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
Exodus 12:46
Hebrew Bible
44 But everyone’s servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it. 45 A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it. 46 It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it. 47 The whole community of Israel must observe it. 48 “When a resident foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land—but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.
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.”
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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. ..."
Levine, Amy-Jill
The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus
(p. 209) Harper San Francisco, 2006
* 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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