(3) The third indication of time presents some difficulty. On a day called ' the first day of Azuma ' preparations were made for the Feast, according to Mt. (26''^) and Mk. (\-\}-), at the sug- gestion of the Twelve ; according to all three (Mt 26'»- I'J, Mk 1413-16, Lk li''-'-^), with the consent and at the command of the Master. Strictly speaking, the irpujTT] tCjv d^v/j.u3v Avould indicate the loth Nisan, for the period during which leaven was prohibited commenced with the Paschal meal, following the slaying of the Paschal lamb in the closing hours of 14th Nisan. So late a date for the wpiiTrj is pi'e- cluded by the circumstances of the narrative ; but it is incredible that Mt. could make an erroneous statement in a matter connected with the greatest solemnity of the whole of the Jewish sacred year. The reasonable conclusion is, that, in a popular way of speaking, a day before the legal day had acquired the name of ' First day of Azuma,' and not unfitly, if on that day early arrangements were commenced for the complete exclusion of leaven from the houses.* Mk., bearing in mind, as often, the needs of non-Jewish readers, adds, ore TO Trda-xa. ^dvov. The point of time need not be pressed too strictly ; the gloss is no more than an explanation that the season of Azuma Avas the time of the offering of the Passover. The expression in Lk. is more difficult. In 22'' we read, riXdev 5^ 7] rifiepa, tQiv d^vfj.wv, evfij ^dei dveadai t6 irdcrxo- But there was more than one day of Azuma. In v.i he had written ijyyL^ev 8^ i) eopTrj r. df. It looks as if rifxipa below was equivalent to ioprri above — not 24 hours, but a period ; J or else there is some little inexactitude in a mere I'eference to an observance which it was unnecessary for the pui'pose of the narrative to describe precisely.
(4) The fourth note of time is given by the oi/'ias yevo/jL^vys of Mt 26'-'' and Mk 14i'.§ These verses immediately follow the statement that the disciples 'made ready the P, ssover.' The natural inter- pretation is to take them as indicative of the evening of the day when the Upper Room was en- gaged. "W'e have therefore another date, from which we may argue backwards to the limitations of the TrpdoTT] T. df. It ended with sunset on the night of the Betrayal. It began with the preced- ing sunset. At any time during those 24 hours
* Wieseler, quoting from the Talmudical tract Pesaehim, that the search for leaven in houses must be made in the night pre- ceding 14th Nisan, in order that it might be put awa.v by mid- da.y, and nothing leavened eaten afterwards, argues that the day before the Passover was made read}' was reckoned as lie- longing to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. See Chronolor/ical Synopsis of the Four Gospels, tr. Venables, pp. 334, 335, and art Passover in Hastings' DB (W. J. Moulton), vol. iii. p. 090. Peiritz (op. cit. pp. 2S, 29, 33, 34) describes the arrangements made by Jews on the day before the legal Preparation da,v, and adds : ' There is a ver}' intelligible reason why that Thursda.\- should, in a .subordinate sense, — loosely, we may allow, — be called the first day of unleavened bread.'
t =» is omitted by some authorities ; but the attestation is in- sufficient, nor would the omission affect the translation — ' when it behoved,' or ' in which ' ; .see Winer's Grammar, iii. § xxxi. 9, a.
I Man.v examples occur of the use of r,u.ip«. for a period of long duration ; but it is then regarded in contrast to conditions which may be described as ' night,' — e.g. Ro 1312 ; or as the time when certain conditions are realized, — e.p. 2 Co 62, to which latter sense belongs the oft-recurring expression 'day of the Lord,' or ' my day ' (Jn S'^) ; but there seems no exact parallel to the use we have supposed of y,u,:px as equivalent to riuipxi. Yet, if we limit the term to the ' first dav,' the remainder of the sen- tence is inexact, the lamb being slain before the legal 'first day' began. It seems impossible to treat the sentence as rigidl.y and historically accurate, in the terms in which the text has come to us.
§ Of the 'two evenings," it is better to take this as the second, rather than the first, which would be our 'late afternoon.'
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it is permissible tu place the coniiuencenient by tlie disciples of preparations lor a Passover which •would be kept in circumstances they never antici- pated. According to our present argument, the Master had passed into Paradise before the Passover was eaten. That m ould not prevent the disciples complj'ing with the requirements of the Law, except in so far as some might have contracted ceremonial deUlement during the events of Good I'ridaj-. But this would not apply to all ; and here may be found the explanation of the jjrepara- tlons. The blaster permitted the disciples to make ready for what was legally requisite ; but He made this the occasion of suitable provision for the new Passover which He designetl to provide, but of which they, as yet, knew nothing.