Passover.—2001Translations
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The Passover and
The Lord’s Evening Meal
When
we first started this document, we thought that we knew quite a bit about the
Passover, but after much research and many letters from readers, we realized
that few of us actually understood the times, dates, and significances
involved.
What most call ‘the day of
Passover’ isn’t really a day at all; it’s a seven-day festival. For notice the
first instructions from God on this, as found at Exodus 12:2, 3, 5-8 (LXX),
‘This will be your first month. It is to be the first one [in your] year. So
tell the whole gathering of the children of Israel that on the tenth day of this
month, each man should select a lamb (depending on the size of his family) for
his household … So, choose a perfect male, yearling lamb from [your herd] of
lambs and kids, and keep it nearby until the fourteenth day of this month.
Then the whole group of the children of
And we read in verses 15 and 16, ‘Now, you will eat
yeast-free bread for seven days. And starting on the first day, you
must remove all yeast from your homes. And if someone eats yeast between
the first and seventh days, that person must be destroyed in
So from the above, we can see that the Passover started
after sundown on Nisan 14, and that’s when the Israelites were to start eating
a meal with yeast-free bread, which they were to do every day for seven days.
However, the lamb was to be taken to the
Thereafter, God’s people apparently gave names to each of
these days, and Nisan 15 was called Passover, but Nisan 14, which was the ‘holy
day,’ was referred to as the Day of Preparation (of the lamb). It was on this
day that Jesus instituted his ‘evening meal,’ and he as ‘God’s Lamb’ was
slaughtered. We can clearly see this from the following scriptures:
Matthew 27:62-27:63– Then
the next day, after the Preparation, the Chief Priests and Pharisees
gathered and came before Pilate, saying, ‘Lord, we remembered that while he was
alive that impostor said, Yet, in three days
I will be raised.’
John 18:28– Early
the next morning, they led Jesus from Caiaphas’
[home] to the Governor’s Palace, but they didn’t go inside, because they didn’t
want to become unclean (so they could eat the Passover).
John 19:14 Now, it was about the sixth hour of the
day of Preparation for the Passover. And [Pilate] said to the Judeans,
‘See, your King!’
Yet, the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke would seem
to contradict the above scriptures and indicate that the day Jesus told his
disciples to prepare for the Passover, was in fact the
day of Preparation. However, notice that no lamb was mentioned as being
slaughtered, and the accounts don’t speak of a lamb being eaten at the meal,
for Jesus himself was to become the lamb that was to be slaughtered on the
following afternoon.
Also, remember that the day of Preparation was the holy
day, and thus a Sabbath; so Jews would typically prepare for this first meal of
yeast-free bread, bitter herbs, and wine on the previous afternoon, and that
was when they were to remove all the yeast from their homes.
But why did Jesus say at Luke 22:15 ‘I
really wanted to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,’ if the
Passover was the following day? Because this was the first Passover meal of
seven that would be eaten that week… it just wasn’t the one that involved
eating a lamb. For, due to a lack of refrigeration, meat wasn’t common at all
meals back then. However, eating bread with some sort of ‘sop’ (olive oil?) was
apparently common.
So, notice that this understanding hasn’t really changed
anything, it just gives us a better idea why the first day of Passover
(Preparation) was a ‘holy day,’ why no lamb was mentioned as being eaten during
Jesus’ last supper, and why it was appropriate for him to be slaughtered on the
following afternoon (when the Passover lambs were slaughtered). Therefore, the
appropriate day for memorializing Jesus death remains Nisan 14, though perhaps
there is a case for celebrating it every evening from Nisan 14 -21.
But why this date (or these dates)? Because
Paul wrote at 1 Corinthians 5:7, ‘Clean
out that old yeast so you can be something new that isn’t fermenting, because
the Anointed One (who is our Passover) has been sacrificed.’
So, as Passover was the week during which God accepted
Israel as ‘His inheritance;’ and when He saved their firstborn with the blood
of a lamb; and when He saved them from Egypt; the blood of the ‘Lamb of God’
was shed to inaugurate the New Sacred Agreement. And Jesus himself selected the
first day of Passover to celebrate the Memorial of his sacrifice.
For more information on the Lord’s evening meal and who
should partake, please see the link The New Covenant.
A Second Passover Date
Of course, attending the Passover Festival was a
life-or-death matter for
So we must assume that, as with the Passover, celebrating
the Lord’s Evening Meal at the proper time is very important for Christians.
However, unlike the pagan peoples who lived around them,
the Israelites were not worshipers of the gods of astrology, so they weren’t as
involved (as were other ancient peoples) in making celestial observations. And
so; since the calculations to arrive at the correct Passover date (the 14th day
of their first lunar month) can be difficult to determine at times (as is
testified to by the different dates selected by different religious groups in
our day), there was apparently some allowance for error.
And also; when people were unable to observe the Passover
– as when they were ceremonially unclean, away on a trip, or whatever – they
were allowed
to celebrate it 28-days later,
on the evening of the full moon. Instructions concerning this are found at
Numbers 9:10-12,-(Compare-Open searchgodsword.? nu+9:10 + MQFR-w93-2-1-w03-1-1.htm) where we read: ‘Tell the sons of
Israel that whenever a man among you or your descendants has become unclean
because of touching a dead body, or is far away on a journey, he must still
keep the Passover to Jehovah, but he must do it
on the evening of the fourteenth day of the
second month. [The Passover sacrifice] must be offered then, and
eaten with yeast-free bread and bitter herbs. They must not leave any of it
over until the next day, nor may they break any of its bones. They must offer
the sacrifice just as they would on the Passover.’
As the result; when circumstances don’t allow a Christian to
celebrate the Memorial of the death of Jesus on the 14th day of Nisan on the
Jewish calendar (which appears to be a most appropriate time for doing so); as
was true of the Passover in ancient Israel, this may be celebrated twenty-eight
days
later, according to ancient custom and the Law. However, this
apparently doesn’t disallow Christians to meet together and to partake of the
sacred bread and wine on other occasions, as appears to be true of the Love
Feasts of the First Century Christian congregation (see Jude 12, and 1 Corinthians
11:20, 26).
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In rare cases some
unforeseen circumstance,
such as illness or travel complications, might prevent a Christian from
attending as he or she had planned. What should be done in such a situation?
During the celebration unleavened bread and red wine are
passed, and those who have been anointed with God’s holy
spirit and chosen for life in heaven partake. (Matthew 26:26-29; Luke
22:28-30) If one who has each year been partaking is this year confined to a
sickbed at home or in a hospital, elders of the local congregation will arrange
for one of them to take some of the bread and wine to the sick one, discuss
appropriate Bible texts on the subject, and serve the emblems. If an anointed
Christian is away from his home congregation, he should arrange to go to a
congregation in the area where he will be on that date.
In view of this, it would only be under very exceptional
circumstances that an anointed Christian would have to celebrate the Lord’s
Evening Meal 30 days later (one lunar month), in line with the command at
Numbers 9:10, 11 and the example at 2 Chronicles 30:1-3, 15.
Those who are of Jesus’ “other sheep” class,
with the hope of everlasting life on a paradise earth, are not under
command to partake of the bread and the wine. (John 10:16) It is
important to attend the annual celebration, but they do not partake of the
emblems. So if one of them is sick or is traveling and thus not with any
congregation that evening, he or she could privately read over appropriate
scriptures (including the account of Jesus’ instituting the celebration) and pray for Jehovah’s blessing on the event worldwide. But in
this case there is no need for any additional arrangement for a meeting or a
special Biblical discussion a month later.
Full Article
Questions From Readers
If
a Christian is sick or is traveling
and thus not able to be at the
Memorial celebration, should he celebrate it
a month later?
In ancient
Notice that this did not establish two alternative dates for
the Passover (Nisan 14 or Ziv 14), with any Israelite
or household free to choose, depending on convenience. The provision of a
Passover meal in the second month was limited. It was an exception for an
Israelite who was ceremonially unclean on Nisan 14 or was at a great distance
from where the regular celebration was held.
The only recorded instance of this being widely used was at
the time when faithful King Hezekiah revived the observance of the Festival of
Unfermented Cakes. There was no time to get ready for the first month (the priests not being ready nor the people gathered), so it
was held on the 14th day of the second month.—2 Chronicles 29:17; 30:1-5.
Other than such exceptional circumstances, the Jews kept the
Passover on the date that God designated. (Exodus 12:17-20, 41, 42;
Leviticus 23:5) Jesus and his disciples celebrated as the Law required, not
treating this date casually. Luke reports: “The day of the unfermented cakes
now arrived, on which the passover
victim must be sacrificed; and [Jesus] dispatched Peter and John, saying: ‘Go
and get the passover ready for us to eat.’”—Luke
22:7, 8.
On that occasion Jesus instituted the annual celebration
that Christians know as the Lord’s Evening Meal. The value of Christians’
attending cannot be overemphasized. This is the most important event in
the year for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jesus’ words show why; he said: “Keep doing
this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) Thus, each of Jehovah’s Witnesses
should plan months ahead to keep the date of the celebration free of any other
appointments. The Lord’s Evening Meal will be celebrated on
In rare cases some unforeseen circumstance, such as illness
or travel complications, might prevent a Christian from attending as he or she
had planned. What should be done in such a situation?
During the celebration unleavened bread and red wine are
passed, and those who have been anointed with God’s holy
spirit and chosen for life in heaven partake. (Matthew 26:26-29; Luke
22:28-30) If one who has each year been partaking is this year confined to a
sickbed at home or in a hospital, elders of the local congregation will arrange
for one of them to take some of the bread and wine to the sick one, discuss
appropriate Bible texts on the subject, and serve the emblems. If an anointed
Christian is away from his home congregation, he should arrange to go to a
congregation in the area where he will be on that date.
In view of this, it would only be under very exceptional
circumstances that an anointed Christian would have to celebrate the Lord’s
Evening Meal 30 days later (one lunar month), in line with the command at
Numbers 9:10, 11 and the example at 2 Chronicles 30:1-3, 15.
Those who
are of Jesus’ “other sheep” class, with the hope of
everlasting life on a paradise earth, are not under command to partake
of the bread and the wine. (John 10:16) It is important to attend
the annual celebration, but they do not partake of the emblems. So if one of
them is sick or is traveling and thus not with any congregation that evening,
he or she could privately read over appropriate scriptures (including the
account of Jesus’ instituting the celebration) and pray
for Jehovah’s blessing on the event worldwide. But in this case there is no
need for any additional arrangement for a meeting or a special Biblical
discussion a month later. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Evening Meal—From The FaithfulAndDiscreetSlave.htm
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