Passover 2009: Part 3 How Jesus Christ could Celebrate the Passover, be Crucified on the Passover, and be Buried before the Passover

Passover 2009: Part 3

How Jesus Christ could Celebrate the Passover, be Crucified on the

Passover, and be Buried before the Passover.

April 5, 2009 2009 Passover-03 and 04 2

Introduction

• The Passover is the Celebration of the Lamb of God, the gracious sacrifice God provided for the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, to foreshadow the deliverance of all mankind from sin slavery by Jesus Christ.

• The only ritual commanded to the Church is the Passover, “Do this in remembrance of me.”


Introduction

• The Hebrew sacred year began with he month of Abib during which the early barley harvest began the ripening process, the stage called abib, such that during the Days of Unleavened Bread the wave sheaf offering of the fresh barley could be made as the first of the Firstfruits.

• With this offering the barley harvest could commence.


The Jewish Calendars of Jesus' Day

• In the time of Jesus there were two, and possibly more, conflicting and opposing Jewish calendar systems at work.

• This should quickly become evident if you attempt to harmonize the gospel accounts of the events of the passion week.



• This multiple calendar situation should come as no great surprise.

• In Herodian times Judaism was not a unitary religion but a collection of sects reflecting a far greater range of cultural diversity than often recognized (Howlett 1957:171; Bowker 1969:7-8; Johnson 1976:14-15).



• In this sociocultural milieu the priests and the Sanhedrin followed a luni-solar calendar.

• The Essenes, on the other hand, adhered to a strictly solar calendar.

• This meant that for the most part the two groups kept the Passover at different times.


The Essene Calendar

• The Essene calendar, attested in I Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, consisted of a solar calendar of 364 days divided into seven-day weeks, twelve months of thirty days each except for one extra day in the last month of each quarter (Jaubert 1965:27; Pfeiffer 1969:64-65; Vanderkam 1998:55; Finegan 1998:44).


Essene Calendar

• The use of their own calendar was a most particular way in which members of the sect differentiated themselves from the rest of Israel.

• They celebrated their festivals on different dates, with the deliberate intention of differentiating themselves from the other Jews.

• This is a phenomenon typical of many sects throughout the world.

• Even among the Jews, the Samaritan calendar is different from the Karaite one, and both differ from the common Jewish one.



• The calendar of the Sages, of the whole House of Israel, was different from the Essene one, not only in the dating of the festivals, but in its whole conception of the year.

• The Essenes had a sophisticated solar calendar, in which there were fifty two weeks, and the festivals always began on the same day of the week.

• In this they were different from other Jews, who lived by a lunar calendar.(Flusser 1989:43.)


The Essene Calendar

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Trumpets, Feast of Tabernacles, and Feast of the Great Day (the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles), always began on Wednesday, actually on Tuesday evening as the Jews began days at evening not midnight (Jaubert 1965:10; Simon 1967:73).


The Essene Calendar

• Trumpets, Tabernacles, and the Great Day always occurred in the seventh month as set forth in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 23:24-44).

• As Nisan 15, the annual Sabbath, or Passover Sabbath, marking the start of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened bread began at sunset Tuesday night, the Essene observance of the Passover Seder was always on a Tuesday night (Finegan 1998:43, 48).



• In CE 30, however, the two calendars overlapped resulting in the two Passover celebrations occurring in the same week of April resulting in two Nisan 14 Passover celebrations occurring one day apart.



• In Jesus' time, the Pharisees and most Jews kept the Passover of the Jews, the Mosaic Passover, at the end of the fourteenth day and into the evening portion of the fifteenth.

• There is some scholarly debate concerning whether or not the priests fixed the calendar for any given year by calculation, by observation, or a combination of the two.



• Strangely, the Hebrew Scriptures provide only limited information about the nature of the priestly Hebrew calendar.

• There is no clear indication of intercalation in the biblical texts "though it must have been done in some way at all times in Israel" (Morgan 1979:577).



• Exodus 12:40 records that God informed the people of Israel that the month of their first Passover and Exodus from Egypt, the month of Abib, would be the beginning of months for them.



• In Jewish tradition the early Hebrew Calendar, with its 19-year lunar-solar pattern, came into being at the time of Adam and Eve.

• God provided, according to this tradition, more details about calendar calculations to the Levitical priests with the inception of the Sinaitic covenant. Exodus 12:40 states that at the end of 430 years "to the very day" (NASB) the people of Israel went out from Egypt.



• Kenneth Herrmann, in Calendar Eclipse Interrelationships, holds that these ancient Israelites could not have left Egypt "430 years (from the date of the covenant with Abraham when he was 99) even to the selfsame day, unless a very careful count of days as well as years had been kept" (Herrmann 1969:15-16).



• The Passover, according to the Rabbinic Calculated Calendar, occurred on April 22 (Wednesday) in 1446 and, precisely 430 years earlier, on April 6 (Wednesday) in 1873 BCE.

• In 1680 BCE the Passover was on April 29 (Friday) in 1250 BCE on April 17 (Friday).

• The Friday to Friday exactness could be coincidental but it may attest to the veracity of the Rabbinic Calculated Calendar.



• The Levitical priest-astronomers kept the rules and their methods for determination of the beginning of years, months, festivals, and annual Sabbaths a closely-held secret.



• In the Herodian period the Sadducees, who wanted complete political control, and the Pharisees who desired to dominate all aspects of Jewish religious life eroded the authority of the priests.

• Control over the calendar legitimized power and both groups sought it.



• In the Herodian period the priest-astronomers retained the power and authority to determine the new year and the appointed times for the festivals and annual Sabbaths.

• Nevertheless, the Sanhedrin, given certain powers of civil and religious administration by the Romans, held sufficient power to independently verify and officially proclaim them.



• This they did with observers posted on mountain tops, sending confirmation of the first visible crescent of the new moon by signal fires, by huddling in open displays of deep deliberation ensuring the public that the priest-astronomers were truthful, and then by sounding the trumpet to proclaim the new moon.



• This focused the people on the authority of the Sanhedrin not that of the Levitical priests.

• The irony is that the Sanhedrin, in all probability, already knew exactly when the first crescent would appear by priest-astronomer calculation but they put on this symbolic show to promote their own authority and agenda.



• The Sadducees, supplemented by leading priests, dominated the Sanhedrin, keeping the Pharisees at bay.

• The Pharisees, the minority faction, balked on how the priests determined the Feast of Weeks, known as the day of Pentecost, but were not able to do anything about that matter until after the collapse of the priesthood in CE 70.



• Passover Sabbath (the first High Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread) always occurs with a full moon rising in the east, the 15th day after the new moon.

• It cannot occur before the vernal equinox.



• By Rabbinical rules Passover Sabbath, starting at the previous sunset, can never occur on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday (so it can fall on a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday).

• Preventing Passover Sabbath from falling on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday eliminates the possibility that Tishri 1 could occur on a Friday, Sunday, or Wednesday.

• This is because Tishri 1 is always 163 days after Nisan 15.



• Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles, was also set to begin on a full moon, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tishri (Leviticus 23:34).

• Succoth had to occur in the fall after the gathering of crops (Deuteronomy 16:16).



• The rabbinic calculated calendar, the Hillel II calendar, provides us with a means for determining an approximation of the priestly calendar that functioned in Temple times.



• Accordingly, by calculation the Passover Sabbath in CE 30 began, as it did in CE 31 as well, on Wednesday evening making Wednesday Day, at first glance, the most probable candidate for the day of the Crucifixion.



• In Jewish culture days began at sunset so that evening/night came before morning/daytime.

• Sunset marked the end of a day and the beginning of a new one.

• The new day came before it was dark. • The context of Luke 22:8-10 and Mark 14:13,

where Jesus discussed where he would eat the Passover, shows it was still daylight but Nisan 14, a new day, had come.



• The discussion apparently took place in the period between sunset and when the darkness is complete.

• When it was late (Greek: opsios), that is, later at nightfall, or dark, Jesus and the Twelve came (Mark 14:16-17).


Nisan CE 30

• In the Rabbinic Calculated Calendar

• Sun MonTue Wed Thu Fri Sat

• 1 2 3

• 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

• 11 121314151617

• 18 192021222324

• 25 26272829



• While not prominent in the New Testament, the sect of the Essenes made up a significant subdivision of early first-century Judaism.

• The Essenes were an extremist monastic group, holding to a rigid, austere, and bizarre form of religion with Gnostic overtones, awaiting the Messiah to appear to deliver them to a new Israel.



• The Essenes, unlike the rest, followed a solar calendar, and always observed the Passover on a Tuesday night.

• The Essenes fixed Nisan 14 on their calendar as the third day of the week, sunset Monday night to sunset Tuesday night or simply Tuesday as we reckon time.



• In the Essene community the Passover Sabbath, the annual Sabbath known as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, always began at sunset Tuesday night and ended at sunset Wednesday night.



• This means of marking time differs from our Gregorian calendar wherein specific weekdays are not preset to exact dates.

• In the United States, for example, President's day always falls on a Monday, but it can come on different days of the month.

• Nisan 15 was always a Wednesday on the Essene calendar.


The Essene Nisan

• Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

• 1 2 3 4

• 5 6 7 8 9 1011

• 12 131415161718

• 19 202122232425

• 26272829 30


Harmonizing the Passion Week

• Understanding such calendar distinctions is important when considering which specific weekday Jesus consumed his last Passover meal with his disciples and for ascertaining the explicit weekday of his execution.

• There have been many attempts to harmonize the events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion into a coherent timetable.


Harmonizing the Passion Week

• All have their failings, nevertheless passionate arguments exist for a Wednesday crucifixion, a Thursday crucifixion and a Friday crucifixion as well as some for other days of the week.

• There have been serious obvious flaws in each argument and some biblical scholars have come to shun any attempt at harmonization of the gospel accounts of the Crucifixion week.


The Early Christian Passover

• First-century Christians kept the Christian Passover, or new Passover, as an annual commemoration of the suffering and death of Jesus the Messiah (Luke 22:19–20).

• Linked to the Jewish Passover, and Nisan 14, not 15, it was an annual event and not more frequent.



• I Corinthians 11:20. In early Christianity the Last Supper was a Passover meal, but by the time of the Reformation, orthodox Greco-Roman Christianity, distancing itself from Jewish customs, had removed the paschal features of the ritual, and it became the Lord's Supper.


The Early Christian Passover• The Reformers, still caught in the

sociocultural paradigm of sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism, brought into early Protestantism some of the customs and traditions associated with the mass.

• The practice of celebrating Eucharist at anytime, however, was not that of the very early Church (CE 30-70).



• In the Judeo-Christian thinking of the first Christians the events of the Last Supper produced a new Passover, in remembrance of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 11:24), observed annually at the end of the thirteenth day and into the evening portion of the fourteenth day of Nisan.

• That appears to be the unmistakable thinking of the gospel writers (Matthew 26:17-18; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:8, 22:15) and it certainly was the tradition of the ancient church.



• Judeo-Christians, well into the fifth century, continued to observe the Christian Passover at the beginning of Nisan 14, which according to Franciscan biblical archaeologist Bellarmino Bagatti, was due to "the common belief among the [Christian] Jews that the date had been fixed by the Lord and was, therefore, unchangeable.



• Many believed that this date was superior even to the sabbath itself" (Bagatti 1971a:81).

• Bagatti knew that the Sabbath remained important in Judeo-Christianity well into Nicene times.



• Every indication is that from that very night early Christians continued this practice.

• Indeed, according to Bellarmino Bagatti the practice was so much a part of Judeo-Christian practice that as late as the time of Constantine the Great they continued to argue that the traditional day of Nisan 14 for Christian Passover was not capable of change (Bagatti 1971a:10).



• Beginning with Constantine the Great, the social policy of the Roman government, at least when in the charge of orthodox emperors, was the elimination of paganism and the bringing about of unity in Byzantine Christianity.

• Its basis was establishing a common core of fundamental orthodox beliefs which would work to further the stability of the Roman state.



• In Bagatti’s words: "In the 4th century, when Christianity had already won the victory over paganism, there was a reorganization of the church for unitarian purposes.

• The Jewish usages and doctrines, unknown in great part to the Christian world, in some regions were looked upon as causes of division among the faithful and were therefore fiercely opposed.


The 1st Christian Passover

• Nevertheless, three centuries earlier, at the beginning of the fourteenth day of Nisan, on the evening before his death, Jesus chose to reveal His fulfillment of the unleavened bread and wine of the ancient Passover service.

• These changes were consistent with the New Covenant he brought into being.



• Jesus informed his disciples, on Nisan 13, two days before the feast of the Passover of the Jews (observed at the beginning of Nisan 15 after sunset), that he would be betrayed to be crucified (Matthew 26:1-2).



• Jesus instructed Peter and John, early Nisan 14, just after sunset and a full 24 hours before the Passover of the Jews, to make preparations to eat the Passover Supper that very evening (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13).



• Surprisingly, the Twelve appeared not to be in any way shocked or taken aback that they were going to eat the Passover with Jesus at the beginning of Nisan 14, as set forth on the traditional Hebrew calendar, not at the end of Nisan 14.



• The disciples seemingly had foreknowledge of Jesus' intent to keep the Passover earlier than the official declared time.

• We cannot suggest that the keeping of Passover a day early was Jesus' normal practice although some say that Galileans kept the Passover a full day before the Judeans.



• By this means they harmonize the gospel accounts wherein Jesus kept the Passover and yet died before the Passover.

• Back to back Passovers certainly do resolve this problem.

• However, there is no literary or archaeological evidence to suggest that the Galileans ever kept the Passover at any other time than that established by the Levitical priests.



• The only extant evidence points to the Essenes as always observing the Passover on a Tuesday night thereby providing hard evidence for the occasional celebration in Jerusalem of two adjacent days of Passover.

• A Tuesday night Essene Passover (the occasion of the Last Supper at the Essene guesthouse in Jerusalem) and Wednesday Crucifixion preceding a Wednesday night Jewish Passover reconciles Gospel discrepancies.



• The principal events of the evening, the defining elements of the new Passover included:

• a set time, a full 24 hours before the traditional Jewish Passover celebration, at the beginning of Nisan 14 (Matthew 26:20; Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14);

• a meatless Seder, the paschal meal, which the apostle Paul referred to as the Lord's Supper (I Corinthians 11:20; cf. Matthew 26:19, Mark 14:16, Luke 22:13)



• This had to be a meatless Seder because it occurred a full twenty-four hours before the Passover of the Jews.

• There was no Passover lamb to eat for the lambs would not be killed until the afternoon of Nisan 14.

• What is more the Essenes, as vegetarians, kept a meatless Passover.



• Hence, with the discovery of the Essene Passover we have:– Jesus celebrating Passover, – Dying on Preparation Day, and – Buried before the Passover!

• Exactly as the Scriptures report!• And, we see how He instituted a meatless

Passover, because He Himself is the Lamb.• This prefigures the centuries of meatless Jewish

Passovers after the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Temple sacrifices in 70 CE.


Tuesday, the Thirteenth of Nisan

• "And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?" Mark 14:12.

• This brings us to the day of Tuesday, Nisan thirteenth. This was our Lord's last day of freedom before His arrest and crucifixion.

2009 Passover-03 and 04The Passover Seder

As Celebrated By

The Lord Jesus

in His Last Week


Passover – a Christian Celebration• The Catholic writer Eusebius recorded that

Polycrates of Ephesus, around 195 A.D. wrote the following to the Roman Bishop Victor who wanted all who professed Christ to change Passover from the 14th of Nisan to Sunday:

• We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints.


Passover – a Christian Celebration• Among these are Philip, one of the twelve

apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fell asleep at Ephesus.


Passover – a Christian Celebration• And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and

martyr; and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna. Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead? All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith.


Passover – a Christian Celebration• And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do

according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said ' We ought to obey God rather than man'


Passover – a Christian Celebration• (Eusebius. Church History, Book V, Chapter 24.

Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1890. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).


Introduction to The Last Supper• Matthew 26:17-19 Now on the first day of the

feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."' And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.


Introduction to The Last Supper• It is agreed by all of Christendom that the

Passover was completely fulfilled by Yeshua Messiah, the Passover Lamb.

• We can see the Messiah in all of the Passover Seder.

• We see the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, as John the Baptizer announced.

• We can see the parallels between the Passover in Egypt, when the Hebrews were ‘passed over' by the angel of Death that struck the first born of Egypt.


Introduction to The Last Passover• Passover is the most important feast in all the

Jewish calendar. • Over a thousand years before, when Moses and

the twelve tribes of Israel found themselves in bondage down in Egypt, God called Moses from the burning bush and said, "Go and tell pharaoh the following: 'Israel is my firstborn son.'”

• According to Jewish tradition, the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt following the 10th and final Plague took place on 15 Nissan, 2448 or March 25, 1313 B.C.E.


Rabban Gamaliel• In every generation a man must so regard himself

as if he came forth himself out of Egypt, for it is written, “And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying, It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.”

• “Therefore are we bound to give thanks, to praise, to glorify, to honor, to exalt, to extol, and to bless him who wrought all these wonders for our fathers and for us.”


Rabban Gamaliel

• “He brought us out from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a Festival-day, and from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption; so let us say before him the Hallelujah.”


Isagogics: Time

• The Jewish evening always precedes the day. • The Jews taught that the night began when

three stars were visible in the sky at sunset and, therefore, also the new 24-hour cycle as we know it.

• The principle goes back to the very beginning of the world (Gen 1:5) ‘...there was evening and there was morning, one day’


Introduction to The Last Supper

• Leaven or ‘Hametz’ had to be gathered from the household so that the commandment of no leaven to be found in the house could be fulfilled (Ex 12:15).

• In the Mishnah, Pesahim 1:la reads that on the night of the fourteenth [of Nisan] the hametz must be searched for by the light of a lamp...’

• The practice (though this may have been a later addition) was to leave a piece of bread for the father to find.

• A feather and wooden spoon were used to sweep them up and they were put into a linen cloth and burned.


Introduction to The Last Supper• The collected leaven is burnt in the morning

so that every house is cleansed throughout the land of Israel (Pesahim 1:4 tells us that it was to be burnt at the sixth hour).

• Matthew 27:45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

• 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.


Introduction to The Last Supper

• The meal has come to be called the ‘seder’ which means, very simply, ‘order’ and represents the celebrations which took place on the evening of the 15th of Nisan after three stars were visible in the night sky.


Kaddesh (1st Cup)

• Luke 22:14-16 (WUESTNT)14 And when the hour came, He reclined at table and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, With an intense desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will positively not any longer eat the same until the time when it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And having taken a cup, having given thanks, He said, Take this and divide it among yourselves…


Rehaz (The Washing)

• Then Jesus took a long, linen cloth (λέντιον, from the Latin, linteum), and tied it around his middle, so that with the end of this towel he would be able to dry the disciples’ feet after he had washed them with his hands. Truly, the Lord of glory had “girded himself with humility” (cf. I Peter 5:5).

• “Then he poured water into the wash-basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to dry them with the towel which was tied around his waist.”


Rehaz (The Washing)

• Peter protested, and Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed has no need of washing anything except his feet, but is clean altogether. And you are clean, but not all of you are. — For he knew the one who was betraying him. It was for this reason that he said, Not all of you are clean.”


Karpas (Green Herbs)

• The next point of similarity with the Mishnah is in Pesahim 10:3 where it’s written that ‘...when [food] is brought before him, he eats it … with lettuce, until he is come to the breaking of bread...’

• Today, Karpas is the act of dipping a green vegetable into some salt water and then eating it, but, in the Mishnah, the ceremony doesn’t appear in this form.

• The Mishnah at this point is only saying that food was eaten before the lamb was, and that, when it was, it should always be eaten with lettuce.


Karpas (Green Herbs)• Mt 26:20-25 tells us that Jesus said at this point,

‘He who has dipped his hand in the dish with Me, will betray Me’

• Jesus’ words refer us back to Ps 41:9 where David wrote that ‘Even my closest friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me’ to show the fulfillment of the OT Scripture and, interpreting it, means simply ‘one who has shared fellowship with Me will betray Me’



• There’s no positive identification of the betrayer at this point.

• Jesus is only saying that one of those present who’s eating food with Him would be the one who was to betray Him.

• Note that the 11 disciples’ question (Mtw 26:22) was ‘Is it I, Lord?’ while Judas’ phrase (Mtw 26:25) was ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’



• Jesus’ words to Judas ‘You have said so’ are the same as if He had said ‘yes’, as can be seen from His confession before Caiaphas a few hours later in Mt 26:64.

• But it’s not certain that the disciples would have heard it or understood it had they done so.

• They may even have thought of such a statement as being something which lay far into the future or that it wasn’t as serious as it might be - after all, Judas was one of ‘them’.


Breaking of the Mazzah (Unleavened Bread)

• After the preliminary eating, Pesahim 10:3 carries on by noting that this was to continue ‘...until he is come to the breaking of bread...’

• Today, three pieces of Mazzah (unleavened) bread are used at different points in the seder.

• It was broken and passed round to all the participants.

• The Scripture says that it was ‘as they were eating’ (which refers us back to the discussion of the ceremony under ‘Karpas’ - Mtw 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19) that Jesus took the bread (which would have been unleavened).


Breaking of the Mazzah (Unleavened Bread)

• During the initial eating from the common food bowl, then, Jesus took the bread that was the next step in the correct paschal procedure.

• Jesus gave thanks for it, broke it and gave it to the disciples, drawing out the truth that from that time onwards they were to think of His body broken for them.

• Today, the Afikomen is celebrated with half of this Mazzah.


Maror/Korekh (Bitter Herbs/ Haroseth)

• Next in the procedure was that which is recorded in Pesahim 10:3 that instructs the reader that ‘...they bring before him unleavened bread and bitter herbs and the haroseth...’

• Bitter herbs are taken into an unleavened bread sandwich (using the broken pieces of the unleavened bread) and dipped into haroseth (an apple, nuts, cinnamon, honey and wine mixture - today, the recipe differs depending upon which culture the Jew is from - it may have also differed in first century Israel) and eaten.



• The bitter herbs bring tears to the eyes as a reminder that the Israelites’ bondage to the Egyptians was bitter.

• The haroseth is a reminder of the clay bricks which the Egyptians forced their slaves to make because of its appearance - though whether this last point was in their minds in the first century isn’t certain even though it remains more than likely.



• Notice that Jesus was ‘troubled in spirit’ (John 13:21) - the bitterness of the herbs reflected the sorrow of knowing that Judas had not believed in Him, and He would be betrayed.

• John 13:21 (JNT)21 After saying this, Yeshua, in deep anguish of spirit, declared, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that one of you will betray me.’



• John 13:21-30 (JNT) After saying this, Yeshua, in deep anguish of spirit, declared, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that one of you will betray me.’ The talmidim stared at one another, totally mystified—whom could he mean? One of his talmidim, the one Yeshua particularly loved, was reclining close beside him. So Shim‛on Kefa motioned to him and said, “Ask which one he’s talking about.”Leaning against Yeshua’s chest, he asked Yeshua, “Lord, who is it?”Yeshua answered, “It’s the one to whom I give this piece of matzoh after I dip it in the dish.”



• So he dipped the piece of matzoh and gave it to Y’hudah Ben-Shim‛on from K’riot. As soon as Y’hudah took the piece of matzoh, the Adversary went into him.

• “What you are doing, get it over with!” Yeshua said to him. But no one at the table understood why he had said this to him.Some thought that since Y’hudah was in charge of the common purse, Yeshua was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or telling him to give something to the poor. As soon as he had taken the piece of matzah, Y’hudah went out, and it was night.



• Immediately after receiving the morsel, Judas left the Passover feast and went to the high priest to pass on Jesus’ whereabouts.

• What actually happened during that meeting is impossible to know but we may judge based on the likelihood of Judas’ return to the meal later.



• The high priest likely gave instructions to Judas to return to the meal and inform him when the meal was completed, so that an arrest might be made at that point.

• It would be the case, then, that after he discovered where they were going, Judas slipped away from the crowd bound for the other side of the garden of Gethsemane to meet with the prepared soldiers who were waiting his return to lead them to the place where Jesus was.



• John 13:23 refers to the seating arrangement when it comments that ...one of His disciples...was reclining close to the breast of Jesus...’

• Each participant would be lying with their feet furthest from the ‘table’ (more like a rug spread on the floor on which the food was placed) while they supported themselves with one of their arms.

• This meant that they would all face the back of someone, so that the one immediately in front of Jesus (John) would be the one who was lying ‘close to the breast’


This is NOT how it looked…


Maggid (2nd Cup)

• Pesahim 10:4 then instructs us that, ‘They then mixed him the second cup’ known as the ‘cup of bondage, or cup of the plagues’ (it may also be known as the ‘cup of instruction’) and continues that ‘...here the son asks his father...’

• ‘Why is this night different from other nights? For on other nights we eat seasoned food once, but this night twice [which would be karpas and maror/korekh]; on other nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread, but this night all is unleavened; on other nights we eat flesh roast, stewed or cooked, but this night all is roast’ ?


Maggid

• To these four questions, a very lengthy teaching is provided by the father who goes through the story of the Exodus in intricate detail, especially the Plagues.

• All Jesus’ teaching recorded for us in the Gospel of John at the Last Supper probably occurred at this point in the proceedings.


Maggid

• At the end of the teaching, the second cup of wine was dripped out to commemorate the 10 Plagues.

• Then the first part of the Hallel, the “Little Hallel”, is sung, the ‘Hallel’ being Psalms 113-118 of the Old Testament and the Little Hallel being Psalm 113.

• There is no mention of the 2nd Cup in the Last Passover.


Shulhan Orekh (Dinner)

• Although it’s not clear when the lamb and dinner was eaten according to the Mishnah, it’s at this point that it seems the most fitting because it’s in line with today’s celebration when the Seder plates are removed and a shankbone and an egg are brought in.

• These today serve as reminders of the lamb that used to be eaten by the orthodox but which can be no longer be done until the Temple is again functioning.


Afikomen

• Next, after eating dinner, the other half of the Mazzah, the part hidden away in a linen “burial” cloth is searched for, brought forth, and eaten.

• This is the Bread, broken for us, to represent the sacrifice of His Sinless body, commemorating the fact that He had no Sin nature and no personal sin in His body.


Barekh: The 3rd Cup

• Pesahim 10:7 then records ‘...the third cup...’ ‘Barekh’ means ‘grace’.

• Before grace is declared, the third cup is poured.

• This is the cup after supper and it’s called the ‘cup of redemption’.

• The grace is then said and all drink from this third cup.


Barekh

• He took this cup (Mtw 26:27-29, Mark 14:23-25, Luke 22:20-23) and, after having said grace over it, revealed its significance as the redemptive act that He was about to perform for all mankind on the cross.

• The wine represented the blood that was to be poured out for all men to redeem them from their slavery.


Barekh

• Luke 22:21 indicates Judas returned to the meal at this point in the proceedings, having gone to the chief priest to secure a band of soldiers.

• Most likely Judas returned because of the likely instruction he’d received at the house of the high priest.

• Jesus is recorded as saying that ‘...the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me on the table’

• Jesus probably is confirming John’s understanding of His earlier identification.


Barekh

• While this is certainly not the traditional interpretation and may well not be correct but it seems difficult to take Jesus’ words in Luke as meaning anything else.

• Between one and two hours have elapsed, sufficient time for Judas to have left, met with the high priest and to have returned.

• Judas was therefore gone during the teaching of the 11 that occurred earlier, and the “Lord’s Supper” portion of the Celebration.


3rd Cup

• When blessing the 3rd Cup Jesus says, "I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until it is completed in the kingdom of God." And it says, "Then they sang the psalms."

• Every Jew who knows the liturgy would expect: “and then they sang the Hallel Psalms and the blessing and had the fourth cup which climaxed and consummated the Passover.”

• But no, the gospel account say they sang the psalms (the Hallel) and went out into the night, with no mention of the 4th Cup.


3rd Cup

• Luke 22:22 And while they were eating, He took a matzah, praised God and gave thanks and asked Him to bless it to their use. [Then] He broke [it] and gave to them and said, Take. Eat. This is My body. (Afikomen)

• 23 He also took a cup (3rd Cup), and when He had given thanks, He gave [it] to them, and they all drank of it.


Hallel• Then, a fourth cup is poured. Pesahim 10:7

relates that ‘[Over] a fourth [cup] he completes the Hallel...’

• The fourth cup is filled and the remaining psalms of the Hallel are sung (Ps 115-118)

• Then all drink the fourth cup which is called the ‘cup of completion’.

• However, Mtw 26:30 and Mark 14:26 report that they went out towards Gethsemane ‘‘… when they had hymned’, referring to this part of the ceremony, without mention of the 4th Cup, The Cup of Completion.


Then, Gethsemane

• The Lord takes them across the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane, a garden located at the base of the Mount of Olives.



The Mystery of the Missing Cups

• In the book of Exodus, the Lord announces His plan, originating the titles given to the four cups.

• “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments, And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD” (Ex. 6:6-8).



• The titles of the four cups, taken as they are from the Lord’s own words in Exodus, are nothing less than a progressive, four-step prophecy of His intentions, not for the “rehearsal”, but for the True Passover.



• 1st - the cup of Sanctification - “I will set you out.”

• 2nd - the cup of Bondage - I will rid you out of their bondage.

• 3rd - the cup of Redemption - I will redeem you.

• 4th - the cup of Completion - I will take you to me for a people, the completion.



• We have noted that the pouring of drops of the 2nd Cup and the drinking of the 4th Cup were not reported in the Last Passover accounts in the Gospels.

• Was this an oversight by the Holy Spirit inspired writers, or did Jesus omit their performance for a special reason?


The 2nd Cup Fulfillment

• Luke 22:42-44 (NLT - corrected)• Gethsemane • “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup

away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great clots of blood.”



• The cups that Jesus blessed and distributed are identified as 1st cup, the Cup of Thanksgiving and the 3rd cup, the Cup of Redemption.

• We have now seen the 2nd cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, The Cup of Bondage, fulfilled during the 6th – 9th hours on the cross.

• As we look through the Gospels, Jesus also skips the drinking of the 4th cup during the course of the Passover meal.


The Fourth Cup Fulfillment

• John 19:28-30• The Cross at The 9th Hour• “Jesus, seeing that everything had been

completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, “I’m thirsty.”A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a hyssop sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth.After he took the wine, Jesus said, “It’s done … complete.” Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.”


The 4th Cup

• The 4th Cup that Jesus drank to signify the Completion of the Real Passover.

• The Cup that concluded the process, and made us “His people”.

Documents

Passover 2009: Part 3 How Jesus Christ could Celebrate the Passover, be Crucified on the Passover, and be Buried before the Passover