Major Mistakes in “Passover Observance History”!

 A brother in the faith recently sent me a document called “Passover Observance History,” which is the appendix to a book recently released by a pastor in the United Church of God. While I haven’t read the rest of the work, it seems (based on the title) to be a harmony of the Gospels and not specifically about Passover.

But this appendix makes claims about the history of Passover observance which deserve careful, Berean-style scrutiny. Here’s a summary of its five major claims:

1. That Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread began as two separate feasts,

2. That the Jews drifted in their understanding of Passover, moved the Passover sacrifice from the beginning of Nisan 14 to the end, and merged the two feasts into one,

3. That this happened because the Jews briefly abandoned the Scriptural practice of beginning days at sunset and copied the Egyptian custom of beginning days at sunrise,

4. That it wasn’t possible to kill all the Passover lambs at the temple,

5. And that there were therefore two separate Passover observances during the life of Jesus Christ, one in private homes at the beginning of Nisan 14 and the other at the temple near the end of Nisan 14.

Let’s examine these concepts one by one, beginning with the first.

Two Separate Feasts?

You probably already know that any controversy about when to observe Passover hinges on the Hebrew phrase bayn ha-arbayim, or “between the two evenings,” found in Ex. 12:6, Lev. 23:5, and Num. 9:3, 5, 11. This is when God commanded the Israelites to kill the Passover lambs. He declared that the Passover lambs must be killed at this appointed time (Num. 9:2, 3, 13), and warned that those who failed to offer the Passover lamb at its appointed time would be cut off from their people and bear their sin (Num. 9:13). Those are serious consequences indeed!

But when is “between the two evenings”? One interpretation is that it means “between sunset and dark.” The other interpretation is that it means middle to late afternoon, that is, between the time the sun begins to descend and the time it sets at the end of the day.

Those who partake of Passover at the beginning of Nisan 14 hold the former view, while most of those who partake at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th hold the latter view. We will simply call these the early-14th view and the late-14th view.

Now, the early-14thers believe that there’s nearly one full day between the Passover ceremony and the First Day of Unleavened Bread. The idea that God made Passover and Unleavened Bread separate feasts is therefore vital to the early-14th view, and it’s a common claim. It’s also a common claim that the Jews eventually muddled the two feasts into one.

But the problem with such ideas is that God Himself described Passover and Unleavened Bread alike as a feast of seven days! They are the same feast.

In Ezek. 45:21, God said, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.” Elsewhere, God describes the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a feast of seven days (Ex. 23:15; 34:18; Lev. 23:6), and here He describes Passover the same way! 

But that’s not all. In Ex. 34:25, God describes the Passover lamb as “the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover.” And in Deut. 16:3, God commanded the Israelites to eat unleavened bread for seven days “with it,” that is, with the lamb. The Passover sacrifice begins the Feast of the Passover, and God commanded the Israelites to eat unleavened bread for seven days with it!

Finally, God uses the same phrase for the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that He does for Passover: on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, or ba-arbaah asar yom la-khodesh ba-erev in Hebrew. In Josh. 5:10, we read, “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho” (KJV). And in Ex. 12:18-19, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses…” (KJV).

God places Passover and Unleavened Bread alike on the fourteenth day of the month at evening. Both are a feast of seven days. And since both Lev. 23:6 and Num. 28:17 identify Nisan 15 as the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then “the fourteenth day of the month at evening” can only be the end of the day, leading into the 15th. The late-14th view is the correct one. And that’s how the Jews have kept Passover and Unleavened Bread throughout recorded history!

So, when we read in the New Testament that the Feast of Unleavened Bread “is called Passover” (Luke 22:1), it isn’t because the Jews muddled two separate feasts into one. It’s because God Himself established Passover and Unleavened Bread as one, inseparable feast! A feast of seven days.

Drift in Understanding?

Next, we come to the claim that the Jews, over time, drifted from the truth about Passover. This, too, is essential to the early-14th view of Passover. After all, everyone knows that the Jews today eat the Passover meal after the end of Nisan 14, on the night of Nisan 15, and history shows that they’ve done so for more than 2,000 years. Therefore, those who believe that the Bible endorses the early-14th view also generally believe that the Jews (or Israelites) started with early-14th observance during the time of Moses, and then drifted to late-14th observance by the time of Christ.

Yet there is no Biblical or historical documentation of such a drift. The Bible never says the Jews changed the timing of Passover at all; you can search every book, every chapter, and every verse from Genesis to Revelation, and you will never find any statement that the Jews changed the timing of Passover. No eyewitness ever recorded such a change, either; not Josephus, nor Philo, nor any Greek or Roman historian.

You’ll never find any condemnation of Jewish Passover practice in the pages of Scripture, not by Jesus Himself, nor by His apostles, nor by the Old Testament prophets. They condemned many other pagan practices and manmade traditions of the Jews, yet never said a word about the Jews observing Passover or the Sabbath or any other Holy Day at the wrong time. This would seem to be a glaring omission, had the Jews been in error.

In fact, to the extent that Jesus spoke at all about Jewish Passover observance, He affirmed it. From His childhood (Luke 2:41-42) into His ministry (John 2:13; 6:4), Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover with the rest of the Jews. And to His disciples, shortly before His death, He said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Mat. 23:2-3). No, Jesus never condemned Jewish Passover observance; quite the contrary!

Sunrise or Sunset?

But, having asserted that the Jews drifted from God’s instructions for Passover, it becomes necessary for the assertor to explain how it could have happened — especially since there’s no record of such a change. In this case, “Passover Observance History” speculates that the Jews briefly got confused about when days begin and end.

In the Bible, days begin and end at sunset, as we’ve proven elsewhere. This is true in both Old and New Testaments. But this wasn’t universal practice among all peoples. It’s generally accepted that the Romans began and ended days at midnight, as most of the modern world does now, and that the Egyptians began and ended days at sunrise.

Now, the Ptolemies, a Greek dynasty in Egypt founded by one of Alexander the Great’s generals, ruled over Judea for just over a hundred years, from 301 to 198 BC. The “Passover Observance History” claims that, because of this, “the Jews accepted the Egyptian view of when the day began” (at sunrise), that Abib 14 now began at sunrise rather than sunset, and that the Jews moved the Passover sacrifice to accommodate this change. It further asserts, “While the Jews eventually got back to an evening-to-evening reckoning for the day, they refused to abandon what was now viewed as the traditional way of observing Passover.”

What proof is presented for these claims? Well, it refers us to sections of two publications from the 1940s, The Jewish Quarterly Review of April 1946 and The Expository Times of June 1948. The first reference is a 9-page article by P.J. Heawood entitled “The Beginning of the Jewish Day.” The second is a letter by the same author to the editor of The Expository Times, likewise titled “The Beginning of the Jewish Day.”

But the truth is, neither of Heawood’s writings support the claims presented, as you can see for yourself at the links above. He didn’t argue that the Jews adopted a sunrise-to-sunrise day from the Egyptian Ptolemies, nor did he claim that the Jews changed the time of Passover. Instead, Heawood argued that the Bible itself reckons days from sunrise to sunrise, and that the Jewish rabbis adopted sunset-to-sunset days much later, long after the temple’s destruction in AD 70!

Now, P.J. Heawood wasn’t an eyewitness to anything that happened in Biblical times, but simply a modern scholar with his own opinion. His theory is neither Scripturally accurate nor does it properly represent Jewish tradition, and the United Church of God itself rightly rejects his theory while holding firm to the Scriptural view of days beginning and ending at sunset. To present his theory as historical fact is a mistake, and to do so while simultaneously rejecting it is incoherent.

No eyewitness account or firsthand evidence tells us that the Jews stopped reckoning days from sunset to sunset during the Second Temple period. The eyewitness account of Josephus, in the first century AD, is that the Jews began and ended days in the evening. He wrote that, each Sabbath, a priest “gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight: as also at the evening, when that day was finished: as giving notice to the people when they were to leave off work, and when they were to go to work again” (Wars of the Jews, bk. 4, ch. 9, sect. 12).

We also have the Gospel accounts of Jewish practice in the Second Temple period, which we have examined previously. We have, then, the eyewitness accounts of Scripture and of secular history to prove that the Jews began and ended days at sunset during the Second Temple period. Scripture tells us, “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” (Deut. 19:15; Mat. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1).

If anyone claims that the Jews changed Passover to accommodate a change in how they reckoned days, then let him present witnesses and proof. If he cannot, then such claims must be dismissed as fiction.

An Impossible Sacrifice?

Next, “Passover Observance History” claims that it wasn’t possible to kill all the Passover lambs at the temple, even though that’s exactly what God instructed. It makes this claim to set up the next one, which we’ll get to shortly. But first, let’s examine this one.

Shortly before Israel entered the Promised Land, God spoke through Moses, “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you; but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight [lit. “evening”], at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt” (Deut. 16:5-6). What place did God choose to make His name abide? At the temple in Jerusalem, which God described as “the house for My name” (1 Kings 5:5). When Solomon dedicated that temple, he prayed to God “that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there’” (1 Kings 8:29).

In summary, when Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God commanded His people not to sacrifice the Passover within any of their own gates, but only at the place where He would put His name. Scripture defines that place as God’s sanctuary, ultimately at the temple in Jerusalem. Therefore, God commanded His people to sacrifice the Passover at His temple in Jerusalem, not at their own dwellings. This is quite simple.

Would God command His people to do something impossible? No! “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right” (Isa. 45:19).

So why does this “Passover Observance History” claim that it was impossible to kill all the Passover lambs at the temple? Well, because “Joachim Jeremias… in Jerusalem in the Times of Jesus, calculated that the three courses of priests on duty could slay only 18,000 lambs during those two hours.” Again, this was one man’s opinion, not fact or eyewitness testimony. Joachim Jeremias wasn’t an eyewitness to anything that happened in Biblical times!

Josephus, a witness who lived during the Second Temple period, described a Passover during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero thusly: “So these high priests, upon the coming of that feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh… found the number of sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred” (Wars of the Jews, bk. 6, ch. 9, sect. 3). Even if that number is exaggerated, which seems probable, this point remains: Josephus recorded that the priests counted the Passover sacrifices, which means they had to be present!

Much later, the Mishnah described how this was done. The people formed three groups, each to perform the sacrifice in succession. As many from the first group as possible entered the temple courtyard with their lambs and slaughtered them there before the priests. The priests collected the blood from the lambs in bowls, handed the bowls down a line of priests to the altar, poured the blood at the base of the altar, and handed the empty bowls back (Pesachim 5:5-6). Each man then hung his slaughtered lamb on hooks set up for that purpose in the temple courtyard, skinned the lamb, and removed the fat to be burned on the altar (Pesachim 5:9-10).

When finished, these people exited the temple courtyard and the next wave entered, continuing until the whole first group had finished. The process repeated for the second group, and also the third.

During each group’s sacrifice, the Levites stood and recited Psalms 113-118, the hallel (“praise”) Psalms (Pesachim 5:7). If they finished reciting before the first group finished sacrificing, they repeated the recitation. The Mishnah says that these Praise Psalms never had to be recited more than twice for each group because the priests worked so quickly and efficiently. The third group was so small and finished so quickly that the Levites only had time to recite the first three Praise Psalms, never once making it to Psalm 116 (Pesachim 5:7).

Philo of Alexandria, a Jew who lived in Egypt during the Second Temple period, described the Passover offerings similarly, though in far less detail than the Mishnah. He wrote, “...not only do private individuals bring victims to the altar and the priests sacrifice them, but also, by a particular ordinance of this law, the whole nation is consecrated and officiates in offering sacrifice; every separate individual on this occasion bringing forward and offering up with his own hands the sacrifice due on his own behalf” (The Life of Moses, bk. 2, ch. 51). This is exactly what we’ve already seen: the people brought their Passover lambs to the temple, slaughtered them there before the priests, skinned them, and took them home to roast.

But if all this wasn’t enough, we have something far more important, which outweighs all this testimony, and that is God’s Word. The Bible itself describes sacrificing the Passover lambs at the temple, albeit during the First Temple period rather than the Second.

In 2 Chronicles 35, King Josiah observed the Passover in Jerusalem at the temple, just as God commanded through Moses. He gave the people 30,000 lambs and goats, along with 3,000 cattle, for the Passover sacrifices (2 Chron. 35:7). Some of the other leaders of Judah gave the priests and Levites an additional 8,400 animals for sacrifice, bringing the total to more than 41,000 (vv. 8-9)! This doesn’t include any animals the people themselves may have already had. And we’re told,

10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's command.

11 And they slaughtered the Passover offerings; and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hands, while the Levites skinned the animals.

13 Also they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance; but the other holy offerings they boiled in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly among all the lay people.

14 Then afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering burnt offerings and fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. (2 Chron. 35:10-11, 13-14, 16.)

So God’s Word details how the priests at the temple offered more than 40,000 animals for Passover, “on the fourteenth day of the first month” (2 Chron. 35:1). It doesn’t tell us it was possible; it tells us it was done and how it was done!

God forbade the Israelites from killing the Passover lambs in their own gates, telling them to do it at the temple instead. His Word describes how it was done. Josephus told us it was done. Philo told us it was done. The Mishnah told us how it was done. The speculations of a modern theologian shrink to insignificance in the face of Scripture and eyewitness testimony.

Before moving on to the final point, I wish to address two additional statements from “Passover Observance History” in this section.

First, it states, “Philo of Alexandria, in De Vita Mosis [“The Life of Moses”], notes that in the early first century, the Passover was not strictly a Temple-kept event, but one in which people also killed their own lambs without help from the priests.” This is a misreading of Philo. As we’ve already quoted from that very work, he described the people bringing their lambs to the temple and killing them there. His testimony agrees with the Mishnah and with Scripture itself, where killing the lambs outside the temple was not permitted.

Secondly, after citing Joachim Jeremias’s calculation that it was impossible to offer all the lambs at the temple, “Passover Observance History” makes this statement: “Josephus records that the rest of the lambs - a far greater number - were slain by individuals at their own homes.” Tellingly, no citation is given for this statement, because Josephus never said any such thing! Josephus never recorded individuals killing the Passover lambs at their own homes during the Second Temple period, not in any of his works, as you can search for yourself and see.

Two Passovers?

Having asserted that it wasn’t possible to sacrifice all the lambs at the temple as God instructed, “Passover Observance History” then moves on to its climactic claim. It states,

What we see in practice then by the time of Jesus, is that there were two Passover observances happening: one led by the priests at the Temple and the other observed by the people in their homes. These separate observances were also at different times: The Temple-kept Passover was observed late in the afternoon of Abib 14, while the home-kept Passover was kept at the beginning of Abib 14.

Naturally, there’s no proof of any of this. There’s no record of two Passover observances during the time of Jesus, “one led by the priests at the Temple and the other observed by the people in their homes.” The Bible doesn’t say it, no eyewitnesses reported it, and later Rabbinic writings such as the Mishnah and Talmud never mentioned it. Any theory of two Passovers, one public and one private, in the time of Jesus is purely speculation and is not based on any firsthand evidence.

Nor is there any evidence that one of those “two Passovers” was held at the beginning of the 14th. The Bible doesn’t record it, Josephus didn’t record it, Philo didn’t record it, other contemporary historians didn’t record it, and the later Rabbinic writings didn’t record it.

Not only is there no record of such a thing, but it would violate God’s law, as we’ve already seen. God prohibited the Israelites from offering the Passover sacrifice in any of their gates, but told them to do so at the temple instead. And though the Jews may have broken God’s law in other matters, there’s no recorded evidence that they did so in this matter. Every eyewitness account affirms that the Passover lambs were slaughtered at the temple on the afternoon of the 14th, at the same time Jesus Himself died as our Passover Lamb.

Concluding Thoughts

In closing, all of the major claims in this “Passover Observance History” are on shaky ground. No major part of this “history” is supported by eyewitness testimony or firsthand evidence, but emerges from speculation, cherry-picked citations, and fringe theories of modern scholars — at least one of which the author himself rightfully rejects.

In truth, there isn’t any more evidence that the Jews changed the timing of Passover than there is that they changed the Sabbath. Neither Jesus nor His apostles nor the prophets ever accused them of this, and no such change is documented either in the Word of God or in secular history.

Let me close with a word of warning, for this is a serious matter. Whether well-intentioned or not, accusing the Jews or anyone else of wrongdoing without witnesses and proof is akin to bearing false witness. It amounts to hearsay and slanderous gossip. Let us not be found to spread gossip and false accusations, lest we ourselves fall into judgment!