Passover

The Passover

There is a reason Passover is central to the events of Holy Week. Its institution was a highly symbolic shadow of things to come. The Passover centered on the paschal lamb, a male without blemish having no broken bones whose blood would protect Israel from death and lead to their deliverance. Jesus, the Lamb of God, chose this backdrop as the exact time He would be led to the slaughter so that His blood could serve to cover those who would follow Him so that they could be free of the bondage of sin.

Passover occurs on the 14th day of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish calendar. According to the Mishna, Passover would begin on the 14th "between the settings" or "between the evenings" (Exodus 29:39, Numbers 28:4).

The ruling class at the time, namely the Pharisees and Sadducees, calculated the days as sunset to sunset. Genesis says, "... and there was evening, and there was morning, one day". In other words, the day did not change at midnight like it does for us, it changed at sunset. This is important to remember.

As the Passover lamb is slain on the 14th "between the evenings", or near to sunset, then the actual Passover would begin on the fifteenth after sunset to be immediately followed by the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the same day (which also was a High Sabbath, or an annual Sabbath). Luke refers to the "day of unleavened bread" as being before the Passover (Luke 22:7). How is this so, if the day the Passover was killed (the 14th) is the day prior to the beginning of the Passover itself (the 15th)?

The 14th was a day of preparation for the actual Passover meal. This preparation included removing all traces of leaven from the home prior to noon on the 14th and then slaying the Passover lamb that afternoon between 3pm and 5pm, which was before the sunset that day. The "day of unleavened bread" came to be known as such by being part of the preparation for the Passover; it became interchangeable with the day used to remove leaven from the house.