But they said, "Not on the feast", (lest there be a riot among the people) for they knew that Yochanan the Immerser had proclaimed that Yeshua was the Lamb of Elohim, (and the people held Yochanan as a prophet). And there is no doubt there would have been an uproar among the people to have seen the one whom Yochanan proclaimed the Lamb of Elohim being crucified on a spit in the same day that some 250000 lambs were also being slain, (according to Josephus) so as to be roasted on a spit. But when they said, "Not on the feast", which feast day would they have meant knowing that you know there are two days that are called feasts in the feast of Passover Unleavened Bread?
Hello there Daq,
I believe the people were very busy with their Passover sacrifices and all that was to be done on that 14th day, so most people were not worried about a few “criminals” being sentenced on this day. What the Sanhedrin was concerned with and what they commanded is that they not arrest Yeshua “in the Feast” as the Greek word "en" (in) brings out (see scripture below).
The 14th day was called the Passover in many scriptures in the Torah, but it was the 15th day that begins the seven day Festival and that is the high Sabbath in which the people would riot if Yeshua was arrested on.
The reason there was no riot is because they followed the Sanhedrin’s command and did not arrest him “in the Feast” but rather in the 14th day, which is not a Sabbath, and is not “in the Feast.”
The Greek word for “Feast/Festival” is
eorty which I bolded below:
NAS Matthew 26:5 But they were saying, "Not during the
festival, lest a riot occur among the people."
YLT
Matthew 26:5 and they said, 'Not in the
feast, that there may not be a tumult among the people.'
GNT Matthew 26:5 e;legon de,( Mh. evn th/|
e`orth/|( i[na mh. qo,ruboj ge,nhtai evn tw/| law/|Å
(For some reason I see that the Greek does not copy in here, but the word that looks like
e`orth above is eorty)
When you look in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT, for any who may not know) you will see that this word is almost always used for Festival days. The 14th day was called Passover, but it was not called a “festival” day ( or Greek eorty, which is Chag in Hebrew).
See the scriptures below:
NAS Numbers 28:16 'Then on the
fourteenth day of the first month shall be the LORD's
Passover.
NAS
Numbers 28:17 'And on the
fifteenth day of this month
shall be a
feast, unleavened bread
shall be eaten for seven days.
LXT
Numbers 28:17 kai. th/| pentekaideka,th| h`me,ra| tou/ mhno.j tou,tou
e`orth, e`pta. h`me,raj a;zuma e;desqe
(For some reason I see that the Greek does not copy in here, but the word that looks like
e`orth above is eorty)
You can see that the Greek word used for this fifteenth day “feast” (in the Septuagint) is eorty, or Chag in Hebrew, and the 14th day is called Passover, not called eorty/chag.
So the Sanhedrin saying not “in the feast” (eorty) are saying not in this 15th day Sabbath, and also probably meaning not any day within this seven day Festival (eorty/chag).
I believe that you are right that John 18:39 means “in the Passover” but going by the way this word was used all through the Torah it would be no problem for this to mean in (or at) the 14th day Passover:
NAS John 18:39 "But you have a custom, that I should release someone for you
at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?"
Nothing here says: you have a custom, that I release someone in the “feast” (eorty/chag) but it rather says “in the Passover” (which almost always meant the 14th day in scripture).
Leviticus gives us the exact same example, where the 14th day is called Passover, and it is the fifteenth day that is called the “Feast” (eorty/chag):
YLT Leviticus 23:5 in the first month, on the
fourteenth of the month, between the evenings,
is the passover to Jehovah;
YLT
Leviticus 23:6 and on the
fifteenth day of this month
is the feast of unleavened things to Jehovah; seven days unleavened things ye do eat;
LXT
Leviticus 23:6 kai. evn th/| pentekaideka,th| h`me,ra| tou/ mhno.j tou,tou
e`orth. tw/n avzu,mwn tw/| kuri,w| e`pta. h`me,raj a;zuma e;desqe
(For some reason I see that the Greek does not copy in here, but the word that looks like
e`orth above is eorty)
There are several more examples I could bring, but nothing says the 14th day is the eorty/chag, it was never a Sabbath or Festival day.
Daq I do enjoy hearing how you view these things : )
