(12-21) And the first day of unleavened bread.--See Notes on Matthew 26:20-25.

When they killed the passover.--Better, when they used to sacrifice; the Greek tense implying a custom. Here, again, both St. Mark and St. Luke write as explaining the custom for their Gentile readers.

Verse 12. - And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and make ready that thou mayest eat the passover? The first day of unleavened bread would begin on the evening of the Thursday (the 14th day of the month Nisan). Where wilt thou that we prepare? They do not inquire in what city or town. The Passover could not be sacrificed anywhere but in Jerusalem. The question was in what house it was to be prepared.

14:12-21 Nothing could be less the result of human foresight than the events here related. But our Lord knows all things about us before they come to pass. If we admit him, he will dwell in our hearts. The Son of man goes, as it is written of him, as a lamb to the slaughter; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed! God's permitting the sins of men, and bringing glory to himself out of them, does not oblige them to sin; nor will this be any excuse for their guilt, or lessen their punishment.And the first day of unleavened bread,.... Being come, which was the fourteenth of Nisan:

when they killed the passover; that is, "the Jews", as the Syriac and Persic versions supply; for any Israelite, that not a priest, might slay it: their canon runs thus (x),

"an Israelite kills (the passover), and a priest receives (the blood), and gives it to his neighbour, and his neighbour to his neighbour, and he receives (the basin) full, and returns it empty; the priest that is near to the altar sprinkles it, at one sprinkling, over against the bottom of it.''

Upon which the commentators (y) observe, that the slaying of the passover by strangers; that is, such as are not priests, lawful. And so Philo the Jew, speaking of the passover, says (z);

"at which time the common people do not bring their sacrifices to the altar, and the priests slay; but by the command of the law, , "the whole nation", does the work of a priest; every one particularly bringing the sacrifices for himself, and then slaying them with his own hands.''

But then it was always killed in the court of the temple, and after the middle of the day; See Gill on Matthew 26:17;

his disciples said unto him, where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayst eat the passover: for it was now Thursday morning, and the passover was to be slain after the middle of the day, between the two evenings, and eaten in Jerusalem at night; and they were now at Bethany, near two miles from the city; and it was usual for servants to get ready the passover for their masters; See Gill on Matthew 26:17.

(x) Misn. Pesachim, c. 5. sect. 6. (y) Jarchi, Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. (z) De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 686.