Passover Puzzle

Christ's Last Journey to Jerusalem

From then until He began His journey back to Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus limited His public appearances and taught the people who lived in the less-populated regions that bordered the wilderness. When the time was right, however, He and the disciples turned their feet toward Jerusalem again and began the long trek to Moriah. On Nisan 7, Jesus passed through Jericho and slept at the home of Zacchaeus. Very early the next morning, He and the disciples joined a large caravan of pilgrims and climbed the steep road to Jerusalem so they could prepare themselves for the Passover. On the way, the “son of David” healed Blind Bartimaeus. Healing blindness is a direct signal for us to open our perception to the overall theme being presented.

Nisan 8 was the most popular day to arrive in Jerusalem³⁶ for Passover preparation. The tradition began when Israel first entered the Promised Land. On Abib 8, three inclusive days before Israel crossed the Jordan River and six days before the Passover, Joshua told them to make preparations³⁷. On Abib 9, they sanctified themselves, and on Abib 10, they stood in their ranks to cross over the Jordan. Joshua, whose name is Jesus in the Greek language, succeeded Moses, the lawgiver. On the tenth day of the first month, God magnified Joshua to the nation:

…This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” (Joshua 3:7).

Crossing the Jordon on Nisan 10

The Israelites crossed the Jordan and camped at Gilgal. Four days later, on the fourteenth, they kept the Passover with the city of Jericho trained in their sights. On the fifteenth, they began a seven-day siege against that ancient city. The siege mirrored the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It began on the fifteenth, and the walls fell on the seventh day. Fifteen centuries later, on Friday, Nisan 8, Christ and a large company traveled from Jericho to Jerusalem to prepare for the same festival. The ninth was for sanctification, which occurred on the Sabbath, and God magnified Jesus on the tenth, just as He magnified Joshua on the tenth day of the first month.

In Christ’s time, travelers planned their journeys around Sabbath observance, as Ezra did many years earlier. Local law forbade travel on the Sabbath except to destinations less than a mile away. Christ honored the restriction. For example, he told Christians who would flee from persecution and peril to pray that their flight would not occur on the Sabbath. The Lord of the Sabbath certainly planned His events to accommodate its sanctity.

The Judaeans did not name weekdays except for Preparation Day (Friday) and Sabbath. Instead, they numbered days by their relationship with the Sabbath. For example, Sunday was the first day toward the Sabbath, Monday was the second, and so on, which shows they scheduled their affairs with the Sabbath in mind.

Jesus and the disciples arrived at the home of Lazarus a few hours before sundown on Preparation Day and were invited to Simon’s feast. The caravan pressed on to the city, where the pilgrims spread the word that Jesus was in Bethany. Many from Jerusalem, who wished to see Jesus and Lazarus, flocked to the small town and encamped there over the Sabbath. The next day, Sunday, the Lord made His magnificent entry into Jerusalem. Ellen White’s masterful work on the life of Christ, The Desire of Ages, entirely agrees with this assessment:

The Saviour had reached Bethany only six days before the Passover, and according to His custom had sought rest at the home of Lazarus. The crowds of travelers who passed on to the city spread the tidings that He was on His way to Jerusalem, and that He would rest over the Sabbath at Bethany. Among the people there was great enthusiasm. Many flocked to Bethany, some out of sympathy with Jesus, and others from curiosity to see one who had been raised from the dead. (DA 557 Italics given).

Is Mrs. White correct that Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover on a Friday to rest there over the Sabbath? She used our method of reckoning. If she is correct, then we need to rethink some issues. Let us reevaluate the gemstone patchwork because a piece has been misplaced over the ages, impairing its overall beauty. The Bible supplies all the information necessary to piece together a magnificent puzzle. Let us reinspect the pieces through the lens of biblical, historical, and astronomical evidence to repaint the Passover picture.