THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW - Chapter 26 - Verse 17

Verses 17-19. See also Mr 14:12-16; Lu 22:7-13

Verse 17. The first day, etc. The feast continued eight days, including the day on which the paschal lamb was killed and eaten, Ex 12:15. That was the fourteenth day of the month Abib, answering to parts of our March and April.

Of unleavened bread. Called so because, during those eight days, no bread made with yeast or leaven was allowed to be eaten. Luke says, "when the Passover must be killed." That is, in which the paschal lamb, or the lamb eaten on the occasion, must be killed. The word in the original, translated passover, commonly means, not the feast itself, but the lamb that was killed on the occasion.

See Ex 12:43; Nu 9:11; Joh 18:28; 1 Co 5:7, where Christ our Passover, is said to be slain for us; i.e. our Paschal Lamb, so called on account of his innocence, and his being offered as a victim, or sacrifice, for our sins.

{y} "Now the first day" Ex 12:6,18