And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.
The verse fixes the Passover of the LORD on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan, when the Passover lamb was slain between the two evenings at sunset. The meal that night opens a continuing observance of eating unleavened bread from the evening of the fourteenth through the evening of the twenty-first, with the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread from the fifteenth to the twenty-first and holy convocations with rest from work on the fifteenth and twenty-first. It belongs to the appointed calendar of additional offerings for the annual feasts, part of the regular continual ministration of the earthly sanctuary throughout the year alongside the daily offerings, Sabbaths, new moons and other feasts. The spring types were fulfilled on their appointed days, so that Christ the Passover was sacrificed on that very fourteenth day, while those who reckoned differently placed the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath distinct from the weekly Sabbath that followed. As national law regulating the assembling and worship of Israel, the ordinance was limited to Israel and expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not literally binding today, though its great underlying principle remains binding.
Passover Date and Observance
The LORD's Passover falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan. It is eaten that night, the lamb being slain on that day between the two evenings, at sunset. In the year under discussion that fourteenth fell on Thursday, also counted as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
On that fourteenth day leaven was put out of the homes, and the men eligible for the feast were to present themselves at the national sanctuary with an offering according to their means. At sunset the lambs were slain, then roasted whole and eaten that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That lamb eaten on the night of the fourteenth is distinct from the special obligatory festive offering called Chagigah presented in the service of the fifteenth day of Nisan. A person who had contracted Levitical defilement could not offer this Chagigah, so the refusal to enter the judgment hall for fear of defilement in order to eat the Passover refers to eating this fifteenth-day Chagigah, not to eating the Passover lamb of the previous night.
Unleavened bread was then eaten from the evening of the fourteenth through the evening of the twenty-first. The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of Abib, with special offerings prescribed for each day throughout the feast. Its first day and yearly Sabbath begins on the fifteenth, after sunset, and both the fifteenth and the twenty-first were kept as holy convocations with rest from work. Those who make this distinction between the fourteenth and the fifteenth place the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath, separate from the weekly Sabbath that followed.
These directions belong to later instructions for keeping the Passover that added requirements not found in the original wilderness instructions in Exodus 12-13. They include practices that could not have been carried out during the wilderness journey.
Sanctuary Service and Fulfillment
The verse belongs to the appointed calendar of additional services and offerings for the annual feasts. Those added feast services formed part of the regular, continual ministration of the earthly sanctuary carried on throughout the year. They stood alongside the daily offerings, the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the other feasts, with special work and services prescribed for them. That continual service is distinct from the yearly Day of Atonement. That earthly service served as a pattern of ministry in heaven.
These feast offerings are distinct from the daily burnt offering of two lambs of the first year offered morning and evening, from offerings for individual sins, and from Sabbath and new moon offerings. The regular daily offerings continued even when the other offerings were made. Yet the Passover season included the same burnt offerings that accompanied the day of first fruits and Pentecost and were also offered on the Day of Atonement. They belonged to the service given by divine direction to the tribe of Levi set apart for the sanctuary. The priesthood was restricted to the family of Aaron, clothed in special dress for holy office, with the priest standing as mediator between God and man as the representative of the people in things pertaining to God, and with sweet incense offered on the golden altar at the time of the daily offering.
The spring types were fulfilled according to their appointed days. Christ the antitype, the Passover, was sacrificed on that very fourteenth day. The preliminary and accompanying offerings appointed for the Passover period did not prevent the central event represented by the feast from meeting its antitype at its appointed time. By a different reckoning, the distinction between the fourteenth and the fifteenth places the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath. That yearly Sabbath beginning on the fifteenth after sunset is separate from the weekly Sabbath that followed. In the year so reckoned, the fourteenth was Thursday, also called the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
As national law regulating the assembling and worship of Israel, the ordinance was limited to Israel as law. Like its civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, and financial laws, it expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not literally binding today. Its great underlying principle remains binding.
The verse fixes the Passover of the LORD on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan, when the Passover lamb was slain between the two evenings at sunset. The meal that night opens a continuing observance of eating unleavened bread from the evening of the fourteenth through the evening of the twenty-first, with the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread from the fifteenth to the twenty-first and holy convocations with rest from work on the fifteenth and twenty-first. It belongs to the appointed calendar of additional offerings for the annual feasts, part of the regular continual ministration of the earthly sanctuary throughout the year alongside the daily offerings, Sabbaths, new moons and other feasts. The spring types were fulfilled on their appointed days, so that Christ the Passover was sacrificed on that very fourteenth day, while those who reckoned differently placed the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath distinct from the weekly Sabbath that followed. As national law regulating the assembling and worship of Israel, the ordinance was limited to Israel and expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not literally binding today, though its great underlying principle remains binding.
Passover Date and Observance
The LORD's Passover falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan. It is eaten that night, the lamb being slain on that day between the two evenings, at sunset. In the year under discussion that fourteenth fell on Thursday, also counted as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
On that fourteenth day leaven was put out of the homes, and the men eligible for the feast were to present themselves at the national sanctuary with an offering according to their means. At sunset the lambs were slain, then roasted whole and eaten that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That lamb eaten on the night of the fourteenth is distinct from the special obligatory festive offering called Chagigah presented in the service of the fifteenth day of Nisan. A person who had contracted Levitical defilement could not offer this Chagigah, so the refusal to enter the judgment hall for fear of defilement in order to eat the Passover refers to eating this fifteenth-day Chagigah, not to eating the Passover lamb of the previous night.
Unleavened bread was then eaten from the evening of the fourteenth through the evening of the twenty-first. The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of Abib, with special offerings prescribed for each day throughout the feast. Its first day and yearly Sabbath begins on the fifteenth, after sunset, and both the fifteenth and the twenty-first were kept as holy convocations with rest from work. Those who make this distinction between the fourteenth and the fifteenth place the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath, separate from the weekly Sabbath that followed.
These directions belong to later instructions for keeping the Passover that added requirements not found in the original wilderness instructions in Exodus 12-13. They include practices that could not have been carried out during the wilderness journey.
Sanctuary Service and Fulfillment
The verse belongs to the appointed calendar of additional services and offerings for the annual feasts. Those added feast services formed part of the regular, continual ministration of the earthly sanctuary carried on throughout the year. They stood alongside the daily offerings, the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the other feasts, with special work and services prescribed for them. That continual service is distinct from the yearly Day of Atonement. That earthly service served as a pattern of ministry in heaven.
These feast offerings are distinct from the daily burnt offering of two lambs of the first year offered morning and evening, from offerings for individual sins, and from Sabbath and new moon offerings. The regular daily offerings continued even when the other offerings were made. Yet the Passover season included the same burnt offerings that accompanied the day of first fruits and Pentecost and were also offered on the Day of Atonement. They belonged to the service given by divine direction to the tribe of Levi set apart for the sanctuary. The priesthood was restricted to the family of Aaron, clothed in special dress for holy office, with the priest standing as mediator between God and man as the representative of the people in things pertaining to God, and with sweet incense offered on the golden altar at the time of the daily offering.
The spring types were fulfilled according to their appointed days. Christ the antitype, the Passover, was sacrificed on that very fourteenth day. The preliminary and accompanying offerings appointed for the Passover period did not prevent the central event represented by the feast from meeting its antitype at its appointed time. By a different reckoning, the distinction between the fourteenth and the fifteenth places the crucifixion on the fifteenth, the yearly Sabbath. That yearly Sabbath beginning on the fifteenth after sunset is separate from the weekly Sabbath that followed. In the year so reckoned, the fourteenth was Thursday, also called the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
As national law regulating the assembling and worship of Israel, the ordinance was limited to Israel as law. Like its civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, and financial laws, it expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not literally binding today. Its great underlying principle remains binding.