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PREPARATION (παρασκευή, Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14; John 19:31; John 19:42).—1. Since the Sabbath was a day of holy rest, the food for it was cooked and all else needful got ready on the previous day, the προσάββατον (Mark 15:42);* [Note: Exodus 16:5. See Lightfoot on. Mark 15:42. Curiously enough the Sabbath was the day for feasting, and the viands were specially sumptuous; but they had to be cooked the previous day and eaten cold. See Aug. de Cons. Ev. ii. § 151; Lightfoot and Wetstein on Luke 14:1.] and thus that day was designated by the Jews ‘the Preparation.’^{† [Note: Jos. Ant. xvi. vi. 2: ἐν σάββασεν ἢ τῇ πρὸ ταύτης παρασκευῇ; Wetstein on} Matthew 27:62^.] The Christians took over the term,^{‡ [Note: Didache, viii. 1.: ὑμεῖς δὲ νηστεύσατε τετράδα καὶ παρασκευήν; Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. § 75: τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων, τῆς τετράδος καὶ παρασκευῆς λεγω. ἐπιθημίζονται γὰρ ἡ μἑν Ἑρμοῦ ἡ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης.]} and it remains to this day the regular name for Friday in the Greek Calendar.

2. The term was also used of the day of preparation, whatever day of the week it might be, for any of the sacred festivals, especially the Passover. The Paschal Supper was eaten on the evening which, since the Jewish day began at 6 p.m., ushered in the fifteenth day of the month Nisan; and the fourteenth day, when all was got ready for the celebration, was called the Preparation.

The term occurs thrice in the Synoptics (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54), and in each instance it means Friday. In the Fourth Gospel also it occurs thrice (19:14, 31, 42), and there would be no doubt that here also it means Friday^{§ [Note: 19:14 παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα, ‘Friday of the Passover-season,’ not ‘the Preparation for the Passover,’ which would require ἡ παρασκευή.]} were it not for two other passages. (1) At John 13:1 St. John seems to put the Last Supper ‘before the feast of the passover.’ (2) At John 18:28 he says that, when on the morning after the Last Supper the rulers brought Jesus before Pilate, ‘they did not themselves enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover’; whence it would seem that the Paschal Supper had not been celebrated the previous evening, but was to be celebrated that evening. It thus appears as though there were a glaring discrepancy between the Synoptics and the Fourth Gospel. They all agree that Jesus was crucified on Friday; but whereas according to the Synoptists that Friday was the 15th Nisan, and on the previous evening which ushered it in Jesus had eaten the regular Paschal Supper with His disciples (cf. Luke 22:7), according to St. John it was the 14th Nisan, and the Supper in the upper room on the previous evening was either not the Passover at all,^{|| [Note: | So Clem. Alex. (fragm. in Chron. Pasch. See Dindorf’s Clem. Alex. Op. iii. p. 498): In previous years Jesus had kept the Passover and eaten the lamb, but on the day before He suffered as the true Paschal Lamb, He taught His disciples the mystery of the type.]} or was eaten a day too soon.* [Note: Jesus anticipated the Passover, knowing that at the proper time He would be lying in His grave. St. Chrysostom (in Joan. lxxxii.) gives this as an alternative explanation of John 18:28; Calvin: Since the Passover-day, falling that year on Friday, was reckoned a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:6-7; Leviticus 23:11; Leviticus 23:15), the Jews, to avoid the inconvenience of two successive Sabbaths, postponed the Passover by a day: Jesus adhered to the regular day.] In the Synoptics παρασκευή means simply Friday; in the Fourth Gospel it means the Preparation Day, being also, as it chanced, Friday.

The problem has been discussed from the earliest times, and nowhere has harmonistic ingenuity been more lavishly expended. In our day the harmonistic method is out of fashion, and the tendency of some critics is to pronounce the Johannine representation unhistorical, and to explain how it originated. Appeal is made to the idea, suggested, it is alleged, by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 5:7), and definitely enunciated by Clement of Alexandria,^{† [Note: Also, according to Chron. Pasch., by Apollinaris, Hippolytus, and Peter of Alexandria.]} that Jesus, being the true Paschal Lamb, must have been slain on the Preparation Day, 14th Nisan. It is pointed out that, by way of proving Him the true Paschal Lamb, St. John (1) throws back the anointing at Bethany to 10th Nisan (John 12:1), the day on which the Paschal lamb was chosen (Exodus 12:3); (2) represents Jesus as still before Pilate at the sixth hour, i.e. noon, in order, it is alleged, to make the Crucifixion synchronize with the sacrifice of the Paschal lambs, which were slain between 3 and 5 p.m.;^{‡ [Note: BJ vi. ix. 3.]} (3) shows how the Law’s prescription that the lamb’s bones should not be broken (Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12), was fulfilled in the case of Jesus (John 19:36).^{§ [Note: Strauss, Keim, Schmiedel (Encycl. Bibl., art. ‘John, son of Zebedee’).]}

This is ingenious rather than convincing. (1) The anointing at Bethany actually took place, as St. John represents, six days before the Passover; and St. Matthew and St. Mark, with that disregard of chronological sequence which is characteristic of the Synoptic editors of the Apostolic tradition, have brought it into connexion with the Betrayal (Matthew 26:6-16 = Mark 14:3-11); their idea being, apparently, that the traitor was angered by the Lord’s rebuke (Matthew 26:10 = Mark 14:6 = John 12:7). His foul deed was a stroke of revenge.^{|| [Note: | Cf. Aug. de Cons. Ev. ii. § 153.]} (2) If, as is possible, St. John computed the hours of the day, not, like the Synoptists, from 6 to 6, but, according to the method which probably obtained in Asia Minor, from 12 to 12,^{¶ [Note: Plin. HN ii. 79. Polycarp was martyred in the stadium at Smyrna ‘at the 8th hour’ (Mart. Polyc. xxi.), i.e., since public spectacles began early (cf. Becker, Charicles, p. 409), at 8 a.m.]} then by ‘the sixth hour’ he means, not noon, but 6 a.m., thus agreeing with the Synoptists (cf. Matthew 27:1-2 = Mark 15:1). (3) Jesus was none the less the true Paschal Lamb, though He was not crucified between 3 and 5 p.m. on the 14th of Nisan, but at 9 a.m. on the 15th. St. Paul spoke of Him as ‘our passover’ (1 Corinthians 5:7); yet he regarded the Last Supper as the regular Passover, calling the communion cup ‘the cup of blessing’ (1 Corinthians 10:16),^{** [Note: * τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας (בּו֙םהֵבְּרָכָה).]} which was the name given in the Paschal rubric to the third cup at the Passover feast.

In the opinion of the present writer the difficulty is due to a misunderstanding of John 13:1; John 18:28. When these two passages are rightly considered, the position seems to be established that παρασκευή means Friday alike in the Fourth Gospel and in the Synoptics. John 13:1 should be read as a separate paragraph. As the end approached, says the Evangelist, there was a marked access of tenderness in the Lord’s deportment towards His disciples. He demonstrated His affection as He had never done before. It was the pathetic tenderness of imminent farewell. ‘Before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them to the uttermost,’ i.e. demonstrated His affection as He had never done before.* [Note: εἰς τὲλος, not ‘to the end,’ but ‘to the uttermost.’ Chrysost. in Joan. lxix.: οὐδὲν ἐνέλιπεν ὧν τον σφόδρα ἁγατῶντα εἰκὸς ἦντοιη̄σαι. Cf. Euth. Zig.: ἀγαπᾱν of tokens of affection; Mark 10:21 ἠγάπησεν αὐτόν, kissed his forehead. See Lightfoot on Mark 10:21, John 13:23.] Then begins a new paragraph, which recounts the story of the Supper (John 13:2 ff.), assuming an acquaintance on the reader’s part with the Synoptic details of time and arrangement. It was St. John’s wont to correct his predecessors wherever they had erred; and had they put the Last Supper a day too late, he would have stated expressly when it took place, and would not have said vaguely ‘before the feast.’

And what of John 18:28? It does not imply that they were looking forward to the Paschal Supper in the evening, and that therefore that day, when Jesus was tried and crucified, was the Preparation-day, 14th Nisan. They would indeed have been defiled by entering a heathen house, but the defilement would have remained only until the evening (cf. Leviticus 11:24-25; Leviticus 11:27-28; Leviticus 11:31; Leviticus 11:39-40; Leviticus 14:46; Leviticus 15:5-7; Leviticus 17:15; Leviticus 22:6, Numbers 19:7-8; Numbers 19:10; Numbers 19:21-22, Deuteronomy 23:11), and they could then, after due ablution, have eaten the Paschal Supper.^{† [Note: Strauss argues that they ‘would still have disqualified themselves from participating in the preparatory proceedings, which fell on the afternoon of 14th Nisan; as, e.g., the slaving of the lamb in the outer court of the Temple.’ But they might legally have deputed the business of preparation to their servants, as Jesus deputed it to Peter and John. Cf. Lightfoot on} Mark 10:26^.] The truth is that it was not the Paschal Supper that they would have been precluded from, but the Chagigah or thank-offering, which was presented in the Temple on 15th Nisan, and had to be presented by each worshipper in propriâ personâ.^{‡ [Note: See Lightfoot on} John 18:28^, Mark 15:25^.] The phrase ‘eat the Passover’ comprehended more than participation in the Paschal Supper. Alike in the Scripture and in the Talmud it denotes the celebration of the entire feast, including the Chagigah.^{§ [Note:} Deuteronomy 16:2^, 2 Chronicles 30:1^; 2 Chronicles 30:23-24^; 2 Chronicles 35:1^; 2 Chronicles 35:8-19^, Ezekiel 45:21-24^{. Lightfoot on} John 18:28^.] In the Fourth Gospel ‘the passover’ invariably signifies not the Supper but the whole feast, τὴν ἑορτὴν πᾶσαν,^{|| [Note: | Cf.} John 2:13^; John 2:23^, John 6:4^, John 11:55^, John 12:1^, John 13:1^{. Contrast} Matthew 26:17 ⁼ Mark 14:12 ⁼ Luke 22:7-8^] and it is unreasonable to suppose that in this solitary instance St. John has departed from his usus loquendi.

There remains a final consideration. After the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathaea visited Pilate, and petitioned for the body of Jesus (John 19:38 = Matthew 27:57-58 = Mark 15:42-43 = Luke 23:50-52). He was a Sanhedrist, and had no less reason than his colleagues to shun pollution; yet he went without scruple to the governor’s house. The explanation is that, when they refused to enter the Praetorium, it was the morning, and they must offer the Chagigah in the afternoon; when he waited upon Pilate, it was the evening (ὀψίας γενομένης), and he had already offered it.

On the above theory there is no discrepancy between St. John and the Synoptists. Both he and they represent Jesus as celebrating the Paschal Supper with His disciples on the evening which ushered in 15th Nisan; and both he and they use παρασκευή in the sense not of the Preparation-day, but of Friday. St. John says that ‘that Sabbath-day was a great one’ (John 19:31), not because, being at once the weekly Sabbath and Passover-day, it was Sabbath in a double sense, but because, as Light-foot puts it, (1) it was a Sabbath, (2) it was the day on which the people appeared before the Lord in the Temple (Exodus 23:17), and (3) it was the day on which the sheaf of the firstfruits was reaped (Leviticus 23:11). See also, for different views, artt. Dates, Last Supper, Passover (II.).

Literature.—Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. (see references in footnotes); Strauss, Leb. Jes. iii. ii. § 121, and New Life of Jesus, ii. § 85; Keim, Jesus of Nazara, vi. pp. 195–219; Caspari, Chron. and Geog. Introd. §§ 151–164; Farrar, Life of Christ, Exc. x.; Andrews, Life of our Lord, pp. 457–481; Westcott, Study of the Gospels, p. 43; Du Bose, The Gospel in the Gospels, p. 28. For the contrary view that παρασκενή does not mean Friday in both the Synoptics and the Fourth Gospel, see Sanday in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , ii. 634; Godet in his Comm. on Lk. and Jn.; Lobstein, La doctrine de la sainte cène, p. 51 f.; Zöckler in PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] ^{3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} , ix. pp. 32, 42; Chwolson, Das letzte Passamahl Christi.

David Smith.