Hi Pmary65, I will comment in [ ]
I would like to appeal to those who esteem one day more then the other. Romans 14:5
“ One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” KJV
[Not relevant to the Sabbath since Paul was talking about fasting. To esteem in the context was to fast, and not to esteem was to eat while someone else was fasting]
Here I propose a time frame to those who firmly believe in a Wednesday Nisan 14th crucifixion to a (3 days & 3 nights) Saturday Nisan 17th resurrection.
I will present a day by day chronological time frame beginning with the step by step peripherals leading up to Jesus last Passover. Here I will combine the scriptural accounts (KJV) to reveal that a crucifixion on a Passover of Wednesday Nisan 14th was likely not feasible.
The Gospels tell us beginning with St. John Chapter 12;
(1)“Then Jesus six days (Thursday Nisan 8th) before the Passover (Wednesday Nisan 14th) came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.”
[If you count with respect to the Passover sacrifice on Nisan 14, then count inclusively, but if with respect to the holy day Nisan 15, which also was called Passover, then count exclusively. So either way, Friday, Nisan 9 is when it was “six days before the Passover”.]
St. John Ch.12 con’t...
(12) “On the next day (Friday Nisan 9th) much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,”
[The next day is now the Sabbath — that is when the Triumphal entry occured]
(13) “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
St.Mark Chapter 11 (Friday Nisan 9th)
[The Sabbath, Nis 10]
(7) “And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.”
(8) And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strewed them in the way.
(9) And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(11) And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
[Now it becomes Nisan 11, the day after the Sabbath]
(12) And on the morrow (Saturday Nisan 10th), when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
(15) And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Exodus 12:1-6. (Nisan 10th / Nisan 14th)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month (Nisan) of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth (10th) day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth (14th) day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
* The overall point here is that the day of procurement as prescribed in Exodus 12:1-6 for Nisan 10th occurs in this Gospel time frame on a weekend (7th day) Saturday Sabbath.
[Yes, the day of the triumphal entry, but not the day of the cleansing of the temple]
• The likeliness of working, and purchasing with money handlers on a Sabbath day would have been likely avoided back in that time by the Sanhedrin council whose duty was to govern the sacred calendar.
[Nisan 10 consecration of the lamb was never moved due to falling on Sabbath]
* As well for those who esteem a crucifixion event occurring on a Passover of Friday Nisan 14th where our Lord resurrected on a Sunday Nisan 16th. Here the verse St. John 12:1 would apply as follows;
(1) “Then Jesus six days (Saturday Nisan 8th) before the Passover (Friday Nisan 14th) came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.”
• The likeliness here of our Lord traveling on route leading the disciples from Jericho (~20 miles away) arriving in Bethany on a Sabbath day (rest day) is beyond comprehension.
* In my opinion both of these time frames suggest that the events one way or the other leading up to Passover and the events remaining to follow just don’t stack up?
Best Regards - Pmary65
[The only substantial objection you offer is the presence of money changers on the “Sabbath”, but the cleansing of the Temple did not happen on the Sabbath.]
While in Hellenistic Greek one might put the resurrection on “one of the sabbaths” i.e. say the sabbath following the 7th day of unleavened bread, the word “one” is a semiticicm for “first”, i.e. “first of the sabbaths”, and the Lev. 23:15 instruction has this as the first sabbath after the 15th of Nisan.
Clearly, you are more freethinking and tolerant than a lot of others. Blessings.]
You leave us with something further to consider.
*I have understood John 12:1 as Thursday Nisan 8th counted inclusively as six days before Passover being on Wednesday Nisan 14th in the context of a time frame that I presented earlier.
The author of St. John at chapter 12:1 says clearly ‘before the Passover’. The same author clearly refers to the scene in St. John chapter 13:1 as ‘before the feast of Passover’. Here in a context with a feast day (i.e. feast of unleavened bread) beginning on Thursday Nisan 15th.
Again St. John 12:1 says ‘before Passover’ and St. John 13:1 says ‘before the feast of Passover’. It would appear then that the same author is making references to two separate occasions within the same Passover period.
If the author in St. John 12:1 had intended Friday Nisan 9th to be counted exclusively as six days before the feast of Passover Thursday Nisan 15th he could have easily said ‘six days before the feast of Passover’ in St. John 12:1 but he did not.
Therefore in my opinion ‘before Passover’ in St. John 12:1 applies as a clear reference to a six day count before Nisan 14th and not Nisan 15th.
*This same rule of thumb would apply in St. John 12:1 for the traditional belief where Jesus arrives in Bethany on Saturday Nisan 8th , followed by a Palm Sunday on Nisan 9th and a Passover on Nisan 14th being a Friday in this time frame.
- Best Regards
KJV Deuteronomy 16:6
But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even [ba’erev], at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. This verse actually refers to Nisan 15 when they had an additional festival offering called “Passover”. [End Quote]
The feast offering here was known as the ‘Chagigah’ that was killed and sacrificed on the closing afternoon of Nisan 15th.
This right was reserved privately to the temple high priests of whom they ate some of the Passover rations.
Some Commentators claim that the scene in St. John 18:28 pertains to the morning of Nissan 15th where priests not entering the hall of judgment consciously avoided any defilement from keeping the ‘Chagigah’ ritual held later on that same afternoon.
Uncleanliness would not likely have been an issue to the priests from entering a secular hall if the St. John 18:28 scene pertained to the morning of a Nisan 14th Passover preparation day.
Therefore some believe that Jesus last supper was a true Passover supper eaten the night before on the beginning of Nisan 15th.
The other points to consider were that these priestly ‘Chagigah’ sacrificial rituals were common knowledge to the peoples living back then in those times including the authors of the Gospels.
The Gospels referring to the ‘first (day) of bread’ (Nisan 15th) in Matthew (26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7) when the Passover must be sacrificed may be regarding the ‘Chagigah’ offering as that ritual in reference to the day the disciples were preparing for.
- Best Regards
At the end of the common meal in St. John 13:27 we read;
And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. KJV
* It is at the end of this common meal setting that Satan enters Judas Iscariot. When we then look ahead to the Synoptic gospels there we will see that Satan was already at work within Judas before the Passover (Nisan15th) Seder had began.
Mark 14:10
And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
Mark 14:17,18
And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
Luke 22:3
Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
Luke 22:14. 15
And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Matthew 26:26, 27
Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
In John 13:27 Satan enters Judas at the end of the common meal but in Luke 22:3 Satan has already entered Judas at the beginning of the Passover meal.
- Best Regards
Subsequently many theologians purport that that our Lord’s last supper was a genuine ‘Passover Seder’ at the nightly beginning of Nisan 14th. Some others feel that our Lord’s last supper was a ‘common meal’ in the evening at the end of Nisan 13th. Many others believe that our Lord ate his last supper as a Passover Seder ritual observed at the designated time in the night beginning on Nisan 15th where he must have died later that same day.
I myself believe that the meal descriptions in St John 13 and that of the Synoptic gospels are 2 different meals where our Lord ate the last supper as a genuine Passover Seder in the night beginning on Nisan 15th where he had hoped to fulfill his Passover observations to the end of Nisan 21st but could not.
It was our Lord’s intent and further desire to complete the Passover formalities feasting on unleavened bread for another 6 days with the disciples but our Lord knew his time was being cut short. The disciples themselves may not have comprehended at that point in time that this was their last time being fully assembled. Nor could they comprehend the unfolding events that lay in store.
Best Regards - Pmary65
In those verses we commonly find the Koine Greek phrase; 'μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων' which is transliterated 'mia ton Sabbaton' and is translated to literally mean; 'one of the Sabbaths'. [End Quote]
It might be interesting to take note where the transliterated word ‘mia’ for ‘one’ is used at other instances in the Gospels. To those viewers who retain a Greek N.T. or an interlinear Greek N.T. it should appear quite visible.
Outside the resurrection verses (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; and John 20:1,19) of the New Testament the Koine Greek word μιᾷ transliterated as ‘mia’ is found in a few other N.T. references at; Mark 14:66 (one of the maids), and Luke 5:17; 17:22; 20:1. (one of the days) and Acts 21:7 (one day).
If you read into the context of each reference you may understand them better if the cardinal number ‘one’ is applied to them.
If you read into those references where the ordinal number ‘first’ is applied to them you may be questioning the meaning as to what is being meant there.
Some folk will refer to earlier Hebrew sources as an attempt to show that Greek sources are inadequate or insufficient for descriptions. Some literary and linguist Experts often claim there arises rare situations where ambiguity is prevalent in context for more then one meaning.
Often the translator will interpret upon their preconceived notions without considering or being made aware of the bigger broader picture.
- Best Regards