People have asked me why the Jews during the time of Christ and today observe Passover on Abib 15. Biblically, it traces to Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s Passovers within the backdrop of Israel’s repeated apostasies. Let’s look at what happened.

Hezekiah reigned after his father, Ahab, one of Judah’s most wicked kings. The temple was in ruins, its services forgotten, and Israel’s festivals synchronized with the Canaanite religion. In His zeal to stamp out idolatry and restore the worship of YHWH, the altars of foreign deities were removed and thrown into the Kidron Valley. After Hezekiah repaired the temple, he commanded the Levites and priests to cleanse, sanctify, and reestablish the offerings. Still, they did not complete the task in time for the Passover, nor had sufficient time to consecrate themselves (Num. 9:4-13). Hezekiah invited all of Israel who were left and Judah to return to the God of Israel at Jerusalem, and, according to YHWH’s instructions in Numbers 9, keep the Passover unto YHWH on the fourteenth of the second month, Iyar.

A considerable crowd of Israelites assembled at Jerusalem to keep the Passover and celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. Because many people had no time to consecrate themselves, Hezekiah had the Levites kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to YHWH. Most people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun ate the Passover contrary to what was written, without purifying themselves. But Hezekiah prayed, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God-the LORD, the God of his fathers-even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary” (2 Chron 30:18-20). And YHWH heard Hezekiah and healed the people. And then they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, Iyar 15-21. So filled with joy, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate the festival for seven more days, and the priests and Levites stood to bless the people, their prayer reaching YHWH’s dwelling place in heaven, and He heard them. When Israel finished celebrating the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, they went out into the cities and broke down the high places and altars of Baal and the Asherim. Hezekiah’s Passover was the first mention of the Levites killing the Passover lambs instead of the head of the household and the dashing of the blood against the altar instead of family dwellings.

Seventy-five years later, Israel, having returned to idolatry under evil King Manasseh, Judah’s King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of YHWH by purging Judah and Jerusalem of idols to Baalim and Asherim. After cleansing the land of idolatry in six years, Josiah repaired the temple of YHWH, his God, in the eighteenth year of his reign. Having found the Book of the Law, he read it in Israel’s hearing and pledged them to do it, attempting to stop YHWH’s destruction of them for their idolatry and rebellion.

To celebrate the Passover to YHWH in Jerusalem on the fourteenth day of the first month, Josiah provided the lambs. He ordered them slaughtered by the Levites, who then handed the carcasses to the divisions to the father’s houses of Israel to roast with fire. The Levites sprinkled the blood on the altar instead of the heads of households striking the doors of their homes with it. The Levites killed so many lambs it took them the entire night and day of Abib 14 and into Abib 15 to accomplish it. The Levites also offered sacrifices of cattle and oxen as if it were a Holyday convocation. At King Josiah’s command, there was no other Passover like this in the history of Israel, done to call Israel to repentance to avert the national emergency of utter ruin. From this day in history, the entire eight days of Passover and Unleavened Bread began to be called “Passover.” The fourteenth Passover eventually merged with the First Day of Unleavened Bread, making Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days instead of eight. This deviation from the Passover statutes persisted at the time of Yeshua.

The intention of these two kings of Judah was good, restoring true worship of YHWH while averting disaster from Israel worshiping the gods of the surrounding nations and synchronizing religions. Ancient Near East cultures fed their gods by sacrificing to them every day. Certain days of the month were considered evil days that required extra sacrifices. People often refrained from business transactions or labor on these “dangerous” days. The seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days were particularly doomed. However, the Canaanites celebrated the first and fifteenth days as days of good luck, days of the new and full moon. Similar to Israel’s feast months, Canaanite religious festivals were held in the months of Nisan and Tishri, and some of their sacrifices mimicked Israel’s.¹ Jeremiah related the depth of depravity Israel had fallen into by worshiping the Canaanite’s Baal and Astarte. “For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent” (Jer. 19:4). To re-instruct the Israelites of the proper worship of YHWH, Hezekiah and Josiah took it upon themselves to safeguard the Passover by involving the priests and Levites at the temple. The priests had consecrated themselves, but the children of Israel were not. They sprinkled the lamb’s blood at the altar instead of the ceremonially clean head of the household striking it on the family’s home or tent. Josiah went further to offer holyday sacrifices along with the Passover sacrifice.

Takeaway:
In a valiant effort to bring Israel back to worshiping YHWH alone, Hezekiah and Josiah orchestrated mass Passover celebrations that deviated from Passover’s statutes and ordinances due to the sheer number of sacrifices. They did it as a temporary measure to re-educate the people and protect them from copying Canaanite practices. The result was the melding of Abib 14 into Abib 15.