The Feast of Passover – Exodus 12:1-32 Important Passover Dates
*Nisan – First month of the Jewish year. 12:2 *10th Nisan – Take a lamb 12:3-5 *14th Nisan – Kill the Lamb at twilight and put blood on doorposts and over the door, eat the flesh the same night. 12:6-11 *When I see the blood I will pass over you 12:12-13
10th Nisan Take a Lamb
3 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. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
On Passover selection day, four days before Passover, Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the people shouting “Hosanna” (meaning “save now”)… “Blessed is he who comes in name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
Passover selection day was the day the Passover lamb would be chosen followed by three days of examination to make sure it was unblemished. Jesus, the Passover Lamb, was examined, questioned, tested, and plotted against for the three days following His triumphal entry.
14th Nisan Kill the Lamb
6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
When was Jesus the Passover Lamb, Crucified?
The traditional view is that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose from the grave early Sunday morning. Really? Then what did Jesus mean in Matthew 12:40 when he said: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Nowhere does the Bible say or imply that Jesus was crucified on Friday. Mark 15 describes Jesus’ burial as being buried in a tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Jewish Council. Mark 15:42 says that it was Preparation Day, the day before the Sabbath. Many assume this, of course, is Friday because Friday is the day before the weekly Sabbath (on Saturday.) However, this ignores the fact that the Jews observed other Sabbaths (or days of rest) throughout the year. For instance, the first day of the Passover week, no matter what day of the week it falls on, was always a Sabbath. John 19 describes the trial, sentencing, and crucifixion of Jesus. More specifically, John 19:14 says, It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. Later in John’s Gospel, in writing about the death of Jesus, he states in John 19:31: “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.” Notice the word “special.” In Greek the word is megas, meaning: big, large, mighty, or high (as in elevation of importance.) It was a “high” holy day, not a weekly occurrence. Luke 23:54 states, in describing the burial of Jesus, “It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.” So clearly the Gospels are referring to the Passover Sabbath and not the weekly Sabbath.
Numbers 28:16 tells us that “on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) the Lord’s Passover is to be held.” It is commonly accepted that Jesus was crucified in the year 30 A.D., and the Passover Sabbath was on a Thursday, April 6. Many assume that because Jesus desired to eat the Passover meal with his disciples, that He must have shared the meal on Thursday night. However, keeping in mind that Jesus died on Preparation Day, the day before Passover, and understanding Preparation Day was on Wednesday, Nisan 14, Jesus died on a Wednesday, before Passover began at sundown. So how do we reckon the fact that Jesus died before the Passover Sabbath, yet ate with his disciples on the Passover? Simple. Jesus observed Passover according to the Law given in Numbers 28:16. In Deuteronomy 16 we see, yet again, that God instructed His people that: “on the fourteenth day of the first month the LORD’s Passover is to be held.” Many scholars believe that to allow for travel time, the Jews merged the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the Passover Feast on Nisan 15.
The moment Jesus died on the cross was the exact moment the Law instructed the Passover Lambs to be slaughtered: Heb: Literally between the evenings (referring to between Noon and 6 pm) on the 14th of Nisan Exodus 12:6. Luke 23:44-46 states: 44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
