Golgatha – When, Where, and How, Part 1   04.2008

Part 1

"..knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Messiah; who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake." (1 Pet 1:18-20)

In this series we will study about Golgotha – the greatest event in human history. We specifically want to see what the Scriptures have to say concerning when, where and how Yeshua died for the sins of mankind.

Let us first look at the important passage in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, concerning the Good News.1

"Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Kefa, then to the twelve."

Here we see first of all that the foundation of the powerful gospel by which we are saved is not based on mysterious or complicated theological doctrines. The gospel is rather based on very simple and factual, historical events: Yeshua died for our sins, was buried, was raised again on the third day and then appeared to his disciples. Whereas this message requires faith to embrace, it is at the same time so simple that any child can understand it.

Secondly, we see that the foundation of the gospel is not just that Yeshua died for our sins and was raised on the third day, but that he did so "according to the Scriptures." The Messiah did not just die at any time, in any place or in any way, but he did it exactly as it was written about him in the Holy Scriptures. This is very important!
Hebrews 10:1 and also Colossians 2:17 tell us that the Law is a shadow of the reality found in Messiah. The shadow and the object will always agree. We can see in the shadow found in the Torah what was fulfilled when Messiah died and rose again. After his resurrection Yeshua told the two disciples on the way to Emmaus,

"He said to them, 'Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?' Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. … He said to them, 'This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the Torah of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.'" (Lk 24:25-27,44)

That the Messiah died according to the Scriptures, is the key to answer all the questions of when, where and how it happened, because it took place in exact fulfillment of everything that was written about him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. The Holy Scriptures are the written Word and Yeshua is the Living Word. Both of them agree perfectly.

When Messiah Died

Let us first look at the question of when Yeshua died. The Feasts of the LORD given through Moses in Leviticus 23 reveal the Father's detailed plan of salvation for mankind through the Messiah, from his death on Golgotha2 during Passover, to his enthronement in Jerusalem during Tabernacles. Let us look at what is written about the first two Feasts: The Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

"These are the set feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work." (Lev 23:4-7)

The LORD’s Passover is the first of the Feasts. It is celebrated in memory of the exodus out of Egypt through the power of the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt. We read about the first Passover in Exodus,

"The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening." (Ex 12:1-6)

John 1:29 says, "The next day, he saw Yeshua coming to him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" Yeshua is the Lamb of God. He came the first time as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. In Exodus 12:3 we read, "On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb." The Passover lambs had to be selected and received into their homes on the tenth day in the first month.

We read that in John 12:1-2, "Then six days before the Passover, Yeshua came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him."

Yeshua arrived on the sixth day before Passover. A supper was traditionally served in the evening after sunset. This would have been the evening of the fifth day3 before Passover. In verse 12 and 13 we read, "On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Yeshua was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, 'Hoshia'na! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!'"

The next day referred to here, would then have been four days before Passover. This meant that it was the tenth day of the first month. Exactly on the tenth day in the first month when the people were commanded to select their Passover lamb, Yeshua was greeted by the crowds as the Messiah when he rode in to Jerusalem and then entered the Temple. Yeshua was chosen and brought into "the house" on the tenth day of the first month.

In Exodus 12:5 we further read, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old." The Passover lambs had to be inspected to make sure they were without defect. For four days Yeshua was teaching in the Temple and the people and the leaders of Israel questioned him. "Every day Yeshua was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet. All the people came early in the morning to him in the temple to hear him." (Lk 21:37-38)

We read that in the end they found no fault with Yeshua. "No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forth." (Mt 22:46)

The Passover Sacrifice

The Passover lambs were to be slaughtered at twilight (in between the two evenings) on the 14th of the first month and then eaten in the Passover meal. In the second Temple period there were two different customs of interpretation. Some slaughtered the lambs at twilight just before the 14th day began so that they could eat the Passover on the 14th. It seems like the Essenes and possibly also the Sadducees did this. The Pharisees, however, always slaughtered the lambs at twilight on the 14th and ate the Passover at night on the 15th when the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. This different customs had also partially developed because it was difficult for all the pilgrims to slaughter their lambs on the same day.

This was ordained by heaven so that Yeshua could eat the Passover with his disciples the first night, and then fulfill the Feast the next day when the Passover lambs were slaughtered in the Temple according to the commandment in the Torah. In this way both the accounts recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke and the one written in John's Gospel are accurate.

The last meal Yeshua ate with the disciples truly was a Passover meal. We read in Luke 22:7-8,14-15 where it says, "The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed4. He sent Peter and Yochanan, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.' …When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve emissaries. He said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.'"

The next morning after Yeshua had been arrested and tried before the Sanhedrin during the night, we read in John 18:28, "They led Yeshua therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover."

John's Gospel was written quite some time after Matthew, Mark and Luke (see also John 21:22-24). After the destruction of the Temple it was the customs of the Pharisees that prevailed among the Jewish people to always eat the Passover at the end of the 14th when the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th, just like it is today. This is probably why John's Gospel is the only one of the four Gospels that does not refer to "the last supper" as a Passover meal, but mentions instead about the next day that the Jews wanted to be ceremonially clean to eat the Passover.

Yeshua was crucified at 9 in the morning on Nisan 14at the time of the morning sacrifice and in the ninth hour, at three in the afternoon, he died as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! "It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Yeshua, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' Having said this, he breathed his last." (Lk 23:44-46)

This was the exact time that the Pharisees sacrificed the Passover lambs in the Temple, in accordance with the instructions through Moses about the Feast of Passover. Truly Yeshua died for our sins as the Lamb of God, exactly as foretold "according to the Scriptures!"

What Day of the Week Was It?

Traditionally the crucifixion is always celebrated on a Friday. There are a number of reasons why this is not "according to the Scriptures." One of the most obvious reasons is the statement by Yeshua himself in Matt 12:39-40, "But he answered them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." 

We know that Yeshua rose again on the first day of the week (Sunday).5 Whereas "three days and three nights" does not necessarily mean exactly 72 hours, it certainly rules out a Friday crucifixion. If Yeshua only had said three days it could have been possible, with Friday representing the first day, the Sabbath the next day and Sunday the third. But it is impossible to fit "three days and three nights" between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Also, we saw in John 12:1 that it is written, "Then six days before the Passover, Yeshua came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead." If Yeshua was crucified on a Friday, six days before would have been a Shabbat. This strongly speaks against a Friday crucifixion since Yeshua would not have traveled with his disciples on a Shabbat and arrived in Bethany during that day (see also Lk 23:56).

Some people believe that "three days and three nights" means 72 hours and suggest a Wednesday crucifixion. We read, however, about the first day of the week when the resurrection took place that the disciples on the road to Emmaus said to Yeshua,

"…the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened." (Lk 24:20-21).

If the first day of the week was the third day after the crucifixion, it definitely rules out a Wednesday crucifixion. Also, if Yeshua was crucified on a Wednesday, it means that Nisan 10 would have been on a Shabbat according the Scriptural pattern when the Passover lamb was to be selected. Yeshua would definitely not have been riding into Jerusalem on a Sabbath.

What is left is a Thursday crucifixion. This actually fits perfectly with all the data available in the Gospels as well as the pattern in the Hebrew Scriptures. We read in John 19:31, "Therefore the Judeans, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."

The "day of Preparation" refers to the day before the Sabbath, which usually is the sixth day of the week (Friday). However, we see here that the crucifixion did not take place on the day before the weekly Sabbath, but before "a special Sabbath". The 15th of Nisan, the day following Passover, was a special Sabbath as it was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. "On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work."
(Lev 23:6-7) This was the "special Sabbath" that John 19:31 talks about.

With a Thursday crucifixion the special Sabbath was on a Friday and immediately after that followed the regular Sabbath. There were in other words two Sabbaths in a row. We read in Matthew 28:1, "Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Miriam Magdalene and the other Miriam came to see the tomb." In the Greek text it literally says, "In the end of the Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week."6 The word "Sabbaths" is here in the plural. This refers to both the special Sabbath and the regular weekly Sabbath. Both Sabbaths were connected together that year and when both of them were over, the women went to look at the tomb.

The only day then when Yeshua could have died for our sins "according to the Scriptures", is the fifth day of the week, i. e. on a Thursday.

When We Are Supposed to Celebrate Yeshua's Death for Us?

It was about the Passover meal that Yeshua said, "Do this in memory of me!" From history we know that the first generations of believers in Messiah always did this on the date of the Biblical Passover. Polycrates of Asia Minor, who was bishop in Ephesus in the second century, wrote about the Passover celebration, "We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. ...All these always observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. …For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people (i.e. the Jews) threw away the leaven."7

Passover always falls on a different day of the week every year. And this is the way it was observed together with the Jewish people. In the second century the Bishop in Rome began to change this custom in order to instead always celebrate the resurrection on a Sunday. But when he tried to force the assemblies in Asia Minor to do the same, the bishops there stubbornly refused. Hence the letter by Polycrates to Bishop Victor in Rome from which we have quoted above. The famous church father Irenaeus also wrote to Victor and reminded him of an earlier failed attempt by Bishop Anicetus to stop the celebration of Passover in Asia Minor, "For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it [Passover], because he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated."8

Obviously the apostles never taught the disciples about Good Friday or Resurrection Sunday. No matter if Passover fell on the first, or the third or the fourth day of the week that was the day they celebrated Messiah's death to save the world.

It was not until the first Church Council at Nicea in 325, that Constantine ordered all the churches to observe the resurrection on the same date and to set that date in such a way that it could never coincide with the Biblical Passover on the 14th of Nisan. Eventually the new date became known in English as Easter, a name that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Bible, but is taken from the pagan goddess Eostre. She was a fertility goddess celebrated with eggs and rabbits around the same time in the Anglo Saxon world. It is time to return to the Apostolic practice again.

The main reason behind Constantine's demand of a non biblical date for the
Celebration of Passover, was the humiliation of being dependant on the Jewish people for the correct date. Constantine wrote to all the bishops, "It is indeed in the highest degree preposterous, that they [the Jews] should superciliously vaunt themselves, that truly without their instruction, we cannot properly observe this rite."9 Paul wrote in Rom 3:1-4,

“Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God? May it never be!"

And in Rom 11:17-20,

"But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, 'Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.' True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear."

Constantine, who is one of the clearest examples of an antichrist, did not have any fear of not only boasting, but also completely rejecting the Jewish people. In pure hatred for God's chosen people he, like the bishops in Rome before him, did not hesitate to change the apostolic custom that Polycarp and Polycrates so clearly had expressed, "All these observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. …[they] always observed the day when the people (i.e. the Jews) threw away the leaven."

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the Passover, "For indeed Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. Therefore let us keep the feast." Friends, let us follow the rule of apostolic faith and celebrate Passover with the Jewish people according to the Biblical calendar!

In Part 2 of this series we will look at the subject: Where did Yeshua die? Where was Golgotha? It is truly a fascinating study.

Read: Golgatha – When, Where, and How, Part 2

 

"Prepare the Way for the LORD"

 

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1 All Scripture quotations in this article are taken from the Hebrew Names Version of the Bible (HNV) See: http://ebible.org/bible/hnv/
2 Calvary is derived from the Latin translation of the Hebrew name Golgotha.
3 The Scriptural days always begin in the evening "and there was evening and there was morning the first day…" Gen 1:5
4 The expressions "Passover" and the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" were basically used interchangeably during the Second Temple period.
5 According to Matthew 28:1 it seems to have been just at the end of the Sabbath. This is when the Jewish people celebrate Havdalah, the ending of the Sabbath. One of the Psalms that is quoted in the Havdalah liturgy is Psalm 116, which so clearly describes the resurrection of the Messiah. It is truly amazing.
6 This is actually a description of the time for Havdalah, the ending of the Sabbath.
7 Eusebius. Church History. Book V, Chapter 24.
8 Daniel Gruber, The Church and the Jews – The Biblical Relationship, Serenity Books – Hagerstown, MD, USA 1997, Pp. 32
9 Daniel Gruber, The Church and the Jews – The Biblical Relationship, Serenity Books – Hagerstown, MD, USA 1997, Pp. 34