Contents:

Part 1: The Journey Begins

Part 2: A Passover Detour

Part 3: A Return to the Road

Part 4: Curves and Bumps

Part 5: Stop and Go Traffic

Part 6: Checking the Map

Part 7: Arriving at the Destination

Facts of the Festival 

In the context of Judaism, both historic and modern, Passover is one, if not the most significant festival. 

Knowledgeable Christians recognize this fact and see how closely related our celebration of Christ’s Passion is related to Passover, not just in timing—as Easter follows Passover on the calendar—but see that Christ fulfills the images portrayed in the various elements. 

Passover season, of course, moves from year to year as it follows a lunar calendar. For example, in 2022, Easter falls on 17 April as Passover begins on 15 April. 

In the time of the Jerusalem temple, Passover and the accompanying sacrifices used to celebrate it had certain requirements. There were certain times of day that they had to be offered and only certain days that they could be offered. These facts are outlined in a landmark book written by a Jewish-convert-to-Christianity by the name of Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889).

Edersheim’s book, The Temple and It’s Ministry and Service, written in 1874, gives one of the most in-depth insights into the practices of the Jerusalem temple in the second temple period, devoting two chapters of his work to the background and practice up to the destruction of the temple. More importantly, Edersheim actively interacts with many of the misunderstandings and misapprehensions present in Christian theology surrounding Passover in the late 19th century, correcting the misunderstandings and actively “debunking” many of the myths that had arisen in scholarship at the time.

Appealing to the Mishnah, Edersheim notes that was a historical distinction made in the Passover from its institution to its eventual annualized festival practice.[1] He also notes that this is described as a joyous time of celebration for the nation and that Jerusalem and its surrounding villages would have been bustling with pilgrims and the temple would have been alive with the various offerings and sacrifices, both normal daily and the festival-specific.[2]

Edersheim notes that the Passover would be celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan, noting that the timing of sacrifices would be altered to allow for the Passover lamb to be slain as close to the time of the normal evening sacrifice as possible.[3] The next day, the 15th, would be treated as if it were a Sabbath, with a few exceptions for certain food preparations.[4] This fact, I would like to note, helps to also explain why Jesus’ death would have been handed off to the Romans.

Focusing specifically on the sacrifices of Passover, Edersheim notes that there is an apparent misunderstanding of the Paschal sacrifice specifically in that it is neither an offering for sin nor for peace, though it contained elements of both.[5] Rather, the Passover sacrifice serves as an institutionalizing or inaugural sacrifice due to the fact that it is the first sacrifice called for by God before the institutionalizing of the Levitical order, the Covenant, or the Law.[6] But this isn’t nearly as important as the fact that there was a two-fold sacrifice that might be in view that confuses those not intimately familiar with the practice of Passover in the ancient context.

Edersheim notes that this two-fold sacrifice, called a Chagigah, was a peace offering that would be offered on the 14th of Nisan and would form part of the subsequent Paschal Supper.[7] The second Chagigah would be offered on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, 15th of Nisan, and while the first Chagigah was voluntary, the second was mandatory.[8] This second offering, he notes, poses an interesting issue regarding the timing of the Festival of Unleavened Bread,

…the Mishnah lays down the rule, that it was only to be offered if the Paschal day fell on a week-day, not on a Sabbath…[9]

Whether this rule would be in force during the time of the temple in the days of Jesus is uncertain, but it definitely should cause one to pause and consider the facts before jumping to any conclusions.

To summarize Edersheim’s point, it should be recognized that in the time of Jesus, Passover and the subsequent Festival of Unleavened Bread were celebrated on specific days with the former being celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan and the latter on the next day, the 15th day of Nisan. And with the exception of certain specific sacrifices, they were offered on those same days. There was little, if any, variance in this observance and such was only dependent upon whether or not one or the other actually fell on a Sabbath.

The only apparent issue, according to Meredith Nyberg, is timing, as she notes,

Scholars debate whether Jesus’ last meal was actually held on the night designated for the Passover feast. Rosen proposes that the Synoptic Gospels viewed Passover as beginning on the morning of Nisan 14, while the Gospel of John viewed Passover as beginning at sunset on Nisan 14. Thus, the Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus’ crucifixion as occurring the afternoon of Nisan 15, but by John’s reckoning it was still Nisan 14 until sundown, so Jesus was crucified that day. Therefore, all of the Gospels would portray the Passover meal taking place on Nisan 14,…[10]

This alleged uncertainty in timing was answered in more recent times by Joseph Stallings in his 1994 book Rediscovering Passover, wherein he demonstrates that any confusion stems more from ignorance of the order of the festivals and the accompanying terminology on the part of the critic when it comes to why Jesus was subjected to essentially a sham trial over night,

On the 14th [day of Nisan], all of the priests, and especially the high priest, were occupied with the elaborate preparations and purifications for the sacrifices of the Passover. They were not only fully occupied with the Passover sacrifice from noon until after three, and with the emurim from late afternoon until well into the evening, but their entire morning was taken up with the morning sacrifice, the festival offerings (chaggigah) of the throngs of pilgrims, and the minchah or the evening sacrifice, all of which had to be completed before noon! There just was not enough time for them to gather the others for a meeting, let alone to gather the necessary witnesses. The 15th, on the other hand, was more relaxed. [11]

The 15th day of Nisan being the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 

Moreover, this explains something that adds to the apparent confusion as to what the priests who refuse to go into Pilate’s palace when John explains that they, “did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover”[12], as Stallings notes,

Jesus was condemned by the chief priests of the Sanhedrin, who were responsible for the second Passover sacrifice (Nm 28:16-25). Originally, this sacrifice was offered along with the Passover offering (2 Chr35:10-19;2 Chr30:21-27). Together, these two sacrifices were known as “Pesach,” and known as such from the time of Kings Hezekiah and Josiah. The two sacrifices remained together as one until the first century, when they were separated because of the enormous number of Passover offerings. The second Passover sacrifice was moved from the 14th to the 15th of Nisan; the eating of it from the evening of the 15th to the evening of the 16th… “To eat the passover”…meant just as much “to eat the priestly Pesach/Pascha” as it did “to eat the Passover Sacrifice Pesach/Pascha.” We must not forget that it was the chief priests and priestly elders of the Sanhedrin that brought Jesus to Pilate, and not the Jewish people![13]

The question though seems to be on the manner of the meal that was partaken of by Jesus and his disciples, the means that would become known as his last supper, especially since it has been demonstrated that the term referring to what was apparently a Passover meal was applied to multiple meals on multiple days.

About seven years before Ehrman published Jesus, Interrupted,  Robin Routledge published a study in Tyndale Bulletin[14] looking into the question of what that meal was from evidences drawn from the various presentations in the gospels. In his study he notes that the Synoptics present Jesus’ last supper as a traditional Passover meal but choose to only focus on the elements of bread and wine and therefore are taken as the more historical while John’s gospel is seen to focus on the symbolic.[15] He also notes that there appears to be a shift in certain areas of scholarship that actually reverses this view, making John’s the more historical and the Synoptics to be the more symbolic.[16]

Routledge notes that the sticking point is between the request in the Synoptics of a place “to eat the Passover” with the similar but later reference in John but offers the possibility that John is using the term more loosely, along the lines that Stallings has suggested.[17] From there Routledge devotes the vast majority of his study to the elements of Passover and their correlates in the gospel presentations as a proper Passover meal, though the question of precise timing he is not prepared to plant his flag on, his conclusion is that the meal that they partook of—for all intents and purposes—was a Passover meal.[18] There is no doubt that Jesus was reinterpreting and reapplying the elements, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t such a meal.[19]

Summary

As has been noted in this section, historically the date of Passover was celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan—according to the Jewish lunar calendar—and was immediately followed by the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread on the 15th day of Nisan. Also, during this period, there would have been numerous sacrifices and that those sacrifices, while having different technical names, could colloquially be referred to with the same term: Passover/Paschal/Pascha. Lastly, while the interpretation/application of the elements of the Passover meal changed, it cannot be denied that Jesus and his disciples partook of a Passover meal.

In the next section, we will unpack Ehrman’s arguments from his book to see if his position matches with the facts.

Notes

  1. Alfred Edersheim. The Temple and Its Service in the Time of Jesus Christ. Christian Ethereal Classics Library. 2010. p. 217 (ePub)
  2. Ibid, p. 219-20
  3. Ibid, p. 227-29
  4. Ibid, p. 231
  5. Ibid, p. 239
  6. Ibid.
  7. Ibid, p. 222-23
  8. Ibid, p. 223
  9. Ibid.
  10. Meredith Faubel Nyberg. “Feast of Unleavened Bread”. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press. 2016
  11. Joseph M. Stallings. Rediscovering Passover: A Complete Guide for Christians. Resource Publications. 1994. p.168 
  12. John 18:28, ESV, emphasis added 
  13. Stallings, p. 169-70, emphasis original, links added
  14. Robin Routledge. “Passover and Last Supper”. Tyndale Bulletin, Vol. 53, No. 2 (p.203-21). November 2002.
  15. Ibid, p. 204-5
  16. Ibid, p. 205-6
  17. Ibid, p. 206
  18. Ibid, p. 222
  19. Ibid.