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Timing of Jesus’ crucifixion
By Mark Morgan | Jesus
On which day of the week did the Passover occur? And how does that fit in with the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion?
You may think that these are silly questions, because we are all used to the idea of annual events that occur on a given date, and therefore take place on a different day of the week each year. And this is exactly how it would have worked with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread which followed it.
Why does this matter? Because the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are intimately tied to the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So let’s look at the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread the way they were first experienced when God led the nation of Israel out of Egypt.
God announced to Moses that Pharaoh would not only let the Israelites go, he would drive them out of Egypt[1] and that Egypt would be plundered by them.[2] God also announced details of what he would do at midnight on their last night in Egypt and what the people must do.
Each house or group of houses must select an unblemished lamb or kid on the tenth day of the month and keep in their house until the fourteenth day of the month,[3] when they would kill the lamb and paint its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.[4] That blood would save their firstborn from the last plague of Egypt when, at midnight, God killed every firstborn in Egypt except those in houses where there was blood at the doorway.[5]
They were also to roast the lamb[6] and eat it with bitter herbs[7] and unleavened bread,[8] leaving none of its meat until morning.[9]
Not only so, but they were to eat the meal in a hurry, dressed and ready to leave.[10] That would have been a simple instruction for adult families to follow, but young children also needed to be ready to leave, likewise old, sick or handicapped people. Everyone must be ready to leave that night.
Seven related issues are worth noting:
Except for the last point, these details all had some importance in the timing and events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Presented below is a diagram of the timing of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as described in Exodus 11-13, with some observations from the New Testament as well. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size]
As indicated at the start, these closely related feasts happened on the same dates each year, and thus on different days. And how did these feast days interact with the ordinary days of the Jewish week?
In the Law of Moses, any requirements for special days simply added to God’s laws for the more common days. This is shown clearly when God specifies daily sacrifices and then says that the sacrifices for the Sabbath were to be offered in addition to the existing daily sacrifices. When a new month began, the nation was to offer more special sacrifices, and these also were to be offered in addition to the more common offerings. Thus, if a new month started on a Sabbath, the priests would offer the ordinary daily sacrifices, plus the Sabbath sacrifices, plus the sacrifices for the new month.
This mostly matters for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread because of the number of Sabbaths involved. Remember that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a special Sabbath, and so was the last day. Being seven days apart, that meant the two special Sabbaths were on different days of the week.
If the 14th of Abib fell on a Monday, for example, the Passover lamb would be killed on that Monday, the first day of Unleavened Bread would be a special Sabbath Tuesday, and the seventh day of Unleavened Bread would be a special Sabbath Monday. The ordinary Sabbaths would still be held as usual.
In this example, then, there would be a Sabbath on Saturday, a special Sabbath on the following Tuesday, another Sabbath on the next Saturday, and the closing special Sabbath on the Monday, two days later. Four Sabbaths in ten days!
There are three important pieces of information in the gospels that help us decide what day of the week Jesus was crucified.
Now let’s look at the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection as it works with three different options.
Firstly, let’s consider the possibility that the Day of Preparation on which he was killed was a Wednesday. This option is shown in the diagram below. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size]
In this case, the cons are major and the pros relatively minor. Overall, it doesn’t work.
Secondly, let’s consider the possibility that the Day of Preparation on which Jesus died was a Thursday. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size]
In this case, the pros greatly outweigh the minor con. This scenario is reasonable.
Lastly, let’s look at the possibility that the Day of Preparation on which he died was a Friday. [Tap or click on the diagram to see it full-size]
In this case, the cons are major and the single pro relatively insignificant. Overall, despite its popularity, this scenario doesn’t work.
Based on the information we have about the original Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we can match it with the information we have about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and conclude that it is most likely that he was crucified on a Thursday morning, died on Thursday afternoon, and remained dead through a special Sabbath on Friday and an ordinary Sabbath on Saturday before rising from the dead at about dawn on Sunday morning. This scenario is the only one that satisfies the historical and prophetic requirements and fits the known details from the gospels.
This exploration of Bible records and the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is one of many articles on a wide range of subjects published as back-up material for our Bible-based fiction. If you enjoyed the article, you may like to sign up for our newsletter where we publish these articles first along with some free Bible-based fiction and special deals on our new publications.
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Notes
| ↑1 | Exodus 11:1, 8 |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Exodus 3:22 |
| ↑3 | Exodus 12:3-6 |
| ↑4 | Exodus 12:6-7 |
| ↑5 | Exodus 12:12-13 |
| ↑6 | Exodus 12:8-9 |
| ↑7 | Exodus 12:8 |
| ↑8 | Exodus 12:8, 18 |
| ↑9 | Exodus 12:10 |
| ↑10 | Exodus 12:11 |
| ↑11 | Exodus 12:2 |
| ↑12 | See Genesis 1 for the details of the days of creation, which are consistently described with “there was evening and there was morning, the Xth day”. |
| ↑13 | See also Exodus 12:6, 18 |
| ↑14 | Exodus 12:17 |
| ↑15 | Exodus 12:15, 18; 13:3, 6-7 |
| ↑16 | Exodus 12:15 |
| ↑17 | Exodus 12:16 |
| ↑18 | Exodus 13:6 |
| ↑19 | Matthew 12:40 (see Jonah 1:17); 27:63; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34 |
| ↑20 | Luke 23:56; 24:1 |
| ↑21 | Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:1-6, 9; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1, 11-19 |
| ↑22, ↑23 | Luke 23:56 |