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Was Jesus crucified during the Passover?

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  • Was Jesus crucified during the Passover?

    Maybe, maybe not. I suddenly realised something the other day: the evidence that Jesus is killed during the Passover isn't compelling. Our two earliest sources do not mention it.

    Our first earliest source (undisputed) is Paul. Paul says Jesus was killed by the rulers of this age, and that he "died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" both in 1 Corinthians. Yet he doesn't mention the Last Supper as being a Passover, or that it was in fact Jesus' last meal, and nor does he mention the crucifixion taking place during (or just before) the Passover.

    The next earliest source is Acts 13:26-41, where the author records a full account of the Passion narrative, but it does not include anything about a Passover. Also it appears to be free from Marcan influence as well as the other New Testament gospels. This might sound strange because the author also wrote the gospel of Luke, however it is clear that in this passage Luke is recounting a completely separate telling of the passion narrative, one that is more basic, and he attributes it to Paul. And perhaps importantly on the attribution, it largely agrees with what Paul teaches about it in his letters, where Paul doesn't show any knowledge of things that appear later in the gospel versions.

    Examples of things not found in Acts or Paul include but are not limited to- the Passover, Joseph of Arimathea, the Jews asking for Barabbas to be freed, the empty tomb, and the physical resurrection. Examples of things found in the Acts narrative and the Paul narrative include: Jesus is killed by the Roman authorities, that he "died for our sins", that God raised him to heaven, and that some of his followers had Christophanies. Aside from God raising Jesus to heaven which we can't possibly verify historically, those are facts that historical-Jesus scholars generally accept. But more than half of the examples in the first list are disputed, as is whether Jesus is laid in an expensive tomb rather than buried dishonorably.

    So this makes me think that the crucifixion happening near the Passover is an expansion on the story: from a very early time, probably within months of Jesus dying, his followers associated his death as being sacrificial for their sins (1 Cor 15:3). Even by the time Paul is writing they have begun the practise of the Eucharist based on the Last Supper narrative; and both of those became intertwined and associated with Jewish Passover. The parallels are undeniable, and it's likely no coincidence, therefore I am proposing that Jesus' death occurring during Passover is likely an expansion to the original story.

  • #2
    Paul doesn't nominate the day on which Jesus was crucified, therefore the prior claim by the chronicler of Paul's statement regarding the crucifixion, that the date of crucifixion was Nisan 14 (or rather, the day of Preparation, the day before the Sabbath - {Luke 22:7 AND 23:54} ) can be disregarded?

    Nope, you're trying to shove water uphill with a pitchfork on this one.
    1Cor 15:34 Come to your senses as you ought and stop sinning; for I say to your shame, there are some who know not God.
    .
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    • #3
      Originally posted by tabibito View Post
      Paul doesn't nominate the day on which Jesus was crucified, therefore the prior claim by the chronicler of Paul's statement regarding the crucifixion, that the date of crucifixion was Nisan 14 (or rather, the day of Preparation, the day before the Sabbath - {Luke 22:7 AND 23:54} ) can be disregarded?

      Nope, you're trying to shove water uphill with a pitchfork on this one.
      The reason why he doesn't nominate it is because he doesn't know. This theory I have proposed fits all the evidence:

      1. Paul never associates the Last Supper with the Passion.
      2. Paul never associates the Passover with the Passion.
      3. The narrative given in Acts 13 does not associate either of the above with the Passion either.
      And
      4. The synoptic gospels (all based on Mark) and John give different dates for the crucifixion.

      These facts lead me to conclude that the association with Passion narrative taking place during Passover is likely to be a later theological expansion of the story, and does not have a historical basis.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by tabibito View Post
        Paul doesn't nominate the day on which Jesus was crucified, therefore the prior claim by the chronicler of Paul's statement regarding the crucifixion, that the date of crucifixion was Nisan 14 (or rather, the day of Preparation, the day before the Sabbath - {Luke 22:7 AND 23:54} ) can be disregarded?

        Nope, you're trying to shove water uphill with a pitchfork on this one.
        Yeah, an argument from silence. Pretty weak.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Aractus View Post
          The next earliest source is Acts 13:26-41, where the author records a full account of the Passion narrative, but it does not include anything about a Passover.
          Objection: 3 sentences is not in any way a "full account".

          Luke's very brief account leaves out so much about the crucifixion, including that it was a crucifixion, that the omission of it happening at Passover means nothing.
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          • #6
            Originally posted by Roy View Post
            Objection: 3 sentences is not in any way a "full account".

            Luke's very brief account leaves out so much about the crucifixion, including that it was a crucifixion, that the omission of it happening at Passover means nothing.
            Right.

            Luke 22:7 - 23 : The last supper account clearly mentions the Passover being celebrated.

            Luke 23:33 : explicitly states that Jesus was crucified

            Ara errs in taking only one passage and treating it, as you point out, as the full account. Luke doesn't actually leave out either the Passover or the Crucifixion - they just aren't mentioned in that part of Acts.
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            • #7
              Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
              Right.

              Luke 22:7 - 23 : The last supper account clearly mentions the Passover being celebrated.

              Luke 23:33 : explicitly states that Jesus was crucified

              Ara errs in taking only one passage and treating it, as you point out, as the full account. Luke doesn't actually leave out either the Passover or the Crucifixion - they just aren't mentioned in that part of Acts.
              This guy lives for weird theories.
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              • #8
                Jesus actually gave up His life at the exact time the Passover lambs were being slaughtered at the temple.


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                • #9
                  This from the Babylonian Talmud...
                  On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, ‘He is going forth to be stoned because he has practised sorcery and enticed Israel to apostacy. Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.’ But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! – ‘Ulla retorted: Do you suppose that he was one for whom a defence could be made? Was he not a Meshith [enticer], concerning whom Scripture says, Neither spare, neither shalt thou conceal him? With Yeshu however it was different, for he was connected with the government [or royalty, i.e., influential]. (tractate Sanhedrin, folio 43a)
                  Granted, there are some issues. Matthew, Mark and Luke portray the Last Supper as a Passover seder, but it took place either the day before, or (as I suspect), as early as Tuesday, three days before Passover eve. But there is strong evidence that there was another calendar at the time, one particularly used by the Essenes and found in a couple of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This alternative calendar held Passover Eve on Tuesday evenings perpetually.
                  Last edited by Faber; 01-19-2018, 11:20 AM.
                  When I Survey....

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                  • #10
                    Scripture Verse: 1 Corinthians 5:6

                    Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough—you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

                    © Copyright Original Source



                    Hmm...

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                    • #11
                      Fair enough I'll grant you 1 Cor 5:7. But I would point out it doesn't occur within a narrative about the Passion or the Last Supper, and so likely represents a theological view.

                      Originally posted by Faber View Post
                      This from the Babylonian Talmud...

                      Granted, there are some issues. Matthew, Mark and Luke portray the Last Supper as a Passover seder, but it took place either the day before, or (as I suspect), as early as Tuesday, three days before Passover eve. But there is strong evidence that there was another calendar at the time, one particularly used by the Essenes and found in a couple of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This alternative calendar held Passover Eve on Tuesday evenings perpetually.
                      A late text that doesn't even say he was crucified, just "hanged".

                      Originally posted by Roy View Post
                      Objection: 3 sentences is not in any way a "full account".

                      Luke's very brief account leaves out so much about the crucifixion, including that it was a crucifixion, that the omission of it happening at Passover means nothing.
                      Most of what he leaves out - like the empty tomb - is unlikely to be historical fact. Therefore it is complete.

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                      • #12
                        Source: Keeping the Feast: Metaphors of Sacrifice in 1 Corinthians and Philippians by Jane Lancaster Patterson

                        So, is there, or is there not, a reference to the Passover in 1 Cor 11:23-26? The tradition that Paul has received begins with a meal, ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ [in the night]. The Passover is the only sacrifice that is set distinctly for the nighttime. Haran describes the practice of the Passover:

                        Suffice it to point out that the very eating at night is the complete reverse of the customary procedure in the biblical times (even with regard to secular slaughtering). And of all the various categories of sacrifice there is not a single oblation that must be eaten just at night-time, save the Passover--just as there is not a night in the whole year on which it is obligatory to eat sacrificial flesh except the one that begins on the fourteenth of the first month at twilight.

                        Thus, the very fact of Paul's beginning with the introduction, ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ would have been the first clue that there is a reference to the Passover. Given that fact, together with the correspondence between this passage and the synoptic witness, and Paul's use of Passover imagery elsewhere in the [same] letter, a Passover feast appears to be the most likely occasion for Jesus's words over the bread and the cup, as Paul uses them here.

                        © Copyright Original Source

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                        • #13
                          The "Last Supper" in Corinthians: 1. is not attached to the Passover, 2. Not attached to the Passion, 3. Only includes Bread and Wine - where's the lamb if it's a Passover... wouldn't it have made more sense for Jesus to have said "THIS is my flesh" while passing around the LAMB? And finally 4- it represents a very early Christian custom that already has theology and spirituality attached to it, you can't read very much into the historicity of it just like with John's gospel.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Aractus View Post
                            The "Last Supper" in Corinthians: 1. is not attached to the Passover, 2. Not attached to the Passion, 3. Only includes Bread and Wine - where's the lamb if it's a Passover... wouldn't it have made more sense for Jesus to have said "THIS is my flesh" while passing around the LAMB? And finally 4- it represents a very early Christian custom that already has theology and spirituality attached to it, you can't read very much into the historicity of it just like with John's gospel.
                            1 Cor 11:23 ... on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, ... 25 He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
                            Paul records that the taking of bread and wine was associated with a meal, and that the meal was on the night of Jesus' betrayal. He lists the salient facts, not extraneous detail ... hardly surprising.

                            Originally posted by Aractus View Post
                            4. The synoptic gospels (all based on Mark)
                            Yet the accounts vary, with elements that can't be easily reconciled (or outright conflict, admitting no logical reconciliation), with MARK giving a different time for the crucifixion (the third hour) to that stated by Matthew and Luke (the sixth hour) - but somehow, Matthew's and Luke's accounts are based on Mark. Oh come now.

                            and John give different dates for the crucifixion.
                            There is a difference with regard to the time of day, but the day itself is stipulated, explicitly, by each of the gospels as being the Day of Preparation. (Matt 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John - not just once, but thrice - 19:14, 31, 42)

                            These facts lead me to conclude that the association with Passion narrative taking place during Passover is likely to be a later theological expansion of the story, and does not have a historical basis.
                            Facts?
                            Last edited by tabibito; 01-20-2018, 08:39 PM.
                            1Cor 15:34 Come to your senses as you ought and stop sinning; for I say to your shame, there are some who know not God.
                            .
                            ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛
                            Scripture before Tradition:
                            but that won't prevent others from
                            taking it upon themselves to deprive you
                            of the right to call yourself Christian.

                            ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛

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                            • #15
                              R. A. Torrey in his book "Difficulties in the Bible," made the case and argument that Christ was crucified on a Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan in 30 A.D.

                              So in 1969 I did a personal Bible study to see if the crucifixion can be determined to be a Wednesday or a Friday from the gospel accounts. In Mark's gospel account, noting the evenings (Mark 14:17, 15:42) and also noting Jewish dates begin following the setting of the sun, I stumbled on a Thursday view for crucifixion, noting Mark 14:12 was the 14th of Nisan, and Christ and His disciples eat the Passover on the 15th of Nissan that following evening, Mark 14:17.

                              In the 1990's I did some preliminary calculations of the full moon to confirm that the full moon fell on a Thursday on April 6th in 30 A.D.. Latter on internet there was a calendar converter web site, it confirmed Thursday the 15th of Nisan in 30 A.D.. It later went down. But there is now an even better one: https://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/
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