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Calvin in Exile from Geneva,

Calvin and Melanchthon,

Calvin as an Interpreter of the Bible,

Calvin's Marriage and Domestic Character,

V. PLATO AND THE PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY,
By Prof. T. D. Woolsey, Yale College.

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VIII. SELECT NOTICES AND Intelligence,
Classical Literature,

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THE ALLEGED DISCREPANCY BETWEEN JOHN AND THE OTHER EVANGELISTS RESPECTING OUR LORD'S LAST PASSOVER.

By E. Robinson, Prof. in Union Theol. Seminary, New York.

EVER Since the earliest centuries of the Christian era, a difference of opinion has existed in the church, as to the point, whether our Lord's last meal with his disciples, on the evening before his crucifixion, was the ordinary paschal supper of the Jews. The question may be stated in other forms; as for example: Did the crucifixion of our Lord follow or precede the Jewish paschal supper? Was the Friday on which Jesus suffered, the fourteenth or the fifteenth day of the month Nisan? But it is obvious, that in all these forms the point at issue is the same; and the solution must in all depend upon the same evidence and arguments.

In the following Article I propose briefly to survey this field of controversy; partly because of the intrinsic importance and difficulties of the subject itself; and partly because, in late years, these difficulties have been brought forward very prominently by some of the commentators of Germany; and have been made the ground, sometimes, of fierce assault upon a single Gospel, and at other times, of systematic efforts against the credibility and authority of all the Evangelists. It will, I trust, be made to appear, that these efforts are all in vain; and that the truth of God stands forever sure. We shall be led to see, I think, that here, as well as elsewhere, the longer such efforts are continued, and the greater the learning and skill with which they are conducted, the more clearly will the grand result be brought out to view, and the strikVOL. II. No. 7.

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ing truth be more and more developed, that a fundamental characteristic everywhere manifest in the testimony of the four evangelists, is UNITY IN DIVERSITY.

As the events of our Lord's Passion were so intimately connected with the celebration of the Passover, it seems proper here to bring together in one view those circumstances relating to that festival, which may serve to illustrate the sacred history, and thus prepare the way for a better understanding of the main point to be discussed.

I. Time of killing the Paschal Lamb.

The paschal lamb (or kid, Ex. 12: 5) was to be selected on the tenth day of the first month, Ex. 12: 3. On the fourteenth day of the same month, (called Abib in the Pentateuch, and later Nisan, Deut. 16: 1. Esth. 3: 7,) the lamb thus selected was to be killed, at a point of time designated by the expression between the two evenings, Ex. 12: 6. Lev. 23: 5. Num. 9: 3, 5; or, as is elsewhere said, en i, at evening about the going down of the sun, Deut. 16: 6. The same phrase, ja, between the two evenings, is put for the time of the daily evening sacrifice; Ex. 29: 39, 41. Num. 28: 4. The time thus marked was regarded by the Samaritans and Karaites, as being the interval between sunset and deep twilight; and so too Aben Ezra. But the Pharisees and Rabbinists, according to the Mishnah, Pesach. 5. 3, held the first evening to commence with the declining sun (Greek dɛnŋ πρωΐα); and the second evening with the setting sun (Greek δείλη opia). Hence, according to them, the paschal lamb was to be killed in the interval between the ninth and eleventh hour, equivalent to our three and five o'clock, P. M. That this was in fact the practice among the Jews in the time of our Lord, appears from the testimony of Josephus: Πάσχα καλεῖται, καθ ̓ ἣν θύουσι μὲν ἀπὸ ἐννάτης ώρας μέχρι ενδεκάτης. The daily evening sacrifice in the temple was also offered at the ninth hour or three o'clock, P. M. as the same historian testifies.3 Similar was the Greek dan.4 The true time then of killing the Passover in our Lord's day,

'See Reland de Samar. § 22, in Diss. Miscell. T. II. Trigland. de Karaeis c. 4. Aben Ezra ad Ex. 12: 6.

2 Jos. B. J. 6. 9. 3.

Jos Antiq. 14. 4. 3. Comp. Pesach. 6.1; also Acts 3: 1 et Wetstein in loc. 4 Hesych. δείλη πρωΐα, ἡ μετ' ἄριστον ώρα· δείλη ὀψία, ἡ περὶ δύσιν ἡλίου. Eustath. ad Od. 17. p. 255, ἡ ὀψία δείλη, τὸ περὶ ἡλίου δυσμῆς• δείλη πρωΐα, τὸ εὐθὺς ἐκ μεσημβρίας.

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Festival of unleavened Bread.

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was between the ninth and eleventh hour, or towards sunset, near the close of the fourteenth day of Nisan.

II. Time of eating the Passover.

This was to be done the same evening, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it;" Ex. 12: 8. The Hebrews in Egypt ate the first Passover, and struck the blood of the victims on their door-posts, on the evening before the last great plague; at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born; and in the morning the people broke up from Rameses on their march towards the Red Sea, viz. "on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the passover;" Num. 33: 3.

It hence appears, very definitely, that the paschal lamb was to be slain in the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the month; and was eaten the same evening; that is, on the evening which was reckoned to and began the fifteenth day.

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III Festival of unleavened Bread.

"And on

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses;" Ex. 12: 17, 18. comp. Deut. 16: 3, 4. the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread;" Lev. 23: 6. comp. Num. 28: 17. From these passages it appears, that the festival of unleavened bread began strictly with the passover meal at or after sunset following the fourteenth day, and continued until the end of the twenty-first day.1

In accordance with these precepts, and with an anxiety to go beyond rather than to fall short of them, the Jews were accustomed, at or before noon on the fourteenth day of Nisan, to cease from labor and put away all leaven out of their houses. On that day, too, towards sunset, the paschal lamb was killed; and was eaten in the evening. Hence in popular usage, this fourteenth day itself, being thus a day of preparation for the festival which properly began at evening, very naturally came to be regarded as belonging to the festival; and is therefore sometimes spoken of in

1 Comp. Jos. Antiq. 3. 10. 5.

2 Lightfoot Opp. ed. Leusd. I. p. 728 sq. Hor. Heb. in Marc. 14: 12.

the New Testament as the "first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover;" Mark 14: 12. Luke 22: 7. comp. Matt. 26: 7. That such an usage was common appears also from Josephus; who, having in one place expressly fixed the commencement of this festival on the fifteenth of Nisan, speaks nevertheless in another passage of the fourteenth as the day of that festival, in exact accordance with the Evangelists.1 In still another place, the same historian mentions the festival of unleavened bread as being celebrated for eight days.2

It is hardly necessary to remark, that in consequence of the close mutual relation between the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread, these terms are often used interchangeably (especially in Greek) for the whole festival, including both the paschal-supper and the seven days of unleavened bread.3

IV. Other Paschal Sacrifices.

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1. "In the first day [fifteenth of Nisan] shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire, a burnt-offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year;" also a meat offering, and one goat for a sin-offering;" "after this manner shall ye offer daily throughout the seven days;" Num. 28: 18-24. All this was in addition to the ordinary daily sacrifices of the temple. "And on the seventh day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work," v. 25. The first and last days of the festival, therefore, were each a day of rest or a sabbath; distinct from the weekly sabbath, except when one of these happened to fall upon this latter.

2. On the morrow after this first day of rest or sabbath, that is, on the sixteenth day of Nisan, the first-fruits of the harvest were offered, together with a lamb as a burnt-offering; Lev. 23: 10—12. This rite is expressly assigned by Josephus, in like manner, to the second day of the festival, the sixteenth of Nisan.4 The grain offered was barley; this being the earliest ripe, and its harvest occurring a week or two earlier than that of wheat.5 Until this of

Jos. Antiq. 3. 10. 5.—B. J. 5. 3. 1. comp. Antt. 11. 4. 8.

Jos. Antt. 2. 15. 1.

See Luke 22: 1. John 6: 4. Acts 12: 3, 4, etc. Jos. Antt. 2. 1. 3. comp. B. J. 5. 3. 1.

4 Jos. Antt. 3. 10. 5.

Joseph. 1. c. Bibl. Res. in Palest. II. p. 99.

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