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When Was Yeshuah Crucified

Lamed
Lamed Messianic Studies

OUTLINE 

I       The Puzzle
II      Sabbath Days Outlined
III     Matthew's Account of the Crucifixion
IV      Conclusion:  Teaching the Truth in Love


I. The Puzzle
The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the first day of the week of Pesach.
In Matthew 12:40, Yeshua states that as Jonah was in the great fish so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Here we have the prophesy by Yeshuah Himself. In Mark 26:1, Mary Magdalene, Mary (or Mariam [Strong's 3137]) mother of James, and Salome bought (not brought) spices to anoint Yeshuah's body when the Sabbath was over. In Luke 23:54-56, on The Day of Preparation (weekly Sabbath), the women return to prepare the spices after seeing how the body of Yeshuah was laid in the Sepulchre.

The question is which Sabbath. There was the Annual Sabbath (The Feast of Unleavened Bread), and the Weekly Sabbath (Saturday). The first day of the week is Sunday, and they both bought and went "after" a Sabbath. The answer is that the fourteenth Pesach was on a Thursday.


II. Sabbath Days Outlined
The Jewish days started with the first watch of the previous day being 18:00-21:00. There were 8 watches to a 24-hour day.

  • Tuesday evening (on the first watch of the Jewish day of Pesach Day), Yeshuah ate Pesach.
  • Wednesday, Pesach day (alluding to this is the original Pesach of the first-born in Egypt), Yeshuah was crucified.
  • Thursday was the day of the Annual Feast of Unleavened Bread and therefore a special Sabbath.
  • Friday the women bought spices and prepared them (this was the day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath).
  • Saturday (weekly Sabbath) was a day for rest and the women complied with Commandments.
  • Sunday morning, Yeshuah was already gone and the stone was rolled away.

So you can see that as the prophesy was from the lips of Yeshuah Himself, His earthly body was dead three days and nights and was gone by the first day of the week. If you follow the Sabbath traditions through the rest of the Gospels this timeline does not change.


III. Matthew's Account of the Crucifixion
For more proof, let's just follow Matthew's own account.

  • MONDAY
    • Monday, in Matthew 26:1, Yeshuah states that Pesach or Passover was two days away.
  • TUESDAY
    • Tuesday, in Matthew 26:17, Yeshuah tells the Apostles to go make preparation for Passover. (Day of Preparation until sundown.)
    • Tuesday night or first watch Wednesday, in Matthew 26:20, Yeshuah is partaking of the Pesach meal.
    • Tuesday night late (second watch being about 21:00-00:00) Yeshuah and Apostles go to Gethsemane.
  • WEDNESDAY
    • Wednesday morning about the 4th watch, in Matthew 27:1, the decision to put Yeshuah to death came down.
    • Wednesday morning, during the 6th hour to the 9th hour**, in Matthew 27:45, being the 5th watch of the day, Yeshuah dies.
      [It was also during this daylight period that the darkness happens (Ref.: Matthew 27:45).]
    • Wednesday afternoon during the eighth watch of the day and into the first watch of Thursday, Yeshuah was buried.
  • THURSDAY
    • Thursday was the first day Yeshuah was in the tomb and was the Yearly Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • FRIDAY
    • Friday, in Matthew 27:62, Pilate was approached for guards; this was the Day of Preparation (for weekly Sabbath).
  • SATURDAY
    • Saturday was the Sabbath and the women and Priests and Pharisees (Law Keepers) and everyone rested.
  • SUNDAY
    • Sunday, first day of the new week, Matthew 28:1, the women go to the tomb and Yeshuah is already gone.


IV. Conclusion: Teaching the Truth in Love
Now, knowing all of this, why would a Christian-oriented Church body still want to make the death, burial, and resurrection in only 1 day and 2 nights? Like I have said before, if we are to be Christian (or Christ-like) which is the way, this means that we are to teach the whole truth about everything in as much as possible because that is what Christian character dictates.

NOTE: This topic of study was created in 2004. This was the conclusion I came up with simply reading the text and not listening to the interpretation of man because the Biblical text will interpret itself. What followed was my attempt to explain it because I know that if I cannot explain it then I do not know it for certain. For a more in-depth and exacting explanation of this topic you can visit 0+3=1.5? on the Bat Tzion website.