Was the Last Supper on a Tuesday?

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In the Jewish Calendar, the months always began on a new moon (month-moon). Makes sense that the Angel Passover would have been on night of the 14th (or, more accurately, the night of the 15th). The escape would have followed, with the moon full.

Jesus would have been crucified on the 2nd day of the feast of the unleavened bread, which would have been the First Fruits day as well, which also was a day of preparation- as the Sabbath was the next day.

I don’t know where this Essene Calendar comes from, frankly.
 
steve53 said:
In the Jewish Calendar, the months always began on a new moon (month-moon). Makes sense that the Angel Passover would have been on night of the 14th (or, more accurately, the night of the 15th). The escape would have followed, with the moon full.

Jesus would have been crucified on the 2nd day of the feast of the unleavened bread, which would have been the First Fruits day as well, which also was a day of preparation- as the Sabbath was the next day.

I don’t know where this Essene Calendar comes from, frankly.
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Yes, as far as the waving of th sheaf of firstfruits of the barley harvest we do not have a definitive answer as to the morning after which Sabbath Leviticus 23:10-11 is referring:

10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

Since these scriptures are in context with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the "Sabbath’ could refer to the weekly Sabbath, or it could refer to 15th day of Nisan which was also a Sabbath holy day, or it might even represent the seventh day from the 10th day of Nisan which is when the Passover lambs were set apart for four days.

Some argue that it could not represent the morning of our Lord’s resurrection as the firstfruits from the dead since the High Priest waved the sheaf of firstfruits after 9AM
in the morning, and Jesus rose from the dead before daybreak.
 
Well, Josephus is pretty specific. And he was a trained Priest in the Second Temple and a Jerusalem aristocrat.

So I will take his account of the Passover any day over the Old Testament, which was written 800 years earlier.
 
steve53 said:
Well, Josephus is pretty specific. And he was a trained Priest in the Second Temple and a Jerusalem aristocrat.

So I will take his account of the Passover any day over the Old Testament, which was written 800 years earlier.
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I would not contradict Josephus either. As a Levite, he studied under the Essenes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees before deciding to join the Pharisees as a Levite Priest. I do not know if he refers to the waving of the firstfruits of the barley harvest in his account of the Passover. I would be interested in knowing if Josephus specifically states which Sabbath Lev.23:11 is referring as it would p(name removed by moderator)oint the morning following in order to begin the counting of the 50 days of Omer.
 
Thankyou for suggesting Josephus. This is what he writes concerning the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits:

Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews: Book III, chapter 10: section 5.
  1. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, on THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE LUNAR MONTH, when the sun is in Aries, (for in this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians,) the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt, and which WAS CALLED THE PASSOVER…
The FEAST of UNLEAVENED BREAD succeeds that of the passover, and falls on THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, and continues seven days, wherein they feed on unleavened bread…

BUT ON THE SECOND DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, WHICH IS THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. And while they suppose it proper to honor God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in the first place, THEY OFFER THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THEIR BARLEY,…

…and that in the manner following: They take a handful of the ears, and dry them, then beat them small, and purge the barley from the bran; they then bring one tenth deal to the altar, to God; and, casting one handful of it upon the fire, they leave the rest for the use of the priest. And after this it is that they may publicly or privately reap their harvest. THEY ALSO AT THIS PARTICIPATION OF THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE EARTH, SACRIFICE A LAMB, as a burnt-offering to God.

Thus, if our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover on Friday, then as Friday was ending at sunset, the 15h day of the month was approaching. This would be the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which is a Sabbath holy day, and it would also be a weekly Sabbath day. The 15th would end on Saturday at sunset. The 16th day of the month would then begin, but the morning after the aforementioned Sabbath would not begin until after daybreak on Sunday morning. So Jesus Christ rose from the dead shortly before the waving of sheaf of firstfruits on the 16th day of Nisan according to Josephus and the gospel accounts.
 
Not if you look at John.

The Paschal meal had passed, and they actually were having the last supper after sunset at the beginning of the second day of the feast of the unleavened bread, or the first fruits day. As the “day” progresses, jesus was arrested, tried, executed, and then taken down from the cross before the Sabbath.
 
steve53 said:
Not if you look at John.

The Paschal meal had passed, and they actually were having the last supper after sunset at the beginning of the second day of the feast of the unleavened bread, or the first fruits day. As the “day” progresses, jesus was arrested, tried, executed, and then taken down from the cross before the Sabbath.
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Yes, of course John’s gospel seems to contradict the other three gospels. There are several possible explanations to resolve the discrepancy. Here are a few.
  1. Jesus and his disciples kept the Passover according to a different calendar than the religious authorities of his day.
  2. Pesach or Passover is sometimes referred to as the **entire **week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So it is possible that the religious authorities needed to keep themselves ritually clean for the 15th day of Nisan when the ‘Chagigah (sacrificial meal)’ was offered.
I think the second explanation is the most logical.
 
steve53 said:
Where in Matthew is that suggested?
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There is a chronology of events in chapter 26 of Matthew beginning with verse 2.

The narrative suggests that this was indeed a Passover meal.

One of the most striking portions of the narrative is when Jesus and his disciples enter the garden of Gethsemane after the Passover meal. It is night time. Jesus quotes one scripture while in the garden.

"Arise O sword, and strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad." It seems to me that this parallels the first Passover when the avenging angel struck down the firstborn of Egypt at midnight.

Shortly after, Jesus says to his disciples, 'my soul is exceedinly sorrowful even as unto death".
 
steve53 said:
In the Jewish Calendar, the months always began on a new moon (month-moon). Makes sense that the Angel Passover would have been on night of the 14th (or, more accurately, the night of the 15th). The escape would have followed, with the moon full.

Jesus would have been crucified on the 2nd day of the feast of the unleavened bread, which would have been the First Fruits day as well, which also was a day of preparation- as the Sabbath was the next day.

I don’t know where this Essene Calendar comes from, frankly.
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Writings found at Qumran which supports the claim of a different calendar

– 4Q252 2:2 That day Noah went out from the ark, at the end of an exact year, 3 three hundred and sixty four days,
– 4Q394 f3_7i:1 (A19) [On the twenty-eighth of the month is] a Sabbath. The month continues with the day after [the ]S[abbath (Sunday), the second day, and an [addi]tion [of the third day.] The year is complete: three hundred si[xty-four] days.
 
I don’t know what you are talking about.

The Temple Priests set the Calendar, and every three years had to add an extra month, AdarII, to make the festivals line up with the growing seasons (based on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes).

That the Essenes would have their own Calendar is as pointless as them holing up in mountain top fortresses.
 
steve53 said:
I don’t know what you are talking about.

The Temple Priests set the Calendar, and every three years had to add an extra month, AdarII, to make the festivals line up with the growing seasons (based on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes).

That the Essenes would have their own Calendar is as pointless as them holing up in mountain top fortresses.
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Whether you think it was pointless for the Essenes to have their own calendar doesn’t matter…the Qumran community which is believed by most biblical scholars to be from the Essene sect had writings in the scrolls found which showed that they followed a different calendar than the one of 365 days. Since this group believed the Temple priest was not authentic because the Romans had a say in his appointment, the calendar which was set by the Temple priest was obviously not a concern to them.
 
So they set the Calendar at 350 days just to spite the Romans?

LOL.

Like I said, ALL Jews used the Lunar Calendar, with the months starting on the new moon. The weeks were all seven days.

Every three years they would have to adjust it.

It wasn’t a hard and fast thing.

Every year the Astrologers would get together and hammer things out to make a workable Calendar. And the Jews were BIG Astrologers in ancient times.

The Romans had their own Calendar, so there was a problem there, but the Jews stuck to their Lunar-based one through both revolts and even today you can adjust your life according to the Jewish Calendar if you want.

Why are you so bent on Qumran being Essene? So what if it wasn’t?
 
I have posted this reply before- when I was a resident in my medical training there was an Orthodox Jewish student who did everything he could do to make sure he wasn’t on call on Friday and Sat- I asked him about the three days Jesus spent in the tomb- he was very knowlegable about Christianity and said for the Hebrews (Jews) that the day starts at sundown so he said if Jesus died before sundown on the day after Passover which in that time was a Friday by our calender- then that was day one of his death- day two of his death was Sat. and he rose on day 3 Sunday- or should we say Son Day.
 
steve53 said:
So they set the Calendar at 350 days just to spite the Romans?

LOL.

Like I said, ALL Jews used the Lunar Calendar, with the months starting on the new moon. The weeks were all seven days.

Every three years they would have to adjust it.

It wasn’t a hard and fast thing.

Every year the Astrologers would get together and hammer things out to make a workable Calendar. And the Jews were BIG Astrologers in ancient times.

The Romans had their own Calendar, so there was a problem there, but the Jews stuck to their Lunar-based one through both revolts and even today you can adjust your life according to the Jewish Calendar if you want.

Why are you so bent on Qumran being Essene? So what if it wasn’t?
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It was 364 days…not 350 and I doubt they cared less about irritating the Romans.
 
Up to about three years ago I bought into the popular belief that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. And they had to rush the burial due to the weekly Sabbath, which was the very next day. However I still had a nagging problem with the fact that if He died on Friday he was not in the tomb for three days. I decided to start from scratch and go over the record again. I found that I had missed just two simple words in the Gospel of John – and they were “High Sabbath” and this changed everything. Now you could make the day of crucifixion any day of the week that you want. So I just backed up the calendar just enough to allow for three full days and nights in the tomb. This brings us to a crucifixion day of Wednesday Nissan 14th.

John 19:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation [Day], that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.

So Jesus died on Passover day Wednesday Nissan 14th 29AD?. Nissan 14th is the equivalent of (Gregorian) March 8th. On March 8th sunset in Jerusalem was at 5:42 PM. The day changed at sundown when three medium stars were visible in the sky. This would be at around 6:00PM or so. On Nissan 14th. He died around 3:00PM on Wednesday and they had to rush to get him buried in the tomb before the day changed as the next day (Thursday) was a High Sabbath. It was not a weekly Sabbath, but rather the first day of unleavened bread. A high Sabbath was not nearly as strict as the weekly Sabbath. No unnecessary work could be done on a High Sabbath, but work could be done in celebrating the feast.

Since they couldn’t finish the work of preparing the body on Wednesday afternoon because of the quickly approaching day change; and since Jesus was crucified near the top of the Mount of Olives his followers were only a Sabbath days journey from the city. So they could work until the last minute before heading back to the city. The Passover or the last supper was held early on Wednesday Nissan 14th. Possibly at about 9:00 – 10:00 PM as a rough estimate.
 
If Friday was approaching a High holy day, it might have been the 15th of Nisan, the first day of Unleavened Bread which was a holy Sabbath, as well as the weekly Sabbath.

There is tradition that dates very early, that the early church fasted on Wednesday (the day Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver) and Friday (the day our Lord was crucified).

As far as the three days and three nights, one might consider what happened at midnight on the first Passover in Egypt, and compare it with what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane around midnight. “Arise O sword, and strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad”. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even as unto death”.
 
Sonseearhay,
Seems to me you forget that Christ celebrated the Passover with his disciples and instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist(Thanksgiving for the P’s that don’t know) and that at the “end of supper he offered the bread and cup” -it was the third offering of the bread and cup in the Passover celebration- there is a fourth offering in the Passover and Christ changed it to His sacrifice.
 
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