#41.1 The Second Passover

#41.1 The Second Passover

Please first read: JST John 5:1-47

Note: This post, #41.1, will consider matters pertaining to the Second Passover itself. Jesus Healing on the Sabbath will be covered in post #41.2. 

  

President J. Reuben Clark Jr.:

“Jesus goes to Jerusalem to the Passover (the second of his ministry) goes on the Sabbath to the pool of Bethesda and heals there a man with an infirmity of thirty-eight years’ standing; Jesus slips away without before the man can tell who Jesus is; the man tells those asking who healed him that he does not know; later the man sees Jesus in the Temple and knows him as Jesus warns him to sin no more; the Jews seek to kill Jesus because he has healed on the Sabbath (this is the first record of a desire by the Jewish authorities to kill Jesus.) Jesus preaches to them, proclaiming his Sonship, for which they again seek his life; he says he does whatever the Father does; preaches knowing the Father and the Son; he declares his powers, but can do nothing of himself; he tells of John’s mission; he is greater than John; tells of work the Father has given him to do; explains relationship of the Father and himself; tells how they will be accused.”

John is the only gospel writer that tells of these six events. (John 5) As Elder Clark also points out, it is the first record we have of Jewish leaders desiring to kill Jesus. As their nation is now captive to Rome they can only execute someone with the approval of the Roman authorities.

Every one of the following six topics resulted in immediate hostility and objection from virtually all phases of Jewish leadership. 

·         John 5:1-16: Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath.

·         John 5:17-24: Men Must Honor the Son, unto whom the Father has given equal power.

·         John 5:25: Jesus Promises to Take the Gospel to the Dead.

·         John 5:26-30: All Will Be Resurrected, Judged, and Assigned Their Glory By the Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

·         John 5:31-38: Jesus Obeys the Divine Law of Witnesses required by Jewish Law.

·         John 5:39-47: Search the Scriptures For They Testify of Jesus as the Messiah

The Passover

The following excerpt is from Smith’s Bible Dictionary:

Passover, the first of the three great annual festivals of the Israelites, celebrated in the month of Nisan (March-April.) Strictly speaking the Passover only applied to the paschal supper, and the feast of unleavened bread followed thereafter. This feast was instituted by God to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and the sparing of their first-born when the destroying angel smote the first-born of the Egyptians. The deliverance from Egypt was regarded as the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites were then raised from the condition of bondmen under a foreign tyrant to that of a free people owing allegiance to no one but Jehovah. The prophet in a later age spoke of the event as a creation and a redemption of the nation. God declares himself to be the “Creator of Israel.” The Exodus was thus looked upon as the birth of the nation; the Passover was its annual birthday feast. It was the yearly memorial of the dedication of the people to him who had saved their first-born from the destroyer, in order that they might be made holy to Himself.

The first celebration of the Passover: On the tenth day of the month the head of each family was to select from the flock either a lamb or a kid, a male of the first year, without blemish. The lamb was then roasted whole. Unleavened bread and bitter herbs were to be eaten with the flesh. Everyone was to have his loins girt, to hold a staff in his hand, and to have shoes on his feet. They were to eat in haste and, it would seem, to stand during the meal. At midnight the first-born of the Egyptians were smitten. The king and his people were now urgent that the Israelites should start immediately, and readily bestowed on them supplies for the journey. In haste did the Israelites depart on that very day.

Ausubel:

  

The most beloved of all Jewish holy days is the festival of Passover. Symbolically, it represents a cherished traditional Jewish value … a love of freedom. The memory of the Bondage of Egypt, although it occurred at least thirty-two centuries ago, has continued to rankle in the consciousness of the Jew. In reality he has never considered … except for the Golden Age of his people’s greatness in the land of Israel … that the Bondage ever came to an end. This idea is touchingly projected in the Aramaic prayer at the Seder (the home-service that opens the celebration of the Passover,) “Behold! This is as the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt … Now we are slaves … may we be free men in the year to come.” And so it has been a firm tradition since the days of the Mishnah Sages (200 BC) after the destruction of the Second Temple, that Jewish families throughout the world gather for the performance of the Seder home-service at Passover time. It is to be eaten in haste, with “loins girded” and staff in hand, as the Israelites themselves had been when they departed from Egypt.

Geike:

Advance preparations were very demanding, beyond meticulous in every detail. A few examples:

·         Specific lines of travel.

·         Whitewashed headstones.

·         Removal of unclean plants in certain fields.

·         Special services in the temple and synagogues on preceding Sabbath.

·         Meal only male lambs or goats without blemish.

·         Every particle of leaven removed from house.

·         Purification of all vessels used in the feast.

·         Personal purification rites.

·         Detailed preparation of water and flour used in the feast.

Apostle James E. Talmage:

The usual attendance at the temple celebration in the days of Jesus was undoubtedly enormous. It was, in fact, the great yearly fair of Jerusalem, and the crowds added to the din and tumult, till the services in the neighboring courts were sadly disturbed.  Persons going across the city with all kinds of burdens, shortened their journey by crossing the temple grounds. The temple courts were a witness that the temple, which should be a House of Prayer for all nations, had been degraded into a place which, for foulness, was more like shambles, and for bustling commerce more like a densely-crowded bazaar; while the lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the Babel of many languages, the huckstering and wrangling, and the clinking of money and of balances, might be heard in the adjoining courts, disturbing the chant of the Levites and the prayers of priests.      

                                                                                                                                          

Further defilement of the temple courts occurred by traffickers acting under the priestly license.

The sale of the doves was, secretly, in the hands of the priests themselves. Hannas, the high priest, especially, gained great profits from his dove cotes. Five per cent exchange was charged to obtain money that was acceptable for payment to the temple, but this was increased by tricks and chicanery, for which the class had everywhere earned so bad a name that like the publicans, their witness would not be taken before a court.

Glenn R. McGettigan

September 2015 

References:

“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark 

“Smith’s Bible Dictionary.”   

“Book of Jewish Knowledge.” Ausubel

“Jesus the Christ.” Talmage

“The Life and Words of Christ.” Geike