The PASSOVER!
Was the
"Lord's Supper" the New Testament
fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover? What
is the true relationship between these two events?
Did Jesus
Christ and His disciples actually celebrate
the Passover the night of their "Last
Supper"?
What is the
Biblical truth?
William F. Dankenbring
For decades the Worldwide Church of
God, under Herbert W. Armstrong, taught that the "Lord's Supper"
celebrated by Jesus Christ and His disciples was actually the Old Testament
Passover, albeit with new covenant ssymbols.
It was firmly believed and taught that the symbols of the New Testament
"Lord's Supper" -- unleavened bread and wine -- replaced the Old Testament
symbols of Passover lamb, herbs, and associated rituals. The telling of the Passover story -- the
"seder" -- was replaced by Scriptures referring to the death of
Christ for our sins and transgressions.
But was this final "Lord's
Supper," as we call it, really the "Passover"? Was it observed the night the Jews celebrated
the Passover and ate the Passover lamb and meal?
Many have been confused about this
question. Even today, different
offshoots and spin-offs of the Worldwide Church of God see this matter
differently, and even various ministers in the same Church group disagree. Some, who are trying to work for
reconciliation, are beginning to say it doesn't matter which night is observed,
or how, so long as we observe one or the other!
The issue reminds me of a day, years
ago, about 1974, when I was sitting in the office of Herman L.Hoeh, then editor
of the Plain Truth magazine and evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God. We
were discussing the Pentecost problem -- the Church had been observing the
feast on a Monday every year, but now it was beginning to change to a Sunday
Pentecost. Mr. Hoeh told me as I sat in front of his desk,
"I don't agree with the new teaching."
"What will you do?" I
asked.
"I will observe both," he
replied, with a grim sort of expression on his face. "I will keep Sunday with the Church, in
public, and Monday at home, by myself."
That seemed to be his solution to the problem. He would go along with the Church's decision
in public, and make no waves, even though he knew the observance was in
error. He would hew to his own belief
in private.
This seems to be the common way to
deal with problems. When they arise, just shove them under the rug. Do not make a public scene, lest you lose your
high-paying job, or become disfellowshipped!
But what about Passover
and the Lord's Supper? Are they
really one and the same thing? And if
they are two different things, should we observe both?
The
Passover Statute
In
the book of Exodus we read concerning the Passover, "And this day shall be
unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout
your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance FOREVER" (Exodus
God says, "Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth 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 . . . 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" (Exo.12:3-6).
The original Hebrew in this passage
is ben ha arbayim and means, literally,
"between the two evenings."
Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament tells us about
this expression. It relates,
"between the two evenings, Ex.
The big question is, then, what does
this expression really refer to? There
has been controversy over this point for thousands of years. According to the opinion of the Karaites and
Samaritans, the expression refers to the time between sunset and deep twilight,
or dusk. "The Pharisees, however,
and the Rabbinists considered the TIME WHEN THE SUN BEGAN TO DESCEND to be
called the FIRST EVENING (Arabic 'little evening'; 'when it begins to draw
towards evening'; and the SECOND EVENING to be the REAL SUNSET" (Gesenius).
As Gesenius pointed out, the
Pharisees and Rabbis of the Jews taught that the phrase "between the two
evenings" meant from the time the sun begins to descend till final sunset. Josephus, a leading Pharisee and Jewish
general of the first century, and the greatest Jewish historian of ancient
times, wrote concerning this subject. In
his book Wars of the Jews, he declared:
"So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is
called the PASSOVER,
WHEN THEY SLAY THEIR SACRIFICES FROM THE NINTH HOUR TO THE
ELEVENTH . . ." (Wars, Bk.VI, ix, 3).
Notice carefully! In terms of Roman time, or today's Roman
calendar, this means that the JEWS in ancient times sacrificed the Passover
from
Now consider carefully! Since the Passover was sacrificed between
What could be plainer than that?
The Pharisees were the religious
teachers during the time of Christ. They
were the ones followed by the whole nation of
Should we today follow the example
set by the Pharisees, as to the proper time for observing the Passover? That is, the original Passover was slain in
the latter part of the 14th, but not eaten until the twilight or darkness of
Nisan 15th. What did Jesus Himself say
on this issue?
Jesus did not take issue with the
teaching of the Pharisees concerning the Torah, or Law, or the proper times for
the holy days and festivals of God to be observed. Rather, He Himself, with all the authority of
Heaven, declared: "The scribes and
the PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT: ALL THEREFORE
WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO . . ."
(Matt.23:2-3).
How crystal clear -- how plain! Since the Pharisees sat in MOSES' SEAT, their
authority in teaching the laws and statutes and holy days of God was BINDING
UPON ALL THE CHURCH! They taught that
Passover should be observed at the closing or ending of the 14th of Nisan, not
at the beginning of the day! The
Passover was killed in the LATE AFTERNOON, AT THE VERY TIME JESUS CHRIST, OUR
PASSOVER LAMB, WAS SLAIN AND SHED HIS BLOOD FOR OUR
SINS! Therefore, Jesus was a PERFECT
ANTI-TYPE of the original Passover lamb!
Imagine the scene, if you can. Just as Jesus Christ was pouring out His holy
blood for our sins, hanging on the tree, paying the penalty for our sins, as
our Passover Lamb of God, multiple thousands of Jews throughout Judea were also
slaying their Passover lambs! What a
perfect fulfillment"! What a
perfect anti-type! What a marvelous picture! Jesus fulfilled the anti-type of the Passover
PERFECTLY! Josephus tells us that
during that time about 256,000 Passover lambs were being slain, one for every
ten people who were undefiled. Thus the
population in
Unger's Bible Dictionary points
out concerning the Passover, "The daily evening sacrifice (Exod.29:38,39),
usually killed at the eighth hour and a half (i.e., 2:30 P.M.), and offered up
at the ninth and a half hour (i.e., 3:30 P.M.), was on this day killed at
1:30 and offered at 2:30 P.M., an hour
earlier . . ." (article, "Festivals," p.354).
The New Westminster Dictionary of
the Bible declares concerning the Passover, "[Heb. pesah from pasah
(to pass over, in sense of sparing) . . . ] The 1st of the 3 annual
festivals at which all the men were required to appear at the sanctuary . . .
known also as the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex.23:15; Deut.16:16). It was instituted in
What "EVEN" Means
God says the Passover lambs were to
be killed in the "evening" of Nisan 14 (Exodus 12:6). Just when would
that be? At the beginning
of the day, or at the ending of the day (late afternoon)?
Let's find out. God commands, "In the first month, on
the fourteenth day of the month AT EVEN, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until
the one and twentieth day of the month AT EVEN" (Exodus
"In the fourteenth day of the first
month AT EVEN [evening, end of the 14th]
is the LORD's passover.
"And
on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread
unto the LORD: seven
days ye must eat unleavened bread" (Lev.23:5-6).
Now notice! God said
we are to keep the Feast from the 14th at evening till the 21st at evening
(Exo.12:18). If evening means the FIRST
PART OF THE DAY, then the Feast would be have to be the seven days from Nisan
14 to the end of Nisan 20! But here
in Leviticus
23 God plainly says the Feast begins on the 15th and lasts through seven
days.
Therefore, counting seven days
beginning with Nisan 15, makes the Feast last through Nisan 21, "at
evening." Obviously, the
"evening" of Nisan 14 means the ENDING PORTION of the day, and the
"evening" of Nisan 21, means the ENDING PART of that day!
Notice also Leviticus 23:27. Here we find the Day of Atonement was Tishri
10th. But ntoice verse 32.. Here God
says we are to celebrate the Day of Atonement "on the ninth day of the
month at even, from even to even, shall ye celebrate your
sabbath." This proves that the
"even" is the ENDING PORTION OF THE DAY!
The Going Down of the Sun
After
studying into this subject, I must confess I find it incredibly difficult to
believe anybody could claim, today, that the Passover was slain and offered
AFTER SUNSET, that is, at the beginning of the 14th of Nisan or Abib. Certainly, everyone admits that Jesus Christ,
the true Passover Lamb of God, of whom the Passover lamb was a forerunner or
type, was slain at the END of the 14th of Nisan! There should be no argument there. Then why do whole Churches believe that the
Passover itself was offered at the BEGINNING of the 14th of Nisan? The very idea boggles my mind.
Notice further evidence concerning
the proper time for the slaying of the Passover!
God told Moses, "But at the
place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou
shalt sacrifice the PASSOVER AT EVEN, AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, at the
season that thou camest forth out of Egypt" (Deut.16:16). Notice!
It was to be slain "at the going down of the sun" -- that is,
at the DESCENDING of the sun, or, to put it another way, "as the sun goes
down," or "as the sun DESCENDS."
This tense is equivalent to the present progressive tense in English! It is not past tense, that is, "after
the sun goes down," or "after sunset." It is, rather, AS THE SUN IS GOING DOWN, or
descending in the western sky, toward the horizon -- not AFTER it has GONE
down!
This same expression is used
elsewhere in the Old Testament.
"And when the sun was going down . . ." (Gen.15:12). The Hebrew Scriptures state: "AS THE SUN WAS ABOUT TO SET . .
." Clearly, this expression refers
to the time BEFORE SUNSET, not
afterward!
"And afterward Joshua smote
them (the Canaanite kings), and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees UNTIL
THE EVENING. And it came to pass at the
TIME OF THE GOING DOWN OF THE
SUN, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast
them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's
mouth,
which remain unto this very day" (Josh.10:26-27).
This event shows that the expression
"going down of the sun" refers to the time right up until sunset or
sundown, but not after. The Israelites
were commanded, in the law of God, not to allow the dead bodies of criminals to
hang on a tree at night. God told Moses,
"If a man is guilty of a capital offense and is put to death, and you
impale him on a stake, you must not let his corpse remain on the stake
overnight, but must BURY HIM THE SAME DAY" (Deut.21:22-23). Since each day begins and ends at SUNSET, to
bury such a criminal "THE SAME DAY" means he had to be buried PRIOR
TO SUNSET! Thus, we read again of
Joshua who slew the king of Ai.
"And the king of Ai was impaled for a stake UNTIL EVENING. AT SUNSET, Joshua had the corpse taken down
from the stake . . ." (Joshua 8:29)
This same expression is used in the
Bible of the death of king Ahab. As Ahab
was fighting the Syrians, he was struck by an arrow from a bowman and was
sorely wounded. "And the battle
increased that day: and the king was
stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and DIED AT EVEN: and the blood ran out of the wound into the
midst of the chariot. And there went out
a proclamation throughout the host ABOUT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, saying,
Every man to his city, and every man to his own country" (I Kings
22:35-36). The Hebrew Tanakh, or
"Holy Scriptures," has this verse, "AS THE SUN WAS GOING
DOWN." Again, the reference is to the time just prior to sunset or sundown,
as the sun's light begins to fade in the west.
The
Daily Sacrifice
In
the book of Numbers God gives instructions concerning the daily sacrifices
which were to be offered before Him. God
commanded, "And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by
fire unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot DAY BY DAY
[Heb. 'IN A DAY'], for a continual burnt offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer IN THE
MORNING, and the other lamb shalt thou offer AT EVEN [Heb. 'BETWEEN THE
EVENINGS'] . . ." (Num.28:3-4).
Notice carefully! Both these offerings were to be offered
DAILY, "day by day," "IN A DAY" -- that is, WITHIN THE
SAME DAY! The first one is the
morning sacrifice, and the second one is the EVENING sacrifice. In order for the evening sacrifice to be
offered the SAME DAY as the morning sacrifice, it had to be offered BEFORE
SUNSET! Otherwise it would have been the
NEXT day! What could be clearer? Thus, the daily sacrifices is another
additional proof that "evening" or "between the evenings"
has to refer to the period of time BEFORE SUNSET, or LATE AFTERNOON BEFORE
SUNDOWN!
It should be plain that the Passover
was celebrated at the close of Nisan 14, and actually eaten on Nisan 15,
according to the Scriptures. Jesus died
at the very time the Passover lambs were being killed at the Temple in
Jerusalem.
But what, then, was the "Lord's
Supper"? And why do so many think
it is actually the New Testament "Passover"? Where did this misunderstanding originate?
A
Close Look at the "Lord's Supper"
A key to Bible study is to always
begin with the clear, obvious verses, and then to proceed to the unclear,
nebulous ones. This rule helps prevent
many mistakes in interpretation. Another
important rule is to always be sure to get the "context" of the
verses in question. Understand the
over-all picture. A third valuable rule
could be put this way: NEVER
ASSUME. Always probe beneath the
surface, and never be satisfied with superficial, shallow "opinions."
With this in mind, let's examine the
account of the gospel of Luke, where he introduces the topic of the
"Lord's supper." Notice!
"Now the feast of unleavened bread
drew nigh, which is called the Passover. . . .
"Then
came the day [Greek word can mean "time"] of unleavened bread, when
the
Passover must be killed. And he sent
Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare
us
the passover, that we may eat. And they
said unto him, Where wilt thou that
we
prepare?
"And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered
into the city, there shall
a
man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he
entereth
in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of
the house, The master saith
unto
thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my
disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room
furnished: there make
ready"
(Luke 22:1-12).
Just what is the scene pictured in
the 22nd chapter of Luke? Let's look at
this chapter, verse by verse, and match these verses up with other clear and
easily understandable verses, so we can "prove" the truth, carefully,
as we go along, taking nothing for granted.
The Different Uses of the Word
"Passover"
Notice verse 1. Luke explains what he means by "the
Passover" in this verse. He
writes, "Now the Feast of Unleavened
Bread
drew near, which is called the Passover." Thus in Luke's terminology, the term
"Passover" sometimes refers to the entire feast of Unleavened
Bread!
Now notice verse 7: "Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread,
when the Passover must be killed."
In this verse the "Passover" which must be
"killed" has to refer obviously to the "Passover lamb"
which was killed. My margin in the NKJV
Bible says, "sacrificed." You
don't "kill" a day, or a meal, but you do kill an animal, in this
case "the Passover lamb." The
day the lamb was killed or sacrificed was Nisan 14, the day before the actual
"FEAST" started, which was the 15th through the 21st (seven
days). The 14th of Nisan was also called
a "Day of Unleavened Bread," in this verse, because on that day all
leaven was destroyed or removed -- it was the "Preparation Day"
for the Festival.
Obviously, then, we have proved that
the word "Passover" itself can have several different meanings. It clearly does not always refer to the
dinner itself where the Passover lamb is eaten! That much we have proven already!
The word "Passover" itself
is interesting and important to understand, then. Strong's Concordance points out, in its
definition of the Greek word pascha, from which we get the English word
"Passover" in the New Testament, that this word means or
signifies: "the Passover (the
meal, the day, the festival, or the special sacrifices
connected with it)."
In the Old Testament, the word
"Passover" is translated from the Hebrew word pesach, from pasah,
a primitive root meaning "to hop, i.e. (fig.) skip over (or
spare) . . ." Pesach itself
means "a pretermission, i.e., exemption; used only tech. of the
Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim)."
Thus, when the term 'Passover"
is used, it can refer to several different aspects of the Passover Feast
-- the seven-day Festival itself, the Passover seder meal observed at the
beginning of the 15th of Nisan, the Passover lamb sacrificed during the
afternoon of Nisan 14, and the other sacrifices killed during the
Festival. In effect, anything
connected with the Festival could be called "the Passover," as it
would constitute PART of the Passover. The
season of the year is even called the "Passover season," meaning the
Spring, the time of the year when the Passover is observed!
The "Preparation" of the Passover
Now let's look at verse 8: Jesus sent Peter and John telling them,
"Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." In context, then, He is telling them to
"Prepare for the coming Passover Feast" -- all the seven days
of "Passover" (verse 1). They
had to prepare -- that is, obtain "unleavened bread," and all the
things necessary for observing the Passover for seven
days. Jesus was telling His disciples to
"PREPARE" for the up-coming Passover -- that is, to "GET
READY" and "make preparations."
Actually, from Nisan 10 to Nisan 14,
from from the day the Passover lambs were selected (Nisan 10), to the day they
were killed (Nisan 14), was the preparation time for the Passover
Feast. Even after the "Lord's
Supper," even after Jesus had been seized by the Pharisees and Sadducees,
and even after He was delivered to Pilate for judgment, it was STILL
"the preparation" period for the Passover! We read in the book of John:
"When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth,
and
sat down in the judgment seat in a place
that is called the
Pavement,
but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
"And
it was THE PREPARATION OF THE PASSOVER, and about
the
sixth hour [that is, HIGH NOON -- John uses JEWISH TIME
in
his reckoning): and he saith unto the
Jews, Behold your King!"
(John
19:13-14).
Killing the lamb was just one
part of the preparation needed to properly observe the Passover Feast. In addition, all leaven had to be put out of
the homes of the people, and gotten rid of, and preparations had to be made for
the obtaining of unleavened bread, and further preparations for the Passover
seder meal on the night of Nisan 15, as well as for the remainder of the entire
seven-day Festival. The lambs,
themselves, had to be taken to the Temple region, and inspected by the priests
to be sure they were "kosher," and then had to be killed during the
afternoon of Nisan 14, between roughly 3 and 5 o'clock, as Josephus the Jewish
historian states.
The Passover Preparation Period
Alfred Edersheim describes the
preparations of the Passover:
"The special preparations for the
Passover commenced on the evening of the
13th
of Nisan, with which, according to Jewish reckoning, the 14th began, the
day
being computed from evening to evening. Then the head of the house was
to
search with a lighted candle all places where leaven was usually kept, and to
put
what of it he found in the house in a safe place, whence no portion could be
carried
away by accident. Before doing this, he
prayed: 'Blessed art thou, YHVH,
our
God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments,
and
commanded us to remove the leaven.' And
after it he said: 'All the leaven
that
is in my possession, that which I have seen and that which I have not seen,
be
it null, be it accounted as the dust of the earth.' The search itself was to be
accomplished
in perfect silence and with a lighted candle.
To this search the
apostle
may have referred in the admonition to 'purge out the old leaven' (I Cor.
5:7)"
(p.172).
Edersheim continues his account, describing the events that
occurred during the daylight portion of the "preparation day" of
Nisan 14:
"Early on the forenoon of the 14th of
Nisan the feast of the Passover may be said
to
have begun. In Galilee, no work was done
all that day; in Judaea it was continued
till
mid-day; the rule, however, being that no new work was to be commenced, though
that
which was in hand might be carried on. . . . The strictest opinion fixes ten
o'clock
as
the latest hour when leaven might be eaten, the more lax eleven. From that hour
till
twelve o'clock it was required to abstain from leaven, while at twelve it was
to be
solemnly
destroyed, either by burning, immersing it in water, or scattering it to the
winds.
"
Edersheim points out that the regular "evening
sacrifice," of the Passover day, was slain an hour earlier than on other
days -- at 1:30 in afternoon.
Customarily, on most days it was slain at 2:30 P.M. and offered at 3:30,
but on the eve of Passover it was killed an hour earlier. (If Nisan 14 fell on a Friday, then it was
killed two hours earlier, or at 12:30 in the afternoon, so as to prevent any
breach of the Sabbath day, so that all Passover sacrifices would be
accomplished before sunset and the beginning of the weekly Sabbath.)
The Passover lambs had to be slain
also, as part of the "preparation" for the Passover. They had to be slain at the Temple or
sanctified areas. Edersheim describes
the scene thusly:
"It was done on this wise: -- The
first of the three festive divisions, with their
Paschal
lambs, was admitted within the Court of the Priests. Each division must
consist
of not less than thirty persons (3 x 10, the symbolic number of the
Divine
and of completeness). Immediately the
massive gates were closed
behind
them. The priest drew a threefold blast
from their silver trumpets
when
the Passover was slain. Altogether the
scene was most impressive.
All
along the Court up to the altar of burnt-offering priests stood in two rows,
the
one holding golden, the other silver bowls.
In these the blood of the Paschal
lambs,
which each Israelite slew for himself (as representative of his company
at
the Paschal Supper), was caught up by a priest, who handed it to his colleague,
receiving
back an empty bowl, and so the bowls with the blood were passed up
to
the priest at the altar, who jerked it in one jet at the base of the
altar. While
this
was going on, a most solemn hymn of praise was raised, the Levites lead-
ing
in song, and the offerers either repeating after them or merely responding
.
. ." (p.175).
"If
the 'Hallel' had been finished before the service of one division was
completed,
it
was repeated a second and, if needful, even a third time. . . . Next, the
sacrifices
were
hung up on hooks along the Court, or laid on staves which rested on the
shoulders
of two men (on Sabbaths they were not laid on staves), then flayed,
the
entrails taken out and cleansed, and the inside fat separated, put in a dish,
salted,
and
placed on the fire of the altar of burnt-offering. This completed the sacrifice.
The
first division of offerers being dismissed, the second entered, and finally the
third,
the
service being in each case conducted in precisely the same manner. Then the
whole
service concluded by burning the incense and trimming the lamps for the
night"
(p.177).
Thus the Passover preparation day of the 14th of Nisan,
which fell on a Thursday that year, was filled with activity, as the people got
ready for the Passover seder/dinner at the beginning of Nisan 15.
Now, let's go back to our story in
Luke 22. Nisan 14 clearly had not yet arrived. It was most likely the morning
of Nisan 12, Tuesday morning, when Jesus beckoned to His disciples. At this time Jesus told His disciples to go
into the city of Jerusalem, find a man bearing a pitcher of water, follow him
into his house, and inquire about the guest-chamber where Christ and His
disciples
could "eat the passover" (verse 11). Thus they had virtually two
whole days in which to do their preparations, a sensible plan.
But IF this event occurred on the very evening of Nisan 13, as
some believe, and if they were going to eat the Passover that very evening,
beginning Nisan 14, then this means that Jesus at this very late moment told
them to "go and prepare." If that be the case, then wasn't He really
asking them to do the well-nigh impossible?
Wouldn't He have waited too long?
Think about it!
What about the lamb? What about taking the lamb to the Temple,
having it properly approved, then killed, and gutted? Besides, these things were required to be done
on the afternoon of Nisan 14, as we have proved -- NOT ON NISAN 12 or
13!
Was Jesus here holding a
surreptitious, secret, furtive, unlawful, illegal "Passover" nowhere
sanctioned in the Word of God?
Of course not!
Now imagine for a moment. If Jesus was referring to "preparing the
Passover," to eat it, including the lamb, that very night, then He
was totally ignoring the original Passover command which said the lambs were to
be slain "in the evening" of the "fourteenth day" (Exodus
12:6). The EVENING of the 14th means the
END of the 14th!
Was Jesus Christ breaking this
command, and telling His disciples -- at the very last minute, as it were -- to
"prepare" to keep the Passover just a few hours later, after the
beginning of Nisan 14, as some believe?
Of course NOT! In the first
place, would He CHANGE the time and manner of observing the Passover?
Jesus Himself said He did NOT come
to change God's Law! On the contrary, He
came to strengthen and magnify and uphold it!
He declared: "For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in NO
WISE pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt.5:18). Therefore, He did not "change" or
"alter" the PASSOVER!
Jesus Christ, the very Son of God,
who was the manifestation of Yahveh in the Old Testament, says: "For I am the LORD: I change NOT; therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6).
"Eating the Passover"
Now notice Luke 22, verse 11: The disciples were to ask the man they encountered
in the streets where the guest room was which Jesus would use to "eat the
Passover with My disciples." What
does Jesus mean here? Is He necessarily
referring to the Passover dinner, which was held on the beginning of Nisan
15?
That would be impossible, since He
knows He will BE the "Passover lamb" of God, sacrificed at the time
of the Passover sacrifice (I Cor.5:7-8).
He knew He would not be eating the traditional, normal Passover with
them. So what could He be referring
to, here? Let's remember the context,
and the fact that "Passover" can have several different meanings!
Again, as verse 1 shows, the
"Passover" can refer to any part or aspect of the Passover Feast,
or else the ENTIRE SEVEN DAY FEAST. Jesus
had obviously arranged with this man to "rent" or obtain this room
for the entire Festival, during which they would be feasting, eating unleavened
bread, and rejoicing before God.
Jesus did "eat the
Passover" with His disciples after He arose from the dead, for the
remainder of the Feast. However, it
should be obvious that He did not eat the "Passover lamb" with
them that year, because He was our Passover lamb, being sacrificed at the
very time the Jews were sacrificing their lambs (I Cor.5:7).
But what about this special meal, or
dinner, they were to have that very night?
Could it also have been classified or considered as "part of the
Passover"?
"They
Prepared the Passover"
Verse 13: ". . . they prepared the
Passover."
Of course! The disciples did as Jesus instructed, found
the man, followed him to his house, and were led to the room, which they
prepared for the coming Feast of Passover, stocking up with supplies, and their
Festival needs. They also prepared a
meal for that night, since none of them had yet had supper. This meal, this very evening, would
constitute a sort of "kicking off meal" for the whole Passover
celebration which would last the rest of that day and the following seven days!
But was this "kick-off"
meal or banquet the traditional "Passover" seder or banquet itself,
as some teach? Remember, one of the keys
to understanding the Bible is to put ALL the relevant Scriptures together, before
you draw any conclusions! In this
case, let's now turn to the book of John, and see what he says about this final
"meal" itself. Does the
apostle John say it was the "Passover"? Notice!
The apostle John records of this
event: "Now before
the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that HIS HOUR HAD COME that He
should depart from this world, having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end. And supper
being served ["ended" is a poor translation; my Bible margin says,
"during supper"], the devil having already put it into the heart
of
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus . . . rose from SUPPER . .
." (John 13:1-4).
Notice! This was