בס”ד

The First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Torah Reading: Exodus 12:21-51

Maftir: Numbers 28:16-25

Haftarah: Joshua 3:5-7, 5:2-6:1, 6:27

This Shabbat is not only a regular seventh day Shabbat, but it is also a High Shabbat, that is a Festival Day which forbids work from being done. This was not the case during the Passover when Yeshua laid down His life; for in the Gospel according to John one reads,

“Therefore the Jewish leaders, because it was the preparation day (the 14^th day of Nissan), that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on Shabbat, for this Shabbat was a high day, Pilate ordered the legs should be broken so they might be taken down.” John 19:31

John makes it clear that it was not a day before the regular Shabbat, i.e. Friday; rather the text states it was the preparation day. This fact informs the reader that it was the day that Israel killed the lambs in order to observe the Torah commandment of partaking of the Passover lamb in the evening. One must remember that the 14^th day of Nissan is called Passover because it was on this day that the lamb was killed and prepared to be eaten on the eve of the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Why could not Yeshua’s Passover be like this year’s (5772) when the preparation day is on Friday and Shabbat is both a regular seventh day Shabbat and the First day of Unleavened Bread?

The answer is because the women bought the spices to anoint the body of Yeshua after Shabbat (this Shabbat was a holiday, i.e., the 15^th day of Nissan—See Mark 16:1) and prepared the spices and ointments prior to the seventh day Shabbat (See Luke 23:56). Hence the preparation day (Passover) had to be on a Wednesday and the 15^th day of Nissan (the Holiday Shabbat) was a Thursday. This means that the women bought the spices after the Holiday Shabbat (Mark 16:1), on Friday and prepared them along with the ointment on the same day (Friday) (Luke 23:56) and then rested on Shabbat. The fact that we are told that Yeshua was in the tomb for three days and nights, having been put in the tomb at sundown Wednesday, means that He rose immediately after the Shabbat, on the first day of the week as the Scripture declares. Please remember that according to the Biblical reckoning; Saturday night is the first day of the week as the day ends at sundown.

Passover Semeach v’Kasher and Shabbat Shalom