018. Chapter 16 - The Date of the Crucifixion

Chapter 16 - The Date of the Crucifixion The Issues The question as to the day on which Jesus was crucified is one of the most interesting and perplexing problems in chronology to be found in the New Testament. It is not a discussion where conservatives defending the Bible are ranged against radicals assailing it, but rather an earnest attempt on the part of Christians to study the New Testament and determine as far as possible the facts in the case. The fact that J. W. McGarvey, one of the foremost exponents and defenders of the Bible, held strongly to the view that Christ was crucified on Friday, and B. F. Westcott, the great English conservative who led in the work of publishing the English Revised Version, argued that Christ was crucified on Thursday, shows that this is a matter of difference of opinion on the part of men of faith. Recently some have urged that Christ was crucified on Wednesday.

Many who have been accustomed to think of Jesus as being crucified on Friday, merely because this has been the almost universal view of Christians through the centuries, have found themselves forced by this discussion to a careful restudy of the Gospel narratives. Much of the confusion and difference of opinion results from the persistent effort to take one single passage of Scripture and to overlook the rest or to press them into an agreement with a literal interpretation of the one passage. An adequate study of the subject demands a review of all the statements of all four Gospel narratives. The Date of Jesus’ Birth The New Testament makes absolutely no effort to record the day of the week or month, or even the year, of Christ’s birth. It is simply placed in the reign of Herod the Great and of Augustus. We are left to the statements of tradition in an attempt to date the birth of Jesus. A mistake of at least four years in our present calendar made by a monk, Dionysus Exiguus, in the sixth century increases the confusion. We know that Herod died the last of March, 4 b.c. How long before that time Jesus was born, we do not know. The Passover The fact that Jesus was crucified at the Passover feast makes evident the time of the year, since the Passover lamb was killed on the fourteenth of Nisan, and the feast observed on the following day and through the week. The fourteenth of Nisan varied according to the appearance of the new moon, and the range of dating through March and April is familiar to all through our observance of Easter. Absolute certainty as to the dating of the Passover, when Jesus was crucified, is impossible, since the year is uncertain. The fact that the New Testament writers have deliberately left us without more chronological data concentrates attention on the one sacred day — the first day of the week — and warns us not to be too dogmatic in our particular solutions of dates. The following questions inevitably arise in an effort to determine the day of the crucifixion: (1) On what day did Jesus arrive in Bethany? enter Jerusalem in triumph? engage in the discussions which followed? (2) On what day did Jesus keep the Passover? Did He keep the Passover or a substitute supper before the time for the feast? (3) On what day was Jesus crucified? at what time of the day? When did He die? (4) When was Jesus buried, and how long was His body in the tomb? (5) On what day was He raised from the dead? at what time during the day? The Time of the Resurrection

Perhaps the best method of procedure is to answer the last group of questions first, since the foundation stone of the whole dating is the indubitable fact that Christ was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. All the Gospels are clear upon this point. The whole practice and history of the church confirm it. The question as to the exact time of the day when the resurrection occurred is more difficult. The Gospel records read as follows: “Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake” (Matthew 28:1, Matthew 28:2). “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen” (Mark 16:1, Mark 16:2). “And on the sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 23:56; Luke 24:1-2). “Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1).

These Scriptures do not explicitly affirm the exact time of the resurrection, but the whole weight of the testimony is that it occurred between the time that the women started from Bethany to come to the tomb, which was very early on the morning of the first day of the week, while it was yet dark (Luke 24:1; John 20:1), and the time of their arrival at the tomb, which was after the sun had risen (Mark 16:2). The journey was considerable, and they seem to have bought spices on the way to supplement those which they had prepared before the Sabbath caused them to desist from their labors (Mark 16:1, Mark 16:2).

Saturday Evening? The most startling and revolutionary interpretation which has characterized the recent discussion is the effort to place the resurrection of Jesus on Saturday evening at six o’clock. The reason for this interpretation is the desire to place the resurrection at such a time as will produce a fulfillment of a rigid, literal interpretation of the prediction of Jesus recorded in Matthew 12:40 : “So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But a study of the passages quoted above will show plainly that such a view is not tenable.

It is affirmed, by those who have this view, that Matthew’s account places the resurrection at 6 p.m. Saturday, which was just as the first day of the week began, according to the Jewish count (sunrise to sunset). This view is based on a misapprehension of the phrase, “late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” and brings Matthew’s account into direct contradiction with the other narratives. The revised translation of Matthew 28:1 is a plain contradiction in terms, but when it is learned that the preposition translated “late” has the meaning “after” when followed by the genitive case, and that “sabbath” is here in the genitive, the obscurity is cleared up, for “after the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” is quite clear and is in absolute harmony with what the other Gospels say.

If the translation “late” is insisted upon, then what does Matthew affirm? He affirms that late on the Sabbath day the women started their journey, whereas Luke says flatly that they rested till the Sabbath day was over, and did not start for the tomb until the next morning at early dawn. Mark also says the Sabbath was past before they attempted to finish their purchase of spices, and that the arrival at the tomb was at sunrise. G. F. Moore, of Harvard, famous Greek and Hebrew scholar, says that Matthew’s use of opse in the sense of “after” is due to an idiom arising from the Aramaic, and that the passage is not a contradiction of the other Gospels, but is an affirmation that the start of the women is after the Sabbath, in the early dawn of the first day of the week. Thus there is really no contradiction whatsoever between these Gospel records.

Time of Burial A study of the time of Jesus’ death and burial also makes plain that a fulfillment of a stringent interpretation of “three days and three nights” as meaning exactly seventy-two hours can not be achieved from the Gospel narratives. Jesus was crucified at 9 a.m. and died at 3 p.m. (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:25, Mark 15:34; Luke 23:44). John 19:14 describes the trial as still in progress at “the sixth hour,” which by the Jewish count would be 12 p.m., but John evidently uses the Roman method of counting time in his Gospel, which places the trial in progress at 6 a.m. and fits with the other narratives, since they place the crucifixion at 9 a.m. The Gospels make clear that Joseph asked for the body of Jesus immediately after His death, and that the burial took place on the same day as His crucifixion — before sunset. The Jews insisted that the bodies be taken down before sunset, and the death of the robbers had to be hastened by breaking their legs in order to bring this about. The burial of Jesus was probably about 4-5 p.m., and certainly before sunset. John 19:31-42 plainly affirms that the burial was on the preparation for the Sabbath. There is a fragment of a day here which must be evaded if the exact count of seventy-two hours is insisted upon. The Scriptural records, both of the burial and the resurrection, warn one from a literal insistence upon seventy-two hours.” The accompanying diagram is offered to show the three views in their relation to the established facts that Jesus was buried late on the day before the Sabbath and rose early in the morning on the first day of the week.

“The Third Day” When it is recalled that the Jews counted a part of a day as a day in reckoning time, and when it is recalled that this free use in recording time is quite universal, the difficulties disappear. The Scriptures were recording in thrilling fashion the great fact of the resurrection, and not undertaking to achieve mathematical exactness in chronology. The best proof that Jesus did not mean the “three days and three nights” to be taken literally as seventy-two hours is shown by the fact that He also predicted that His resurrection would occur “on the third day.” This is recorded by Matthew himself, not once, but three times (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:23; Matthew 20:19). A resurrection after “three days and three nights” is not on the third day, but the fourth, and yet Matthew reveals not the slightest embarrassment in recording these four predictions. This is clear evidence that Jesus was making a free use of terms. This was entirely current among the Jews, as is seen both in the Old and New Testaments. The arguments that the Biblical use of ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) is relative and free, and that of cardinals (one, two, three, etc.) is absolute and exact, is a pure dogmatism which is easily disproved from both the Old and New Testaments. Compare Hebrews 11:30 with the sixth chapter of Joshua, and it is apparent that the “seven days” is used freely and can not mean seven days of twenty-four hours each (cf. 2 Chronicles 10:5, 2 Chronicles 10:6). In Esther 4:16 and Esther 5:1, a part of one day, a full day, and a part of another day are reckoned freely as three days and nights, as in the case of the resurrection of Jesus. “After three days” is used as parallel to “the third day” in the following passages: Matthew 27:63, Matthew 27:64; Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22; and Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34. This shows clearly that both types of numerals are used freely, and that, instead of insisting upon a literal interpretation of one passage — “three days and three nights” — and cutting the narrative to fit, we should follow the Jewish method of counting and accept the narratives as to what happened at their face value. Historical declarations of facts must rule.

Luke’s Chronology

If we remember that the Jews did not use the terms “Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” but “Preparation, Sabbath, and First Day of the Week,” then the following account of Luke is a perfectly clear affirmation that Christ was crucified on Friday. “This man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was hewn in stone, where never man had yet lain. And it was the day of the Preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women who had come with him out of Galilee followed after, and beheld the tomb, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. And on the sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 23:52-56; Luke 24:1-2). This plainly affirms that Jesus was buried immediately after His death on Friday afternoon, and that there was still time after His burial and before sunset for the women who had followed the body to the tomb to sit there in silent meditation (Matthew 27:61; Luke 23:55), and then to return home and prepare spices and ointments before the sunset because “they rested on the sabbath” (Luke 23:56); that, after resting during the Sabbath, they came at early dawn of the first day of the week to embalm the body, but found the tomb empty. Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday and raised early Sunday morning, according to this clear statement, and the other narratives agree with this. Did Jesus Keep the Passover? The question arises as to whether Jesus ate the Passover which was kept on the fifteenth of Nisan (the feast beginning after sunset) or a substitute meal the evening or two evenings before. A fierce discussion raged in the early church over this very question. It was called “The Quartodeciman Controversy.” The Eastern churches started keeping the Passover feast as commanded in the Old Testament, giving as their reason the fact that Jesus kept it on the night of His betrayal. The Western churches argued strongly against the practice, but, instead of basing their objection solely on the fact that the Old Testament had passed away, they declared that Jesus did not keep the Passover but was crucified on the fourteenth of Nisan; being our Passover, He was slain at the same time the Passover lambs were being slain. But the Synoptics are very positive in their assertions that Jesus did keep the Passover, and that the day on which they ate the Passover was the Preparation for the Sabbath (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7). “And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover, his disciples say unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and make ready that thou mayest eat the passover?” (Mark 14:12). This is a plain assertion that the day on which they were making preparations for the feast in the upper room was the very day on which the Passover lambs were being slain. This is exactly as it should have been if they were keeping the Passover, and the above Scriptures shut out the possibility that Jesus was eating a substitute meal the day before the Passover lamb was slain. The word “passover” is used in three different senses: (1) the Lamb that was slain; (2) the meal which was eaten after sunset on Nisan 15; (3) the feast which lasted eight days. In the above passage the word “passover” can only refer to the lamb which was sacrificed or the meal at which it was eaten. The Argument from John

Radical writers claim that John contradicts the Synoptics by asserting that the supper was eaten in the upper room before the Passover. “Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas...” (John 13:1, John 13:2). But this can only be made an assertion that the supper occurred before the feast of the Passover by wresting the latter phrase out of the first sentence and placing it with the second. The phrase evidently modifies “having loved”: “Having loved his own, before the feast of the passover, he loved them unto the end” (that is, unto the feast when He was crucified).

John’s Testimony

It is affirmed that John declares the crucifixion to have taken place before the feast of the Passover (John 19:14, John 19:31, John 19:42). But a careful study of his language indicates he places it on Friday, the day of the Passover feast, just as the other Gospel writers. He calls the day “the Preparation,” “the Preparation of the passover,” but he carefully explains that he means by this latter term the preparation of the Sabbath which occurred during the Passover week. When we recall the three uses of the word “passover,” we can readily understand his usage, and he himself explains: “The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day)” (John 19:31). The Sabbath which came in the midst of the Passover feast would naturally be a “high day.” John represents the Jews as not entering the praetorium, “that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover.” This was during the trials of Jesus. Here the word “passover” must be used in the sense of the seven-day feast, and the eating must refer to some meal (such as described in Numbers 28:16-23) as occurring on the first day of the Passover festival — a meal which was eaten before sunset. It can not refer to the eating of the Passover lamb, for this occurred after sunset, and entrance into the praetorium would only make them unclean until sunset (Leviticus 15:1-24; Leviticus 16:26, Leviticus 16:28; Leviticus 17:15, Leviticus 17:16). The Departure of Judas The passage is also cited which states that the disciples thought Judas was leaving the upper room to buy things “for the feast.” But a seven-day feast might be expected to require further supplies; such supplies would be purchasable, since the law explicitly makes this exception in regard to the first and seventh days of the feast: “No manner of work shall be done in them save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you” (Exodus 12:16). Urgency to go out at night and secure such supplies would be felt only if the next day was a holy day, such as the first day of the feast. The argument that the Jews would not have indulged in the work entailed in the crucifixion of Jesus on the day of the Passover feast overlooks the fact that they had the Romans do this work and that they repeatedly showed themselves ready to kill Jesus on the Sabbath if the opportunity offered. They dreaded killing Him at the feast because of the great crowd, which might prove unmanageable. The Term “Sabbath”

Westcott claims that the first and last days of the Passover feast were called Sabbaths, and he insists that “Preparation for the sabbath” means Preparation for the Passover feast. McGarvey flatly denies that either of these days is ever called a Sabbath in the Scriptures, although they are called days of holy convocation and rest. The passages in dispute are Leviticus 23:6-8, Leviticus 23:24, Leviticus 23:27-32, Leviticus 23:33-39 (cf. Evidences of Christianity, pp. 44-50). Whether or not the Jews ever referred to either of these days as a Sabbath is not a matter of final significance, for the clear-cut statement of Mark 14:12 (backed by Matthew 26:17 and Luke 22:7) that the Passover lamb was slain on the day Jesus was making preparations for the supper in the upper room, together with the repeated declarations that the day on which He was crucified was the preparation for the Sabbath (Matthew 27:62; Matthew 28:1; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14, John 19:31, John 19:42), and that the day following this Sabbath was the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1, Mark 16:2; Luke 23:53-56; Luke 24:1-2; John 19:31, John 19:42; John 20:1), establishes Thursday night as the time of the supper, which was the Passover feast, and Friday as the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Dating of Events The arrival at Bethany was evidently on Saturday, Nisan 9; the supper at Simon’s house was on that evening, and the triumphal entry the next morning. Monday the cursing of the fig tree and the second cleansing of the temple occurred. Tuesday was the great day of questions. Wednesday was spent by Jesus in quiet seclusion, and by His enemies in plotting His death. Thursday the preparations for the Passover were made. Friday began with the supper in the upper room and ended with the death and burial of Jesus. The resurrection was early on Sunday morning, Nisan 17, the first day of the week.