Passover – an Appointed Time for the Crucifixion?

Posted on April 22, 2017February 2, 2024 by K.B. Vogelman

Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth didn’t happen on just any day of the year…the timing is simply too hard to ignore. His execution was either a 1-in-365 happenstance incident or an appointed time of divine design.

Nisan 15^th – Jesus was crucified on the first day of the Jewish Passover commencing at sunset with the Feast of Unleavened Break commemorating the event when the sacrifice of an innocent lamb had once been required of God for salvation from the slavery and tyranny of Egypt. Merriam-Webster defines a sacrifice as “an act of offering to a deity something precious.”

Determining whether or not the timing of the crucifixion was merely a coincidence or if the timing had a deeper significance starts with a basic understanding of an appointed time. Clues are found in the story of how the Hebrew Law came to be given by God at Mt. Sinai.

_ _ _ _ _

God told Moses with His voice from the burning bush at the base of Mt. Sinai to return to Egypt after a 40-year exile. Along with his brother Aaron, they were to confront the mighty Pharaoh of Egypt with a clear and succinct message:

^{Ex 5:1} …”Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”_(NKJV)

Initially, Pharaoh was not willing to give up his slave labor force, but he paid a big price for taking that stance. Suffering through several plagues, Egypt’s ruler was finally looking to stop the misery and commanded, “‘Go, serve the Lord your God.”

Having an afterthought, he asked, “Exactly who is going with you?” Pharaoh realized he was about to make a big mistake if he let all of his Hebrew slaves leave. On the other hand, if he only released the Hebrew men to go have this feast, he could hold their families hostage.^[1]

Moses countered with a unexpected response that ruined Pharaoh’s scheme: “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”^[2]

‘No way!’ was the essence of Pharaoh’s response saying, “‘No! Go, you men only, and serve the Lord, for that is what you want,” then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.”^[3] The 9^th plague of deep darkness for three full days came next, but Pharaoh still didn’t relent.

A 10^th plague was now mandated to persuade Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. This time it would include financial and very personal consequences.

Livestock value to both the Egyptians and Hebrews was very significant, especially for the enslaved Hebrews. Sheep were the source of clothing, food and milk, even as pets. For a household to lose a single lamb meant losing this valuable commodity.

For the Egyptians, cattle were valued in much the same way, probably more so. Cattle were part of the Egyptian religion and represented a status of wealth. Losing a significant portion of livestock would have a disastrous affect.^[4]

Leading up to the horrible night of the 10^th plague, God offered protection for the Hebrews if they followed a precise sacrificial ritual. Each family was to choose one of their unblemished lambs, sacrifice it, splash its blood on the door posts of their homes, and roast the lamb for a family feast at sunset.^[5]

At midnight, the angel of death passed over any home with the lamb’s blood splashed on the doorposts thereby sparing the associated lives of the Hebrew’s firstborn and their livestock. The 10^th plague was devastating for the Egyptians – every firstborn died. With the death of his own son, Pharaoh’s resolve was finally broken.

Salvation from the plague of death set the stage for what would become Israel’s first legally mandated Feast observance, “It is the LORD’s Passover.” Every year thereafter, the Passover was to be observed:^[6]

^{Ex 12:14}‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance._(NKJV)

A few weeks later, God handed down the Law to Moses at the top of Mt. Sinai. The Law defined the observance of three annual Festivals or Feasts and a permanent place to observe the Passover at at its appointed time:

^{Lev. 23:}^4-7‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

‘On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover.

‘And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. _(NKJV)

Centerpiece of the Passover commenced on Nisan 14 with the sacrifice of the paschal lamb eventually to permanently occur in the place God was yet to reveal.^[7] Following at sunset, Nisan 15, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread featuring the roasted meat of the sacrificial lamb.

Passover was a week-long celebration yet the Festival was intended to be a solemn time in remembrance of God’s miraculous deliverance from slavery and tyranny. The Law’s definition of the Passover used similar terms as for the weekly Sabbath, each was called “a holy assembly” or “holy convocation.”^[8]

Found to be innocent by the government rulers Tetrarch Herod and Procurator Pilate, at the urging of the Jewish leadership Jesus was still crucified on the first day of Passover at its appointed time. In addition to the timing are the circumstances factors. Events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus at the Passover were controlled solely by his archenemies, the Jewish leadership – out of the control of Jesus, his Disciples or any alleged Christian conspirators.

Was the crucifixion of Jesus on Nisan 15^th just a coincidence or a divinely appointed time?

Updated June 27, 2023.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

NKJV = New King James Version translation.
NET = NETBible translation

REFERENCES:

[1] NET.
[2] NET.
[3] Quotes from NET translation. Exodus 10[iv] Exodus 12.
[4] Benner, Jeff A. “Ancient Hebrew Livestock.” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. 2022. <https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/culture/ancient-hebrew-livestock.htm> Cownie, Emma. Emmafcpwnie.com. 2018. “Why cattle mattered in the Ancient World.” <https://emmafcownie.medium.com/why-cattle-mattered-in-the-ancient-world-4e27b1c37e58> “Cattle in the ancient world of the Bible” Women In The Bible. 2006. <https://womeninthebible.net/bible_daily_life/cattle_ancient_world/#:~:text=Cattle%20were%20an%20important%20status%20symbol.%20In%20biblical,as%20well%20as%20for%20ploughing%2C%20threshing%20and%20transport.> Broyles, Stephen. The Andreas Center. 2010. <https://www.andreascenter.org/Articles/Sheep%20and%20Goats.htm> “Sheep in History. Sheep101.info. 2021. <http://www.sheep101.info/history.html
[5] Mock, Robert. Destination Yisra’el. “The First Pesach in the Land of Egypt.” photo. 2017. <https://destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com/destination-yisrael/2017/04/the-history-of-the-passover-in-the-days-of-the-nazarene.html&gt
[6] Exodus 13, 34.
[7] Exodus 12; Deuteronomy 16; Leviticus 23. “Abib” and “Nisan.” Jewish Encyclopedia. 2011.
[8] Exodus 16:22-23, 29; 20:8-10; Leviticus 23:3. Babylonian Talmud. Rodkinson. 1918. Book 1, Tract Sabbath, Chapters 1-10; Book 2; Erubin, Pesachim, Book 3, Chapter IV, VI, VIII. <https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/talmud.htm#t03> Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. 1883. Book V, Chapter 15. pp 1382-1392 & pp 1393-1421. <http://philologos.org/__eb-lat/default.htm> Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple – Its Ministry and Services. Chapter 10. 1826 -1889. The NTSLibrary. 2016. <http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/The%20Temple%20by%20Alfred%20Edersheim.pdf> Jewish Encyclopedia. 2011. https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6359-friday “Festivals,”“Holy Days,” “Passover,” ”Shabbat,” “Sabbath ” & “Sabbath and Sunday.” 2011. <http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com> “Shabbath.” <https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/shabbath/index.html; “Shabbat” and “Festivals. Jewish Encyclopedia. 2011. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com

The Empty Tomb – Conspiracy or Resurrection?

Posted on April 15, 2017May 8, 2024 by K.B. Vogelman

The Empty Tomb – Conspiracy or Resurrection?

For the more than 2000 years, the incident reported by the Gospels to have occurred at dawn on Sunday has been debated countless times. Believers say it was a Resurrection; skeptics have proposed many conspiracy theories to explain away how the body simply vanished.

Two named Jewish Council members and four named women from Galilee witnessed the evening the dead the body of Jesus had been laid in the tomb, embalmed and a stone rolled in front of the tomb entrance.The Jewish leadership testified to Pilate the next day that the body was in the tomb and needed to be secured. Dual security methods were implemented by the authority of Pilate to prevent the body from being stolen.

Setting the scene, the tomb was guarded by an armed Roman-Jewish military squad, the koustodia, and had been sealed. Predawn of Sunday finds Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jose, Salome, and Joanna fretting about who would roll away the stone set in place by Joseph of Arimathea.

Four conclusions can be drawn: the women expected to find the dead body of Jesus; they were not accompanied by either Joseph or Nicodemus nor any of the Disciples; and they were unaware the tomb had been sealed and the tomb was guarded by koustodia.^[1]

Sunrise of Sunday begins the final phase in the sequence of events at the tomb preceded by the trial, crucifixion and burial of Jesus of Nazareth. A significant number of ten verses in Matthew and eight verses in Mark describe the scenario at the tomb that morning. Luke paraphrased how it began saying:

^{LK 24:1}“Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.” _(NKJV)

Calm and quiet quickly took a dramatic turn when Matthew describes a great earthquake occurred. In a matter of moments, the Roman-Jewish legally imposed chain of custody over the body of Jesus since his death by crucifixion was suddenly broken.

^{MT 28:2-4} “And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.” _(NKJV)

Witness accounts gathered by the authors of Matthew and Mark describe the tomb being opened by an angel or a young man wearing a wrap-around, brilliant white robe. Shortly thereafter, Luke’s report describes two men in dazzling apparel.^[2] The angelic beings point out to the witnesses that the tomb is empty.

Seasoned Roman-Jewish military soldiers and the women of Galilee were paralyzed with fear by the traumatic sequence of events – a great earthquake, an angelic being rolling away the stone and his extraordinary announcement. Incapacitated with fear, they watched and listened as the events at the tomb unfolded.

Reactions of witnesses to a traumatic event are indications of what was going through their minds. The hardcore military squad reacted to the events that Sunday morning in a similar manner as the four women – they all ran.

Matthew reports the chaotic scene where people scattered in three directions. Mark reports the petrified and dumbstruck women didn’t say a word and ran from the tomb. Luke said they were “terrified.”

Headed for the location of some of the disciples were the women of Galilee. The koustodia split up, some diverting to go tell the Jewish chief priests what they had seen, the others to destinations unknown. Unbecoming behavior by the koustodia is telling.

Direct reports from some of the koustodia rang true with the chief priests based on their own reaction to the information. It posed an unexpected turn of events for the chief priests who quickly assembled the elders of the Jewish Council (likely including Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea) to deal with their new problem.

Irony of ironies. Jewish leadership had just the day before testified to Pilate the body of Jesus was inside the tomb and implored Pilate to secure the tomb to prevent the theft of the body. Now the very same Jewish leaders were compelled to find a way to explain an inexplicable breach in their own Roman-Jewish security measures to explain the missing body. Matthew describes what they decided to do:

^{MT 28:13-14}“You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole his body while we were asleep….’ If this matter is heard before the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”_(NET)

Further insight to the authority of the koustodia is revealed. Promising to appease Pilate if the koustodia’s dereliction of duty became an issue, it confirms the guards were ultimately under Pilate’s Roman authority though strongly influenced by the Jewish leadership.

Meanwhile, the women of Galilee arrived at the location as some of the disciples. John’s eyewitness Gospel joins the description of events at this point with Mary Magdalene’s bewildered announcement to the Disciples. She is quoted exclaiming:

^{JN 20:2} “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”_(NET)

Both the koustodia and the women reported the same event to two different parties describing how the chain of custody over the body of Jesus had been broken. Each party reacted differently to the information while neither party called the reports false.

Four women from Galilee, two members of the Jewish leadership, testimony by the Jewish leadership, Pilate’s affirmation, the chain of custody, koustodia, two angels, and the empty tomb are details making a false conspiracy challenging to defend.

Were the events involving the empty tomb a false narrative or was there a Resurrection?

Updated May 7, 2024.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

NET = NET Bible translation; NKJV = New King James Version translation.

Gospel Resurrection account: Matthew 28, Mark 16; Luke 24, John 20.

[1] “Centuries later, archaeologists opened the tomb of Jesus.” News24hours. photo. 2016. <https://news24hours.in/2016/10/31/centuries-later-archaeologists-opened-the-tomb-of-jesus-christ>
[2] NetBible.org. Greek text. Matthew 28:2, aggelos and katabaino. Mark 16:5, neaniskos, periballo, and stole. Luke 24:4, astrapto and esthesis.

The Trial of Jesus — Guilty or Innocent?

Posted on April 1, 2017January 29, 2024 by K.B. Vogelman

The Trial of Jesus — Guilty or Innocent?

Jesus of Nazareth had been arrested by a posse of the Jewish leadership in the Garden of Gethsemane outside Jerusalem. It was Thursday evening, formally the Jewish Friday that began at sunset and started the Passover, Nissan 15. Escorted by the armed guards back into the city, Jesus was to be tried on the charge of blasphemy as defined in the Law of Moses.^[1]

Prosecuting the case in defense of God’s Law was Chief Priest Caiaphas. The defendant representing himself was Jesus of Nazareth. The verdict of the aberrant trial would have colossal implications in one of two very different ways.

Acquittal would mean, at the very least, that Jesus would likely be considered the Son of God, worthy of worship. Such a verdict would be an embarrassment for the Jewish Council and pose a threat to their religious political power base. Rome would surely react unfavorably to any potential new Jewish figurehead who might be viewed as an insurrectionist.

Conviction would publicly label Jesus as a blasphemer worthy of death, not worship. God’s Law would be successfully defended and upheld. Trouble with Rome would be averted. As an added bonus, the subversive threat to the Jewish political power base would be eliminated. A Jewish Talmud Gemara would later expose the reasoning:^[2]

^{San 49b} “…thus the blasphemer and the idol-worshipper are executed. Wherein lies the particular enormity of these offences? — Because they constitute an attack upon the fundamental belief of Judaism.”^[3]

Gravity of the situation called for a fair and thorough trial, but how likely was that reality? At stake was the defense of Judaism, a religious institution headed by the same power base that was responsible for rendering the verdict – the prosecution witnesses even came from among those serving as judge and jury.^[4]

Defense witnesses for Jesus were nowhere to be found. Not because there weren’t any, but being under the threat of death themselves, who would come forward in his defense?^[5] Even his most stalwart disciple, Peter, upon whom Jesus had declared he would build his church would deny knowing Jesus three times that very night as the aberrant trial progressed.

Other ominous signs did not favor a fair trial given it was not conducted in accordance with Jewish law. Legal code in the Talmud defined how capital offenses were to be tried and convictions rendered. Among them:^[6]

MISHNA: Sanhedrin 32a:

“Capital charges must be tried by day and concluded by day.”

“In capital charges, anyone may argue in his favour, but not against him.”

“Capital charges may be concluded on the same day with a favourable verdict, but only on the morrow with an unfavourable verdict therefore trials are not held on the eve of a Sabbath or Festival.”

Pretrial events began at the residence of Annas, a Sanhedrin power broker, former Chief Priest and father-in-law of Chief Priest Caiaphas. Annas began with cursory questions asking Jesus about his disciples and his teachings. Jesus replied that he had always spoken openly in the Temple and synagogues – there were no secrets.

“Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.”_(NRSV)

Not sitting well with his captors, one of them reacted by hitting Jesus. Holding firm, Jesus again challenged his captors saying:

“If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?””_(NRSV)

With this, Annas sent the posse with their blindfolded and bound prisoner to Caiaphas. By the time they arrived at the Sanhedrin meeting hall at the Temple, Jesus had been mocked and beaten.

Chief Priest Caiaphas presided over the trial held that fateful night. The Law required two eyewitnesses to corroborate the same point of evidence to establish a fact for a conviction.^[8]

Initially the High Priest’s prosecution effort was not going well with many accusers coming forward; however, no two witness testimonies could agree.^[9] Finally, two witnesses made the same accusation: “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”_(NASB)

Jesus had made a similar statement when he wrecked the tables of the money changers and merchants in the Temple.^[10] This accusation posed a legal conundrum – was it a literal or figurative claim? Was it really evidence Jesus blasphemed God?

Caiaphas understood the implications. He pounced on the moment with an indicting question that cut to the heart of the trial:

^{MK 14.61} “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” _{(ISV, NLT, NRSV)}

An answer in the affirmative would be self-incriminating and condemning. It was the moment of truth – was Jesus of Nazareth willing to put his life on the line knowing that he would die if he acknowledged this to be true? The answer to Caiaphas was unambiguous:

“I am.”

To be crystal clear, Jesus added:

^{MK 14:62}“’you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”_{ISV, NET, NRSV)}

Understand the implication, immediately the verdict was rendered when Chief Priest Caiaphas tore his robe and said,

^{MT 26:65} “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses?”_(NASB)

– – – – –

Sentencing was still not a slam dunk. Under Rome’s laws, the Jews were not allowed to carry out capital punishment.^[11] Would a heathen Roman government even entertain a charge of blasphemy based solely in Jewish religious law? They figured, probably not. On the outside chance Rome did level such a charge, would they issue a death penalty judgement for blasphemy? Even more unlikely.^[12]

Considering their options, the Jewish Council sought to convince Pilate that Jesus was guilty of failure to pay taxes to Caesar and for insurrection to Rome. Either of those charges could result in the Roman death penalty.

For Pilate, the accusation of insurrection was a hot button issue with Rome having battled insurrections throughout his tenure as Procurator … at least this was assumed to be the case.^[13] Ultimately, Pilate found Jesus to have no guilt on either charge. Subsequent Jewish political pressure compelled Pilate to sentence Jesus to be crucified.

Was the trial of Jesus fair or was the verdict a divinely predestined outcome?

Updated May 3, 2023.

NASB = New American Standard Bible translation
ISV = International Standard Version translation
NLT = New Living Translation
NRSV = New Revised Standard Version translation
Gospel accounts: Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, John 18-19.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] Leviticus 24:15-16. John 18:3, 12: “chiliarchos <5506>” and “speira <4686>”. CR Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. 1883. Book V, Chapter 15, pp 1382-1392 & pp 1393-1421. <http://philologos.org/__eb-lat/default.htm> Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple – Its Ministry and Services. Chapter 10. 1826 -1889. The NTSLibrary. 2016. <http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/The%20Temple%20by%20Alfred%20Edersheim.pdf>Babylonian Talmud.
[2] Instone-Brewer, David. Instituto John Henry Newman. “Jesus of Nazareth’s Trial in the Uncensored Talmud.” n.d. <https://institutojohnhenrynewmanufv.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/jesus-of-nazareth-s-trial-in-the-uncensored-talmud.pdf>
“Lady Justice.” ClipArtBest.com. image. 2022. <http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-4cbo7xgei>
[3] Soncino Babylonian Talmud. Ed. Isidore Epstein. 1935 – 1948. Sanhedrin 49b.<https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/sanhedrin/index.html>
[4] Josephus. Against Apion. Book II. <http://books.google.com/books?id=e0dAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false> Spiro, Ken. “History Crash Course #39: The Talmud.” <http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48948646.html> Valentine, Carol A. . “The Structure of the Talmud Files.” <https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/structure.html> CR Numbers 30:35.
[5] Sanhedrin 43a.
[6] Sanhedrin 32a – 36b.; CR. Deuteronomy 19:16-18.
[7] Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. 1883. Chapter 13. The NTSLibrary. 2016. <http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/The%20Life%20and%20Times%20of%20Jesus%20the%20Messiah.pdf> Josephus. Antiquities. Book XX, Chapters IX.1 & X.1; Book XVIII, Chapter IV. Whitson, William. The Complete Works of Josephus. 1850. Footnotes – Book XX, Chapter VIII. <http://books.google.com/books?id=e0dAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false>
[8] Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15; Numbers 35:30. Sanhedrin 9a, 30a. Resnicoff, Steven H. “Criminal Confessions in Jewish Law .“ 2007. <http://www.torah.org/features/secondlook/criminal.html>
[9] Sanhedrin 41a. “Capital Punishment.” Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/capital-punishment>
[10] John 2.
[11] Sanhedrin 41a. “Capital Punishment.” Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/capital-punishment>
[12] Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Book V, Chapter 14.
[13] Forsythe, Gary Edward. “Ancient Rome – The Roman Army.” 2007. <http://history-world.org/roman_army.htm>