Since you know that the Passover (which is Nisan 14) and The feast of unleavened bread which was Nisan 15 ....(at sunset of 14 Nisan) formally called Abid ....and that the Feast was a high day (special sabbath) and two days following the high day was the weekly sabbath which was Saturday counting backwards that puts the crucifixion on a Wednesday before sunset.
Hello Mr. Cool. I realize your post was addressed to Mr. Edersoehn, but I would like to respond if I may? And let me say first that I am a New Testament historian, so I have worked out my own chronology of the Passion Week based on, first and foremost, the chronology of the Gospels, and secondarily by all the supporting Biblical and historical evidence.
Your timeline and my own are very close, basically only 1 day apart, so I wanted to offer the timeline I have worked out and maybe discuss things?
(Note: Jewish observances in
blue, Christian observances in
red)
Easter Week Chronology
6 days before Passover
Friday - Nisan 8 - Jesus departs Jericho and travels toward Jerusalem
Friday – Nisan 8 – late afternoon - Jesus arrives in Bethany from Jericho and spends the night
Friday – Nisan 9 – sunset – Sabbath supper at home of Simon
5 days before Passover
Saturday – Nisan 9 – Sabbath - Jesus rests in Bethany; multitudes come from all over to see Jesus and Lazarus; chief priests and Pharisees plot to arrest both Jesus and Lazarus
4 days before Passover
Sunday – Nisan 10 –
Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem; lambs selected for Passover; Jesus cleanses Temple for the 2nd time
3 days before Passover
Monday – Nisan 11 – Jesus teaches the multitudes
2 days before Passover
Tuesday – Nisan 12 – Jesus’ denunciation of Jerusalem; Mt. Olivet discourse
1 day before Passover
Wednesday – Nisan 13 - no record in Gospels how Jesus spent the day; possibly in Bethany and last night spent there
Wednesday – Nisan 14 – at sunset Jews begin to search their homes with candles for leaven
Wednesday – Nisan 14 - night – Full Moon
Passover
Thursday – Nisan 14 – morning – no leaven eaten after 10:00 a.m.
Thursday – Nisan 14 –noon– leaven ceremonially destroyed by burning or by dispersing to the winds; Regular evening sacrifice moved up to just past noon to allow for time for multitude of paschal Sacrifices through the afternoon
Thursday – Nisan 14 – afternoon – lambs sacrificed from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Seder prepared
1st Day of Unleavened Bread (festival sabbath)
Thursday – Nisan 15 – evening – Passover eaten (roasted Passover lamb and 1st Passover Chagigah eaten {breast and shoulder of voluntary thank-offering}); the
Lord's Supper instituted
Thursday – Nisan 15 – night – Jesus arrested, brought before priests and elders
Friday – Nisan 15 – morning – Jesus brought before Pilate
Friday – Nisan 15 – 9:00 in the morning –
Jesus crucified
Friday – Nisan 15 – 12:00 noon– darkness
Friday – Nisan 15 – 3:00 in the afternoon –
Jesus dies
Friday – Nisan 15 – late afternoon – Jesus' body placed in tomb
Friday - Nisan 15 - before sunset women purchase and prepare spices for Jesus' burial (festival sabbaths allowed work necessary for preparation for the feasts (Exodus 12:16), shops were allowed to be open to provide pilgrims with necessary items to keep the feast); High Sabbath preparations made
Sabbath (a "High Day")
Friday – Nisan 16 – sunset – High Sabbath begins, First Wave-Sheaf of Feast of Weeks, at which mandatory 2nd Passover Chagigah is eaten (which Pharisees would have been excluded from eating had they become defiled that morning) (all preparations for this day, including festival observances, prepared previous day)
Friday – Nisan 16 – night – women rest
Saturday – Nisan 16 – Sabbath –
Barley Wave Offering begins Firstfruits 7-week countdown; women rest
Saturday - Nisan 17 - night - Rabbinic Law requires that work not be resumed during night following Shabbat
1st Day of the Week
Sunday – Nisan 17 – morning early – women come to tomb,
Jesus is risen
Primary Sources:
The Bible
Talmud and Mishnah
Josephus "Antiquities” and “Wars”
”The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,” Alfred Edersheim
“The Temple and It's Services,” Alfred Edersheim
“Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus,” Joachim Jeremias
“Sketches of Jewish Social Life,” Alfred Edersheim
“Daily Life in Bible Times,” Packer/Tenney/White
“Manner and Customs of Bible Times,” Ralph Gower, and many more.