In a previous post, it was explained that the Jews count a 24-hour period from dusk to dusk. Nighttime marks the early hours of a new day.
From that understanding, one can easily see that the Last Supper was held at the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan because it was night when the disciples ate their last meal with Jesus (Yeshua). Jesus would die on the cross later that same day, precisely at 3 PM, exactly at the time the Passover offerings were being sacrificed.
The Passover feast is eaten at the beginning of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is held on the 15
th day of Nisan. Therefore, it is eaten as the last daylight hours of the 14th fade away and nighttime arrives, marking the onset of the 15
th day.
Since the Last Supper occurred before the Passover feast, could it be that Jesus and the disciples held an early Passover feast? After all, it was written that Yeshua said he desired to eat this Passover with them:
Luke 22
7 The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” 9 They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large, furnished upper room. Make preparations there.” 13 They went, found things as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles. 15 He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 16 for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in God’s Kingdom.”
However, there has to be another explanation for Jesus’s words because both the Passover sacrifice and the feast are to occur at specific times. They are a mô‛êd, or a scheduled appointment at a fixed time:
H4150 (Strong)
מועדה / מעד / מועד
mô‛êd / mô‛êd / mô‛âdâh
From H3259; properly an appointment, that is, a fixed time or season; specifically a festival…
They are scheduled meetings at a set time:
Leviticus 23 NASB
4‘These are the appointed times (H4150) of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.
Passover is an appointed time held on the 14
th day of the first month in the evening:
Leviticus 23
5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.
Besides being held on the 14th of the first month,
the Passover was to be sacrificed at a specific time:
Numbers 9
2 “Moreover let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season—according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances, you shall keep it.”
Likewise,
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover is eaten, is an appointed time:
Leviticus 23
6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
A later Passover observation was permitted under certain circumstances (Num 9:9-12), otherwise all men were to keep Passover at the appointed time. Those who did not observe Passover at the set time were committing sin; they were to be “cut off” from the people:
Numbers 9
13 But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
There is no stipulation for an early Passover observation; therefore,
If Jesus and the disciples participated in an early Passover, they would not have been observing Passover at its appointed time. They would have been committing sin.
With that in mind, what did Jesus mean when he said he desired to eat this Passover with them as recorded in the Gospel of Luke?
Luke 22
15 He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 16 for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in God’s Kingdom.”
These verses do not say he was seating down and eating the Passover feast with his disciples at that very moment. What he said was that he desired to eat this Passover, which was approaching (Luke 22:15), then he goes on to explain he would not eat of the Passover until it was fulfilled in God’s Kingdom (Luke 22:16). His words would have been confusing if he was eating the Passover feast and telling the disciples he would no longer eat the Passover. He was saying in a roundabout way that he would not be eating this coming Passover with them, but the disciples would not have understood the meaning of his words. They had no idea what event would come at dawn, or that Jesus would be tried, crucified, and in the tomb before the next nightfall.
The Last Supper could not have been a Passover feast because it occurred before the Passover was slain, and the Last Supper definitely was not an early Passover feast or celebration because it would have been a sin to partake of it at any other time except its appointed time.
The Last Supper was something different, something unique.
The Last Supper was a farewell meal. But it was more. It was the ceremony establishing the New Covenant:
Matthew 26
27 He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, “All of you drink it, 28 for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.
Mark 14
23 He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.
Luke 22
20 Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
And it was our High Priest and King establishing his memorial service:
Luke 22
19 He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.”
We are to remember him, and we are to proclaim his death until he comes:
1 Corinthians 11
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The one Scripture quotation marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible, otherwise all Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the Public Domain.
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