The 15th day of Nissan was to be a special feast day, a memorial day--a holy convocation, and Sabbath:
“In the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight (Heb. 'between the two evenings') is the LORD’s Passover. 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. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (Leviticus 23:5-7).
Question: If the 14th was the day Israel’s firstborn were "passed over" (Exo.12:12), and their deliverance from Egypt began that night, then why should the 15th (after almost 20 hours since the 'passing over'?) be a special feast day and not the 14th?
Remember that Pharaoh told Moses that night to leave immediately, after the killing of the firstborn:
"Then he (Pharaoh) called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, 'Rise, GO OUT FROM AMONG MY PEOPLE, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.'" (Exo. 12:31)
The Israelites were also commanded by the LORD that same night to eat "in haste":
"And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. SO SHALL EAT IT IN HASTE. It is the Lord’s Passover." (Verse 11)
Why wait on evening of 15th, more than 18-20 hours after the Passover event if the timing of early 14th advocate is correct? Why the 14th not declared a "feast," despite these historic events occuring on that night of their deliverance?
Is it possible that the early 14th advocates are in error in their understanding of the timing of "killing" of the lamb, and the "passing over" of death angel?
To reconcile this apparent "20-hours time-gap" contradiction is to place the event of the Passover killing on the 14th ('ben ha arbayim', i.e., afternoon) and eating of the Passover meal on the evening of 15th!
So there is no question that the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th. But notice how Exodus 12:11-17 shows us that it was eaten, the firstborn were passed over, and the Exodus occurred, all on the 'SAME DAY' period—which is why that day was "memorialized" forever.
11-“Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover. [From this verse alone we wouldn’t know if the eating was the 14th or 15th.] 12-“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn ... 13-When I see the blood, I will pass over you [the same night as the eating of the lamb]. 14-And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD ... for ever.” [What day? The same day they ate the Passover and the death angel passed them over.] 15-Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread ... 16-In the first day there shall be an holy convocation ... 17-for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.”—Exodus 12:11-17
Do we notice the import of verse 14 when it says “this day?” Let us concisely tie these verses together.
11—'Ye shall eat it in haste.'
12—'For this night I will smite all the firstborn.
14—'This day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord ... forever.'
17—'For in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt.
Three outstanding things happened in the same night —1) EATING, 2) BEING PASSED OVER, 3) and LEAVING EGYPT. Therefore that day was to be memorialized forever by a feast, convocation, and sabbath. These were all the same Jewish Day—namely, Nisan 15.
Leviticus 23:5-7 affirms all this, by saying that day was memorialized by a feast and a holy convocation (or sabbath), on the 15th, the day after they killed the Passover lamb. Thus the Passover lamb was slain toward the end of the 14th day, then dressed and roasted for the Sabbath Day Feast following on the 15th. The Sabbath Day Feast actually consisted of eating the Passover lamb.
What made the passing over and deliverance possible was the slaying of the Passover lamb at 3:00 p.m. of the 14th, which antitypically pictured our Lord dying at 3:00 p.m. on the 14th. His ransom sacrifice on the 14th ultimately brings deliverance not only to the Firstborn Church, but to all mankind.
"And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ So the people bowed their heads and worshiped." (Exo. 12:26-27)
GT/RAH
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