Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
The Renewed Covenant by Daniel Gregg
"Luke 22:7 And doth come the day of unleavened bread, in connection to which it was necessary to be sacrificing the Passover, and He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and fix for us a place for the Passover, that we may eat" (DLT: torahtimes.org).
note: revised 4/21/2009 after more careful consideration of the nominative case η ημερα, and the present infinitive θυεσθαι. Further revised 8/03/2009, realizing that Luke put the dative into the next clause, "in connection to", allowing total harmony with Matthew and Mark.
came: ηλθεν. Matthew and Mark state that the disciples question was "regarding the first day of unleavened bread." The questions were asked while it was still the 13th of Nisan (cf. Matthew 26:17 and Mark 14:12)—a reasonable time to ask. However, according to Luke, Yeshua seems to send them before they ask the question.
Perhaps: "And came the day of unleavened bread". Luke may be using the phrase unleavened bread in a broader sense than either Matthew or Mark. Luke 22:1 speaking from the standpoint of the 13th of Nisan, says, "Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover", and indicates that the feast in the general sense begins with sunset at the start of the 14th day. In this broader sense the 14th day was included under the definition of "Passover" or "unleavened bread", even though it was only the head day of the feast. This was because the sacrifice is called "the Passover", and the sacrifice was on the 14th day. Josephus and other dispersion Jews considered the feast to last eight days in this general sense. Indeed, the Galilean Jews abstained from leaven at sunset starting the 14th while Judean Jews abstained starting at noon on the 14th day. The difference seems to be due to a variance of interpretation of the words in Exodus 12:15, "on the first day". The less astute dispersion Jews took this to mean the "head day". Those knowing Hebrew better took it to mean the first of the seven days. For Matthew and Mark, it is strictly the 15th. Luke accommodates the broader usage for his dispersion readership, but refuses to call it the "first day". John has no comment, but being from the Judean perspective clearly regards only the 15th as the first day of the feast.
Luke introduces the last supper with "And when the hour came ..." (Luke 22:14) and not "when evening came" (Matthew 26:20) or "evening having come" (Mark 14:17). This is consistent with it already being evening when Yeshua actually gave the instructions to the disciples earlier question. The reason that Yeshua waited till the 14th was probably he did not want his two disciples to be noticed. Judas would not be able to follow them. If Yeshua was arrested too soon then the divine timing for the crucifixion would be thwarted.
Luke wisely does not call the 14th of Nisan, the "first day" of the feast, which was the 15th of Nisan. He uses "unleavened bread" in a broader unspecified sense, which is qualified with "on which it was necessary to be sacrificing the Passover". This last statement is more specific to the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, and this was the same 24 hour day (sunset to sunset) that Yeshua gave instructions to his disciples. The imperfect verb could be taken in the sense of "on which it would be necessary to sacrifice the Passover". (DLC: torahtimes.org)
Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/luk2207.html)
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