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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
VOL.2, N0.12
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
WAS PASSOVER THE FOURTEENTH OR FIFTEENTH?
by Leroy Neff
MARCH 21, 1980
Some of the ministers have asked about the Church teaching regarding the
time of the Old Testament Passover. This question comes as a result of
certain papers that were circulated that concluded that the Bible account
could be explained in a plausible way for the killing of the lamb on the
afternoon of the fourteenth of Nisan, and then eaten later in the evening
of the fifteenth. Even this paper admitted that it could not be proved
conclusively either way, and that Christ kept the Passover on the evening
of the 14th,not the evening of the 15th, setting us an example to follow
today.
Hopefully the following comments will make it clear that the Church
teaching has been correct, regardless of the teaching and practice of
Jews or others.
A part of the problem lies in the meaning of the words "in the evening"
of Exodus 12:6. There are two schools oi thought about this term liter
ally meaning "between the two evenings." One is that the "two evenings"
are "noon and sunset", the other "sunset and dark". The New Bible
Dictionary under the article PASSOVER states that this "can scarcely be
determined by etymology." It further states that the two variant render
ings are "based on community practice."
The scriptures make it plain that the passover was killed and eaten on
the 14th. Exodus 12:6 shows it was killed the evening of the 14th and
eaten "in that night" (verse 8), not the next night. The instructions in
Leviticus 23 show that the Passover is on the even of the 14th (verse 5)
and the Feast is the 15th (verse 6) which is 24 hours later.
In Numbers 9:5 we are told that they kept the Passover (not just a part of
the ritual) on the fourteenth day. The following verses tell of the second
Passover onernonth later when on the fourteenth they are to "keep it and
eat it."
In the plains of Jericho (Joshua 5:10) they kept the Passover (not just
part of the ceremony) "on the fourteenth dayofthe month at even." The
next day they ate unleavened cakes (verse 11).
Ezra records (Ezra 6:19) that the people who returned to Jerusalem "kept
the passover upon the fourteenth" and then (afterwards) kept the Feast
(verse 22).
These texts should make it clear that the Passover sacrifice was origi
nally killed and eaten on or during the 14th and then the Feast was cele
brated during the 15th, 24 hours later, regardless of later practice or
interpretation.