Bible Studies

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We continue the discussion under John 11:55 here in Part 6.

J. Carl Laney speaks of the need to be cleansed from any ceremonial defilement before taking part in the Passover (cf. Lev. 7:21). I'll quote part of what he says about how this cleansing was accomplished ("John," page 217). "According to the Mishnah, this was done in a ritual bath called a 'miqveh' ('Mikva'ot' 4.1). Excavations south of the Temple area have uncovered 48 'miqva'ot' (the plural of 'miqveh') that served the pilgrims who sought purification before climbing the steps into the Temple area (William Sanford La Sor, 'Discovering What Jewish Miqva'ot Can Tell Us About Christian Baptism,' 'Biblical Archaeology Review' [January/February 1987] 52-59)." The ritual baths in Jerusalem that I have seen pictures of consisted of a rather small underground pool of water that was deep enough for people to immerse themselves after walking down steps into the pool.

The ritual bath was not sufficient to remove defilement that came through contact with death. Numbers chapter 19 teaches about ritual defilement through contact with death and how the Jews were to be cleansed through being sprinkled on the third day and on the seventh day with hyssop that had been dipped in a mixture of the ashes of a sacrificed red heifer and water. It would have been a very serious sin for Jews to go to the tabernacle/temple, while in an unclean state (cf. Num. 19:13, 20).

I'll quote part of a sentence from what Andreas J. Kostenberger says here ("John" [2004], page 354). "...recent scholarship estimates that the population of Jerusalem swelled from about one hundred thousand inhabitants to some one million during [the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles]."]] (56) So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, 'What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?' [cf. John 7:11] (57) Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him [cf. John 7:32; 11:53]."


JOHN CHAPTER 12.

"Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover ["Then six days before the Passover" NKJV; cf. John 11:55], came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. [[Jesus had left Bethany after raising Lazarus from the dead and gone to Ephraim because the Jews had decided at the highest level that He must be killed (John 11:46-54). Now, six days before the Passover, He came back to Bethany, which was a village very close to Jerusalem, knowing that He must be crucified at Jerusalem that Passover. Regarding the day of the week that Jesus came back to Bethany (six days before the Passover) and was anointed (for His burial) by Mary, see under verse 2.]] (2) [See Matt. 26:6-11; Mark 14:3-9. Matthew 26:6; Mark 14:3 show that these things took place at the home of Simon the leper in Bethany. (Presumably Jesus had healed Simon of leprosy.) Those accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, which were written long before John wrote his Gospel, didn't mention that the woman who anointed Jesus was Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha, or that Mary had anointed His feet and wiped them with her hair after anointing them. ((Matthew 26 and Mark 14 spoke only of the woman's having poured the expensive ointment on His head. Apparently she poured the ointment on His head and on His feet; John 12:3 shows that she used a rather large quantity of ointment. [[I had a footnote: I'll quote part of what F. Godet says here ("Gospel of John" [Zondervan, reprint of the 1893 edition], pages 206, 207). "These flasks of nard hermetically sealed were probably received from the East; to use the contents of them, the neck must be broken; this is what Mary did, according to Mark 14:3. This act having a somewhat striking character, she must have performed it in the sight of all the guests, consequently over the head of Jesus already seated at the table. His head thus received the first fruits of the perfume (cf. Matthew and Mark: 'she poured it on his head'). Only after this, as no ordinary guest was here in question [and the time setting was very special; she anointed Him for His burial, whether she understood that detail, or not], and as Mary wished to give to her guest not merely a testimony of love and respect, but a mark of adoration, she joined with the ordinary anointing of the head (which was self evident; cf. Psalm 23:5; Luke 7:46) an altogether exceptional homage. As if this precious liquid were only common water, she pours it over His feet, and in such abundance that it was as if she were bathing them with it; so she was obliged to wipe them. For this purpose she uses her own hair. This last fact carries the homage to a climax. … Every act in this narrative breathes adoration, the soul of the act. Perhaps the report of the homage rendered to Jesus by the sinful woman of Galilee [Luke 7] had reached Mary. She was unwilling that the friends of Jesus should do less for Him than a stranger."]])) Furthermore, Matthew and Mark didn't mention that Judas Iscariot was the one (at least he was the ring leader) who criticized Mary for "wasting" the money that the expensive ointment was worth (she could have sold it, Judas said, and given the money to the poor), and Matthew and Mark leave the (apparently wrong) impression that this anointing took place after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. ((I had a footnote: John indicates that this anointing took place the day before that triumphal entry (see John 12:12-15). I'll quote two important sentences from what Donald A. Carson says on this point ("Gospel According to John," page 426). "It must be remembered...that the time indicators in Matthew/Mark are notoriously loose. These Evangelists often order their accounts according to topic, not chronology.")) John was undoubtedly thankful that (in the will of God) he was able to add this important information to the accounts in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. Thank God for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John!]] So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving [cf. Luke 10:38-42]; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. [[The most common view is that this supper took place Saturday evening (after the Sabbath was over), the evening before Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I somewhat favor the viewpoint that this supper took place Sunday evening before Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Monday. ((I had a seven-paragraph footnote: F. F. Bruce and F. Godet are two of the commentators who believe Jesus arrived at Bethany and the supper and anointing took place on Sunday. "Six days before the Passover" (John 12:1) can be understood several different ways, depending on what day the Passover started and on how you do the counting. I believe the apostle John wrote from the viewpoint that the Passover began at sunset on Friday, on which evening the Jews ate the Passover meal. (By Jewish reckoning that would have been the 15th day of the month, which began at sunset, and the lambs were slain on the 14th day [Exod. 12:6]). On Friday afternoon Jesus died on the cross when the Passover lambs were being slain in the temple. On Friday evening (the 15th day happened to fall on the sabbath that year), they ate the Passover meal. According to the Gospel of John, the day that Jesus was tried before Pilate and crucified (which was Friday) was the "the day of preparation for the Passover" (John 19:14; also see John 13:1; 18:28; 19:31, 42 [these verses are discussed in my papers on John chapters 13-17 and John chapters 18-20 on this Christian article site]).

From this point of view, although the meal that Jesus ate with His apostles on Thursday evening was called a Passover meal (and rightly so), it was eaten a day before the Jews ate the Passover meal and before the Passover lambs were slain in the temple. It is interesting that there was no mention of a sacrificial lamb in the accounts of the Passover meal that Jesus ate with His apostles in the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. (See the discussion at the beginning of my paper on John Chapters 13-17, Part 1 on this Christian article site.)

I'll quote a few sentences from what J. N. Sanders and B. A. Mastin say here ("Gospel According to John" [Hendrickson, 1968], page 282). "1. According to the [Gospel of John], the Passover began on the following Friday evening (by our reckoning of the days), which (again by our reckoning) would make the day of Jesus' arrival in Bethany on Saturday. But since he is unlikely to have traveled on a Sabbath, we should probably reckon the six days in the ancient manner, i.e. inclusively. 2. Then the supper would have been on Sunday evening by our reckoning...." It does seem unlikely that Jesus would have traveled far on the sabbath. We don't know the details regarding that journey to Bethany six days before the Passover; see John 11:54; Matt. 20:29-21:11; Mark 10:32-11:10; and Luke 18:35-19:44.

I'll quote part of what G. Ogg says regarding the day of the month and the year that Jesus was crucified in the article on the "Chronology of the New Testament" in the "New Bible Dictionary," second edition (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1982), page 202. "Of attempts to determine the year of the crucifixion the most fruitful is that made with the help of astronomy. According to all four Gospels, the crucifixion took place on a Friday, but whereas in the Synoptics [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] that Friday is 15 Nisan, in John it is 14 Nisan. [The major difference is that the Synoptic Gospels give the impression that the lambs were slain in the temple before Jesus ate the Last Supper with His apostles on Thursday evening, but John shows that the Last Supper (John chapter 13) actually took place the day before the lambs were slain in the temple and the Jews ate the Passover meal. It would have been appropriate for Jesus to participate in the Passover meal with the rest of the Jews, but it was much more appropriate, it seems to me, for Jesus to die when the Passover lambs were being slain in the temple, and John informs us that that is just what happened.] The problem then that has to be solved with the help of astronomy is that of determining in which of the years 26-36 [Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea from AD 26-36.] the 14th and 15th Nisan fell on a Friday. But since in NT times the Jewish month was lunar and the time of its commencement was determined by observation of the new moon, this problem is basically that of determining when the new moon became visible. Studying this problem, Fotheringham and Schoch have each arrived at a formula by applying which they find that 15 Nisan was a Friday only in [AD] 27 and 14 Nisan was a Friday only in [AD] 30 and [AD] 33. Since as the year of the crucifixion 27 is out of the question [essentially all agree AD 27 is too early], the choice lies between 30 (7 April) and 33 (3 April)."

Ogg goes on to say that he believes the chronology of the Gospel of John is the more probable (that Jesus was crucified on the 14th day of the month) and that "until at least the beginning of the 3rd century it appears to have been the more generally accepted throughout the church." But he points out that the "attempts to reconcile the Gospels on this matter have not secured general consent, and discussion of the problem continues." (The primary problem is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke leave the impression that Jesus ate the Passover meal with the rest of the Jews on Thursday evening, while John shows that the Jews hadn't eaten the Passover meal yet when Jesus was on the cross. Apparently then, the Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples and His crucifixion both took place on the 14th day of the month, which began [by Jewish reckoning] at sunset Thursday that year.) He also points out that he considers it noteworthy that the astronomer's calculations do not support the idea that Jesus was crucified on the 15th day of the month in that, according to their calculations, the 15th day of the month does not fall on a Friday in any of the years considered possible for His crucifixion.

I'll also quote part of what W. P. Armstrong and J. Finegan say on the date of the crucifixion of Jesus in the article titled "Chronology of the NT" in the "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia," fully revised, Vol. 1 (Eerdmans, 1979), page 689. "The Gospels name the day before the sabbath (Friday) as the day of the crucifixion...and the Synoptic Gospels represent this Friday as Nisan 15 - the day following (or according to Jewish reckoning from sunset to sunset, the same day as) the day on which the paschal supper was eaten [on Thursday evening].... But the fourth Gospel is thought by many to represent the paschal meal as still uneaten [by the Jews] when Jesus suffered (John 18:28; cf. 13:29).... Astronomical calculations show that Nisan 14 could have fallen on Friday in...30 and again in...33 (H. von Soden, Eb, I, 806; cf. B. W. Bacon, JBL, 28 [1909], 130-148; J. K. Fotheringham, JTS, 11 [1910], 120ff.; R. A. Parker and W. J. Dubberstein, "Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C. - A.D.75" [1956]), but the empirical character of the Jewish calendar [which depended on man's observing when the new moon first became visible] renders the result of such calculations uncertain (HJP2, I, 590f.). In the year...30 Friday, Nisan 14, would fall on Apr. 7; in...33 Friday, Nisan 14, would fall on Apr. 3. ... The date of the crucifixion is probably Friday, Apr. 7, A.D. 30 [I assume that date is correct]." This is the end of the seven-paragraph footnote.))]] (3) Mary then took a pound [["about a pint" NIV; the NIV has a footnote, "Greek 'a litra' (probably about 0.5 liter [where a liter is about a quart, or 2 pints])

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