Short Article - Nisan 17 The Longest Sabbath

The passage from Luke 23:50-56 is to be thoroughly understood in order to know clearly what happened on Nisan 17.

50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

In verse 54, Preparation Day was Nisan 14, the day on which Jesus was buried; the Special Sabbath was mentioned in the same verse. (Nisan 15 was the day after Jesus’s burial.) In verse 56, the mentioning of spices and perfume preparation on Nisan 16 can also be found in Mark 16:1.

The Sabbath mentioned in the same verse 56 had to be the day after Nisan 16, marking Nisan 17 out distinctly to be the seventh Sabbath day of the week.

Color-coded: Events on Nisan 14 in green and black; Nisan 15 events in purple; Nisan 16 preparation in blue; Nisan 17 Sabbath in red.

For these women, who loved the Lord, Nisan 17 was the longest Sabbath for them. They endured 24 hours without any rest unless they could recover Jesus’ body and be at peace with Him. It was close to evening. Mary Magdalene would expect the Roman soldiers to have left the area the night before because no Roman soldiers had ever guarded the tomb of a Jew before. Therefore, she and the other Mary went to look at the tomb from a distance (Matthew 28:1). These two women wandered in the area close to the tomb, but the Roman guards showed no sign of leaving. The night got dark and yet they need to be patient to spend the night (the night of Nisan 18) before they could anoint Jesus with spices and perfumes. They felt like a whole year to spend that night waiting. God’s grace is enough for them, and sunrise finally came after the dreadfully long night.

To these women who loved Jesus, Nisan 17 was the longest sabbath. In their hearts, there had neither been rest nor peace; not until they could see their Lord Jesus again and repose in Him. Came dusk, how Mary Magdalene wished the Roman soldiers would take an early leave. It was unprecedented to see a Jewish tomb guarded by Romans. In Matthew 28:1, it was said that she and the other Mary went to look at the tomb from a distance, hovering close by for a long while, but to no avail, the soldiers stood fast. Their hope disappeared with the darkness. One more tormenting night (the night of Nisan 18) they had to endure before they could get the chance to anoint Jesus’s body. But hallelujah! The Lord’s grace abounded! However dark and lingering the night, it quietly ceded to the light of day!

What Our Lord Jesus Christ desires most for you and me to do, is to wholeheartedly seek and embrace the best of the bests: Our Lord Jesus Christ!.

The thick black line at the end of Nisan 17 marks the upper time limit of Jesus’ resurrection.

Nisan 17 - Hymn for Meditation:

I rather have Jesus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg-o2eGzM4 - George Beverly Shea