Hebrew weekly Sabbath starts Friday night at sunset and ends Saturday night at sunset. This was a different Sabbath called a High Sabbath not like the weekly Sabbath. This High Sabbath began the first day at sunset through the last day at sunset during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Exodus 12:14, 15. Beginning the 14th at sunset making it Saturday the 15th to Friday the 21st at sunset. Passover is annual and not a weekly Sabbath as it is the High Sabbath that begins the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and no one was to do any labor on that day as it was a day of holy assembling. Luke 23:52-54; John 19:31, 42; Leviticus 23:6-8.
Seeing that this was a High Sabbath that started at sunset on the 14th making it Saturday, the beginning day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread would have been prepared on Wednesday the 12th that Jesus ate supper with His disciples being the last supper, not the Passover Seder. On the 12th at sunset begins Thursday the 13th being the Fast of the Firstborn.
Wednesday the 12th after the disciples sat and ate with Jesus in the evening being the last supper Jesus would eat with them being in the very place in the upper room where they were told by Jesus to prepare the Passover meal. The disciples went with Him that evening, possibly after sunset making it Thursday the 13th (some call it Maundy Thursday) as He went to pray in the garden in Gethsemane.
(Note: this was not the Passover Seder, but only the last supper Jesus would eat with His disciples. Passover meal would not begin until after sunset on Friday the 14th when the 15th day begins at sunset at the end of the 14th)
Wednesday the 12th Jesus was betrayed by Judas then arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. Thursday the 13th very early in the morning Jesus was brought before Pilate who passed sentence on Jesus and according to Roman law He was scourged and nailed to the cross about the third hour (3:00 PM) and died at the ninth hour (6:00PM) the same day when the Passover lambs were killed, Exodus 12:1-6.
Jesus was laid in the borrowed tomb on Thursday the 13th in the evening before sunset making it the 1st day and the 1st night (14th) that He died. So we have Thursday being the first day and first night – Friday 2nd day and 2nd night – Saturday 3rd day 3rd night being raised sometime between Saturday after sunset and sunrise Sunday morning.
According to Leviticus 23:5-8 The Passover feast is a different day then the Feast of Unleavened Bread as it was eaten in the evening of the 14th before the Lord passed over Egypt on the 15th.
Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
The thing is we have to go by the calendar and the numbering of days God established with Moses and Aaron as those days and dates never change, Exodus 12:1-6. It was the Babylonians that gave names to the days of the week from Tuesday to Saturday after the five planetary bodies and after the sun and moon being Sunday and Monday. This custom was later adopted by the Romans.
The 10th day would have been a Monday that God established with Moses and Aaron as the day they were to take a lamb and keep it until the 14th being a Friday, even though the calendar changes year after year, but never God establishing the days or dates in the beginning with Moses and Aaron with the cycle of the moon's phases. It's like the Lunar Calendar I already posted as this would have been the one God established with the actual dates, but yet showing how those days and dates changed.
They shall keep their lambs until Friday the 14th and kill them in the evening as the lambs were sacrificed (prepared, day of preparation) on the 14th, but the Passover meal was not eaten until the 15th around midnight as God passed over Egypt. On the 14th in the even the lambs were slaughtered and they would have to let the blood drain out and collect it before they roasted them. It takes four to five hours to roast a lamb and since they were to eat this Passover meal around midnight before the Lord Passover this possibly started right before sunset and all finished before midnight being he 15th. This could be a reason why the Jews say the 14th ran into the 15th before midnight.
I can only assume it was right around sunset when they killed their lambs making it the early beginning of Saturday the 15th as this might be considered to be the 14th and 15th. Then they were instructed to spread the blood on the two side post and on the upper door post in preparation for God passing over Egypt (Passover at midnight on Saturday the 15th.
Being this was the Lord's Passover meal eaten with unleavened bread to be prepared and eaten that night with nothing left over before morning as they had to be prepared to flee in haste in the morning which would have made it sunrise on the 16th being a Sunday this was the memorial God said to keep throughout all the generations.
Go back to Matthew 26 beginning with vs. 17 as this is a reference to Exodus 12:6 which says the lamb's were killed in the evening of the 14th. This supper Jesus had with His disciples did not take place on the first night of passover being the 15th. Jesus was tried, killed and buried before the day of Passover that began after sunset making it Saturday the 15th before Passover began.
I didn't want to give a reply to every section of your reply, but I will be touching on many things which we all agree on and understand.
To set a base...
Passover always falls on the 14th of Nissan and is eaten on the 15th of Nissan.
Exodus 12:6-8 And ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall
kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in
that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
The 'evening' (also translated as twilight) is still the 14th. the 'night' is the 15th.
Leviticus 23:5 demarks the 14th and the slaughtering of the lamb at twighlight and Leviticus 23:6 demarks the 15th where the festival of unleavened bread starts.
The Bible states that Passover is on the 14th of Nissan, yet the Jewish calendar shows Passover starting the following night!
www.chabad.org
In this article, you will also note how they call the 14th a 'Long Day'. In essence, as far as passover, '
that night' also belongs to the 14th
Leviticus 7:15 is also associated with the Passover commandments.
Exodus 12:8-10 And they shall eat the flesh in
that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall
let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
Leviticus 7:15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten
the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.
It is these two verses that primarily make up for the 'one long day' which means the night of the 15th is also the second night for the 14th because the second night of the 14th belongs to the day the lamb was slaughtered (Leviticus 7:15 - Exodus 12:8-10).
Now, concerning Passover days, they can fall on any given day of the week depending on the lunar cycle. here are the days for upcoming Passovers. We see that in 2023, 14 Nissan falls on a Wednesday.
Here is another lunar calendar that shows Nissan 14 from AD 22 - AD 36 and as the calendar shows, Passover falls on different days of the week each year. The two viable years for the crucifixion are AD 30 which fell on a Wednesday and AD 33 which fell on a Friday.
In addition, between AD 22 and AD36 Passover did not fall on a Thursday which pretty much eliminates Thursday as the day of Jesus Crucifixion.
www.studiesintheword.org
How does the Sabbath play into all of this?
Let's say you opted for a Wednesday, 14 Nissan Crucifixion. The 15th would start the feast of unleavened bread which means Thursday would be a special sabbath (Leviticus 23:7)
