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It is sometimes claimed that the New Testament says nothing about keeping the fourth
commandment. This verse [Luke 23:56] contradicts that claim, so it is important for a
Jewish understanding of the New Testament. On Shabbat the women rested, in obedi-
ence to the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15; also Exodus
16). Of course they did! They observed Shabbat every week. The writer [Luke]
mentions it only to explain why they didn't go to Yeshua's tomb the very next day. "[B]ut
on the first day of the week, while it was still very early" -- as soon as it was practical to
do so -- "they went to the tomb" (24:1). The Greek has the correlative conjunctions
"men...de" in this sentence; the sense is not easily translated word-for-word, but it implied
the just-explained "of course...but" relationship between the parts of the sentence: "Of
course [they observed the Shabbat], but [as soon as they could, they went]."

Yeshua died on the afternoon before the Passover began -- on Nisan 14. At the time of Ye-
shua's death the Passover (1st Day of Unleavened Bread) fell on the weekly Sabbath -- as it did
every year according to the lunar calendar kept by the Jews during this time. The "preparation" day
was for BOTH the Passover AND for the weekly Sabbath.

Buying and Preparing Spices

It seems that those who teach that Yeshua died on a Wednesday claim there are accounts in
the New Testament of common work activity (buying and preparing spices and ointments) during
the time of Yeshua's entombment. This would necessitate, they say, at least one common work day
between the two Sabbaths. Jews were required to refrain from ordinary work on the Passover and
on the 7th day Sabbath -- from sundown to sundown. Since (in actual fact) the Passover and the
weekly Sabbath fell on the SAME DAY, buying, selling and travel were strictly forbidden, as was
cooking food.

In Luke 23:52-56 and 24:1-3, we read:

This man [Joseph] went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down,
and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never
man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the
women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepul-
chre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments;
and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which
they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away
from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

A simple reading of the text -- without any preconceived ideas -- has "the women" prepar-
ing spices on the afternoon before the Passover/weekly Sabbath began. (One would assume they
had to buy them first, which lends credence to the wording of the KJV -- "had bought sweet
spices," see Mark 16:1). Now, was there time to do this? Yeshua died at "the 9th hour." In Jerusa-
lem sundown occurred at the 12th hour. Three hours therefore remained until sundown.

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