influencing the date of the Passover is a conjecture made by someone who is truly uninformed of the enormity of the task. The night of watching to the Lord was 15 Nisan, when it all commenced, and this is the night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations (Ex. 12:42).

The Last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread

It seems likely from what is known of movements of columns that the last Holy Day of Unleavened Bread was when the column was in situ at Succoth and they were given rest. The movement of the advance party could have travelled by hard marching over six days, a distance of some 200+ kilometres. Thus they could have made the Red Sea by direct line of march (i.e. 170 km). However, it seems utterly impossible for the main body to have travelled that distance intact in that time. Thus Succoth is probably the first staging camp, as it seems to be portrayed.

Prophecy in the Passover

The Passover was established as a specific ritual to show the way in which Christ was to come and to be the sacrifice and, as such, the means for the liberation of the world from sin and captivity. He thus was to take captivity captive (Rev. 13:10).

The sequence of the ritual was designed to be fulfilled by Messiah on a systematic and careful basis. He thus entered Bethany (Jn. 12:1) six days before the Passover, in order that he might be set aside on the tenth day. In that year, 30 CE, the tenth day was a Sabbath. Christ arrived on the ninth and had the Sabbath meal where Martha served (Jn. 12:2). On the next day (Jn. 12:12) he entered Jerusalem that he might be sacrificed in accordance with Exodus 12. The crowd laid palm leaves before him and he rode on an ass’s colt to fulfil the prophecy quoted partly in John 12:15:

Fear not daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming on an ass's colt!

The quote from Zechariah 9:9 is:

Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Christ had an entire sequence of prophecy to fulfil, and Scripture cannot be broken. Thus Christ had to be killed at the correct time for the Passover or Scripture would have been broken. Some Messianic prophecies are given below.

Christ was to be marred beyond semblance in the scourging, from Isaiah 53:5:

… he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

That is why Christ was silent before his accusers (Mk. 14:60-61), that he might fulfil this prophecy. He was mocked in Mark 14:16-20, fulfilling Psalm 22:7.

All who see me mock me they hurl insults shaking their heads.

In Luke 23:35 Christ was mocked on the stake.

He saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one.

This also fulfilled Psalm 22:17.

I can count all my bones -- they stare and gloat over me; (RSV)

Christ was pierced instead of having his legs broken on the cross, to fulfil prophecy (Jn. 19:36).

For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, "Not a bone of him shall be broken".

Firstly from the command in Exodus 12:46:

Do not break any of the bones.

and Numbers 9:12:

They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones.

Thus keeping the Scripture in Psalm 34:20 concerning the righteous man.

He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.

The Crucifixion was the Passover sacrifice mentioned in Exodus 12 and Numbers 9, which was to be celebrated on the 14 Nisan at evening. That is when Christ was killed. The timing of the death of Christ is itself a Messianic prophecy. Christ was to be pierced to fulfil Zechariah 12:10-13.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first born. ¹¹ On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrim'mon in the plain of Megid'do. ¹² The land shall mourn, each family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Shim'e-ites by itself, and their wives by themselves.

The household of David, through Nathan, was fulfilled in Luke 3. Similarly, the household of Mary was also related to Levi, as Elizabeth had married a High Priest of Abijah.

From the injunction on priests regarding tribal marriage, Elizabeth was Levitical and, therefore, Mary was probably also part-Levite. The Messiah of Aaron and also of Israel was thus of two lineages to become the Messiah of two Advents, as we note from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Christ spoke Messianically in Mark 15:34 (from Psalm 22:1):

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Christ was not forsaken, but here he spoke as one about to die to fulfil the rest of the Psalm 22:15:

… my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleavers to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.

From Psalm 22:24, God did not forsake him.

For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but he has heard, when he cried to him.

This statement was to draw attention to the Messianic psalm and its fulfilment, which was that all the families of the nations would worship before God. Christ spoke to his God.

To assert that Christ was not speaking to his God, and that this was merely to fulfil a prophecy, is to assert that Christ was uttering false and misleading Scripture at the moment of his death and thus had sinned and disqualified himself by non-repentance, or had rendered his sacrifice meaningless.

The piercing of Christ was also noted from Psalm 22:16-17.

Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evil doers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and my feet - ¹⁷ I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me;

They cast lots for Christ's garments in Psalm 22:18.

… they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.

At John 19:28, he said, “I thirst”, quoting Psalm 69:21.

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Gall was to poison him, hence suicide, and vinegar increased the thirst and disguised the gall.

He stated after the utterance above: “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30), meaning the prophecies had been fulfilled. He stated in Luke 23:46:

Father into your hands I commit my spirit.

This comes from Psalm 31:5:

Into your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me O Lord, the God of truth.

Thus Christ sought to be redeemed by the God of Truth – his God and our God – who is the Father of all.

At his death, from Luke 23:45, there was darkness from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, or from 12 noon to 3 p.m. He died:

... while the sun’s light was failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

The Temple curtain was torn in two to make a way open for mankind to have access to the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:8).

By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent is still standing.

Isaiah 53:9 also notes that:

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

This sequence was established from the foundation of the world. The Passover was kept at the correct time and Christ fulfilled prophecy as the Paschal Lamb. The timing and sequence were not accidental, nor was it able to be conducted on the wrong days. If Christ was not the Passover, killed as he should have been, then we have no Messiah. If the Passover was a day earlier, then he would have been killed a day earlier – not the other way round.

Dispersal of the Passover Sacrifice

It is a matter of indisputable historical record that the Passover was kept outside of Israel and that sacrifices were made at other Jewish Temples. Archaeological evidence dates from the Aramaic Letters translated by H.L. Ginsberg (see J.B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East, Vol. 1, pp. 278ff.).