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§166 We have already stated that the Passover holy day was called "the Sabbath." But anyone who is familiar with the typical responses given by traditionalists knows that this is met with dogmatic denials. For example, one chronologist states,
"The argument that since Nisan 15 is a holy convocation on which no one works and thus conclude that it was a Sabbath is a non sequitur. There is no evidence for this anywhere.§186 This is a creation of those who hold this theory only to fit their theory" (Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, pg. 69).§167 The underlines in the above quotation are mine. To this we must say that Hoehner is grossly misinformed. Before we proceed to rebut this, another quote is in order to show that Hoehner is not the only misinformed traditionalist:
A Ceremonial Sabbath. The reasons given in support of this conclusion rest on three major mistaken assumptions. First, it is assumed that since certain annual feasts such as the Day of Atonement are designated as "sabbath" (Lev 23:24, 32, 39), then all the references to the Sabbath found in the Passion narratives must refer not to the weekly Sabbath but to the annual ceremonial Passover Sabbath.§168 It is obvious that Bacchiocchi has not taken the time to understand the position he argues against. Sabbath resurrectionists do not claim every reference to "Sabbath" (
This assumption is discredited by the fact that the day of atonement is designated by the compound expression shabbath shabbathon, meaning "a sabbath of solemn rest" (Lev 23:32; 16:31). But this phrase is rendered in the Septuagint by the compound Greek expression "sabbata sabbaton," which is different from the simple "sabbaton" used in the Passion narratives. It is therefore linguistically impossible to interpret the latter as a reference to the day of the Passover or to any other annual feast day, since these are never designated simply as "sabbaton." (Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Time of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, pg. 43)
)
means the Passover Sabbath.§187
The "Sabbath" does not mean the seventh day of the week, but the day of rest, although the weekly Sabbath was always the seventh or last day of the week; hence not only the seventh day of the week (Ex. xxxi. 15, etc.), but the day of atonement (the tenth of the seventh month), is called "Sabbath," and "Shabbath shabbaton" (ver. 32, chap. xvi. 31). As a day of rest, on which no laborious work was to be performed (ver. 8), the first day of the feast of Mazzoth is called "Sabbath" irrespectively of the day of the week upon which it fell; and "the morrow after the Sabbath" is equivalent to "the morrow after the Passover" mentioned in Joshua 5:11 (Keil, C.F., and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament - The Pentateuch, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, rp. 1981, Lev. 23:4-14).§174 The underlines are mine. The first day of the feast of Mazzoth is the 15th of Aviv (Nisan), i.e. the Passover holy day. The commentary calls it "Sabbath." To this we add yet another witness:
The better view is that found in the LXX, Philo, Josephus, the Targums, and the Rabbinical writers generally, and which seems most in accordance with the text itself, that the Sabbath was simply the festival Sabbath, the 15th of Abib [Nisan], on whatever day of the week it might happen to fall (Lange, J.P. Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960, vol. i, "Lev. 23:11ff," pg. 175).§175 The underlines are mine. Again, the 15th of Aviv, the Passover holy day, is called "the Sabbath," regardless of what day of the week it might fall on. The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, pg. 848, vol. M-P) states:
Jews of the 1st cent. A.D. other than Sadducees identified the day of the Passover feast as a "sabbath" (cf. Lev. 23:11).§176 Keil and Delitzsch mention Joshua 5:11 above, which also teaches us to call the Passover "The Sabbath":
And they ate of the produce of the land after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain on that very day.§177 The Israelites were forbidden to eat the new grain until the sheaf was waved "after the Sabbath" (Lev. 23:14). Since the Israelites ate the grain in Joshua 5:11, we know that it was "after the Sabbath" of Leviticus 23:11. But Joshua 5:11 informs us that it was the "after the Passover" equating the Passover and the "after the Sabbath." Hence, we can only conclude that the Passover holy day is "the Sabbath."
And ye shall count unto you after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:§188§182 The underlines are mine. Goudoever claims that "The word Sabbath in Greek can in fact only mean the seventh day of the week, or the week, but not [a] festival day," and then he explains its occurrence in Leviticus 23:15 as "a literal and vague translation of the Hebrew word" (Goudoever, J. Van, Biblical Calendars, Leiden: E.J. Brill, c. 1961, rev., 2nd ed., pg. 18). Of course, the Jews who made the Septuagint translation of Lev. 23:11, 15 would not agree with Goudoever, who calls their translation "literal" but appends "and vague" as if it was unclear; but that is not the point. The translation was not "vague" to the Jews, who called the Passover holy day "the Sabbath."
On the morrow after the sabbath. Better, on the morrow after the day of rest; ... The interpretation of this phrase was the subject of heated controversy in early Rabbinic times between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The latter took the word "sabbath" in its usual sense, and maintained that the Omer was to be brought on the morrow of the first Saturday in Passover [week]. The Pharisees argued that "sabbath" ... here means, "the day of cessation from work"; and the context shows that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is intended: therefore, the Omer was to be brought on the 16th of Nisan. This is supported by the Septuagint, which renders "on the morrow of the first day", and by Josephus. "The offerings of the sheaf took place on the 16th, the first busy work-day of the harvest, in relation to which the preceding day might well be called a Sabbath or rest-day, though not all labour was prohibited. This is alone compatible with the context, and is free from the objections to which all the other opinions are open" (Kalisch). (The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, London: Soncino Press, 1972, Lev. 23:11).§184 According to this comment, the word "Sabbath" means "rest day," on the 15th of Aviv, not the seventh day of the week. Furthermore, The word "Sabbath" in the Greek language "
"
represents two possible Hebrew words, Shabbat, and Shabbaton.
You can see this in Lev. 23:32, where the LXX translates the Hebrew "Shabbat
Shabbaton" as "Sabbata Sabbaton," (A Sabbath of sabbatical rest) and Lev.
23:3, where the same words are rendered "Sabbata anapausis" (A Sabbath
of Rest). In fact, the Greek ""
sounds like the Hebrew "Shabbaton" (sabbatical rest), which is used for
the feast days -- as well as the weekly Sabbath. On the other hand,
the word Shabbat is confined to usage for the Sabbath with two exceptions
(Lev. 23:11 -- the Sabbath (i.e. the Passover Feast Day) and Lev.
23:32 --your Sabbath (i.e. the Day of Atonement).
"
can be either a feast day or a weekly Sabbath. Now Luke 23:56, in
Greek, is a typical 
construction, and so should go with Luke 24:1: Here is how it translates:
And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, but [the] Shabbaton (solenm rest) they rested according to the commandment (Lev. 23:7); yet on the first of the Sabbaths, at deep dawn, upon the tomb they came ..."
In the first case, the Sabbaton is the feast
day, and the commandment is in Lev. 23:7. In the second case, the
Sabbaton is the weekly Sabbath (the first one after Passover; cf. Lev.
23:15-16, KJV). The
construction is usually contrastive. Luke is pointing out that they
had reason not to strictly rest on the weekly Sabbath. The reason
for this is that that weekly Sabbath was the third day. There are
two reasons why they might go to the tomb on the third day. (1)
According to tradition, this is when the soul departs, and it was traditional
to make the last visit on this day --- even if other visits had been
made. Even anointing was allowed (Tractate: Shabbat 23a) on the Sabbath.
(2) Yayshua had predicted his resurrection on this day, and though
we are not told that this was "a" reason the women went to the tomb, niether
are we told it wasn't in the back of their mind influencing them to take
one last look.
§185 Therefore,
we may conclude this chapter by saying the Passover holy day was called
"Sabbath" by the Jews irrespective of the day of the week it happened to
fall on.
.
§186 Hoehner contradicts
himself though. He also writes, "The Pharisees would interpret the
term "Sabbath" to mean "festival" (i.e., Passover) and would count from
the day following the Passover regardless of what day it was in the week
(ibid., pg. 83-84). Hoehner is refering to Lev. 23:15 here, where
the God calls the Passover festival "The Sabbath."
§187 The references
to the Sabbath in Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; and John 20:1,
19 refer to the weekly Sabbath (e.g. Greek: mia twn sabbatwn, one
of the sabbaths). Even the usual Saturday afternoon resurrection
view considers the Sabbath of Matthew 28:1a, "Late on the Sabbath" the
weekly Sabbath.
§188 The remainder
of this passage should be translated, "Until after the Sabbath, the seventh,
counting fifty days, and then you shall present a cereal offering of new
grain to Yahweh" (Lev. 23:16).
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