One of today’s pieces in the Bible is the Last supper. I have decided to call it part 1 because I will not explain here the last supper but will do so tomorrow in part 2. Instead I want to try and explain how it would have been in those days and explain a bit about passover.
During this time Jesus was in Jerusalem. It was time for the passover festival. There must have been many people that came to the temple in Jerusalem for this festival. Passover is a festival that is celebrated for 7 days. It starts on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. It is the month of spring. Tradition in ancient Israel held that the first day of Nisan would not start until the barley was ripe which was the test for the onset of spring. Usually on Nisan 10 a member of the household would choose an unblemished one year old male lamb. It is interesting that it was the same day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and therefore presenting Himself as a perfect lamb.
What is the reason of this festival? When Israel were still slaves in Egypt, ruled by Pharaoh, the people of Israel cried out to God for help. God sent Moses to set them free. God sent 10 plagues against the Egyptians. The 10th plague was the death of all the first born. To ensure that the Israelites first born did not die they were instructed to mark the doorpost of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb. So that night the spirit of the Lord would pass over the first born in these homes.When Pharaoh let the Israelites go they were in such a hurry that the bread dough did not have time to leaven. The festival is also known as the festival of unleavened bread. The festival is to commemorate this event.
In Exodus 12 the Israelites were instructed to celebrate this festival. In these 7 days no yeast should be found in the homes or eaten during this festival. But how would it have been for someone living in the time of Jesus?
On the day before the festival everyone would go through their cupboards and make sure they got rid of all the leaven in the house. The first day of the festival (14 Nisan). This would be when they would eat the passover meal. In many situations the slaves or servants would wash the feet of those eating the meal. Not as part of passover but in general when you went to eat a meal at someone’s house. It is interesting that Jesus acted as a servant many times in the Bible. In fact He said in Luke 22 “26 But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 27 Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves”. Before eating there would be a ritual hand-washing.
During the passover meal those eating the meal would be permitted to drink wine that had no religious significance. They were allowed to drink this wine during the first and second cups of ritual wine and between the second and third. There would be a glass for non ritual red wine but this glass was not allowed on the table. They would receive 4 cups of ritual wine. Charoset, unleavened bread, vegetables and vinegar should be on the table. In most pictures we see today we see Jesus seated at a long table and everyone sitting up straight. This was probably not so. In those days the table would be low and they would be seated on pillows on the ground. One of the disciples put his head on Jesus’ chest. This makes much more sense that they were all sitting or possibly even laying down during this meal.
The table was also probably not a straight table either. It looked more like this:
To explain. The head of the house would sit on the left side. So Jesus probably sat on the left side. And traditionally people were either arranged from there from oldest to youngest or most important to least important. That is probably why they had the discussion of who is most important. Below is another picture of the passover meal.
Before drinking from each cup of the ritual cups they would pray and also repeat four verbs of Exodus 6:6-7.
So the meal would go more or less like this:
They would pray over the first ritual cup of wine and repeat the four verbs. A person may now drink non ritual wine until the second cup of ritual wine is served. The head of the house which would have been Jesus would dip the bitter herbs into vinegar and pass it down the table. All the food would be taken off the table. The second cup would be poured but not yet drunk. The youngest son or least signification would ask why this night is different. The food would be returned to the table. The head would explain. They would sing hymns here and pray over the second cup of wine. Then they would wash their hands again. The lamb, charoset, vegetables and unleavened bread is served and the head of the house would pray over the bread. He would then break the bread. They dip it in the charoset and bitter herbs. The meal is now eaten and after the second cup of ritual wine they may again drink non ritual wine. After the meal they pour the 3rd cup of ritual wine and the last of the unleavened bread is blessed, broken and eaten. Everyone recite the post-meal prayer and they pray over the wine. Then again they may drink non ritual wine. Then the 4th cup is poured and blessed by all and a final hymn is sung.
So this meal was also taken by Jesus although we will never know the full details. We sometimes read passages and do not realize the depth of a single piece of scripture. Today I have written mostly about passover in general. Tomorrow I will write more about the detail of the last supper.
My journey with God 