FRIDAY Nisan 9th, John 12:1; “Then Jesus Six Days before the Passover, came to Bethany...”.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE CRUCIFIXION WEEK.
by Wayne Carver

FRIDAY Nisan 9th, John 12:1—
“Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany...”

Jericho to Bethany.

“Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was which had been dead,
whom He raised from the dead.

"There they made Him a supper; and Martha served:
but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.

"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and Anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair:
and the house was filled with odour of the ointment” (John 12:1-3).

"We are now ready to consider the details
of the Chronology of the Crucifixion Week.

"...We are beginning on the day that our Lord Jesus Christ
made the final part of His Journey to Bethany from Jericho
and step-by-step carefully go through the details
of the Scriptural Record that will take us Event-by-Event
to that early Sunday Morning when the Empty Tomb was discovered.

"Friday, the Ninth of Nisan.

"Our Starting Point in The Bible is John 12:1-3, seen above.

"And you’ll recall from your Bible History
that by this time during our Lord's Ministry on Earth

"and all of these events taking place that would be recorded later
in The New Testament, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER

"That SEVERAL CHANGES to the Observance of the Passover
HAD TAKEN PLACE since God had first given this Feast
through Moses at the time of the Exodus.

Observe:

As you know, "Originally, Scripture referred
to the Fourteenth of Nisan as the “Passover”
and the Seven Days of Nisan Fifteenth through the Twenty-First
as the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.”

"However, in the days of our Lord,
the Jews referred to the entire Eight-Day Celebration as both
the “Passover” and the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” interchangeably.

We need to be sure to keep this fact in mind, as we study these days.

"The High Point in the Celebration was the Passover Sabbath,
which was observed on Nisan Fifteenth.

"To the Jews of our Lord’s day,
this was the focal point of the Entire Celebration,
and it was referred to as the “Passover.”

"The day previous, Nisan Fourteenth, God’s Passover,
was referred to as the Preparation day.

"Therefore, when John wrote that
“Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany,”
he was using the term “Passover” as it was used at that time.

"John had in view The High Sabbath of the Passover Celebration,
which was Nisan Fifteenth.

"So we can identify the day on which our Lord arrived in Bethany.

"That was Friday, Nisan the Ninth.

"It was on this day that our Lord arrived at the home of Martha,
Mary and Lazarus, in the little village of Bethany,
which was Fifteen Furlongs (1 and 7/8 miles) from Jerusalem.

"The Lord Jesus Christ arrived in Bethany
sufficiently early enough on that Friday afternoon, of Nison the Ninth
to permit Martha and Mary to prepare a supper for Him.

"We can be sure that the preparation of the food
was finished before sunset.

"However, the supper was not eaten
until after the sun had set and "a new day to the Jews had begun",
that is after Sunset of Friday Nison the Ninth,
it was now the the beginning of the Saturday the Tenth to the Jews.

"When Mary took the pound of ointment of spikenard
and poured it on Jesus’ feet and then wiped them with her hair,
the Evening of the Tenth of Nisan, a Seventh-Day Sabbath,
had already begun.

"This act of Mary’s
was the First Phase of the Selection of the Paschal Lamb,
which God’s Law said must be done on the Tenth Day of the Month."

So, the Selection of Jesus as The Paschal Lamb
has now fully been Accomplished.

"Scripture does not tell us whether or not our Lord
spent that entire evening in the home of Martha and Mary.

"The inference is that He did.

"It is significant that after our Lord’s arrival
in the vicinity of Jerusalem to keep His Appointment with the cross,
He never spent a night in the city of Jerusalem.

"In Scripture, Jerusalem represents the fold of Judaism,
the Housing Place of the Sheep of that Nation.

"After our Lord was Selected as the True Paschal Lamb
Who was to die, not only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel,
but for of the Elect sheep of the Gentiles,
it was necessary for Him to Remain Separate.

"The Law Required that the Selected Paschal Lamb
be Set Apart from the rest of the sheep.

"Bethany represents Jesus' Position of Separation,
as we see Jesus remaining, “outside the camp.”

 

The Passover Pilgrimage.

As we back up one day from our Lord's Arrival in Bethany
we are going to pick up and see
some of their Passover Pilgrimage
and the events that occurred on The Jericho Road.

Here then, the day before, we get an even better vantage point
to begin our Detailed Consideration of The Crucifixion Week
with an incident that occurred at Jericho.

"This Healing of Blind Bartimaeus actually
stands at The Beginning of the End of our Lord’s Life on this Earth.
...

The Jericho Road.

“And they came to Jericho:
and as He went out of Jericho with His Disciples
and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the highway side begging.

"And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out,
and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

"And many charged him that he should hold his peace:
but he cried the more a great deal,
Thou Son of David, have Mercy on me”
(Mark 10:46-48).

"Here is a significant point in Mark’s record that we should not overlook.

"Bartimaeus called the Lord Jesus Christ the “Son of David.”

"This is the only place in Mark’s Gospel where this title appears.

"Elsewhere the Lord is referred to as the “Son of man.”

"But Bartimaeus called Him the “Son of David,”
and he was healed of his blindness.

"The Spiritual Blindness of the Nation Israel, God’s chosen people,
is pictured by Bartimaeus’ physical blindness.

"The Son of David, the Anointed One of God",
had Come to Give Sight to that Spiritually Blind Nation.

"And in Jericho the Son of David once more showed His Gracious Power
as Bartimaeus, who is a type of the Remnant
that will someday recognize Jesus of Nazareth as David’s Greater Son,
had his vision restored.

"The Passover Feast was, by far, the greatest crowd gatherer
of all Israel’s annual feasts. The pilgrims were young and old.
The aged who were unable to walk the entire distance
rode upon the backs of donkeys.

"The crowded road and the plodding asses
made for slow progress along the road.

"It is approximately 17 miles from Jericho to Bethany.

"Seventeen miles seems quite a short distance to us today
because of our modern roads and means of transportation.

"But to the pilgrims of Jesus’ day, the distance was not short
and the journey was not a minor undertaking.

"The road was wild, rough, and a continuous upgrade.
...

The Outskirts of Jerusalem.

"When the pilgrim crowds reached the vicinity of Jerusalem,
it was necessary that a camp be made before the sun went down
and darkness settled over the land.

"Historical records indicate that on the eve of the Passover
there were vast numbers of pilgrims in and around Jerusalem.

"Some estimates run as high as a million.

"The city of Jerusalem certainly did not have accommodations
to handle so many people; therefore, the people needed to camp
wherever they could find room.

"The campsites had to be prepared and the booths erected,
which served as temporary shelters, after the destination was reached.

"It would frequently require several hours for a family
to find a suitable campsite and to get properly settled down for the night.

"The purpose in considering
The Details of the Journey from Jericho to Jerusalem
is to help us understand today that it would have been
next to impossible for a group of traveling pilgrims
to leave Jericho in the morning and arrive in Jerusalem on the same day.

"It took a minimum of two days to make the trip.

"And this fact has an important bearing
on establishing the Day of the Week as well as the Day of the Month
on which our Lord’s last Journey to Jerusalem was made.
...

Messianic Expectations.

"When our Lord began His journey to Jerusalem
to keep the Feast of the Passover as the true Paschal Lamb,
a relatively small company followed Him.

"By the time He reached Jericho, the band of disciples
had been joined by other religious pilgrims
who also were headed for Jerusalem to keep the Passover.

"Having seen and heard of the Miracles Performed by Jesus,
many in this assorted company expected Jesus
to openly declare Himself as the Messiah when He reached Jerusalem.

"They anticipated the Roman yoke being thrown off by a force of arms,
aided by a Display of Supernatural Miracles from the Messiah Himself.

"Thus by the time the group reached Jerusalem,
Messianic hopes were running high,
and The Stage was Set for a Triumphal March into the City.

 

Entry into Jerusalem, “On the Next Day”.

"The Apostle John tells us of our Lord’s Arrival at Bethany
that we saw in the previous two posts,
after His long journey along the Jericho road.

"Leaving most of the traveling party at the outskirts of Jerusalem,
Jesus and His disciples went to nearby Bethany.

“Then Jesus Six Days before the Passover came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was who had been dead,
whom He raised from the dead.

"There they made Him a supper; and Martha served:
but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him”
(John 12:1-2).

"The last Eight Miles on the Jericho Road
were the steepest part of the uphill grade;
so we can be sure that our Lord and His party were quite weary
when they arrived at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

"They certainly must have appreciated the supper
that was prepared as a token of their great love.

"Notice, however, John 12:12-15, which reads:

“On the Next Day much people
that were come to The Feast,
when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

"Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him,
and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

"And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon;
as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion:
behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.”

"The basis for what is known as Palm Sunday
is found in this passage.

"It is generally taught that The Triumphal Entry
occurred on The First Day of the Week,

and that by observing Palm Sunday,
Christians are properly commemorating
The First Significant Event in the Crucifixion Week.

However: "Let me point out that verse 12 definitely states
that the so-called Triumphal Entry took place “on the next day”
after our Lord’s Arrival in Bethany.

"If this occurred on The First Day of the Week,
then the preceding day was the Seventh Day of the Week.

"In other words, (people generally assume)
the Lord Jesus completed His Journey from Jericho on the Sabbath.

(However, we will discover that:
The Journey from Jericho was not made on a Sabbath day.

Therefore,
The Triumphal Entry could not have been made on a Sunday!")

We need to know, believe, and remember:

"One thing that was deeply ingrained
in the consciences of the Jews, in that day, was the Sabbath.

"The Rabbinical laws of the Sabbath had been worked out
to the minutest detail, one of which pertained to
the “Sabbath Day’s Journey.”

"The Sabbath Day’s Journey
is mentioned only in Acts 1:12, where we read,

“Then returned they unto Jerusalem from The Mount called Olivet,
which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath Day’s Journey.”

"Davis’ Dictionary of the Bible states that
the distance between Mount Olivet and Jerusalem,
measured as the crow flies, is about 2,250 feet.

"The Regulation of The Sabbath Day’s Journey
had its origin in God’s Injunction found in Exodus 18:29,
which states that the Israelites on The Wilderness Journey
were not to leave the boundaries of the camp on the Sabbath day.

"These were reckoned to be about 2,000 cubits,
or just under three-quarters of a mile.

"We know from secular records that some flexibility was allowed
in the length of the Sabbath Day’s Journey to permit Passover pilgrims
encamped on the outskirts to come into Jerusalem.

"The Walls of Jerusalem were considered as extended
to encircle the encamped pilgrims during this Season.

"That Man-Made Regulation, of extending The Walls of Jerusalem
always Permitted Travel to any point within The City Wall,
since the Sabbath Day’s Journey
was considered to End at the City Gate.

"Bethany is fifteen furlongs (about 1 7/8 miles)
from the actual Walls of Jerusalem. John 11:18.

"Though this would have been slightly longer
than a Sabbath Day’s Journey,
Travel from Bethany to Jerusalem was permissible on the Sabbath,
due to the “extended walls” of the Passover Season.

"But, a long Eight-Mile Journey toward Jerusalem
along the Jericho Road by the Lord Jesus and all who were with Him
would have been a clear violation of the Sabbath laws
as most Jews understood them.

"Furthermore, the Supper that Martha and Mary
had prepared for Jesus on the Day of His Journey
(if that day was a Sabbath day)
would have placed them in Violation of the Sabbath.

AND: "The Penalty for Sabbath Violation was Stoning to Death
by Command of the Religious Authorities.

"These facts lead to only one valid conclusion:

"The Journey from Jericho was not made on a Sabbath day.

"Therefore, The Triumphal Entry
could not have been made on a Sunday!"

 

First Century Jewish Traditions.

"The observance of the Passover recalls Israel’s deliverance from Egypt
and the Beginning of her National Life.

"But in a much deeper sense, the Passover foreshadowed
the Sacrifice of that True, spotless Lamb of God,
slain on Calvary’s tree for the sins of His people.

"The Law of the Passover God’s Law of the Passover
is considered in three books of the Pentateuch:
Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

"Three Specific Days are mentioned in conjunction
with the observance of The Passover Feast.

"The First Date of importance is the Tenth of Nisan,
the First Month of the Jewish year,
which in Moses’ day was known as Abib.

"This is the date on which the Israelites
were to select their Paschal lamb.

“In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb”
(Exodus 12:3).

"The Second important date is the Fourteenth of Nisan.

"Exodus 12:6 has these instructions:

“And ye shall keep it" (that is, the Paschal Lamb)
"up until the fourteenth day of the same month:
and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening.”

"The Passover lamb was to be slain on the Fourteenth.

"However, God’s Instructions permitted some tolerance
as to the exact time of the slaying of the sacrifice,
and this is extremely significant.

"The literal translation of the last clause of verse 6
is “between the evenings,” not “in the evening.”

"According to Hebrew reckoning, a day begins at sunset.

"So the Fourteenth of Nisan begins at 6 PM
on the day we would call the Thirteenth.

"And the Fourteenth ends
and the Fifteenth begins at 6 PM on the following day,
the day we would consider as the Fourteenth.

"Therefore, the Passover extends
from Sunset on the Thirteenth to Sunset on the Fourteenth.

"In the Observance of the First Passover,
God specifically instructed Moses
that the lamb was to be slain in the evening of the Fourteenth,
which was the evening that ushered in the day of the Fourteenth.

"The Jewish Custom down through the centuries, therefore,
was to slay the lamb early in the evening of the Fourteenth of Nisan
(which actually was done late in the afternoon of the Thirteenth)
and partake of it at the Paschal Supper,
which was on the evening preceding the day of Nisan Fourteenth.

"The highly significant point, however,
is that the Law permitted the sacrifice to be slain
any time “between the evenings.”

"Thus God made Provision for His Son, the true Paschal Lamb,
to Partake of the Symbolic Paschal lamb
on the evening of the Fourteenth

"and still Offer Himself as an Acceptable Sacrifice
before the setting of the sun on the day of Nisan Fourteenth.

"God’s way is Perfect just as His Word is perfect.

"Immediately upon the setting of the sun
upon the day of the Fourteenth of Nisan, the Fifteenth of Nisan began.

"And according to Leviticus 23:6-7 and Numbers 28:18,
this was the day that initiated The Feast of Unleavened Bread.

"In it, the assembly of Israel was to,
“have an Holy convocation”
and to “do no servile work therein.”

For the Third important date:

"Don’t miss this point,
the day of Nisan Fifteenth was always a Sabbath day!

"It made absolutely no difference on which day of the week it fell.

"The Nation of Israel was given a number of Sabbath days,
among which the seventh-day Sabbath was only one type.

"The other Sabbaths, such as the Fifteenth of Nisan,
were considered to be “high” days;
that is, they had even more significance
than the regular seventh-day Sabbath.

"One of the main reasons the Christian church
holds to a Friday crucifixion is because the crucifixion day
was followed by a Sabbath.

"Early church leaders jumped to the conclusion
that this was a seventh-day Sabbath
without carefully consulting the Scriptures.

"The Old Testament clearly teaches
that every Nisan Fifteenth was a Sabbath...
and a High Sabbath at that.

"But John 19:31 tells us “that sabbath day was an High day.”

"Therefore, the day of our Lord’s crucifixion
did not necessarily occur on Friday.

"It could have occurred on any day of the week.
...

 

Modifications to the Passover.

"When Israel was finally settled in Palestine,
there was a modification in the manner
the Passover Feast was observed.

"For instance, in our Lord’s day the Passover
was no longer eaten in a standing position.

"Instead, it was eaten in a reclining position just as the regular meals.

"In the days of our Lord, it had become customary
to kill the Passover lambs on the afternoon of the Thirteenth of Nisan
rather than on the evening of the Fourteenth.

"Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that there were sometimes
as many as 250,000 lambs were slain on the occasion of the Passover.

"It was necessary that the lambs be slain by the priests in the temple.

"We can imagine the momentous traffic jam that resulted from this
and we can well appreciate that several hours of time
would be required to sacrifice all these lambs.

"So the killing of the Passover lambs
began about two or three o’clock in the afternoon of Nisan Thirteenth.

"Then by five to five-thirty in the afternoon, all the lambs were slain.

"Josephus confirms that in the years
just before the time of Titus’s Destruction of Jerusalem, in A.D. 70,
it was customary to slay the lambs
between the ninth and eleventh hour
(that is, between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM).

"At sundown on the Thirteenth of Nisan, the Fourteenth began.

"The lamb had been prepared, and when the roasting was complete,
the participants gathered around the table
and ate The Passover supper.

"God’s Law of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
calls the Fourteenth of the Month Nisan “the Passover.”

"However, by the time of our Lord,
the Jews had come to call this day "the Preparation day.”

"To them The Major Feast Day, the “High” day,
was the Fifteenth of Nisan,
the day the Scriptures designate as
The First Day of Unleavened Bread.

"So at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion,
the Fourteenth of Nisan,
the day on which the Passover lamb was eaten,
was called, "the day of Preparation.”

"The following day (the High Sabbath day, the Fifteenth of Nisan)
was called the “Passover day,” although this was actually
The First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

"This modification is confirmed by Matthew 26:17-19.

"Notice particularly verse 17:

“Now The First Day of The Feast of Unleavened Bread
the Disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?”

"If this passage were to be interpreted
in strict accordance with the Law of Moses,
it would not make any sense.

“The Passover” was the Fourteenth of Nisan
and the Paschal lamb was to be eaten on that day.

“The First Day of The Feast of Unleavened Bread”
was Nisan the Fifteenth.

"So we can conclude that
the Terms associated with the Observance of the Passover Feast
which appear in the New Testament

"are used in accordance with popular usage in that day
and not strictly according to the definition of the Law of Moses."