Some of the ministers have asked about the Church teaching regarding the time of the Old Testament Passover. This question comes as a result of certain papers that were circulated that concluded that the Bible account could be explained in a plausible way for the killing of the lamb on the afternoon of the fourteenth of Nisan, and then eaten later in the evening of the fifteenth. Even this paper admitted that it could not be proved conclusively either way, and that Christ kept the Passover on the evening of the 14th, not the evening of the 15th, setting us an example to follow today.
Hopefully the following comments will make it clear that the Church teaching has been correct, regardless of the teaching and practice of Jews or others.
A part of the problem lies in the meaning of the words "in the evening" of Exodus 12:6. There are two schools of thought about this term literally meaning "between the two evenings." One is that the "two evenings" are "noon and sunset", the other "sunset and dark". The New Bible Dictionary under the article PASSOVER states that this "can scarcely be determined by etymology." It further states that the two variant renderings are "based on community practice."
The scriptures make it plain that the passover was killed and eaten on the 14th. Exodus 12:6 shows it was killed the evening of the 14th and eaten "in that night" (verse 8), not the next night. The instructions in Leviticus 23 show that the Passover is on the even of the 14th (verse 5) and the Feast is the 15th (verse 6) which is 24 hours later.
In Numbers 9:5 we are told that they kept the Passover (not just a part of the ritual) on the fourteenth day. The following verses tell of the second Passover onernonth later when on the fourteenth they are to "keep it and eat it."
In the plains of Jericho (Joshua 5:10) they kept the Passover (not just part of the ceremony) "on the fourteenth day of the month at even." The next day they ate unleavened cakes (verse 11).
Ezra records (Ezra 6:19) that the people who returned to Jerusalem "kept the passover upon the fourteenth" and then (afterwards) kept the Feast (verse 22).
These texts should make it clear that the Passover sacrifice was originally killed and eaten on or during the 14th and then the Feast was celebrated during the 15th, 24 hours later, regardless of later practice or interpretation.
WAS PASSOVER THE FOURTEENTH OR FIFTEENTH?
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