Posted by Bibleman [Bibleman] on November 03, 1999 at 10:12:21 {eZOTANvCI6MRXA6xmpscslyACFuF8c}:
In Reply to: ****PASSOVER FOR BIBLEMAN posted by DaJahVeu on November 03, 1999 at 03:15:38:
Dear Da,
You finally are getting it. It's confusing, of course, when you have the Jewish day begining in the evening after sundown when the date might change at a different time. So here is the simplest, most direct way to look at it:
PASSOVER - PLAIN TALK.
Let's just step back and look at what happened.
Basically the Jews were to leave Egypt and they were to celebrate that day and make it a holiday to remember for all times. No work was to be done on that day.
The logistics of that day was that at sundown, they had the passover meal in anticipation of their leaving in a hurry that night. They were to wear their sandals and to be ready to leave in a hurry. They would leave Egypt that night, in fact, in such a hurry, they would not have time to have their bread to rise and thus they would eat unleavened bread.
So bottom, no matter what complications of scriptural terms come up, the very night they left Egypt is the very same night they ate the Passover meal.
They at the Passover meal that evening before they left Egypt. The angel of death appeared at Midnight and Pharoach kicked the Jews out that very night. It was a Full Moon so unless it was cloudy, there was plenty of light. They left that very night.
Now, what was the day they were to celebrate? What was the DATE they were to do no work? What was the day they were to hold a "solemn assembly" to celebrate the very day they left Egypt in such a hurry they had to use unfermented cakes?
IT WAS NISAN 15TH.
So you see, the day the Jews left Egypt was made into a special sabbath day. A Jewish holiday.
But since Jewish days began at sundown the actual main celebration of the festival of the first day of unfermented cakes didn't happen until daytime at Noon. But the sabbath day itself began some 18 hours earlier.
So no matter what, the Passover was eaten that very same night before after sundown.
So bottom line, if you actually want to change the DATE at sundown as well, you have to accept that Passover must be eaten on Nisan 15th.
Please note that leaven in the homes were banned beginning the first day of unfermented cakes which was a sabbath day and which was the day they left Egypt. So if Passover was eaten that same day, then it would be eaten with unfermented cakes.
See. That's the connection.
So Passover is part of the sabbath day of Nisan 15th. And the Jews celebrate it that way.
So all Luke is reflecting the actual practice of the orthodox Jews who considered "between the two evenings" at around mid-afternoon at 3:00 p.m., the same time Jesus himself died at the "ninth hour."
So on Nisan 14th, the custom was to remove the leaven from the homes by Noon, since that is when the "evening" of the day actually began. The lambs were sacrificed "between the two evenings" at the time of the normal daily evening sacrifice around 3:00 p.m. at the temple. Leaving them just a couple of hours to roast the lamb for the meal that evening. But at sundown, it became the sabbath. Of Nisan 15th. The day they left Egypt.
So that's why I say, the easiest focus on this is to first accept that Passover is eaten on the sabbath day of the official "first day of unfermented cakes" the main day they are celebrating. The evening before the night they actually left Egypt and had to eat unfermented cakes.
NOW, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT JESUS DEATH?
Simple. Plain and simple.
If Jesus really ate the Passover on the sabbath day of Nisan 15th, then he must have been arrested that night on Nisan 15th. In 33CE Nisan 15th was a Saturday as well as a special sabbath day. And they don't execute people on Sabbaths.
Furthermore, Jesus was supposed to be in the grave for THREE NIGHTS! (Matthew 12:40). Since he rose on a Saturday night, this alone implies he would have died on the afternoon of a Thursday since Thursday through Saturday is three nights: (i.e. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night).
So since we know there is not three nights from Nisan 15th to Nisan 16th, when Jesus is said to have risen, what choice do we have?
We know Jesus died on a day prior to a sabbath day, but still during passover week.
So our only presumption is that it must have been on the very next day of Preparation that week.
Which, of course, since Friday, Nisan 21st was a sabbath day for passover, was a Thursday which was "preparation for passover" sabbath of Nisan 21st.
But you see, you now have clarity! That's because if fulfills the prophesied three nights in the grave from Thursday night.
Also, Jesus was to rise one day after a sabbath day. No problem, since in this case both that Friday Nisan 21st and Nisan 22nd were both sabbath days. Two sabbath days in a row!
So that is fulfilled also. Jesus died one day before a sabbath day on Nisan 20th, and rose one day after a Sabbath day on Saturday night. And you still have the "three nights" fulfilled.
So that's how Nisan 20th comes about fundamentally, since there is no other choice here.
Let me just interject how Christendom and Jehovah's Witnesses get around this.
1) Christendom simply claims the gospels are lying and that Jesus did not eat the actual passover as the Synoptic gospels claim and he ate a PRE-PASSOVER MEAL. Thus they invent a new Passover and claim the Synoptic gospels are lying in order to get around it.
2) The WTS, knowing their members only are exposed to what they tell them, convince them that the Jews are sinful and thus have corrupted the Passover celebration when they celebrate Passover on the 15th and use the complexities of the calendar date for Nisan 14th to convince witnesses that the original Passover was actually held a day early. Which of course, makes one presume that the Jews left Egypt on Nisan 14th. So that's how they handle it. They lie about Passover. And they claim that referencesto the "first day of unfermented cakes" really means the DAY BEFORE, etc.
That's the only way they can get Passover to happen on Friday.
Still, from Friday night to Saturday night is just TWO NIGHTS. So it still doesn't work.
So that's why I believe Jesus must have died on Nisan 20th, because there is no other choice once you understand how Passover works, that is, it is eaten on what we call "Nisan 15th", or the sabbath day of the "first day of unfermented cakes."
So there you have it. Passover is always eaten on a sabbath day to commemorate the day the Jews left Egypt.
Any better?
Cheers,
Bibleman