Jesus Christ Our
Passover
THE FIFTEENTH THROUGH
THE SEVENTEENTH OF NISAN
As the fourteenth of
Nisan ends, we enter three of the darkest days in the history of mankind. Israel
had rejected its Messiah. The world's only hope lay dead in a tomb. Very little
is recorded in God's Word about these three days. The events of which we are
told begin when the chief priests and Pharisees return to ask yet another
request of Pilate.
Matthew
27: 62 to 66 -- Now the next day, that followed the day of [omit " the day of "] the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together unto Pilate,
Saying,
Sir, we remember that that deceiver [referring to Jesus] said,
while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
Command
therefore that the sepulchre be made sure [be secured] until the
third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto
the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error [deception] shall be worse than the first.
Pilate
said unto them, Ye have a watch [guard]: go your way, make it as sure [secure] as ye can [know].
So they
went, and made the sepulchre sure [secure], sealing the stone,
and setting a watch ["sealing the stone with the guard"].
The religious leaders
did everything possible to see that Jesus Christ not only died, but that no one
removed his body from the sepulchre. They wanted to be certain that his
fanatical disciples would not make more trouble by stealing the body and then
claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. Thus, the leaders requested Pilate
to let them have the tomb secured. This was done on the fifteenth of Nisan, the
special Sabbath. In going to Pilate, it is doubtful they went into his palace.
That would have defiled them for the Feast that had already begun. Therefore,
it is likely that Pilate came out to meet them as he had done before in
John 18: 29. Although the Passover meal had been eaten the night before, the
Feast of Unleavened Bread would continue for several more days.
The religious leaders
instructed the guards to seal and watch the sepulchre. The leaders were
determined that this Jesus should cause them no more trouble. They feared him
even after his death.
The sealing of the
stone involved putting the mark or seal of the Roman ruler on it. It meant
"Government Orders: Hands Off!" Anyone breaking this order would be
punished. The custom involved with this type of seal can be seen in Daniel.
Daniel 6:
17 -- And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king
sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the
purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
So the stone over the
burial place was sealed and guards watched the tomb continuously. The guards
began duty on the fifteenth. The religious leaders had requested a watch
"until the third day." Thus, since this meant that the tomb would be
secured and guarded at least for the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth, we
understand why no disciples would be able to enter the sepulchre to anoint the
body until at least sometime Sunday, the eighteenth. All of these details are
very significant in God's Word. These events are the ones recorded on the
fifteenth, the special Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
On the next day, the
women made some preparations, as recorded in Mark and Luke.
Mark 16: 1
-- And when the sabbath [special
Sabbath or high day; Thursday, the fifteenth] was
past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother
of James, and Salome, had ["had" is not in
text] bought sweet spices, that they might come
and anoint him.
On the sixteenth of
Nisan the women went and bought spices for anointing the body. They could not
have purchased them on the fifteenth or the seventeenth because those days were
Sabbaths and the marketplace would therefore be closed. However, the sixteenth,
Friday, was not a Sabbath.
Though the women
acquired the spices on the sixteenth, they would not have been able to anoint
Jesus' body that day because of the guards at the sepulchre. Whether they went
to the tomb to attempt to do so is not recorded. It is interesting to note that
these women had seen Joseph bury Jesus without properly anointing him. After
observing Joseph's work, they returned home, rested on the Sabbath of the
fifteenth and bought spices on the sixteenth, desiring to anoint the body at
their first opportunity. This demonstrates that the women did not realize
Nicodemus had come after Joseph to give the body a proper burial. If they had
known this, there would have been no need for them to feel obliged to properly
bury Jesus' body themselves.
Luke 23:
56 -- And they [the
women] returned, and prepared spices and
ointments; and rested the sabbath day [weekly
Sabbath] according to the commandment.
Since the spices were
bought on the sixteenth, the day after the special Sabbath, they could not
prepare them until then. That is why the above verse refers to the seventeenth,
the weekly Sabbath. The women rested on the fifteenth (Mark 15: 42), bought and
prepared spices and ointments on the sixteenth (Mark 16: 1 and Luke 23: 56),
and rested on the weekly Sabbath (Luke 23: 56), the seventeenth. That is the
simplicity with which God's Word fits.
After buying and
preparing spices and ointments on Friday, the guards at the sepulchre would
have still prevented the women from anointing the body of Jesus. However, there
was nothing to stop the women from coming to view the sepulchre from the
outside if they so desired. On Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, the guards continued
their watch while others rested according to the commandment. In the following
chapter we will look at the important record in God's Word as the seventeenth
of Nisan draws to a close.
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