By Maria Merola
© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, March 2007
For the past 2,000 years, there has been much controversy within the community of believers, whereby some have surmised that our Messiah did not actually “eat” a Passover meal with his disciples.
They say that he ate the “Last Supper,” but not a Passover meal. They rationalize that this could not have been a true Passover meal, because they assume that the Passover Lambs had not been slaughtered yet until the next day.
However, what many are unaware of, is that in First Century Jerusalem, there were two evenings for slaughtering lambs. This was perfectly legal according to the requirement of Exodus 12:6, which says “The whole congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it in the evening.” The English translators of the Bible, did not properly translate the Hebrew words “ben ha’ereb,” (in the evening), which literally means “between the evenings” (plural).
Another well-hidden fact is that there is not one mention of the term “The Last Supper” in any of the gospels! This phrase “The Last Supper” is a construct of the Roman Catholic Church, in attempting to hide the fact that our Messiah ate a Passover meal. Their hope has been to supplant the Passover meal with a new ordinance called “Holy Communion.”
In 1st Corinthians 10:16, 2nd Corinthians 6:14, & 2nd Corinthians 13:14, the Apostle Shaul (Paul) used the Greek word “koinonia” (fellowship) to mean having “fellowship with Messiah” by remembering him as the Passover Lamb. By no means was Shaul (Paul) adding a new ordinance represented by a “Communion wafer.”
Many have wondered how our Messiah could have eaten the Passover the night before he died. And yet, he also became the Passover Lamb the following evening.
Well, there is a very simple explanation for this. You see, the Towrah says that Passover is on the 14th of Abib “at evening,” but in Hebrew the phrase is “ben ha’ereb” which means “between the two evenings.”
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening.
Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is YHWH’s Passover.
Bemidbar (Numbers) 9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it.
As you can see by the verses above, in English, it would appear to some that this would be at the tail-end of the 14th of Abib (three hours before the 15th of Abib).
However, let us take a look at the following verse as it reads in Hebrew:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:6 And you shall keep it [the lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it in the evening.
Now, let’s compare this verse with the Hebrew correction:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:6 And you shall keep it [the lamb] up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it between the two evenings.
The phrase “in the evening” in Hebrew reads “ben ha’ereb” which literally means “between the two evenings.” Also note, that they were to keep the lamb “up until” the fourteenth day of Abib. This means that the moment the sun went down on the thirteenth of Abib, they were to kill it between the two evenings on the fourteenth day of Abib.
The Hebrew word “in” is #996 – ben: between, in the midst of. The word “evening” is #6153 – ereb: evening, night, sunset, dusk.
In other words, they were to kill the lamb “between the two sunsets of the 14th of Abib!”
This word “ereb” comes from another root word:
#6150 `arab aw-rab’ a primitive root; from #6148; through the idea of covering with a texture; to grow dusky at sundown:--be darkened, (toward) evening.
#6148 `arab aw-rab' a primitive root; to braid, i.e. intermix; technically, to traffic (as if by barter); also or give to be security (as a kind of exchange):--engage, (inter-)meddle (with), mingle (self), mortgage, occupy, give pledges, be(-come, put in) surety, undertake.
As you can see, this word for “evening” comes from the root words meaning “to mingle, to intermix.” When the light mixes with the darkness then it becomes “dusk,” and that is precisely what the word “evening” means.
Hence, between “two evenings” means that there would be two periods of dusk within a 24-hour period on the 14th day of the 1st Hebrew month of Abib. The commandment to kill the Passover Lamb between “two evenings” would then imply that anytime within that 24-hour period, a lamb could be slaughtered.
Some scholars believe that this phrase “between the evenings” is referring to a Hebrew Idiom that describes the period from “twelve noon until sundown,” as the last six hours of the day, and this is what they believe the phrase means. However, as I have already illustrated, the definition for “between the evenings” is “between the two sunsets” on the same day!
We already have the precedence in scripture which illustrates that Passover is kept in the same way as Yom Kippur which is “from evening to evening:”
Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 23:
27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement (Yom Kippur): it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH.
28 And you shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement (Yom Kippur), to make an atonement for you before YHWH your Elohiym.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that does any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 You shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall you celebrate your Sabbath.
Did you see this? Yom Kippur runs its course from “evening to evening” and Passover is the same. It runs its course “from evening to evening” or “between the two evenings.”
Let us now examine the graphic here from the Brown’s Driver-Briggs Lexicon. You will notice that the Pharisees, Samaritans, and the Karaites had differing opinions as to when the “evening” would be rendered.
I believe that YaHuWaH purposely designed it that way so that our Messiah would fulfill the Towrah by “eating the Passover” with the House of Yahuwdah (Judah) the night before he was betrayed by them.
On the following evening (before the 15th of Abib), he also became the Passover for those outside of the covenant. When he ate it the night before, the House of Judah was still in covenant with YaHuWaH.
By the following day, the House of Judah betrayed him, and thus they separated themselves from the covenant. Our Messiah was then escorted outside of the city limits of Jerusalem to the place of execution for those who were outside of the covenant (The House of Ephrayim).
In Numbers 19, it says that whenever the altar in the Temple became defiled, a spotless red heifer had to be escorted outside of the city of Jerusalem where he would be killed and his body would be consumed. His ashes would then be used to cleanse the altar to sanctify and cleanse it from all defilement.
Our Messiah not only fulfilled the “Passover Lamb” for both Houses of Yisra’el, but he also became the “Red Heifer” sacrifice because they defiled his altar when they shed innocent blood! This is the reason why there had to be two evenings for slaughtering lambs, for both Houses of Yisra’el!
After doing much research into this, I discovered that 1st Century Jerusalem, (in the days when our Messiah was sacrificed on the tree), the House of Judah conducted a personal Passover for each individual family at the beginning of the 14th of Abib, and then the next evening before the 15th, they did one for the community at the Temple.
This only makes sense, because the House of Judah had not left the covenant yet when he ate it with them. Judas had not betrayed him yet, and the House of Judah had not shouted “crucify him” yet.
The main reason why this has become an issue for me, is because there are some people who use this controversy to try and discredit the Briyth Chadashah (New Testament) scriptures.
These same people argue that “there are mistakes” in the Briyth Chadashah (New Testament). While it is true that there are minor translation errors in the New Testament, the assertion that the translators purposely inserted the idea of Messiah “eating the Passover” in three gospels is absurd.
Once people begin to cast doubt on the Briyth Chadashah (NT), it leads to a very slippery slope. Before you know it, people begin to deny the validity of the New Testament scriptures entirely, and that also leads to them denying Yahuwshuwa as their Messiah!
Another disturbing conclusion that this often leads to the denial that our Messiah had to fulfill the Towrah 100% in order to be the perfect, sinless lamb.
You see, if he had not eaten the Passover Lamb on the fourteenth day of Abib (as commanded), then he would have been in violation of the Towrah, and that would have rendered his sacrifice as defiled!
But the same people who argue that he did not eat the Passover with his disciples, also assume that he ate “leavened bread” which goes against the Towrah commandment to eat “unleavened bread” with the Passover Lamb and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8).
There has never been a doubt in my mind that our Messiah ate the true Passover meal, but there has been so much argument about this recently, that I decided to do a study on the matter in hopes that I might bring unity back to the body of Messiah, and thereby show weightier evidence that our Messiah not only obeyed the Towrah by “eating the Passover” but he was also the Passover Lamb that year!
You see, our Creator, YaHuWaH has already placed in the Towrah the parameters whereby our Messiah would not be in conflict with the Towrah in doing both (eating the Passover and becoming the Passover).
In this study we find out that our Messiah did not violate Towrah (as some have suggested) for he was able to actually eat the Passover and thereby be “perfect” the next day when he actually became the Passover Lamb!
Why is this issue so important? Because the very insinuation that he did not eat the Passover in the year that he died casts a shadow of doubt that he was the genuine Messiah of Yisra’el. In order for him to be “perfect” he had to eat the Passover. He could not be the perfect sacrifice unless he himself obeyed Towrah by eating the Passover.
Another serious issue that is raised in this argument, is the validity of the Briyth Chadashah (Renewed Covenant) or what many call the New Testament. Those who argue that our Messiah did not eat the Passover insist that there are major errors in the New Testament scriptures and therefore, they cannot be trusted.
Beloved, once we begin down that road, one begins to doubt if the New Testament scriptures are even telling us the truth concerning our Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection!
Any minor translation errors in the New Testament scriptures are very easy to detect by simply looking up the original words in Greek and/or Aramaic and also looking up the meaning of these words in the Strong’s Concordance or a Lexicon.
Also, the King James Version helps us out by showing when certain words were not in the text by the use of italics. All we have to do is look for words in italics in the King James Version and we can easily find out if there are translation problems.
Consequently, there are not blatant or major translation errors in the “Textus Receptus” or the “Received Text”which is the “New Testament” manuscripts preserved in Antioch Syria. King James sent fifty Hebrew Scribes to find these in the 1600’s and this is what they used to translate the Briyth Chadashah (Renewed Covenant).
Those who purport that Messiah did not eat the Passover meal are using corrupted Bible translations such as the “Vaticanus Codex” from the Vatican vaults.
The Gnostics in Alexandria Egypt, who did not believe in Messiah’s deity, removed many verses from the original manuscripts in the 2nd Century, and thus they created a corrupted text which was later used by Constantine for the Latin Vulgate Bible of Roman Catholicism.
Therefore, when trying to solve this issue, the only manuscripts that I would trust are the Textus Receptus (used by the King James translators) and the Aramaic Peshitta. To understand the hidden agenda of the Gnostics to alter the scriptures, see my other article entitled “King James Version versus Modern Translations.”
Now there is actually real evidence that Yahuwshuwa ha’Mashiyach ate the REAL Passover Lamb with Unleavened Bread. This was not merely a “Last Supper” or a precursor to the real Passover.
There is not one place in the entire Bible where the term “Last Supper” is ever once used! This was by no means his last meal with his disciples, for only days later he would resurrect and meet with them on the Road to Emmaus and that day eat fish and honeycomb with them (Luke 24:24-42).
Here is conclusive evidence that Messiah ate the REAL Passover. Our study begins with the gospel account of Mark where our Messiah’s own words will be highlighted in bright red and emboldened. Words that are italicized in the King James Version (because they were not originally in the text) are placed in brackets.
Marqos (Mark) 14:12 And the first [day] of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where will you that we go and prepare that you may eat the passover?
Marqos (Mark) 14:13 And he sends forth two of his disciples, and says unto them, Go you into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
Marqos (Mark) 14:14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say you to the goodman of the house, The Master says, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Marqos (Mark) 14:15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
Marqos (Mark) 14:16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Marqos (Mark) 14:17 And in the evening he came with the twelve.
Marqos (Mark) 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Yahuwshuwa said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eats with me shall betray me.
*Note: Verse 16 says they made ready the Passover! Verse 18 says that they ate! Messiah himself said “one of you which eats with me,” indicating that he was eating! What did they eat? They ate what they had prepared in verse 16! And what was it that they had prepared? The Passover! This means that they actually killed a lamb, roasted it and ate it on the night of the 14th of Abib with UNLEAVENED BREAD, (not leavened bread).
Some people argue that the Passover meal that he ate only consisted of bread and wine and there was no lamb involved. But what exactly does the word Passover mean? If our Messiah actually ate the Passover with his disciples, how does one eat a Passover? Let’s see what the Greek Strong’s Concordance shows us for this word Passover:
#3957. pascha πάσχα; pronunciation: pä’-skhä; of Aramaic origin of פֶּסַח (H6453); the paschal sacrifice which was accustomed to be offered for the people’s deliverance of old from Egypt; the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Yisraelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (the first month of their year) in memory of the day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by Elohiym to slay and eat a lamb, and to sprinkle their door posts with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings; Messiah crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb; the paschal supper; the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from the 14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan.
What Does the Aramaic Peshitta Say?
There is ample historical evidence that the New Testament scriptures were first written down in Aramaic before being translated into Greek. Andrew Gabriel Roth published the Aramaic English New Testament, and I show below what the Besowrah (Gospels) say regarding our Messiah eating the Passover. The Aramaic translation for the word Passover is “Paskha:”
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:17 (AENT): Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples drew near to Y’shua and said to him “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Paskha?”
Marqos (Mark) 14:12 (AENT): And in the first day of the Unleavened Bread in which the Yehudeans slay the Paskha, his disciples were saying to him “Where do you desire for us to go and prepare the Paskha to eat?”
Luqas (Luke) 22:8 (AENT): And Y’shua sent Keefa and Yochanan and said to them “Go. Prepare the Paskha for us that we may eat.”
How do we know that Messiah actually ate unleavened bread? We are going to uncover this puzzle by first removing the additional words that were not in the original text of the New Testament. The verse below has italicized words highlighted in red and placed in brackets to indicate that these words were added by the English translators:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:17 Now the first [day] of [the feast of] unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahuwshuwa, saying unto him, Where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?
Now, you will notice that if this was the “first of unleavened bread,” and he had not died yet, this means that it was the beginning of the fourteenth of Abib (just after sundown on the thirteenth of Abib) and they were already calling this the “first of unleavened bread.”
The Greek word used here for “unleavened” is seen as follows:
#106: azymos ἄζυμος; pronunciation ä’-zü-mos: unfermented, free from leaven or yeast; of the unleavened loaves used in the paschal feast of the Jews; metaphor free from faults or the “leaven of iniquity.”
You see, he was telling them to prepare unleavened bread to be eaten with the lamb according to the Towrah commandment! Now some people would rationalize that when he broke the bread with his disciples and ate it, that this was “leavened bread” but let’s look at the word used in Mark 14:22:
Marqos (Mark) 14:22 And as they did eat, Yahuwshuwa took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
What is the Greek word used here for bread?
#740: artos ἄρτος; pronunciation: ä’r-tos: food composed of flour mixed with water and baked; the Israelites made it in the form of an oblong or round cake, as thick as one’s thumb, and as large as a plate or platter hence it was not to be cut but broken; loaves were consecrated to the Lord; of the bread used at the love-feasts and at the Lord’s Table; food of any kind.
There is nothing here that indicates that this was leavened bread! Nothing! This Greek word artos is a generic word used for any kind of bread whether leavened or unleavened.
We already know it was unleavened bread because he already commanded them to make ready the Passover on the first of unleavened bread. And so if you put these two Greek words together: artos & asymos you get the term “unleavened bread!”
The word azymos simply means “unleavened” and it does not include the word “bread” with it. It can mean anything that is unleavened or unfermented-- even wine. And so the word artos is just the Greek word for bread just like our English word for bread in general.
If I use the word “bread” in a sentence in English, everyone knows I mean bread with leaven in it (yeast). But now if I tell you that I am keeping the Passover, and I tell you that I ate bread, you are going to know that what I ate was no ordinary bread. You are going to know that I ate unleavened bread!
Most importantly, if he was using “leavened bread” as a metaphor for his body, that means that he would have been a sinner! You see, leaven is a picture of “sin” and therefore, his sacrifice had to be represented by a sinless, spotless lamb, and bread with no leaven!
Now, another very important factor to take into consideration is that the word “day” and the words “the feast of” are in italics in Matthew 26:17:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:17 Now the first [day] of [the feast of] unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahuwshuwa, saying unto him, Where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?
This means that these words were not in the original text! Therefore the verse should read like this:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:17 Now the first of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yahuwshuwa, saying unto him, Where will you that we prepare for you to eat the Passover?
The fact that this was not “the feast of” unleavened bread, but merely the first of the “days of unleavened bread” is extremely important!
The Towrah tells us to begin eating unleavened bread “on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib” (Exodus 12:18). This is why Matthew 26:17 is telling us that this was the “first” of these days of unleavened bread. It would not commence the actual “feast” of unleavened bread until the following night on the fifteenth of Abib.
The English translators took the liberty of adding these words into the text of Matthew 26:17. However, because they had no gauge for keeping the Feasts of YaHuWaH, they confused the readers by making it appear that this was actually the fifteenth day of the month of Abib.
However, it was only the fourteenth day of the month of Abib, and Towrah tells us to begin eating unleavened bread on the first of those days of unleavened bread.
One could argue that Matthew 26:17 should say “before unleavened bread,” and I would have to agree. Let’s see the word for “first” in Greek as follows:
Strong’s #G4413: prōtos πρῶτος: first in time or place; in any succession of things or persons; first in rank; influence, honour; chief; principal; first, at the first; foremost (in time, place, order or importance):--before, beginning, best, chiefest, first (of all), former.
As you can see, this word has a broader application than the English word “first,” as it can also mean “before.” However, Messiah was telling his disciples to go and “prepare the Passover” and that he was going to “eat the Passover” with them. This means that it was indeed the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It means that this was still on the 14th of Abib.
The entire context of chapter 26 of Matthew tells us that this was “the first” of the days of unleavened bread which included the day of preparation called “Passover.”
Now even if the word “protos” is indeed being translated as “before,” unleavened bread in Mark 26:17, it does not change a thing!
As a matter of fact, it helps our case even more, for the fact still remains that this was the beginning of the fourteenth of Abib (just as the thirteenth of Abib had ended) and the disciples had just Messiah this question (if I may paraphrase): “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover for you so that you may eat it?”
This was the perfect opportunity for him to reply back to his disciples with a response that goes something like this:
“Hey guys, sorry, but I won’t be able to keep the Passover with you tomorrow night because I am going to be hanging on a tree this time tomorrow.”
But no! He did not say this to them!
Instead, what did he say to them?
Luqas (Luke) 22:8 And he sent Keefa (Peter) and Yahuwchanon (John), saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
Do you see what he said? Was he lying? Why would he say to them “go and prepare US the Passover that WE may EAT?”
Was he playing games with them? Was he only pretending that he was going to eat the Passover with them and then at the last minute he was going to break the news to them and say this to them: “look guys I cannot eat the Passover with you this year?”
In the King James Version, italicized words denote that the words were not there originally. In Matthew 26:17, this was not the daytime, neither was it the 15th of Abib (Feast of Unleavened Bread). This was the “first of the days of unleavened bread.”
Exodus 12:18 makes it clear that there are eight days (inclusive) when we are commanded to eat unleavened bread. From the 14th through the 21st of Abib are “the days of unleavened bread.”
Although, on the 15th of Abib commences “The Feast of Unleavened Bread.” In Matthew 26:17, this was the beginning of those “days” of unleavened bread. Even though the actual “feast” of unleavened bread does not begin until the 15th of Abib, there is actually a commandment in the Towrah to begin eating unleavened bread on the 14th of Abib:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:18 In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening.
Okay, so we begin eating unleavened bread on the 14th day of the month of Abib!
Even though the 15th of Abib is called “The FEAST of Unleavened Bread,” we begin eating unleavened bread “between the two evenings” on the 14th!
Why does the 15th commence the “Feast” of Unleavened Bread? It is because on the first night of the 14th of Abib, lamb is to be eaten with the unleavened bread, but there will be a total of “seven days” that we eat unleavened bread following that first night on the 14th!
Okay, so let’s count how many days we eat the unleavened bread:
Day # 1 the 14th
Day # 2 the 15th
Day # 3 the 16th
Day # 4 the 17th
Day # 5 the 18th
Day # 6 the 19th
Day # 7 the 20th
Day # 8 the 21st
So you see, we begin eating unleavened bread on the 14th of Abib, but we also have an additional “seven days” where we eat no leaven and we eat unleavened bread beginning on the 15th of Abib which is called “The Feast of Unleavened Bread.” By the 21st of Abib, at sundown, that is when we cease to eat unleavened bread.
Therefore, if our Messiah ate the unleavened bread on the first night of the fourteenth of Abib (just after the sun went down on the 13th of Abib), this means that he also ate the Passover Lamb with it! The night before he was crucified, began the fourteenth of Abib, and he was not violating Towrah as some people suppose.
So long as he and his disciples killed the lamb “at evening” or in Hebrew beyn ha’ereb which means “between the two evenings,” they were still within the parameters of keeping the Passover according to Towrah.
Some people seem to think that the lambs were only slaughtered on the evening of the 14th just before the date was about to change to the 15th of Abib. There were thousands of people making pilgrimage at this time in 30 C.E. to have their lambs killed in the Temple. It would be absurd to think that thousands of lambs could be slaughtered within a just few hours between 12 noon & 3:00 p.m.
Did Messiah & His Disciples Leave the House?
Those who argue that Messiah did not eat the Passover Lamb the night before he died, will often use this passage in Exodus 12:22 to make their point.
They say that Yahuwshuwa and his disciples left the upper room that night, to go to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
Let us examine this passage to get some understanding of how this Towrah commandment applied back in 1st Century Jerusalem:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
As you can see, the Yisraelites were commanded not to go out at the door of his house until morning. But why? It is because they were living in a heathen nation, where the blood of the lamb did not cover those who were not in covenant with YaHuWaH.
In 1st Century Jerusalem, the House of Yahuwdah (Judah) and the surrounding cities were “in the house” or in other words, they were “in covenant,” and so all of their homes were “under the blood” because they were all keeping Passover!
To be within the city limits of Jerusalem meant that they were “in the house” as our Messiah described below:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 23:
37 O Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
On the night when our Messiah ate the Passover with his disciples, who was the first one to “leave the house” or the covenant? Judas! He betrayed Messiah, and thus, he was taken by death because of his disobedience.
Yahuwdah (Judas) was a picture of the disobedient Egyptians who also perished because they were “not under the blood” or in other words “outside of the house.” When Yahuwdah (Judas) betrayed his Messsiah, he left the House of Judah where the blood covering was!
Therefore, when Yahuwshuwa and his disciples went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, they were still “in the house” because they were under the blood covering of the House of Yahuwdah (Judah).
The next morning of the 14th of Abib (after Yisra’el ate the Passover) in Exodus 12, Moses & Aaron went to negotiate their departure with Pharaoh. By that point, they were allowed to leave their homes.
Likewise, the next morning, Yahuwshuwa was summoned by Caiaphas Herod and Pontius Pilate and then he and his disciples “left the house” when he was escorted “outside of Jerusalem” to the place of execution for all of those who had “left the covenant” the following day when they shouted “Crucify him!”
Communion or Passover?
Those who argue that Messiah did not actually eat a Passover Meal with his disciples are making it appear that the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) was instituting a brand new ordinance of which the Roman Catholic Church has branded as “Holy Communion.”
In the King James Version we read:
1st Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
But what does this word “communion” mean in Greek?
Strong’s #G2842 – koinōnia: fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse.
As you can see, the word “communion” is not some type of ordinance or ritual, for it simply means to have “fellowship” with Messiah. And this is what we should experience when we keep Passover. We can therefore, read this verse as follows:
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Mashiyach? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Mashiyach?
How can we be certain that Sha’uwl (Paul) is talking about Passover in this verse? We can easily tell, because he is using the term “cup of blessing” which is the third out of four cups used in a traditional Jewish Passover Meal!
If this was a brand new ordinance called “communion” why then does Paul use Passover terminology?
We know that what is referred to as “The Lord’s Supper” in 1st Corinthians 11 is the very same thing as Passover, by the fact that Messiah said “as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.”
Also important to note, is that whenever you see the term “Lord” in the Briyth Chadashah (New Testament) and the Greek translation is “Kurios,” it means that the original word should be YaHuWaH---not Lord!
Therefore, the term “The Lord’s Supper” is actually “YaHuWaH’s Supper.” In Exodus 12:11, it is called “YaHuWaH’s Passover!”
How often did they do this? They did this once per year on Passover----not every Sunday morning in church!
Was this a brand new ordinance that he was adding to the Towrah? And what about Deuteronomy 12:32 where we are commanded not to “add to nor diminish from” the commandments? Was Yahuwshuwa our Messiah “adding” something new to the Towrah? Of course he was not!
Since the great Exodus in the days of Mosheh (Moses), the nation of Yisra’el had already been doing this as a “day of remembrance,” and that is why Yahuwshuwa said “as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.” It was because they were already doing this as an annual remembrance:
Shemoth Exodus 13:3 And Mosheh (Moses) said unto the people, Remember this day, in which you came out from Mitzrayim (Egypt), out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand YHWH brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
So now we know what our Messiah was commanding us to do in remembrance of him!
Those who say that our Messiah did not eat the Passover, are therefore in agreement with the Roman Catholic Church by treating this as a separate ordinance called “Holy Communion” of which nothing was ever instituted in the Torwah to be kept forever!
Therefore, when Paul was talking about “YaHuWaH’s Supper” (the Lord’s Supper), it was the very same thing as Passover!
You will notice that Paul was rebuking the Corinthians because they were not properly discerning that their fellowship together should be based on the covenant that was first instituted at the original Passover in Exodus 12. Listen to what he says:
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:20 When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat YHWH’s supper.
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:23 For I have received of YHWH that which also I delivered unto you, that YHWH Yahuwshuwa the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
*Note: Now it should be obvious here that if our Messiah is using “bread” to symbolize his body, and leaven is a metaphor for sin, then why would he use leavened bread to symbolize his sinless body?! Those who say that he ate leavened bread the night before his sacrifice are therefore insinuating that he was not the sinless lamb!
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the Renewed Testament in my blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
*Note: notice that it says that Messiah had supped with, which means that he ate!
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show YHWH’s death till he come.
To understand the difference between the biblical Passover Supper versus the Catholic Communion, see my blog entitled “What is the Catholic Mass?”
Terminology Confusion
One of the biggest reasons why people struggle to understand whether or not our Messiah actually “ate” the Passover meal is because of “terminology” confusion.
In order to understand the terms that are used inter-changeably, we must understand that the Towrah commands that we not eat leaven for a total of eight days commencing on the 14th of Abib and ending on the 21st of Abib:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening.
Now the first thing you will notice is that we begin eating unleavened bread on the 14th of Abib “at evening” but as I mentioned earlier, the phrase literally means “between the two evenings” as seen in Exodus 12:6 where the phrase “in the evening” is literally translated “between the two evenings.”
This means that we actually begin Passover on the first evening of the 14th just as the 13th of Abib has ended. So the commandment to eat unleavened bread for “seven days” means “in addition to” that first day when we are commanded to slaughter a lamb on the 14th.
These days begin with the 14th of Abib and end on the 21st of Abib (inclusive) for a total of eight days. Now, there are times when you will see the phrase “feast of unleavened bread” and this pertains specifically to the 15th of Abib and onward for the remaining seven days of the feast.
You will also see times in the Briyth Chadashah (New Testament) where the phrase “days of unleavened bread” appears, and this is referring to the entire “eight days” between the 14th - 21st inclusive.
You will also see the phrase “feast of the passover” which is referring specifically to the remaining seven days of the “feast” of unleavened bread following “the day of preparation” (also called Passover). You see on the 14th of Abib (Passover) it is called “the day of preparation,” when we are instructed to clean out the leaven (yeast) from our homes.
After the 14th of Abib (preparation day), begins the actual “Feast” of Passover aka Unleavened Bread for seven more days. However, if we actually begin eating unleavened bread on the 14th of Abib, we have a total of eight days.
That first day on the 14th of Abib, is a preparation day. Sometimes all eight days are being spoken of inclusively and at other times only the seven days of the actual feast (following the preparation day) is being spoken of. Some people want to cancel out what the other three gospels say about our Messiah eating the Passover Lamb with only one verse from John 13:1.
They rationalize that the other gospels contain mistakes and cannot be trusted. But they reason that the book of John is the only one that is correct. We can see from John 13:1, that the phrase “feast of the passover” is specifically referring to the “seven days” remaining of the “feast of unleavened bread” and this was still on the 14th of Abib (the preparation day) when our Messiah ate the supper with his disciples.
By combining the information from all four gospels, we can ascertain that this supper was the Passover meal on the 14th of Abib prior to the actual “Feast” of Unleavened Bread (also called the Feast of Passover).
Now there is something that I want to point out that totally debunks the theory that Matthew 26:17 is a mistranslation with the word “first.” As I already pointed out earlier, the word “protos” in Greek most often means “first” and rarely means “before.”
The book of John records that this was “before” the Feast of Passover, and so we should look up the word to see if the word is “protos” which would add more weight to their false argument that Matthew 26:17 mistranslates the word “before” as “first.”
When we look up the word for “before” in John 13:1, we find out that it is not the word “protos!” The word for “before” is #4253 in the Greek Concordance which is the word “pro” rather than “protos.”
This proves that there is a distinction between protos and pro! The word “protos” means “first” while “pro” means “before.” Those who want to disqualify Matthew 26:17 as being a mis-translation are now proven wrong.
If Matthew 26:17 should say “before” instead of “first,” then the Greek word should be pro not protos! In John 13:1, (the verse below), this is not in conflict with the other gospels. This was “before” the Feast of Unleavened Bread (interchangeably called the Feast of Passover).
This was on the fourteenth of Abib, and it was before the actual feast, thus, they had just finished eating the Passover Supper together:
Yahuwchanon (John) 13:1-2 Now before the feast of the passover, when Yahuwshuwa knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Yahuwdah (Judas) Iscariot, Shimone’s (Simon’s) son, to betray him.
What are we observing here from all four gospels? We are seeing that the terms feast of unleavened bread and feast of passover are used interchangeably to mean the seven additional days commencing on the fifteenth of Abib.
However, when we see the phrase “days of unleavened bread” this is inclusive of all eight days, to include the day of preparation which commences the fourteenth day of Abib.
Below is a link that explains why there were two nights of slaughtering lambs for Passover.
The Sadducees and Pharisees disagreed on the day of Passover. The Sadducees (the more conservative group) believed the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were separate feast days. They held Passover on the fourteenth as Elohiym decreed in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
Those of the majority opinion, including the Pharisees, held Passover on the fifteenth…Thousands of people would come to Jerusalem to have their lambs ritually slain in the Temple. If they only had one day in which to prepare for the Passover, it would have been extremely difficult to have slaughtered all the lambs brought in to be sacrificed.
Therefore, they worked on two different time scales. The northern part of the country went with the old way of dating (starting from morning and going to the following morning). The southern part of the country followed the official dating method (from evening to evening).
Thus, there were two times when lambs were being killed in the Temple for sacrifice----Sampson R & Pierce L. A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays. Heart of Wisdom Publishing June 2001, p. 112.
As you can see from the above historical account, the lambs were slaughtered the evening before our Messiah was sacrificed on the tree, and they were slaughtered again the following evening! There were two evenings for slaughtering lambs!
All Yisra’el began to “unleaven” their homes on the 14th of Abib called “the day of preparation.” Therefore, anytime within those 24 hours (beginning at the first sunset when the date changed from the 13th to the 14th of Abib) until the following night just before the date changed at sunset to the 15th of Abib, Yisra’el was able to kill the Passover any time during those 24 hours.
So long as the lamb was slaughtered “at evening” or “between the two evenings,” they were still within the parameters of obeying the Towrah.
In Exodus 12:16 we read: “And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it in the evening.”
In Hebrew the word “it” is #996 beyn which means “between,” hence the scripture in Hebrew should say:
“And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill between the evenings.”
According to Gesenius’ Lexicon the phrase should say: “between the two evenings.”
This means that there were actually two evenings in which they could slaughter lambs!
Two Evenings for Two Houses of Yisra’el
The Passover (Pesach) was purposely designed by our Creator YaHuWaH to be “between the two evenings.” In Shemoth (Exodus) 12:6, we read that the Passover Lamb is to be killed “in the evening” of the 14th of Abib. But in Hebrew, as I just illustrated, it says “beyn ha’ereb” which means “between the two evenings,” for the Two Houses of Yisra’el!
Our Messiah ate the Passover on the 1st evening of the 14th of Abib with the House of Yahuwdah (Judah), for they had not left the covenant yet until the next day when they shouted “Crucify him! Let his blood be upon us!”
This is why the disciple Yahuwdah (Judas) was present at the Passover with our Messiah. It is because he had not betrayed him yet. In 2nd Chronicles 29:21, the lambs and goats are sacrificed for the House of Judah, while the bullocks (heifers) are for the nations (the lost tribes of Ephrayim).
On the following day on the 14th of Abib, Messiah also became the Red Heifer for Ephrayim. In Hosea 10:11, Ephrayim is likened unto a “heifer.” The Red Heifer is the only sacrifice done outside of Jerusalem’s city walls (Numbers 19). He had to go outside of the camp for Ephrayim to cleanse the altar. The Red Heifer sanctified the altar so that the next evening when they killed the second batch of lambs, the altar would be cleansed!
The House of Judah had betrayed their Messiah by the second evening, therefore, their Temple sacrifice would have been invalid unless he had also become the Red Heifer outside of the camp! That is why two evenings were needed for killing lambs for two flocks (Ephrayim & Judah). Messiah told us that he had two flocks:
Yahuwchanon (John) 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
When these Ephrayimites (Gentiles) accept the blood covenant of YaHuWaH, they are then grafted into the same olive tree with Yisra’el, and they are no longer called “Gentiles.”
Ya’aqob-Yisra’el renamed his grandsons (Ephrayim & Manasseh) when he said “let my name be named upon them” (Genesis 48:16).
Likewise, when Yisra’el left Egypt that night, many Egyptians left with them and they became “as one born among” the Yisra’elites! It now becomes obvious why there are two nights for slaughtering lambs for Passover. The first night was for the “firstborn” of Yisra’el (Judah) and the second night is for the “firstborn” of the Egyptians symbolizing Ephrayim!
At the first Passover, two different sacrifices took place. The lambs were killed for Judah and then the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed for those Egyptians (Ephrayimites) who would join Yisra’el!
This is also evident in the fact that the first Hebrew month called Abib is marked by the constellation of the Ram.
Abraham offered up his firstborn son Yitzchaq (Isaac), and then a Ram was seen with his horns caught in the thickets (Genesis 22:13).
The Ram symbolizes the firstborn sons of Judah. But in the second month, King Hezekiah instituted a “second Passover” for the lost tribes of Ephrayim & Manasseh as he invited them to return to the covenant (2nd Chronicles 30). The constellation that is seen in the 2nd Hebrew month is the Bull for Ephrayim!
Messiah became both sacrifices! He was the Lamb on the first evening of Passover and then he was the Red Heifer on the second evening of Passover within the same 24-hour period of the 14th of Abib! Another clue is seen in 2nd Chronicles 29:17 where we find out that the priests came to cleanse the Temple in Jerusalem to make the sanctuary fit for Passover.
However, they began on the 1st of Abib to cleanse the Temple and they were not finished until the 16th of Abib. Why were they not ready to do Passover on the 14th of Abib? Because the 14th & 15th of Abib is for the cleansing of Ephrayim & Judah! That is why they had to wait until the 2nd month and do Passover on the 14th day of the 2nd Month!
In the year that our Messiah was sacrificed for us on the tree, thousands of people were making pilgrimage that year to Jerusalem. It would have been impossible to slaughter all of those lambs in just one evening. That is why there were two different evenings for slaughtering lambs on the 14th of Abib.
And when is evening? Evening is a Hebrew word called “ereb” and it can mean anytime from noon until sunset. When did Messiah die on the tree? It was at 3:00 p.m. (the 9th hour of the day) and so this was “evening” according to the Towrah command to kill the lamb at evening.
When Messiah hung on the tree, what time did it become dark? It was between the hours of 12 noon and 3:00 p.m. that it grew dark indicating that this was “evening” in order to fulfill the Towrah commandment to kill the lamb in the evening:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
This means that anytime between those two evenings from sunset to sunset on the fourteenth of Abib, they could kill the lamb. Noon is called “post meridian” or p.m. because it is the last 6 hours of the 24-hour cycle.
Where & When Does Towrah Command That We Kill the Passover?
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 16:2 You shall therefore sacrifice the passover unto YHWH your Elohiym, of the flock and the herd, in the place which YHWH shall choose to place his name there.
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 16:6 But at the place which YHWH your Elohiym shall choose to place his name in, there you shall sacrifice the passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
And Where Has YaHuWaH Chosen To Place His Name?
1st Melekiym (Kings) 11:36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that Dawiyd (David) my servant may have a light alway before me in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
2nd Melekiym (Kings) 21:4 And he built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH said, In Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) will I put my name.
2nd Melekiym (Kings) 21:7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which YHWH said to Dawiyd (David), and to Shelomo (Solomon) his son, In this house, and in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), which I have chosen out of all tribes of Yisra’el, will I put my name for ever:
2nd Melekiym (Kings) 23:27 And YHWH said, I will remove Yahuwdah (Judah) also out of my sight, as I have removed Yisra’el, and will cast off this city Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
2nd Dibre ha Yamiym (Chronicles) 6:6 But I have chosen Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), that my name might be there; and have chosen Dawiyd (David) to be over my people Yisra’el.
2nd Dibre ha Yamiym (Chronicles) 33:4 Also he built altars in the house of YHWH, whereof YHWH had said, In Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) shall my name be forever.
2nd Dibre ha Yamiym (Chronicles) 33:7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of Elohiym, of which Elohiym had said to Dawiyd (David) and to Shelomo (Solomon) his son, In this house, and in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), which I have chosen before all the tribes of Yisra’el, will I put my name for ever:
In the House of Yahuwdah (Judah) and in Yerushalayim has YaHuWaH chosen to place his name forever!
Even the name YaHuWDaH has the Father’s name in it, with the letter “dalet” (equivalent to our letter d) inserted! The “dalet” is the 4th letter in the Hebrew Alphabet which means “the door” and Messiah is “the door” to the Father (John 10:7-9). He is the Lion of Yahuwdah (Revelation 5:5) and he is the door to the Father. And so in the cities of Judah and Jerusalem is where YaHuWaH has placed his name!
This means that the lamb could be slaughtered anywhere within the city of Yerushalayim. It did not have to be in the Temple!
There is no denying that the gospels seem to depict two consecutive Passovers. However, our Messiah did not actually keep two different Passovers. Both times he was keeping one and the very same Passover.
I in prophecy, there is always “the type & shadow” seen in the TaNaKh (Old Testament), and then you have Messiah becoming “the anti-type” which means the fulfillment of the “type.”
The Passover that he ate and the Passover that he became were actually one and the same because they both happened on the same day. The night before he died, he displayed the “type & shadow” of the Renewed Covenant. But then on the very same day (the fourteenth of Abib), he fulfilled the “type & shadow!”
Those who claim that Yahuwshuwa and his disciples did not observe the Passover in the “Last Supper” not only deny scripture, but they implicitly make Yahuwshuwa a Towrah-breaker. Below we see the calendar year of when our Messiah died on the tree.
What we see is that on the third day of the week (what we call Tuesday) at sundown, the calendar date changed from the 13th of Abib to the fourteenth of Abib (Nisan). Earlier that day, while it was still the thirteenth, the disciples prepared the guest chamber where they would later on that night kill, roast and eat the Passover.
That evening, they killed and ate the Passover Lamb along with unleavened bread. The next day on the fourth day of the week (what we call Wednesday) it was still the fourteenth of the month, but the date changed to the fifteenth at sundown going into Thursday.
On that Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. our Messiah was crucified and it was still on the fourteenth of the month. He fulfilled both “the type & the anti-type” of the very same Passover in one 24-hour period!
This calendar illustration above shows what the year looked like when our Messiah was crucified. It was the year 30 C.E. according to the historic record of the Talmud as described in the “Forty Year Yowm Kippur Miracle.”
Prophetic Parallels Between the Type & Anti-type Passovers
Now, I want to address a timing issue that a lot of people have with the 14th of Abib/Nisan (which is when Passover begins) and the 15th of Abib which is when the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. For some reason, people get these two days mixed up. They think that the lamb was to be killed “at the end” of the 14th of Abib, three hours before the date was about to change to the 15th of Abib.
In order to solve this timing issue, we have to look at the original night of Passover in the Exodus of Yisra’el. Comparing the events that took place on the night our Messiah “ate the Passover” with his disciples, to the first Passover (when Yisra’el slaughtered and ate the Passover the night before leaving Egypt), it becomes crystal clear.
Our Messiah eating the Passover meal with his disciples, parallels prophetically to the night the angel “took the firstborn” of the Egyptians. The first thing you will note is that the lambs were to be “kept up until” the 14th day of the month before being killed:
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:6 And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Yisra’el shall kill it in the evening.
As you can see from the King James Version of the Bible, we are commanded to kill the Passover Lamb on the 14th of Abib “in the evening.” As I illustrated earlier, the Hebrew translation says “beyn ha’ereb” which means “between the two evenings.”
Hence, the commandment is actually telling us to kill the lamb “between the evenings” on the 14th day of the month. This means that either one of these “evenings” on the 14th of Abib was valid for killing the lamb.
*Note: they had to keep the Lamb UP UNTIL the 14th of the month. That means from the time that the calendar date changed from the 13th to the 14th of Abib at sundown is when Passover started.
This is when they killed the lamb. This is when Messiah and his disciples also killed the lamb they ate the night before he died.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
*Note: this night of the 14th parallels to the same night when Yahuwshuwa said this:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
On the same anniversary date of when ancient Yisra’el had placed the blood on their doorposts, Yahuwshuwa illustrated that this “cup of salvation” (the 3rd cup) of the Passover Meal symbolizes the betrothal between the husband and the bride.
When Yisra’el struck the door posts with the blood, this parallels to when Yahuwshuwa foretold that the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7 was getting ready to come to pass that same night:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:31 Then said Yahuwshuwa unto them, All you shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Therefore, striking of the blood on the two doorposts was for the “Two Houses of Yisra’el,” and this was the same night that death took the Egyptian’s firstborn. On this same night when Yahuwshuwa was about to be betrayed, a messenger of death was sent to take Yahuwshuwa (the firstborn from among the dead), and he symbolized the House of Yahuwdah (Judah), the firstborn.
The older son in the story of the prodigal, typifies Judah. In other words, Yahuwshuwa was the shepherd that YaHuWaH himself would allow to be “smitten” for the sins of the firstborn sons (Judah)! The same usage of the word “smote” bears witness to this.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:
67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, you Mashiyach (Messiah), Who is he that smote you?
Similarly, in Exodus 12:29, we read that the firstborn of the Egyptians were “smitten” as it says “And it came to pass, that at midnight YHWH smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.”
The night that Yahuwshuwa prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). This parallels to when Yisra’el struck the doorposts with the blood.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:23 And he answered and said, He that dips his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
When Yahuwdah (Judas) dipped his hand in the dish with Yahuwshuwa, to betray him, that was the same thing as Exodus 12:7 where it says “take the blood and strike it on the two sides of the posts.” This was for the “Two Houses of Yisra’el.”
This is also further proof that Yahuwshuwa actually ate the Passover meal. For it he had not eaten it, why then did he dip his hand in the dish with Yahuwdah (Judas)? And furthermore, we can see by the scripture below, that our Messiah did actually “eat” the unleavened bread with them:
Yahuwchanon (John) 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.
The Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) as a nation rejected the blood of the lamb and now the person named after this tribe, Yahuwdah (Judas) was going to betray him by “dipping” his hand in the dish as a symbol of “dipping” the hyssop into the blood and striking the door posts (Exodus 12:22).
Yahuwdah (Judas) was symbolic of the firstborn (the Tribe of Judah) and he was going to betray the “firstborn” lamb (Messiah) so that he could be killed in their place as their scapegoat!
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:11 And thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is YHWH’s Passover.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt) this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt), both man and beast; and against all the gods of Mitzrayim (Egypt) I will execute judgment: I am YHWH.
*Note: When judgment from YaHuWaH came over Egypt and smote all the “firstborn” in the land, that parallels to the shepherd being smitten on that same anniversary night on the fourteenth of Abib (Passover). Yahuwdah (Judas) realized that he had betrayed innocent blood and so he hung himself. But before he hung himself he said these words:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
The place where he hung himself is therefore called “the field of blood.”
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Yahuwdah (Judas) represents the older son (the firstborn) in the story of the prodigal son which is the House of Yahuwdah (Judah). The firstborn of the Two Houses of Yisra’el was being judged that night because as a nation they killed their Messiah and the person named after this tribe (Yahuwdah or Judas) was being used to illustrate this judgment that was going to come to them forty years later in the Roman Siege.
Messiah also took “the cup of wrath” (the 2nd cup) for them as a nation to those from the House of Judah who would repent and later-on accept his sacrifice.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to YHWH throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:15 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yisra’el.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:17 And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt): therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening.
*Note: this all happened on the night of the 14th of Abib!!!
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight YHWH smote all the firstborn in the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt), from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Mitzrayites (Egyptians); and there was a great cry in Mitzrayim (Egypt); for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:31 And he called for Mosheh (Moses) and Aharown (Aaron) by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both you and the children of Yisra’el; and go, serve YHWH, as you have said.
*Note: When Pharaoh sent the firstborn sons (Yisra’el) out of Egypt that night, it was because YaHuWaH smote their firstborn in exchange for his firstborn son (Yisra’el), and that parallels to when Pontius Pilate said this:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will you that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Yahuwshuwa which is called Mashiyach (Messiah)?
And so Messiah represented “the firstborn” sons of Egypt who died in place of the “firstborn sons” of Yisra’el. The innocent children of the firstborn of Egypt had to die in order to release the firstborn of Yisra’el. Messiah was now the innocent lamb taking the place for the guilty.
The word “scapegoat” means “the innocent party that takes the place of the guilty party.” The name “Barabbas” in Aramaic is “Bar Abba,” which means “son of the Father.” Barabbas was now being released to symbolize that all of Yisra’el was being released from their debt of sin and Messiah was taking their place!
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
Above we see in Exodus 12:32 Pharaoh commanding Mosheh & Aharown (Moses & Aaron) to take the people out of Egypt.
This was after midnight on the 14th of Abib, but they did not actually depart from Egypt until the 15th of Abib:
Bemidbar (Numbers) 33:3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Yisra’el went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
On the night that our Messiah was arrested and brought before Caiaphas, Herod, and then Pilate, we can see this as a parallel of the night when Pharaoh sent for Moses & Aaron asking them to take the children of Yisra’el and leave Egypt.
In this story, Pilate washed his hands of “innocent blood” as he recognized that Messiah was the innocent scapegoat for the House of Yahuwdah (Judah) for they were shouting “let his blood be upon us” (Matthew 27:25).
Pharaoh also recognized that the blood of the innocent lambs had protected Yisra’el that night but the firstborn sons of Egypt were not protected by the blood of the lamb. Now Pilate was about to release the guilty party (Barabbas) who was symbolic of the nation of Yisra’el and he was about to execute the Messiah in his place.
Likewise, Pharaoah was about to release the children of Yisra’el from Egypt recognizing that the blood of the innocent Egyptian children as well as the blood of the lambs saved the Yisra’elites.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it.
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
26 Then released he Bar Abba (Barabbas) unto them: and when he had scourged Yahuwshuwa , he delivered him to be crucified.
As we can see from the commandment in Exodus 12:10 below, the lamb was to be completely eaten until there was nothing left of him. Our Messiah was completely stripped of his clothes and beaten until there was nothing left of his visible image.
Isaiah prophesied that “his visage” (appearance) would be marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14). After Mashiyach and his disciples ate the Passover Lamb, then he himself illustrated that he was to become that lamb that they had just eaten. By the morning of the fourteenth of Abib, he had been arrested and beaten to a pulp until he was barely recognizable.
By that evening, after he was taken down from the cross, his body was completely emaciated and his spirit was gone from him. In other words, there was nothing remaining of him, for he was taken down from the cross and placed into a brand new tomb donated by Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:60).
This fulfilled the Towrah instructions of Numbers 19:9 where the ashes of the red heifer are to be gathered into a “clean place.”
Shemoth (Exodus) 12:10 And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Yahuwdiy (Jews)!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
The Crucifixion, the Parting of the Temple Veil & the Parting of the Red Sea
The moment that our Messiah “gave up his spirit” to the Father (Luke 23:46), that is when the veil in the Temple was parted (torn in two) according to Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38 & Luke 23:45.
This parallels to when the Red Sea had “parted” and as a result, Pharaoh and his armies were destroyed (Exodus 15:4). This was after a “three days journey” from the time that Yisra’el ate the Passover Lamb that they left Egypt on the 15th of Abib (Exodus 8:27).
This also parallels to “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” from the time that our Messiah’s spirit “departed” from this world to go into the “lowest parts of the earth” to redeem those who were in “Abraham’s Bosom” (Matthew 12:40; Luke 16:22; Ephesians 4:9). Messiah was also buried after his sacrifice on the tree just before the 15th of Abib.
The Egyptians also buried their firstborn on the 15th of Abib (Numbers 33:4). Messiah’s burial as the firstborn son and the burial of the Egyptian’s firstborn both symbolize that the leaven of sin was destroyed and buried!
Our Messiah’s crucifixion as the Passover Lamb perfectly parallels to the Egyptians being destroyed in the Red Sea. He also ate the Passover Lamb with unleavened bread with his disciples on the same anniversary night that Yisra’el first ate their Passover Lamb with unleavened bread.
Pharaoh arose in the middle of the night on that very first Passover when the firstborn of the Egyptians were taken by the death angel, and that is when he called for Moses to “depart” in haste taking the entire nation with him, and this was still on the 14th of Abib.
This was at the very same time on the future Passover that Yahuwshuwa was arrested and brought to trial. The next morning he also “departed” from Jerusalem to the place of execution, in the same way that ancient Yisra’el “departed” from Egypt the next morning (Exodus 12:29-51).
As you can see by the illustration above, he was nailed on “two trees” for the Two Houses of Yisra’el, which also correlates to the “two side-posts” of the door that Yisra’el was told to strike with the blood.
The upper post on the door that Yisra’el was also told to strike with blood symbolizes Messiah who is the “head” of the body or the bride. Above the cross where he was nailed, the “header” read “King of the Jews.”
What is also very interesting is that the Ancient Paleo Hebrew letter “Taw” looks exactly like a cross, while the Modern Hebrew letter “Taw” looks exactly like a door frame!
To understand why our Messiah had to be nailed to two trees (forming a cross) and not merely a stake or a pole, see my other article entitled: “The Alef & Taw: the Red Heifer & the Two Sticks.”In order for a covenant to be valid, it has to contain three elements: The Spirit, the Water & the Blood.
1st Yahuwchanon (John) 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
When Yisra’el left Egypt on the 14th of Abib (the morning after they ate the Passover), they were led by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, symbolic of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 13:21-22; 14:19 & 24). Our Messiah was in the heart of the earth “Three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40) before he resurrected on First Fruits on the 17th of Abib.
This parallels to Yisra’el traveling for “three days” (Numbers 33:3-8) until they arrived at the Red Sea. The Red Sea is a picture of “victory over death” just as our Messiah “swallowed up death in victory” (1st Corinthians 15:54-55), when he rose again on First Fruits!
When they came to the Red Sea, that represented water immersion (baptism).
Yisra’el “crossed over” from death to life, from bondage to freedom but the Egyptians were destroyed in the Red Sea. This is what happened when our Messiah was nailed to the tree!
Our Messiah destroyed the power of sin on the tree in the same way that YaHuWaH destroyed the Egyptians in the Red Sea! The Holy Spirit guided them in the form of the cloud and pillar of fire and then the blood of the Egyptians paid for their freedom when they drowned in the water. There were three elements present at this event: Spirit, Water & Blood!
After our Messiah died, he gave up his “spirit” and then the Roman Solider put a spear into his side and out came blood and water (John 19:34). There were three elements present at this event: Spirit, Water, & Blood!
When our Messiah gave up his spirit and died on the tree, at that precise moment the veil in the Temple parted just like the Red Sea was parted!
The Temple veil that separated mankind from the Holy of Holies was torn in half (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:35, Luke 23:45). This granted the royal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek access to the Father in Heaven so that we can come “boldly before the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:6).
Here is something interesting that I want to share about the term “Red Sea” in Hebrew. The word for “Red” is seen in the Hebrew Concordance as follows:
#5486. cuwph: soof a primitive root; to snatch away, i.e. terminate; consume, have an end, perish, be utterly.
#5487. cuwph: soof (Aramaic) corresponding to 5486; to come to an end:-- consume, fulfill.
#5490. cowph sofe from 5486; a termination:--conclusion, end, hinder participle.
#5489. Cuwph soof for 5488 (by ellipsis of 3220); the Reed (Sea):--Red Sea.
Now, let’s take a look at the word for “Sea” in Hebrew:
#3220 yam yawm from an unused root meaning to roar; a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water; specifically (with the article), the Mediterranean Sea; sometimes a large river, or an artificial basin; locally, the west, or (rarely) the south:--sea.
What we see here is that the Red Sea is symbolic of the sacrifice of Messiah. It contains two of the elements of covenant (blood and water). The word for “Red” in Hebrew is literally “Reeds” and it means to terminate, to consume, to fulfill, to bring to an end! It also means “to snatch away” and this correlates to when our Messiah comes to snatch away his bride at his second coming.
It is also not a coincidence that the English translators used the word “Red Sea” for “Sea of Reeds” because red is the color of blood. Interestingly in Matthew 27:29-30 it says that the Roman Soldiers used a “Reed” to beat our Messiah with!
Mashiyach brought an end to sin for all of mankind on the same anniversary date of when YaHuWaH brought an end to Egyptian bondage and slavery for the Yisra’elites. And when did this take place? It all took place during those “three days” between the 14th of Abib (Passover) and the evening of the 17th of Abib, (which then became the 18th of Abib) which was the “First Fruits” Resurrection!
The Official Engagement
In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, when the son returned home, he repen-ted for his sins and he was given blood atonement with a “fatted calf.” Why not a lamb? It is because the Lamb symbolizes the House of Judah (the firstborn son) and the Red Heifer symbolizes the House of Ephraiym (the younger son).
Our Messiah ate the Passover Lamb on the first evening of the 14th of Abib (with Judah). However, on the next evening of the 15th of Abib, he was consumed as the Red Heifer to cleanse Ephrayim!
The Red Heifer is the only sacrifice that is done outside of the city of Jerusalem (see Numbers 19). When the younger son in the story of the prodigal received blood atonement for his sins, he received a ring on his finger and a garment. This is symbolic of the engagement ring and the wedding garment!
Beloved, what this means is that our Messiah had to eat the Passover Meal the night before he died in order to become engaged to his future bride!
In an ancient Hebrew Wedding custom, the couple seal their engagement over a meal and a cup of wine. The groom then goes away until the future wedding day so that he may build a house for his bride on his father’s estate. He then says to his betrothed:
“In my Father’s house are many mansions ....I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).
To the nation of Yisra’el, his backsliding, whoring wife whom he divorced in Jeremiah 3:8, he promised to bring her back to himself in a betrothal (an engagement). Listen to what he says: Hoshea 2:19-20:
“And I will betroth you unto me forever; yes, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies… I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness: and you shall know YHWH.”
You see, our Messiah had to typify both the Passover Lamb & the Red Heifer in order to bring both houses back together again!
This is why he ate the Passover Lamb with the bread and the wine for the betrothal, and then he sealed the betrothal the following evening when he was sacrificed as both the Passover Lamb and the Red Heifer.
If Messiah had not eaten the Passover, then he did not partake of an official engagement ceremony with his future bride!
In an ancient Hebrew Wedding tradition, the bridegroom would take his bride into the chamber (called a chuppah in Hebrew) and they would consummate their marriage.
The “friend of the bridegroom” would stand outside the door and listen for the “voice of the bridegroom.” Once he heard the bridegroom consummate with his bride, then his joy would be complete. This was precisely the role of Yahuwchanon (John) the Immerser (Baptist) who is called “the friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29).
If the bride was found to not be a virgin, legally according to Towrah, the bridegroom could divorce her (Deuteronomy 24). However, if he decided that he loved her any way, he would kill a lamb, (placing the blood of that lamb on the bed sheet), thus passing it off to the wedding guests as his the tokens of his bride’s virginity.
This is how the bridegroom covered the sins of his beloved bride (Yisra’el), who had played the harlot. He cleansed her with the blood of the lamb, thereby renewing his covenant with her!
I often hear people use the argument that our Messiah could not have eaten the Passover Lamb because they reason that he only “desired” to eat it but he was unable to eat it. They use Luke 22:15 out of context to try and suggest that he merely desired to eat it but was unable to do so.
This makes it appear like a “failed attempt” on the part of Messiah, or a plan gone awry. But what I find incredulous is that these same people ignore what the rest of what the chapter says! It is extremely important to believe that our Messiah “ate” that Passover Meal with his disciples the night before he died, for if he had not, then none of us can be engaged to be married to him! Let’s read what he did now in context.
Luqas (Luke) 22:8 And he (Messiah) sent Keefa (Peter) and Yahuwchanon (John), saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that WE may eat.
*Note: Messiah sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover that “WE” may eat (including himself). Notice what he says next after Peter and John asked him “where do you want us to prepare the Passover?”
Luqas (Luke) 22:
9 And they said unto him, Where will you that we prepare?
10 And he (Messiah) said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he enters in.
11 And you shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master says unto you, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
12 And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.
13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
*Note: When Messiah said “I have desired to eat THIS Passover,” notice that he used the word “THIS” which indicates that THIS PASSOVER was already on the table in front of him and he was eating it! If he was not eating it he would have said: “I have desired to eat THE Passover.”
He had desired to eat of this meal with them all along because he knew that it symbolized the engagement or betrothal with his bride, and now he was getting to eat it! If he had not eaten it, then none of us would be under the Renewed Covenant and none of us would be engaged to be married to him for the future “Marriage supper of the lamb” according to Revelation 19:7!
Some people take the next verses to mean that because our Messiah said that this was the last time that he was having this Passover Meal with them until the Millennium, that he was not partaking of the meal with them at all. But let’s see what he says:
Luqas (Luke) 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of Elohiym.
*Note: the word “ANYMORE” indicates that he will not eat “anymore” after this night the Passover with his disciples until he eats it again in the New Kingdom! What does this word mean in Greek?
#3765. ouketi ook-et’-ee, also (separately) ouk eti ook et’-ee from 3756 and 2089; not yet, no longer:--after that (not), (not) any more, henceforth (hereafter) not, no longer (more), not as yet (now), now no more (not), yet (not).
In the English Aramaic New Testament (AENT), it literally says “I will not eat from now on.”
This indicates that “from this day moving forward,” he would no longer eat of the Passover until he returns and he will then eat it again in his kingdom. Those who purport that he did not eat the Passover suggest that he was telling them that he was not eating the Passover at this time.
However, he was merely saying “After this, I will no longer eat the Passover with you until I return.” The fact that Messiah implicitly says in John 13:18 that he was “eating the bread with Judas” is enough proof, that he was eating this Passover Meal of which he had earlier in the day asked them to prepare!
Luqas (Luke) 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luqas (Luke) 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of Elohiym shall come.
Luqas (Luke) 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
To understand what he meant, we must look at the four cups that are used in a traditional Passover Meal, and what they symbolize. In a traditional Messianic Passover Seder, the 4th cup is called “The Cup of Praise” (in Hebrew, Hallel).
Yahuwshuwa didn’t REJECT the cup in question. He SHARED “the cup after the meal” -- the 3rd cup, “The Cup of Salvation” -- and he revealed that which had been concealed previously: that it was symbolic of his blood sealing the future Renewed Covenant. In sharing it, he was showing that the Renewed Covenant is the actual marriage betrothal from Mount Horeb----not the one that they broke at Mount Sinai.
The Covenant at Mount Sinai “genders to bondage” (Galatians 4:24) because the hearts of the people were still unrenewed. YaHuWaH had to divorce Yisra’el at Mount Sinai because of their harlotry with the golden calf, which is why Mosheh broke those first set of stone tablets.
When Mosheh came back down a second time with the 2nd set of tablets, that was a picture of the Renewed Marriage Covenant! And it was accompanied by the blood sacrifices in the Tabernacle at Mount Horeb not at Mount Sinai!
The word “Sinai” means “Babylonian moon-god,” because this is where Yisra’el violated the marriage covenant with the molten calf. But the word “Horeb” means “to kill and destroy!” Mount Sinai symbolizes their bondage to idolatry with the golden calf. Mount Horeb symbolizes the sacrifice of Messiah on the tree. That is where sin was destroyed! This is that second covenant that genders to freedom (Galatians 4:26)!
In a Hebrew Wedding, the bride and groom share a glass of wine and that seals their covenant.
Yahuwshuwa didn’t drink the FOURTH cup -- The Cup of Praise -- saying he wouldn’t drink of this wine until his Kingdom is established on earth.
During the course of the Seder, the four cups of wine that are served to the people present at the Seder are used in the following manner, and are described below.
1.) The Cup of Sanctification (Luke 22:17; 1st Corinthians 10:16,1st Peter 1:2, 2nd Thessalonians 2:13). This cup is called the Cup of Sanctification, or the Kiddush.
2.) The Cup of Wrath (Luke 22:42-44). This cup is not to be drank of, but is poured out on the table as the plagues of Egypt are recited. Yahuwshuwa drank of this cup for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and when he died on the tree (Revelation 14:10, 16:19).
3.) The Cup of Blessing (1st Corinthians 10:16) & The Cup of Salvation, (Psalms 116:13) or Redemption. This cup is filled to overflowing, symbolizing an overflowing salvation.
4.) The Cup of the Kingdom (Matthew 26:28-29, Mark 14:25, Luke 22:18).
Yahuwshuwa ha’Mashiyach spoke of eating and drinking this cup in the Messianic Kingdom with his disciples because this is the final cup that the bride and the groom partake of on their wedding day! This is the only cup that he did not drink of, because it is reserved for the wedding day!
While Elohiym intended the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread to be separate (though adjacent) observances, the Jews ended up combining the two during the Babylonian exile, as the Encyclopaedia Judaica confirms:
“The feast of Passover consists of two parts: The Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally, both parts existed separately; but at the beginning of the [Babylonian] exile they were combined” (vol. 13, p. 169).
This careless and unscriptural merging of festivals resulted in the Jews observing Passover late on Abib 14, just hours before the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. Thus, a third variation of Passover observance was added to the mix. At the time of Yahuwshuwa, this mixture was on full display. Philo of Alexandria, in De Vita Mosis, notes that in the early first century, the Passover was not strictly a Temple-kept event, but one in which people also killed their own lambs without help from the priests.
In his Wars of the Jews, Flavius Josephus records that in 4 BC over 250,000 lambs were sacrificed for Passover. However, given the limited space of the Temple environs and the fact that Jewish tradition (not the Word of Yah) held that the lambs were to be slain within a two-hour time slot (from the ninth to the eleventh hour, or 3:00-5:00 pm), it is readily apparent that not all of those lambs could have been sacrificed at the Temple.
In fact, Joachim Jeremias, in Jerusalem in the Times of Jesus, calculates that the three courses of priests on duty could slay only 18,000 lambs during those two hours. Josephus records that the rest of the lambs—a far greater number—were slain by individuals at their own homes.
At this website, exhaustive historical evidence can be found in the writings of what some call “The Early Church Fathers.”
When did the first century followers of Messiah observe Passover?
In the days of the first and second centuries, the followers of Messiah recorded the following account:
Samuel Bacchiocchi, in his scholarly book From Sabbath to Sunday, A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity, wrote:
“Moreover we know from the Quartodeciman’s sources (i.e. those who kept Passover on Nisan 14 ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH RECKONING), which apparently represent a DIRECT CONTINUATION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, that the PASCHAL FEAST WAS INDEED OBSERVED BY CHRISTIANS….It’s celebration ... occurred ... as well stated by J. Jeremias, ‘at the SAME TIME AS THE JEWISH PASSOVER, that is, on the NIGHT OF THE 14TH OF NISAN. . .” (Page 161).
Bacchiocchi writes, in plain language, later on in his monumental classic work:
“. . . Epiphanius (ca. A.D. 315-403) suggests that UNTIL A.D. 135, Christians EVERYWHERE observed Passover ON THE JEWISH DATE, namely, ON NISAN 14, irrespective of the day of the week” (ibid.).
When does the Panarion of Epiphanius actually state that the Passover was kept? Well, on the 14th:
The Quartodecimans contentiously keep Passover on the one day, once per year… They keep the Passover on whichever day the fourteenth of the month falls...Messiah had to be slain on the fourteenth of the month in accordance with the law (Epiphanius, The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and III (Sects 47-80), De Fide). Section IV, Verses 1,3;1,6;2,6. Translated by Frank Williams. EJ Brill, New York, 1994, pp. 23-25).
APOLLINARIS BISHOP OF HIERAPOLIS
Polycarp was martyred shortly after his visit to Rome in A.D. 156. The view that Messiah was crucified on the fifteenth of Abib was attacked and refuted by Claudius Apollinaris Bishop of Hierapolis A.D. 160-180.
He was known by Polycarp and was influenced by Polycarp’s example and his teachings. Apollinaris was also a contemporary of Melito and Polycrates…..Yet, it is interesting to note that even in Apollinaris’ time some falsely argued that the Passover should be on the 15th.
Yet, Apollinaris stood for the observance on the 14th. Melito, Poly-crates, Polycarp, Apollinaris are considered to be Quartodecimans (one who held that the date of Passover must remain the 14th of Nisan).
Rome was the church that was against Quartodeciman practices. And in a letter rebutting Rome, Polycrates states that in his region, the Apostles John and Philip kept the Passover the same time he did as they and he would not deviate from the Bible.
The Catholic historian Eusebius tells of the problem of the date:
A QUESTION of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover...But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world...But the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided to hold to the old custom handed down to them. He himself, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome, set forth in the following words the tradition which had come down to him (Eusebius. Church History. Book V, Chapters 23,25).
Notice that Eusebius states that it was those led by Polycrates who held that they needed to heed an older tradition (than the Roman one), one that observed Messiah’s Passover on the fourteenth!
This matter, which began when Polycarp first tried to get Rome to switch from a Sunday Passover to the biblical Passover on the 14th is known as the “Quartodeciman Controversy.” Notice that the Apostles and their successors in Asia Minor all kept the same original date--which according to Eusebius was the fourteenth.
The 14th is also when people put out the leaven, and that the Jews still do according to their writings: “On the evening of the fourteenth we check for leaven by the light of a candle” (Pesachim 1:1). Hence, Polycrates’ exact day, according to his own words and Jewish practices would have been the evening of the 14th!
If true Christians kept the Passover on the fifteenth, they would have been called “Quintodecimans.” In-stead, all the arguments about it refer to them as “Quartodecimans.”
Plus, Eusebius would have stated that they observed the 15th instead of the 14th. Instead he clearly wrote that those holding Quartodeciman practices observed Passover on the 14th, as did Polycrates and Apollinaris….Furthermore, though he held heretical views, Clement of Alexandria in the mid-second century at least understood that Messiahs’ Passover commenced right after the 13th day of Abib at sunset and the start of the 14th.
In conclusion, this controversial issue of whether or not our Messiah actually ate the Passover is easily solved by understanding the importance of the Hebrew calendar for the festivals and the authority of the Sanhedrin in those days.
The Sadducees and the Pharisees were the two main sects of Judaism in those days and neither of them could ever agree on what dates to keep these feasts. We see the same controversies going on today.
We have those who sight the new crescent moon and follow that rendering of time-keeping. And we have those who follow the dark moon or the “conjunction moon.” And so there was a need often-times to celebrate these feasts twice to accommodate various situations.
During the time of Mashiyach (Messiah) in the year 30 C.E., the Hebrew calendar was determined by calculations of the sun, the moon and the stars (Genesis 1:14-16). Observations of a new crescent moon were by at least two eyewitnesses (marking the beginning of the month).
The testimony of at least two witnesses always took priority over calculations. After the witnesses were cross-examined by the court and found sound, the court would send out messengers and light fires on mountaintops to inform the people that a new month had begun.
The Sanhedrin’s authority included postponing the beginning of Abib/Nisan (adding an extra month, Adar II) and thus postponing Passover if the barley was not yet ripe, the winter rains had not stopped (causing impassible roads and bridges thus inhibiting all to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover), inadequate lambs available, or any other reason that would make it difficult to keep the Passover.
Sometimes the testimony of the witnesses was uncertain. If the calculations and observations were close but not off by more than one day, the court would be on the safe side and declare two consecutive new moons and thus a second day for celebrating the Feasts of YaHuWaH.
Sometimes, due to bad weather, the messengers and signals would not reach all the Yisra’elites, especially outside of Jerusalem. Thus the Sanhedrin, to avoid confusion and uncertainty, would institute a second day for celebrating the festivals.
In the year of our Messiah’s crucifixion, we see Elohiym’s wise providential hand working. More than likely, one of these two above scenarios took place causing the Sanhedrin to declare two consecutive days to celebrate the Passover (at the very least we can be sure that for some reason the Sanhedrin did declare two days to kill the Passover).
Hence, Yahuwshuwa and the disciples ate the Passover, (instituting Passover’s Supper), and on the very same calendar date (the fourteenth of Abib) he also became the Passover sacrifice at 3:00 p.m. (evening).
YaHuWaH purposely designed Passover to be celebrated beyn ha’ereb which means “between the two evenings” so that our Messiah could actually do both, which is to “eat the Passover” on the first evening of the fourteenth and then he could also “become the Passover” at the last evening of the fourteenth of Abib, thus redeeming both Judah & Ephrayim!
*Note: the three stars, representing the trinity of these three city-states, also known as the Empire of the City. (There is also high esoteric significance to the number 3.) 
And what did Pontius Pilate propose to the citizens of 1st Century Jerusalem? He forced them to vote between our Messiah or Barabbas! 
