(a) Daif of week and month.— Borne indications of the day of the ^veek are found in Scrijiture. Tlie general belief that the Crucifixion took pl.tce on Friday is founded on inference from the fact that He rose ' on the third day,' ttj Tphri riinipq. (1 Co 15^), the Jews counting their daj-s inclusively. Westcott, however, held that it took place on a Thursday, on account of the ' three days and three nights' of Mt 12", a saying found only there, and evidently equivalent to 'on the third day' (Gn 42"- 18, fist 4'« and 5').
(6) Day of month. — The question is. Did tlie Crucifixion take place on the Passover, Nisan 15, or on the day preceding, Kisan 14 ? This question also concerns the relation of the Passover to the Last Supper ; for while, strictly speaking, both events took place on the same day, on the Jewish reckoning from evening to evening, according to the ordinary' Roman metliod the Crucifixion fell a day later tlian the Supper. Sanday (Authorship and Historical Character of the Fourth Gospel), Westcott (Introduction to the Gospels), and many others maintain that it took place on Nisan 14. The principal chamjiion for Nisan 15 is Edersheim, who holds that the Last Supper synchronized with the Passover, and that the Pascha of which the Jews desired to partake was the Chaffigah or festive offering of the first festive Paschal day. The SjTioptists in some places identify the last meal with the Passover, but in others give indica- tions of an opposite view ; while the Fourth Gospel gives unqualified support to the opinion that the feast of which our Lord partook had a quasi-Paschal significance, and preceded in order to supersede the Jewish Passo\er. A list of passages from the Gospels for both views makes this clear : For Nisan \i, the Passover— Mt 261' • The first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him. Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?* Lk 22' 'Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the
Passover must be killed.' Mk 1412 '.\nd the first dav of unleavened bread, when thev
killed the Passover.' Lk221= -Withdesir vou before I suffei For'yisan 14— Jnl3i -Xow before
Jn 182** ' And they themselves went not into the prietorium, lest they should be defiled, but that thev might eat the Passover.' Jn 1329 ■ Buy that we have need of for the feast.' .fn 11)14 'And it was the prejiaration of the Passover.' Jn ID'l 'Since it was the preparation, and that .Sabbath dav
wasa hifrhday.' Mt26»-5 'Then assembled together the chief priests . . . and consulted that they mipht Uke Jesus by subtilty and kill him. But they said. Sot on the. feast da)/, lest there be uproar amonL' the people ' (cf. Mk 142).
>It 2762 ' Now tli^
pa ration.' Lk 2354 ■ And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath
drew on.' Other incidents in the Synoptics point to Nisan 14, such ••us the liolding of the trial on the fea.st day, the purchase of linen and spices, the arming of Peter, the coming of .Simon ' from the field' (Mk l.'>2'), the unseemly hurry with the trial, tlie execu- liuii .-mil the final dispatch of the victims, the
eat this Passove
:ty:
t of the Passovi
that followed the day of the pre-
sword of Peter (W^), the armed multitude with Judas (U-*^), it being unlawful to carry arms on the feast day. It is to be noticed that Mt., Mk., and Jn. represent the Crucifixion as taking place on the Paraskeue, wliich is distinctly Friday in Jn 19^1, being mentioned in connexion with the Sabbath, and in Mk 15''2^ where it is defined as irpoa-d^^aTov. St. John in ig" describes it as ' the preparation of the passover,' but as the weekly Paraskeue in 19", and 19" referring to the removal from the cross and the hasty entombment says ' for it was the preparation ' and ' because of (Sid = because it was) the preparation of the Jews.'
Against all these passages there stands one ex- pression common to all the Synoptists, ' the day of unleavened bread,' for Lk 22'* may merely indicate the Paschal nature of the Last Supper. That ex- pression is, therefore, to be reckoned with.
Chwolson (Das letzte Passamahl Christi, p. 3 f.) maintains that the Synoptists start with an error, for ' from the Mosaic writings down to the Book of Jubilees . . . indeed, down to the present day, the Jews have always understood by the phrase " the first day of the feast of unleavened bread " only the 15th and not the 14th, so that it would be a contradiction in tenns to s.\v with Mk 1412, ' on the first dav of unleavened bread when they sacrificed the Passover.' Ewald (A nliqjiities of Israel, p. 358 fl.) treats the Passover, which he shows from Ex 123-6 was originally fixed for the lllth of the month when the P.aschal lamb was to be selected, as the preparatory expiatory festival of the Spring Feast of Unleavened Bread, jus't as the Day of Atone- ment, on the 10th day of the 7th month, preceded the great autumn festival of Tabernacles. 'Not till the 14th day, during the la.st three hovirs before and the first three hours after sun- set, was the sacrificial animal slain and eaten. ... It was always appointed for the 14th, and in the earliest times at least the liew was strictly upheld that the Feast of Unleavened Bread (lid not begin till the following morning.' Philo distinguished