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The day and date Christ was crucified & "Counting the Omer"

Last Easter (2022) I spent some time studying the days and dates of the events at the culmination of Christ's life on earth. 

You may know that Jewish days are considered to begin on the preceding evening after nightfall (so the Sabbath begins on our Friday evening, and runs until sundown on Saturday). 

Also, the names of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread do not necessarily refer to what we think they refer to. 

Fortunately the days of the Jewish months are numbered. The month in question is Nissan or Abib (these are two names for the same first month of the year) which falls around March/April. 

On day 10 of the first month, the Passover lamb was to be "taken", and lived with the family before it was slain on 14 Nisan. If 14 Nisan fell on a Friday, then 10 Nisan would be a Monday. This may have some bearing on the meaning of Mark 14:1-9.

On day 14 of the first month, at twilight, just before the end of the day, the Passover lamb was sacrificed. According to John 19:31, this was the day the Lord was crucified. The day the Passover lamb was sacrificed, 14 Nisan, did not always fall on the same day of the week. The years when 14 Nisan fell on a Friday before the Sabbath were AD 30 and AD 33.  

Day 15 of the first month began at sundown. The sabbath following Christ's death was a "high Sabbath". I take that to mean that the weekly Sabbath coincided with the Festival of the Passover. So, after sundown on the day of the crucifixion, the Passover meal was celebrated. This was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (The Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from 15 Nisan to 21 Nisan inclusive.)  

On day 16 of the first month, on the first day of the week, Christ he rose from the dead.

Last year, 2022, it so happened that this is when the relevant dates of the Jewish calendar fell. The Seder (Passover meal) was celebrated on a sabbath (16 April 2022, but beginning the previous evening). 

The 16th day of the first month is also the first day of "counting the omer". This is commanded in Scripture: Lev 23:9-21 and Deut 16:9-12. "Counting the omer" is counting the days between Passover and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks, known to Christians as Pentecost), starting with the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, i.e. 16 Nissan, the day of the resurrection. At nightfall at the start of each day the relevant number of days is counted up to 49, which is the day before Shavuot (Pentecost), the fiftieth day. 

In the Jewish context this counting could be understood to commemorate the period from the Exodus from Egypt to reception of the Law at Sinai. 

In a Christian context this counts the days that Christ was with his disciples, 40, before his Ascension to the right hand of the Father on Day 40, followed by a 10 day wait concluding with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

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