fifteenth of Nisan, and it is also said in our Law that the whole of the lamb must be consumed that evening. Now, in the years when the fifteenth of Nisan, which is the first day of the Passover, falleth upon the Sabbath, the killing and roasting of the lamb would take place on the Sabbath eve, when no killing must take place and no fire must be lit. Hence arises a conflict of the Law of the Passover with the Law of the Sabbath. Now, the older view was, that the Passover was superior to the Sabbath, and its law was to be followed in preference. This the priests held and followed, and in this they seemed to have the authority of the great Hillel, who also declared the Passover superior to the Sabbath.
But many among the Pharisees and the more pious preferred to slay the Passover lamb on the eve between the thirteenth and the fourteenth day of Nisan, and to eat it on the fourteenth day; that is, in those years when the Passover fell on the Sabbath, as was the case in the year of which I am now writing. It would appear that Jesus and his followers held with the
