Passover, Easter, And The Hebrew Calendar

Dear friends, you might be surprised by this title: both Passover and Easter have passed already, so why would I write about it now? Why, indeed? Currently, we are in the month of Iyar, the second month of the biblical calendar; the root of this word comes from the word “light”, this is the month of the increase of light—we feel it in nature, the days are getting longer and brighter, and we want this increase of light to be felt inside us, in our souls, in our hearts, and in our minds. I believe the things that I am going to share today will indeed enlighten my readers!

The Last Supper

The last days of Jesus have been among the most debated topics throughout the history of the New Testament. Many respected scholars have commented on this topic over the years. When was the Last Supper, for instance? Was the Last Supper a Seder— the festive meal that marks the beginning of the Passover?

Of course, I don’t claim to have the final answers, but personally, I don’t think it was a Seder. Why?  First of all, I have always been perplexed by the fact that when Judah left in the middle of the Last Supper “some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, “Buy those things we need for the feast”. In today’s Israel, everything would be closed during the Feast, but even if something was open then, no pious Jew would think of doing anything with the money on the Feast Day. However, the most important argument, I believe, is found in the Mishnah: “A paschal lamb is invalid if it was slaughtered for those who will not eat it…“[1] According to Jewish tradition, a paschal lamb had to be eaten during the Passover meal! The eating of the paschal sacrifice was the principal part of Seder! If the New Testament presents Jesus as the Passover Lamb, the meal that happened BEFORE the sacrifice of the Lamb, by definition, could not have been a Seder.

However, if it was not Seder, what was it? What was the nature of this meal? Let me share with you an additional quotation from Mishna, from the same tractate Pesachim:

“… The sages say that in Judah they would work on the day before Pesacĥ until noon, whereas in the Galilee they did not work at all…When someone goes from a place where they do work to a place where they do not (or from a place where they do not to a place where they do) we apply the more severe restrictions of both the place where he comes from and the place he is going to…”[2]

In Jesus’ time, there were different festival traditions in different places. As we all know, Jesus and his disciples were Galileans, therefore they would have observed Galilean traditions. There were several differences between Judean and Galilean Passover observance, but the most important one was a special fast – the Fast of the Firstborns, in remembrance of the firstborn Israelites who were saved from death. The Galileans observed this fast, and that is why we read in Mishna that “in the Galilee, they didn’t work at all” on Passover day. The fast took place on Nisan 14^th.

In Hebrew, the last meal before the fast is called seudah maphsehket  (if you have ever been in Israel for Yom Kippur, you would know that seudah maphsehket, the last meal before the Yom Kippur fast, is a very special event indeed).  Thus, in the Galilean tradition, there had to be this special meal before the beginning of Passover (Nisan 14^th) called seudah maphsehket. After this meal, there would be a whole day fast – and the next meal would be the Passover meal, the Seder. In this sense, this meal was indeed the Last Supper.

Easter Sunday … on Sabbath

Let us now try to figure out the days of the week when all of this happened. Most Christians believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. According to this traditional view, on Thursday evening, Jesus and His disciples gathered in Jerusalem for the Last Supper, then very late that night, Jesus was arrested. On Friday, He was crucified and died on the cross – to rise again on Sunday morning. However, do we really find the Resurrection Sunday in the Gospels – or this is one of the most crucial mistakes in Bible translation?

The Greek text of the New Testament never speaks of Jesus’ resurrection “on Sunday”. It literally says “on Sabbath” or “on one of the Sabbaths“. Mark writes that Jesus rose “early on the first Sabbath“[3] (this is the literal translation; of course, you would not find it in your regular Bibles). The meaning of this expression is clear for those knowing the Hebrew calendar – God’s calendar: it’s the “first Sabbath” of seven weekly Sabbaths, counted every year from Passover till Pentecost. The translators, however, did not know that, therefore they decided that this expression meant the “first day of the week” (Sunday). Hence, the traditional Christian belief in Sunday resurrection – Easter Sunday.

Now that we know that Jesus rose on the weekly Sabbath, Nisan 17^th., we can calculate all the days of this week. If Nisan 17^th was a weekly Shabbat, then Nisan 14^th, the Day of Passover Lamb, the Day of Crucifixion, was Wednesday. All four Gospels state that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation. Mark, Luke, and John say that the following day was Sabbath. Again, if we know God’s calendar and terminology, we would know that there are three Sabbaths each year during the Passover Feast: namely, the two high Sabbaths on the 15th and 21st Nisan, and one regular weekly Sabbath in between. Therefore, there are also three days of Preparation. Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, Nisan 14^th, on the Day of Preparation for the High Sabbath of 15^th Nisan.  He died at the 9th hour (3 pm), the same time that the Passover lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem. After “3 days and 3 nights”, He rose on the weekly Sabbath, Nisan 17^th,

Entering Jerusalem 

Today, Christians all over the world know that Palm Sunday is the beginning of Passion Week. Once again, are we sure that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday?  Let us read together the first verses of Exodus 12, where God instructed that the lamb that was to be slain on the eve of the Exodus, be separated out four days beforehand:

In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb…  Your lamb shall be without blemish… And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

In Jewish tradition, the weekly Shabbat before Passover is called Shabbat Hagadol (Great Shabbat). The first Shabbat HaGadol was in Egypt, on Nisan 10^th, when the Passover lamb was chosen and set apart and preparations began for its slaughter. This is the reason Jesus had to enter Jerusalem on the 10^th of Nisan – the very same day when the perfect lamb was to be selected and set apart. .A simple math would show us that if Nisan 17^th is a weekly Shabbat, Nisan 10^th is a weekly Shabbat as well.  Jesus entered Jerusalem on Saturday Nisan 10^th, on this special Shabbat before Passover – Shabbat Hagadol.

Thus, on Saturday, Nisan 10^th, Jesus entered Jerusalem. On Tuesday, Nisan 13^th, the disciples prepared this special meal that we call the Last Supper and that was, in fact, seudah maphsehket—the last meal before the Fast of the Firstborns. Jesus and his disciples ate this meal before sundown, before the day changed to Nisan 14^th.  Then Jesus was arrested at night, tried and convicted early morning, then crucified during that day – and all this happened on Nisan 14^th, the day of “Pesach”—the day of the slaughtering of the Passover lamb. On Wednesday, Nisan 14^th, Jesus died on the cross; and on Saturday Nisan 17^th, after “3 days and 3 nights”, He was resurrected!

[1] Mishna, Tractate Pesachim, Chapter 5 Mishna 3

[2] Mishna, Tractate Pesachim, Chapter 4 Mishna 1,5

[3] Mark 16:9

If this article whets your appetite for learning more about the Jewish background of Jesus’ teaching, I would be happy to provide more information (and also a teacher’s discount for new students) regarding our amazing course, Jewish Background of the New Testament (juliab@eteachergroup.com). You might also enjoy my books, they all are Bible-based and have  Hebrew insights – you can get them here.  In particular, after this article, I can recommend my book “Unlocking the Scriptures”, which explains various details in the New Testament through the Jewish Background.