Texts in Conversation
Exodus commands that the Passover lamb must be eaten in one house and none of its bones broken. John echoes this ritual requirement at the crucifixion, noting that Jesus’ legs were not broken.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Exodus 12:46
Septuagint
44 And every slave or servant bought with money, him you shall circumcise, and then he will eat of it. 45 A temporary resident or hireling shall not eat of it. 46 In one house shall it be eaten, and you shall not carry of the flesh out from the house; and a bone of it you shall not break. 47 All the congregation of the children of Israel shall keep it. 48 And if any proselyte shall come to you to keep the passover to the Lord, you shall circumcise every male of him, and then he will approach to sacrifice it, and he shall be even as the original inhabitant of the land; no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
John 19:36
New Testament
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. 35 And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. 36 For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.” 37 And again another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
Date: 90–110 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... John sets the Last Supper on the day before the holiday and thus dates Jesus's crucifixion to the "Day of Preparation," the time when the Passover lambs are being sacrificed in the Temple. The symbolism perfectly complements another unique aspect of the Fourth Gospel, namely, John the Baptist's identification of Jesus as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (1:29). Thus John's Gospel connects the death of Jesus to the paschal lamb whose blood saved the firstborn of Israel on the night of the tenth plague (Exodus 12). It may also suggest a connection of Jesus to Isaiah's suffering servant ... Increasing the paschal imagery, the Johannine Jesus is offered hyssop on the cross, and the text specifically mentions that Jesus's legs were not broken. Hyssop was used to dress the paschal lambs, and the sacrificial animal could not have a broken limb. ..."
Amy-Jill Levine, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2006), 209.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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