Did the Sadducees Observe an Early-14th Passover?

 Every now and then, you’ll hear someone confidently assert that the two major Jewish parties of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, disagreed about when to observe Passover. I’ve heard or read this claim a handful of times in recent years, and from more than one person. They declare that the Sadducees killed the Passover lambs as soon as the sun set at the end of the Nisan/Abib 13, at the beginning of the 14th, and ate them that night, the night of the 14th.

So how about it? Is this true?

A few months ago, we published a study entitled, “Eyewitnesses to History: When Were the Passover Lambs Killed?” In it, we noted that every eyewitness account — such as the Bible, Philo, and Josephus — places the Passover sacrifice from mid to late afternoon on Nisan 14, which is both the same day and the same time that Jesus Christ died as our Passover Lamb. Later Jewish traditions written in the Mishnah and both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds fully agree.

Regarding the Sadducees, in this same study, I wrote, “Not one eyewitness said the Sadducees sacrificed the Passover lambs at any time other than when the Pharisees did. Not one witness!” While this is a true statement, it turns out that I greatly understated the matter.

In fact, both the Bible and contemporary witnesses tell us with certainty when the Sadducees killed their Passover lambs. Let’s take a look and see!

The Testimony of Scripture

First, let’s turn to the Book of John. Now, John places Jesus’ last supper with His disciples “before the Feast of the Passover” (John 13:1-2). Later that night, Jesus was arrested and brought before Caiaphas the high priest for questioning, as recorded in John 18:1-27.

In the morning, Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, as John 18:28 informs us: “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.” Notice that this was the morning after the Last Supper, and the men who brought Jesus before Pilate had not yet eaten the Passover. This day was, as John tells us later, the morning of “the Preparation Day of the Passover” (John 19:14), that is, the morning of Nisan 14.

But who were they? Who were these men who brought Jesus before Pontius Pilate on the morning of Nisan 14, and who refused to enter the Praetorium so that they wouldn’t be ceremonially defiled before eating the Passover?

Mat. 27:1-2 tells us that these men were the chief priests and elders: “When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” Luke recorded that “it was the whole multitude of them” (Luke 23:1) before whom Jesus had been brought for questioning, that is, the chief priests and elders. Likewise, Pilate himself told Jesus, “Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me" (John 18:35).

And throughout Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the chief priests were there, hurling accusations and inciting the mob against Him. “And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing” (Mat. 27:12). Pilate “knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd…” (Mark 15:10-11).

Again, John recorded, “Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’ Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’ (John 19:5-6). And Matthew added, “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus” (Mat. 27:2).

All four Gospels make it clear that the chief priests instigated Jesus’ death at every step along the way. It was the chief priests and elders, including the high priest himself, before whom Jesus was brought for questioning. It was the chief priests and elders who brought Jesus before Pilate the next morning and who hurled accusations against Him. It was the chief priests and elders who incited the mob against Him, to put Him to death.

And these very same chief priests and elders refused to enter the Praetorium because they had not yet eaten the Passover on the morning of Nisan 14. Some of these men were Pharisees, for John recorded that the soldiers who arrested Jesus were sent “from the chief priests and Pharisees” (John 18:3). But what about the others? To what party did the chief priests belong?

The Book of Acts tells us! When Jesus’ apostles began preaching His resurrection, we’re told, “Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation” (Acts 5:17). Who were those with the high priest? As verse 24 shows, it was the other chief priests — “the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests.” Now, not all priests were Sadducees, but the high priest and the other chief priests were Sadducees, as we’re told here.

And throughout the Book of Acts, these Sadducees continued to lead the persecution against the early believers in Christ. Some Pharisees participated in this persecution, including Paul prior to his conversion, while other Pharisees counseled against it (Acts 5:34; Acts 23:6-9), and still other Pharisees even believed (Acts 15:5).

But here’s the point. When the chief priests and elders of the people brought Jesus before Pilate on the morning of Nisan 14, this group included both Sadducees (the chief priests and many of the elders) and Pharisees (many others of the elders). Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees refused to enter the Praetorium because they had not yet eaten the Passover on the morning of the 14th.

So God’s Word shows that the Sadducees did not, in fact, kill their Passover lambs or eat them at the beginning of Nisan 14, but rather much later in the day! An early-14th Passover was not the practice of the Jewish nation at all, nor has it ever been, as we’ve seen before.

The Passover of the Jews

But that isn’t all that the Bible has to say on the matter. The apostle John twice used the phrase “the Passover of the Jews” (John 2:13; 11:55), and once more described Passover as “a feast of the Jews” (John 6:4). Now, some advocates of an early-14th Passover have claimed this was John’s way of distinguishing between “the Jews’ Passover” and the “true” Passover, but, ironically enough, this argument backfires on them and proves the opposite.

First of all, John described other Holy Days as Jewish feasts, too. He described the Feast of Tabernacles as “the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles” (John 7:2). Is there any disagreement between the COGs and the Jews about when to observe the Feast of Tabernacles? No. Did John describe this as “the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles” in order to distinguish it from a different, “true”one? No.

Why did John describe these feasts as Jewish feasts? Well, because they were. These were not Roman feasts or Greek feasts or Egyptian feasts; they were feasts celebrated by the Jews at God’s command.

Secondly, John often used these phrases in the context of Jesus Himself observing these feasts! When John mentioned “the Passover of the Jews” in John 2:13, he immediately added that Jesus Himself went up to Jerusalem for the Feast: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem” (John 2:13). And when he mentioned “the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles” in John 7:2, he went on to describe Jesus Himself going up to Jerusalem for the Feast and teaching the people.

If John had meant to distinguish between “Jewish” feasts and “true” ones, then it would seem odd that his narrative showed Jesus faithfully going up to Jerusalem to observe those same feasts! Obviously, drawing a distinction between them wasn’t the point at all.

Finally, John’s very use of the phrase “THE Passover of THE Jews” indicates unity, not division. It does not indicate competing Passovers, but only one Passover: THE Passover. It indicates, not disagreement within the Jewish nation about when to keep Passover, but unity. One Passover, one people. Hence, THE Passover of THE Jews.

This doesn’t mean there was no disagreement among the Jews. The members of the Qumran community near the Dead Sea often observed Passover at a different time simply because they followed a different calendar, but these were isolationists who had deliberately cut themselves off from the larger Jewish community. So John didn’t recognize them, or any other minor variations. He recognized only the Passover of the Jews, a feast in which all the Jewish people, including Jesus and His disciples, assembled at Jerusalem.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, despite any other disagreements, were united in keeping the Passover of the Jews. Jesus and His disciples, too, were united in keeping the Passover of the Jews, and faithfully went up to Jerusalem each year to keep the feast with the rest of the Jews (Luke 2:41-43; John 2:13). This was the only Passover feast that John acknowledged.

Historical Testimony

Now, the testimony of Scripture ought to be enough. It is upon Scripture that we should build our beliefs and doctrines, not upon church tradition or Bible commentaries or the opinions of other men. Nevertheless, the testimony of history agrees with the testimony of Scripture.

We’ve already seen that, according to the Bible, the high priest and the other chief priests with him were Sadducees. Josephus indicated that these same priests were involved in the mid-afternoon Passover sacrifices, at least to the point of being able to count how many lambs were slaughtered: “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).

Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC - AD 50) wrote that, for the Passover sacrifice, the priests were involved: “...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). He further wrote that this was done on the afternoon of Nisan 14, between noon and sunset (Special Laws II, sect. 145, 149).

Much later, over a hundred years after the second temple’s destruction in AD 70, Jewish rabbis began to compile the Mishnah, in which they committed their oral traditions to writing. Like Josephus, the Mishnah described the priests being intimately involved in the Passover sacrifices — overseeing the Passover sacrifices, in fact. On the afternoon of Nisan 14, the heads of each household 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).

As we noted earlier, not all priests were Sadducees; some were indeed Pharisees. But there is no record of any disagreement among the priests about when to kill the Passover lambs. Instead, we see the priests as a whole, regardless of party, officiating at and overseeing the Passover sacrifices on the afternoon of Nisan 14, and not at any other time.

Conclusion

No, the Sadducees did not observe the Passover at the beginning of Nisan 14. The Bible does not say so, Josephus did not say so, Philo did not say so, not one eyewitness of any kind said so, and none of the later Jewish traditions said so.

They all said quite the opposite, in fact! John 18:28 shows that neither the Pharisees nor Sadducees had eaten the Passover by the morning of Nisan 14, but that they expected to later. John described no controversy among the Jews about when to keep Passover, but described only one, singular celebration: the Passover of the Jews. Josephus described the chief priests, whom the Book of Acts tells us were Sadducees, as being involved with the Passover sacrifices on the afternoon of Nisan 14. Philo and the Mishnah likewise recorded that the priests, without any mention of or distinction by party, officiated over the Passover sacrifices on the afternoon of Nisan 14.

So the next time you hear someone claim that the Sadducees or any other Jewish sect kept Passover at the beginning of the 14th, you can be certain that Scripture and the historical record contradict him. And you may also feel free to ask him for proof of his claims!