Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat […] (Matt. 26:17-21).
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat […] (Mark 14:12-18).
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer (Luke 22:7-15).
Beginning with the first of the several facts, two of the gospels tell us that the day of the Last Supper was the very first day of unleavened bread, which is the 14th day of the month of Nisan. This should not be conflated with any other day of the Passover holiday, as I have heard some attempt to argue. Matthew and Mark both explicitly use the superlative πρώτῃ, meaning the first-most day, or very first day (Matt. 26:17; Mk. 14:12; Ex. 12:18; Ex. 23:18, 34:25; bPesah. 11b, 12b, 4b).
Nor should this be confused with the first day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, as the King James translation of Matthew 26:17 erroneously suggests. Although interrelated, the time of unleavened bread, and the
feast of unleavened bread, are two separate things. The feast is a seven-day holiday beginning on the 15th of Nisan, while the first-most day of unleavened bread, when leaven had to be destroyed and unleavened bread had to be eaten, was the 14th of Nisan.
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 (Exod. 12:18).
All leaven had to be disposed of on the 14th before the sacrifice of the Passover. It was prohibited beginning at the sixth hour of the day—about noon—on the 14th of Nisan, when it was all burned (bPesah. 11b, 12b, 4b). In accordance with the scriptures, the more pious, according to the Talmud, began searching for leaven as early as sundown on the 13th of Nisan (considered the twilight of the 14th), which was the first of three general searches made in preparation for the holiday. The second search occurred early on the morning of the 14th day, and the final search was at the time when all leaven had to be removed from the home (bPesah. 2b). At the sixth hour of the day (about noon) on the 14th, just before the daily sacrifices (which began shortly thereafter), they burned all leaven (bPesah. 11b). As the scripture states, “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven” (Exod. 34:25). It was not to be eaten, or even possessed, from that point forward, until the evening of the 21st (Exod. 12:18, 34:25; Deut. 16:6; bPesah. 5a).
Relative to these facts, the 14th is, without question, the first day of unleavened bread, as Exodus 12:15 implies, saying that although “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread,” it is, “even the first day” that “ye shall put away leaven out of your houses [...]” (Exod. 34:25, cf. Exod. 12:3, 6, 15, 18; Deut. 16:6; bPesah. 5a, 58a; cf. bYoma 28b; Joseph
BJ 6.423). Rabbinical and historical literature both agree with this point of view, based on the same scriptural criteria.
The School of R. Ishmael taught: ‘We find that the fourteenth is called the first, as it is said, ‘on the first, on the fourteenth day of the month,’’” (Exod. 12:18) and further on, “Raba said, ‘[It is deduced] from here: ‘Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread’: [that means,] thou shalt not kill the Passover sacrifice while leavened bread is still in existence’ (bPesah. 5a).
In consideration of these very basic biblical and extra biblical facts, the first day, or even more precisely the very first day, of unleavened bread is the 14th day of Nisan, making the day of the Last Supper one and the same.
The second significant piece of evidence comes from Mark and Luke, who not only tell us that the day of the Last Supper was the first day of unleavened bread, but that it was the day when they killed the Passover, or per Luke, when the Passover must be killed (Mark 14:12, cf. Matthew 26:17-20; Luke 22:7-8, 13-15). This is about as straightforward as it gets when it comes to pinpointing a specific day, even more so than the previous point. From Exodus, we read:
[…] In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house […] And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening (Exod. 12:3, 6).
The Passover lamb was slain on the 14th day of Nisan. Scripture is quite clear on that point, and every scholar of reputation, so far as I have read, agrees with this view unanimously. It might also be shown that the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th day of Nisan at evening, at the going down of the sun, which rabbinical teachings specify as any time after high noon when the sun starts moving towards the western horizon (Exod. 12:6, Deut. 16:1-6). To be more specific, the Passover sacrifice was slain about 3:00 in the afternoon following the continual daily offering, unless the Eve of the Passover (the 14th) happened to fall on a Friday. In which case, all the day’s sacrifices were moved back an hour, and it was slain about 2:00 in the afternoon so it could be done before the Sabbath set in. We read in the Talmud:
The continual (daily) offering was slaughtered half an hour after the eighth hour, and sacrificed half an hour after the ninth hour; but on the day before Passover, whether that day happened to be a week-day or a Sabbath, it was slaughtered half an hour after the seventh hour, and sacrificed half an hour after the eighth hour. When the day before the Passover happened to be a Friday, it was slaughtered half an hour after the sixth hour, sacrificed half an hour after the seventh hour, and the Passover sacrifice celebrated (immediately) afterwards. (bPesah. 58a; cf bYoma 28b)
The duty of the tamid properly [begins] from when the evening shadows begin to fall. What is the reason? Because Scripture saith, between the evenings, [meaning] from the time that the sun commences to decline in the west. Therefore on other days of the year, when there are vows and freewill-offerings, in connection with which the Divine Law states, [and he shall burn] upon it the fat of the peace-offerings [he-shelamim], and a Master said, upon it complete [shalem] all the sacrifices, we therefore postpone it two hours and sacrifice it at eight and a half hours. [But] on the eve of Passover, when there is the Passover offering after it, we advance it one hour and sacrifice it at seven and a half hours. When the eve of Passover falls on the eve of the Sabbath, so that there is the roasting too [to be done], for it does not override the Sabbath, we let it stand on its own law, [viz.,] at six and a half hours. (bPesah. 58a)
And [the controversy of] these Tannaim is like [the controversy of] the other Tannaim in the following Baraitha: There thou shalt sacrifice the passover-offering at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. R. Eliezer says: At even, you sacrifice; at sunset, you eat; and at the season that thou camest out of Egypt, you must burn [the remainder]. R. Joshua says: At even, you sacrifice; at sunset, you eat; and how long do you continue to eat? Till the season that thou camest out of Egypt (bBer. 9a)
So as it concerns the second point, “when they killed the Passover,” or, “when the Passover must be killed,” they refer to none other than the 14th day of Nisan. On the particular day of the Last Supper in question, assuming a Thursday for the time being according to the more popular viewpoint on the day of the crucifixion, the lamb would have been slain about the ninth hour, or 3:00 in the afternoon, as Josephus also testifies (Joseph.
BJ 6.423).
So, in brief, the afternoon preceding the last supper was the first day of unleavened bread according to three gospels. That same afternoon was also the day when the passover had to be sacrificed according to two of the gospels. According to three gospels, Jesus specifically stated that he was going to keep the passover at the goodman's house. He sent two disciples, Peter and John, to procure a room, to prepare the passover, and to have everything ready for them. At the appropriate hour, Jesus came with the remainder of the disciples, they all sat and ate, and Jesus blatantly declares that he had greatly desired to eat that passover with them before he suffered. The last supper was on the 14th of the month.
Jesus was arrested later that night, put on trial, and the condemned the following morning by the Jewish authorities. They took him straightway to Pontius Pilate and had Jesus crucified. This was the next day. The day following the 14th is the 15th. Simple math.
