Nisan 8 (Thu., Apr. 3, 32 AD)
Jesus & His disciples arrive in Bethany
Jesus teaches at Temple daily
Nisan 9 (Fri., Apr. 4, 32 AD)
Dinner at Simon the Leper’s house
Jesus is anointed by Mary for burial
Dinner is an evening meal--after sunset Nisan 10 begins*
Nisan 10 (Sat., Apr. 5, 32 AD)
Jesus & disciples rest during weekly Sabbath they wait until after sunset (Nisan 11) to go to Jerusalem.
Nisan 11 (Sun., Apr. 6, 32 A.D.) (Palm “Sunday”)
Triumphal Entry exact day predicted by Daniel in fulfillment of prophecy
Cursing of Fig Tree
Cleansing of Temple & healings
Nisan 12 (Mon., Apr 7, 32 A.D.)
Jesus’ parables against Chief Priests & Pharisees
Attempts to entrap & arrest Jesus fail
7 Woes against Scribes & Pharisees
Jesus withdraws from public teaching to privately teach the disciples: “Signs of the End of the Age”
Chief Priests’ & Pharisees’ plot thickens
Judas agrees to betray Jesus
Nisan 13 (Tue., Apr. 8, 32 AD)
Jesus & the 12 disciples come into Jerusalem from Bethany, to partake of the Passover meal.
Nisan 14 (Wed., Apr. 9, 32 AD) Passover****
Jesus ate an early evening Passover meal with His disciples. After the Last Supper, He walked with His disciples towards the Mt. of Olives.
Jesus is betrayed in Gethsemane, arrested & brought before Annas, first, then to Caiaphas & the Sanhedrin.
Trials end at dawn.
Peter denies Jesus 3 times before the cock crows.
Early morning, Jesus is brought before Pilate then Herod, who mocks Him & sends Him back.
After releasing Barabbas, Pilate has Him flogged & his soldiers mock Jesus. Verdict is finally given.
He is crucified at 9 a.m. & dies about 3 p.m.
Darkness over the whole land noon to 3 p.m.
Preparation Day for annual Sabbath.
Jesus’ body placed in the tomb at twilight. Annual Sabbath begins at sunset about 6:30-7:00 p.m.
(Night One)
Nisan 15 (Thu., Apr. 10, 32 A.D.)
The 1st Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread
(Day One)
Tomb is guarded & secured by sealing the stone.
(Night Two)
Nisan 16 (Fri., Apr. 11, 32 A.D.)
With the annual Sabbath over, the women bought & prepared spices to anoint Jesus’ body.
(Day Two)
The weekly Sabbath begins at sunset Friday. No work is to be done as the 4th commandment says.
(Night Three)
Nisan 17 (Sat., Apr. 12, 32 A.D.)
The women rested for the weekly Sabbath.
(Day Three)
Weekly Sabbath ends at sunset Saturday. Jesus rose around sunset, exactly 3 days & 3 nights (72 hours) after burial, fulfilling sign of Jonah & authenticating His messiahship.
Nisan 18 (Sun., Apr. 13, 32 A.D.)
Christ rose from the dead on the Festival of Firstfruits as the firstfruits of the resurrection.
The women brought the prepared spices early in the morning while it was still dark. When they arrived, they found Jesus had already risen from the dead.
(Jn. 12:1) 6 days before Passover
(Jn. 11:18) “Bethany was less than 2 miles from Jerusalem.”
(Lk. 19:47;21:37-38) “each“ & “every day” He went & returned
(Mt. 26:6-13; Mk. 14:3-9) “While He was in Bethany”
(Jn. 12:2-8, 12) before the Triumphal Entry “the next day”
(Josh 3:4; Act. 1:12) A Sabbath day’s walk is 2,000 cubits**
(Jn. 12:12-15; Mk. 11:11) in the evening, “it was already late”
(Dan. 9:24-27) 483 yrs. from decree ‘til Messiah “comes"
(Zech. 9:9; Lk 19:44) King (God) comes riding a donkey
(Mk.11:12) “the next day,” in the morning, it’s still Nisan 11
(Mt. 21:12-17; Mk. 11:15-19; Lk. 19:45-46)
(Mk. 11:19) “When evening came . . . went out of the city.”
(Mk. 11:20) “In the morning” fig tree is withered from root
(Mt. 21:23-46; Mk. 11:27-12:11; Lk. 20:1-18)
(Mt. 21:45-22:46; Mk. 11:27-12:44; Lk. 20:19-22:4)
(Mt. 23; Mk. 12:38-40; Lk. 20:45-47)
(Mt. 23:39; Jn 12:36)
(Mt. 24-25; Mk. 13; Lk. 21:5-36)
(Mt. 26:2; Mk. 14:1-2) “now 2 days before Passover”
(Mt. 26:14-16; Mk. 14:10-11; Lk. 22:1-6)
(Mt. 26:17-19; Mk. 14:12-16; Lk. 22:7-13) John & Peter were sent ahead to make preparations for the Passover meal.
(Mt. 26:20; Mk. 14:17; Lk. 22:15; Jn. 13:1-2)
(Jn. 1:29, 36; 1 Cor. 5:7) Jesus becomes our Passover Lamb.
(Ex. 12:18; Lev. 23:5; Num. 28:16) Passover is on the 14th of Nisan each year. Jesus & His disciples ate it just after sunset Tue., as Nisan 14 began.*****
(Mt. 26:47-49; Mk. 14:44-45)
(Jn. 18:13) Trial #1 (Lk. 22:54; Jn. 18:24) Trial #2 (Mt. 26:57; Mk. 14:53; Lk. 22:66) Trial #3
(Mt. 26:69-75; Mk. 14:66-72; Lk. 22:55-62; Jn. 18:15-18, 25-27)
(Mt. 27:1-2; Mk. 15:1; Lk. 23:1; Jn. 18:28) Trial #4
(Lk. 23:5-12, 15) Trial #5
(Mt. 27:20-26;Mk. 15:11-14;Lk. 23:16-24;Jn. 18:38-40) Trial #6
(Mt. 27:26; Mk. 15:15; Lk. 23:25; Jn. 19:1-5, 16) Trial #7
(Mk. 15:25) “It was the 3rd hour, when they crucified Him.”
(Mt. 27:45; Mk. 15:33-34; Lk. 23:44) “from 6th to 9th hrs.”
(Mk. 15:42; Jn 19:14, 42)
(Lev. 23:7; Mt. 27:57; Jn. 19:31) He would have been buried before sunset because of the approaching Sabbath, “for that Sabbath day was a high-day.”
(Jn. 18:28) Pharisees ate their Passover meal after sunset on Wed. when Nisan 15 began. This is the 1st Holy Day, or High Day, i.e. annual Sabbath of the 7-day Festival.
(Mt. 27:62-66)
The annual Sabbath ends at sunset.
(Mk. 16:1) “when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought sweet spices that they might come & anoint Him.”
(Lk. 23:56) They “prepared the spices & ointments” & then “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”
(Ex. 20:8-11) Thus, they bought & prepared the spices after the Sabbath & yet before the Sabbath. There had to be 2 Sabbaths with a day of preparation in between.
(Lk. 23:56)
(Jonah 1:17; Mt. 12:39-40) Jesus’ promise was fulfilled exactly as He said it would be. Like the prophet Jonah, He would be entombed 3 days and 3 nights and then be raised from the dead on the 3rd day.
(Lev. 23:11; 1 Cor. 15:20-23) Firstfruits of the barley harvest is celebrated the 1st day after the Sabbath following Passover.
(Mt. 28:1) Matthew states that, “After the Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the 1st day of the week” they came to see the tomb. “Sabbaths” is plural in the original Greek.
(Jn. 20:1-2) Jesus’ resurrection had already taken place by the time Mary Magdalene arrived at dawn Sunday.
* Jewish days are calculated from sunset-to-sunset, not midnight-to-midnight.
** A cubit is approximately 18”, the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Thus 2,000 cubits is about 1,000 yards, or about 3/5th of a mile. The Mt. of Olives was a Sabbath day’s walk from Jerusalem (Ac. 1:12), the distance the Israelites were required to keep between the ark of the covenant and themselves (Josh. 3:4), but Bethany was twice that distance from Jerusalem (Jn. 1:18), so Jesus and His disciples would not have gone to Jerusalem between sundown on Friday and sunset on Saturday.
*** See end note #6 on Daniel 9:25-27 above.
**** Our best guess based on astronomical and historical data is that Passover (Nisan 14) and the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nissan 15) in 32 A.D. were April 9 and 10. Astronomically, Nisan 1 falls on the 1st day of the New Moon (1st crescent visible by 2-3 witnesses) after the Vernal Equinox (approximately March 20-22) (see Mishna, “Pesachim"). Passover would then be 2 weeks later. However, since the lunar calendar is only 354 days long, 11 1/4 days short of the solar year, every 3rd, 6th and 8th year a 13th month is added (Julius Africanus, states in his Chronography that “the Jews insert three intercalary months every eight years.") Therefore, the date Passover is actually celebrated is not necessarily when it would have fallen astronomically. For example, in A.D. 32, the date of the true new moon, by which the Passover was regulated, was the night of March 29. The ostensible date of the 1st of Nisan, therefore, according to the phases, was March 31st, and Nisan 15 would then be April 14th. But the calendar may have been disturbed by intercalation. According to the scheme of the eight years' cycle,◊ the 13th month was inserted in the 3rd, 6th, and 8th years, and an examination of the calendars from A.D. 22 to A D. 37 will show that A.D. 32 was the third year of such a cycle. As, therefore, the difference between the solar year and the lunar is 11 1/4 days, it would amount in 3 years to 33 3/4 days, and the intercalation of a 13th month (Ve-adar) of 30 days would leave an epact still remaining of 3 3/4 days; and the “ecclesiastical moon" being that much before the real full moon, the feast day (Nisan 15) would have fallen on Thursday, April 10, exactly as the narrative of the Gospels requires.]
◊The following is the scheme of the octaeteris (8 yr. cycle): “The solar year has a length of 365 1/4 days; 12 lunar months make 354 days. The difference, which is called the epact, is 11 1/4 days. This is the epact of the first year. Hence the epact of the second year = 22 1/2 days; of the third, 33 3/4. These 33 3/4 days make one lunar month of 30 days, which is added to the 3rd lunar year as an intercalary or 13th month (embolismos), and a remainder or epact of 3 3/4 days. Hence the epact of the 4th year =11 1/4 + 3 3/4=15 days; that of the 5th year =26 1/4; of the 6th, 37 1/2, which gives a second embolism of 30 days with an epact of 7 1/2. The epact, therefore, of the 7th year is 18 3/4, and of the 8th =18 3/4 + 11 1/4= just 30, which is the 3rd embolism with no epact remaining." — Browne, Ordo Saec., p. 424. The days of the Paschal full moon (without regard to the epact) in the years A.D. 22-37 were as follows; the embolismal years, according to the octaeteris, being marked “E":
22 ... 5th April 26 ... 21st March 30 ... 6th April 34 ... 23rd March 23 ... 25th March 27E ... 9th April 31 ... 27th March 35E ... 11th April 24E ... 12th April 28 ... 29th March 32E ... 14th April 36 ... 30th March 25 ... 1st April 29E ... 17th April 33 ... 3rd April 37E ... 18th April
(Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince, pg. 60-61)
***** Two groups were in existence in the Judaic religious arena at the time of Jesus. They were:
1) Tsadoquian (Aristocratic - Saduccean - Levitical) School and
2) Hasidic (Pharisee - Lay Scholars who later became Talmudists; from these descended also the Essenes and the Zealots).
They differed in the exact time of the Paschal preparation and sacrifice of the paschal meal. The Pharisees held that the lamb was to be slaughtered in the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan (between the hours of noon and 3 pm) and eaten after the sun set (approximately 6 pm our time), which would then be the 15th in the Hebrew calendar. The seven days of Unleavened Bread extended from the 15th to the 21st. The Tsadoquians on the other hand, held that the lamb was to be sacrificed at twilight on the 14th before dark, i.e. late afternoon on the 13th, and eaten in the night of the 14th. The Sadducees held the Office of High Priest during the period of Jesus. They were the Calendar Committee at that time. They were more conservative and believed that the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were separate feast days. The Synoptic Gospels say that Jesus ate a Passover meal with the twelve on the evening beginning Nisan 14, in accordance with the official calendar, but was crucified during the afternoon of the 14th in accordance with the Hasidic calendar.
Thousands of Jews would come to Jerusalem from all over the known world during the festival. They came from Parthia, Mede and Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus Asia, Prygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Crete, and Arabia (Acts 2:9). If they only had one day in which to prepare for the Passover, it would have been extremely difficult to finish sacrificing all the lambs brought in, in time. 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.
(John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica.).
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