Possible error/discrepancy in Mk 14:12

[junostarlighter]

Mark describes the killing of “the passover” (the Passover lambs) as taking place on the first day of unleavened bread. Isn’t this incorrect? The slaughter of the lambs would have taken place on the eve of Passover itself. Shouldn’t Mark have known this?

 

[marty1818]

The slaughter of the lambs would have taken place on the eve of Passover itself.

Where do you find this?

 

[Jimdandy]

Jesus chose to celebrate the “Passover meal” with the Apostles-that is all that really matters as he is the Sacrificial Lamb who’s Passion, Death and Resurrection became the “real” Passover.

 

[stanczyk]

Mark describes the killing of “the passover” (the Passover lambs) as taking place on the first day of unleavened bread. Isn’t this incorrect? The slaughter of the lambs would have taken place on the eve of Passover itself. Shouldn’t Mark have known this?

You are mistaken.

The Torah in Exodus 12:6 specifies that the paschal lamb is to be slain on 14 Nisan, the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.

 

[mercytruth]

According to Josephus, a 1st century priest, the first day of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th day of Nisan. The Passover lamb is **slain **on the 14th of Nisan and eaten in the evening with nothing of the lamb is to remain by morning. This may or may not conflict with the gospel account, or with the explanation given here:

beingjewish.com/yomtov/passover/schedule1.html

 

[Crumpy]

Practicality had to prevail with the large number of visitors to Jerusalem. There was altogether a second observance of the Passover a month after the regulation one was.

Recall, the apostles were sent to rent a room for the celebration, the so-called “upper room.” People make a buck on the celebration of Passover, to be sure.

It was the Sadducees who recognized only the scrolls of Moses as inspired, and would have wanted to follow the directions literally. It was the Pharisees who took a more liberal interpretation that allowed flexibility in the celebration.

The delayed observance was not just practical, in terms of the number of people moving around Jerusalem. There was a real problem with laborers getting their work done at harvest time in order to complete the proper observance.

There was, then, an official celebration that satisfied the requirements of the Torah, and then there were other celebrations when it was possible to make them.

There’s a detail in one of the gospel accounts about the apostles following a man who was carrying a water pitcher on his head. That was normally a woman’s job. This indicated that this man was an Essene (as I recall) and they had their rules of observance.

to this day, there is no central authority in Judaism that makes interpretations anything like the magisterium of the Church. Given a range of interpretations, Jews with a particular problem are advised to find a rabbi that is sympathetic to them.

for example, there are splits over having female rabbis and there are differences over the acceptance of open gay people in Judaism, including the rabbinate.

You know especially, since the destruction of the second temple in 70 a.d., a lot of Biblical laws are impossible for Jews to perform. So, a lot of interpretations have been made as to what fulfills the letter and intent of the Torah (God’s teaching). For example, prayer takes the place of animal sacrifice.

So, with respect to the OP, there’s a lot to take into consideration.

A new book that may shed light on this is The Jewish Annotated New Testament from Oxford U. Press. My copy is in the mail. This is a commentary on the NT soley by Jewish scholars, and it may well address this question. It remains to be seen if the comments are reliably first century comments or modern comments, with many centuries of refinement.

 

[mercytruth]

There is a lot to be considered, and I hope this new book on the Jewish Annotated NT is of help in this regard.

If one reads the Orthodox Jewish site, the first day of Unleavened Bread is a holy Sabbath and it occurs on the 15th day of Nisan. For this reason, all the preparations for the Passover meal needed to made before the 14th of Nisan had ended at sunset.

Basically, the Passover meal was eaten then, at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan after sunset. So the disciples of our Lord ate the Passover meal at the beginning of 15th of Nisan, the 1st day of Unleavened Bread. This day was a holy Sabbath.

In John’s gospel, it seems to be saying that the religious leaders were preparing for the Passover meal. However, the term ‘Passover’ is applied to the entire eight day feast, not only in Judaism, but in a few of the NT scriptures.

Most informed Christian and Jewish scholars would say that John’s gospel account most likely was referring to the ritual purity that was required for the** Chagigah** that was eaten towards the end of the 15th day of Nisan, which would have been the Friday of our Lord’s crucifixion.

The second day of the feast of Unleavened Bread was the day following the Sabbath of the 15th of Nisan. In Rabbinic tradition this would be the waving of the firstfruits of the spring barley harvest. This would have been on the Saturday morning, of our Lord’s Passion.
(the 16th of Nisan). This is agrees with Josephus also.

Karaite’s believe that this waving of the firstfruits should be on the morning after the **weekly **Sabbath, and not on the morning after the 1st day of Unleavened Bread as Rabbinic tradition states. Thus, for the Karaites, this would have been on the Sunday morning of our Lord’s Resurrection.(the 17th of Nisan).

So, either the 16th or the 17th was the first day of the counting of the Omer for the 50 days leading up to Pentecost, or Shavuot which is the day the ten commandments were given audibly to the Israelites from Mt. Sinai.

There were other variables for the keeping of the Passover meal, such as a month later, or on the 12th of Nisan, if the 14th of Nisan was on a Saturday. (No work was to be done from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, therefore the preparations for the Passover meal had to be made on Thursday).

Frankly, it has taken me a long time to sort these issues out, and I may not have it correct yet.

God’s peace to all, as we prepare ourselves for this most important time of our faith.

 

[TimothyH]

One explanation can be the calendar followed by the different Jewish sects.

The authorities at the temple at the time of Jesus followed the lunar calendar in which the feast days fell on different days each year. Essenes and Qumran Jews used the solar calendar in which the festivals alwys fell on the same day of the week year after year.

Some archeologists suggest that the upper room where the passover was celebrated was within the Essene quarter of ancient Jerusalem.

There are other theories about why Jesus might have celebrated the passover on Thrusday nigh along with most of Jerusalem, on Tuesday, or that he even celebrated it on Friday.

There is an excellent essay in the Ignatius Study Bible titled “When did Jesus Celebrate the Last Supper” which is worth reading if anyone can get their hands on it.

-Tim-

 

[mercytruth]

Tim,

Yes, apparently there were different calendars. There are several problems with the Qumran calendar.

1. In the Qumran calendar, the day of the waving of the firstfruits is on the 26th of Nisan, rather than on the 16th of Nisan according to Rabbinic tradition, and the 17th of Nisan according to the Karaites. (This the first day of the counting of the fifty days of Omer). Thus, Pentecost, or Shavuot is celebrated about 10 days later than Rabbinic, or Karaite traditions. It is highly unlikely that on the day of Pentecost, Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot according to the Qumran tradition.
2. According to very early church tradition, Wednesdays and Fridays were fast days.
   Wednesday was considered the day Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. In the Qumran calendar, this betrayal would have occured on Monday, or Tuesday.
3. In early church history, there was a disagreement between the western and eastern churches regarding which day Easter was to be kept. In the Eastern churches they kept our Lord’s resurrection either on the day following the Sabbath of the 1st day of Unleavened Bread, or on the day after the weekly Sabbath after the 1st day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Nisan. They say this is the tradition they received from the apostle John.
   It is unlikely, that they were following the Qumran tradition.